Dassault Aviation led a €200 million (about $234 million) Series B in Harmattan AI on January 12, 2026, valuing the Paris-based drone and autonomy startup at €1.4 billion, Defense News reported. It called Harmattan France's first defense unicorn. Tech.eu reported the same round as $200 million at a $1.4 billion valuation, so the currency differs between outlets. Dassault's stake was not disclosed, and Harmattan declined to name other investors. Motier Ventures said on LinkedIn that it renewed its investment.

The Dassault partnership

A joint statement says Harmattan will help develop embedded AI for Dassault's future air combat systems, including the F5 standard of the Rafale, with a focus on controlling unmanned aircraft. Defense News reports that Dassault is developing an air-combat drone to act as an unmanned wingman for the F5 Rafale. It also reports that France, Germany and Spain are working on the Future Combat Air System and that Dassault and Airbus disagree over work share and project authority.

The company

Harmattan was founded in April 2024 and says it has more than 130 employees, including recent hires from Safran and Isar Aerospace. It describes itself as building “vertically integrated autonomous systems” across layered air defense, coordinated autonomous surveillance and strike drones, electronic warfare and command-and-control platforms. CEO and co-founder Mouad M'Ghari is named in the joint statement.

Defense News lists two orders: 1,000 combat drones for the French Armed Forces Ministry, due by the end of 2025, and up to 3,000 autonomous drones for the UK Ministry of Defence, ordered in September (the article does not state the year). It also says the company supplied French forces in 2025 with a 1.8 kg quadcopter that has 40 minutes of flight time. Before this round Harmattan had raised about $42 million from backers including FirstMark and Atlantic, according to Sifted as cited by Defense News.

Sources and notes

Sources: Defense News and Tech.eu. Dassault's stake, the other investors and Harmattan's total funding were not disclosed in the Defense News report. This piece reflects reporting from January 2026, and Lens did not find a later round in a quick check. Related: European defense startups raised $7.4 billion through Sept. 20, 2026.

Image: Dassault Rafale on flying display at Paris Air Show 2025 (1).jpg by Ibex73, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. It shows a Rafale at an air show, not a Harmattan system. Illustrative photo; it does not show the events described.