UK defence technology startup Mutable Tactics has raised €1.8 million ($2.1 million) in a pre-seed funding round to develop artificial intelligence software designed to support autonomous decision-making for unmanned systems.
The funding round was led by Seraphim Space and included participation from the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Koro, Entrepreneurs First and Transpose.
Founded in August 2024 in Cambridge by former British Army officer Colin MacLeod and robotics specialist Enrique Muñoz de Cote, the company develops AI systems that allow unmanned aerial, maritime and ground platforms to operate with reduced reliance on continuous communications.
MacLeod said the technology is intended to help operators manage multiple systems simultaneously.
“Increasingly, the constraint is no longer hardware but human attention,” MacLeod said. “We can deploy more drones than ever before, yet we still ask operators to control them one by one, often in environments where communications are unreliable.”
Mutable Tactics focuses on what it describes as the “decide” layer of the sense-decide-act loop in robotics. The company’s software translates high-level mission intent into actions that unmanned systems can carry out locally, allowing them to coordinate with other systems even when communications or GPS signals are disrupted.
Its main product, called Mastermind (MT), is an edge-deployed AI orchestration platform designed to coordinate multiple robotic systems from a single control interface.
According to the company, the system allows human operators to supervise multiple drones simultaneously rather than manually piloting each one. The software runs on commercial edge computing hardware and is designed to allow operators to intervene or assume direct control when required.
Muñoz de Cote said the platform combines different AI approaches to support both adaptability and operational transparency.
“There is no single AI technique that solves autonomy,” Muñoz de Cote said. “Deep learning allows systems to operate in uncertain, real-world environments, while deterministic AI ensures their behaviour remains explainable and aligned with a commander’s intent.”
Mutable Tactics said the new funding will be used to expand its engineering team in Cambridge, advance development of its decision-layer software and test the technology in collaboration with European government partners.
Maureen Haverty of Seraphim Space said the company’s software is designed for operations in contested environments where communications may be unreliable.
“Mutable Tactics is building drone autonomy for modern conflicts: contested, jammed, and often GPS-denied environments,” Haverty said.
Seraphim Space recently closed an early-stage venture fund that exceeded its €84 million target to support investments in space and defence technology companies.
