North Vector Dynamics closes a $20M Series A led by Tech Horizons for its CM-70 counter-drone interceptor

TLDR

• North Vector Dynamics closed a Series A above US$20M ($29M CAD) at a valuation above US$90M, led by Tech Horizons.¹
• The money funds manufacturing for CM-70, a counter-drone missile interceptor that no military uses yet.¹²
• No customer is named; the company says first orders could come in the coming months.²

North Vector Dynamics (NVD), a Calgary defence company founded in 2022, announced on 26 October 2026 that it had closed a Series A round of more than US$20 million (C$29 million), valuing it at more than US$90 million, according to its release.¹ BetaKit gives the valuation as C$126 million, the same figure in Canadian dollars, and says the round officially closed in the summer.² Tech Horizons led the round after investing in NVD's seed. ONE9, Garage Capital, CSG, Ripple Ventures, Feld Ventures and Conconi Growth Partners also took part.¹ BetaKit puts NVD's total equity funding at nearly US$28 million.²

NVD's first product is the CM-70, which the release calls "a low-cost, precision-guided counter-drone missile interceptor" built to stop fast, manoeuvrable uncrewed aircraft.¹ The Globe and Mail describes a missile under a metre long, weighing about three kilograms and travelling at 900 kilometres an hour, launched from the ground, the air or another drone.³ The company says the system is ITAR-free and uses an open architecture to plug into existing layered air defences.¹ The release also sets out a longer ambition of "full-spectrum missile capability, from counter-UAS solutions to hypersonics".¹ Government support so far includes a C$2.5 million grant from National Defence's IDEaS programme and a four-year, C$4.2 million contract with Defence Research and Development Canada, awarded in August 2025 for propulsion and hypersonic work, the Globe and Mail reports.³

On the use of funds, the release lists manufacturing and assembly, vertical integration, supply-chain security, new offices in the US and Europe, and hiring.¹ NVD told BetaKit it plans an Ottawa office this year, expects to double headcount to about 50 within six to eight months, and has not chosen a factory site.² CEO Paul Ziadé told the Globe and Mail the goal is a 25,000-square-foot facility and production in the thousands of missiles a year in 2027, plus in-house fuzes.³ He called the CM-70 a "fraction of the cost" of rivals, citing BAE Systems' APKWS guided-rocket kits, though the Globe and Mail does not give a CM-70 price.³

The gaps matter. BetaKit says the CM-70 is not in use by any military, that deliveries are tentatively planned for 2027, and that NVD would not say who its prospective first customers are.² An NVD spokesperson cited "specific requests from customers" that could become first orders "in the coming months".² The Globe and Mail also notes that most of the capital came from US and European investors, with Canadian backers a "sizable minority".²³

On the lead investor, the release describes Tech Horizons as a European fund for defence, security and resilience technologies, formed through a partnership between venture professionals and Czech industrial group CSG.¹ Its stated portfolio includes Firehawk Aerospace (solid rocket motors), Bavovna AI (navigation for uncrewed vehicles) and Occam Industries (drone autonomy software).¹ Tectonic Defense describes it as Prague-based and says CSG invested both directly and through the fund.⁴ Defence Industry Europe reports that NVD and CSG signed a memorandum of understanding on 22 October to explore European manufacturing and CM-70 integration into CSG systems, which names no CSG system, production site, volume or delivery date and commits neither side to a programme.⁵ The Globe and Mail adds that CSG recently took a 9.5 per cent stake in MDA Space.³

The second sources add different angles. The Globe and Mail's interview has Ziadé saying investors approached him in the spring, earlier than he planned, and that raising for an explicitly defence-focused company was easier this year than last.³ BetaKit adds the sovereignty question: NVD argues that partnering with allied capital and suppliers is "both responsible, and necessary" for a Canadian-controlled company.² The CM-70's performance and cost claims all come from NVD; no independent test result was found.

Why it matters: cheap interceptors are drawing investor money as drones reshape conflicts in Ukraine and the Gulf, and this round shows a European defence-industry fund taking the lead in a Canadian start-up before any customer has signed.¹²⁵ Watch whether the first orders and a factory site follow the money.