Insider Brief
- Autonomous ground robotics startup Shifters has raised $10.2 million in seed funding to expand development of AI-powered robotic teams for defense, security and other high-risk environments, with the capital earmarked for agentic AI development, manufacturing readiness and international expansion.
- The round was led by Ace Capital Partners and brings the company’s total funding to $15 million, with participation from Aurelius Capital Management, Corner Ventures, Arkin Capital, STEP World and Fresh Fund.
- Shifters is developing supervised autonomous ground robots that can enter hazardous areas ahead of human operators, with a platform designed to coordinate multiple robots through a single operator for missions including reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, perimeter monitoring and search-and-rescue operations.
Autonomous ground robotics startup Shifters has raised $10.2 million in seed funding to expand development of AI-powered robotic teams designed for defense, security and other high-risk environments. According to Shifters, funding will be used to expand the company’s agentic AI capabilities, accelerate manufacturing readiness and support growth across its operations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.
The round was led by Ace Capital Partners and brings the company’s total funding to $15 million, with additional investors including Aurelius Capital Management, Corner Ventures, Arkin Capital, STEP World and Fresh Fund.
Washington D.C.-based Shifters is developing supervised autonomous ground robots that can enter hazardous areas ahead of human operators, helping teams gather information, assess conditions and reduce risk during missions. The company said its approach centers on coordinating multiple robots through a single operator rather than relying on individual robotic systems.
“The first asset into a dangerous environment should increasingly be a robot, not a person,” co-founder and CEO Ofer Ballin said in the announcement. “This funding allows us to accelerate the systems that make that possible: coordinated robotic teams that can be directed, intuitively, by one operator, adapt to complex ground environments and reduce human exposure before a mission escalates.”
One Operator, Multiple Robots
Shifters said its platform combines autonomous navigation, mission orchestration and modular robotic systems that can be configured for different tasks. The company is designing the platform around open-system principles to allow customers to integrate specialized sensors, payloads and mission-specific capabilities.
According to the company, it has already completed demonstrations of coordinated robotic entry and navigation capabilities with defense and security organizations. While the initial focus is on defense and national security applications such as reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, perimeter monitoring and mission preparation, the company said it sees opportunities in commercial sectors including infrastructure inspection, agriculture, mining and search-and-rescue operations.
“The challenge is not simply building a robot that can move,” said CTO and co-founder Assaf Chaprak. “It is solving a dual hardware and software challenge: enabling robotic teams to operate in demanding environments while keeping human supervision simple. Ultimately, the goal is to make these systems deployable at scale, so they can help reduce risk to human life where the operating conditions are most complex. That is the multi-layered challenge Shifters is solving.”
