INLEAP PHOTONICS raises its total funding to €20 million to expand from industrial lasers into counter-drone defence.

German startup INLEAP PHOTONICS has closed a seed round led by UVC PARTNERS, bringing its cumulative funding to approximately €20 million. The LASER ZENTRUM HANNOVER spin-off now wants to industrialise a beam-steering technology originally designed for additive manufacturing and materials processing and turn it into a compact counter-drone effector. Its bet is not so much to compete with the most powerful military lasers as to secure a place within Europe’s short-range air-defence and infrastructure-protection architectures.

In an additive-manufacturing machine (an industrial 3D printer) a laser beam must move rapidly and precisely to melt a minute quantity of material in exactly the right place. In a counter-drone defence system, the principle is not entirely different: enough energy must be concentrated on a vulnerable point of a moving target.

Founded in 2023 by Marius Lammers and Felix Wellmann, INLEAP PHOTONICS, a spin-off from LASER ZENTRUM HANNOVER, initially focused on accelerating laser-based industrial processes, particularly in metal additive manufacturing, battery production and materials processing.

Three years later, the German company wants to turn this technology into a defence product capable of neutralising small drones. To support that transition, it has closed a seed round led by UVC PARTNERS, with participation from HTGF, BALNORD, SENTRIS and SCALE CAPITAL.

The new round brings its cumulative funding since inception to approximately €20 million. Neither the exact size of the latest tranche nor the company’s valuation has been disclosed.

The funding is intended to help INLEAP cross a boundary that is generally more difficult than proving a technology in the laboratory: turning a functional system into equipment that can be manufactured, tested, certified and delivered under repeatable conditions.

An industrial technology finds a military target

INLEAP’s core technology lies in beam steering. Industrial laser systems generally direct light using mechanical mirrors. Their speed, inertia and precision ultimately limit the number of operations that can be performed within a given period. INLEAP says it has developed a digital semiconductor architecture capable of steering the beam without mechanically moving these mirrors.

According to the company, FASTLIGHT could therefore steer a beam up to 2,500 times faster and make certain industrial processes six to ten times more efficient. These performance gains nevertheless depend on the application and remain documented primarily by INLEAP itself.

The technology has already achieved an initial industrial validation with ACONITY3D, which integrated FASTLIGHT into its metal additive-manufacturing machines to accelerate laser movement during powder-bed fusion. According to the two companies, the integration should allow certain areas to be processed more rapidly, distribute energy more effectively and ultimately increase equipment productivity.

This is where INLEAP intends to distinguish itself from defence companies whose programmes are structured primarily around increasing laser power. The German startup begins with a different question: how can the available energy be used more efficiently? Power alone is not enough in a counter-drone system. It must detect a target, track its changes in trajectory, identify a vulnerable point and keep the beam focused long enough to produce an effect. For a comparable outcome, faster and more precise steering can therefore reduce both the energy required and the time the beam must remain on each target.

This search for efficiency leads to another choice: INLEAP is focusing its system on neutralising small drones, using equipment compact enough to be installed near a sensitive site or carried on a mobile platform.

FASTLIGHT SHIELD targets small drones rather than missiles

The company’s first product, FASTLIGHT SHIELD, is presented as a laser effector designed to defend against small drones. According to INLEAP, the system can neutralise a target within seconds, or even a fraction of a second in certain configurations, by concentrating the beam on an identified vulnerable point. Its range could reach three kilometres. Multiple units could also be combined to protect a larger area or engage more targets.

Above all, the startup emphasises the system’s compact footprint, which it says is compatible with the dimensions of a Euro pallet, and the absence of consumable ammunition. Once installed and powered, the system can theoretically engage multiple targets without requiring stocks of missiles or shells to be replenished.

The economic argument has also become central to counter-drone defence. Using a missile costing several hundred thousand euros against a drone assembled for a few thousand—or even a few hundred—euros cannot provide a sustainable response as attacks multiply. Lasers promise to rebalance part of this equation by replacing ammunition with electricity.

Yet a low marginal cost per shot does not make a laser system cheap. Beyond the effector itself, the system requires power and cooling, as well as radars, radio-frequency sensors and electro-optical systems to detect and track the target. Software must then combine this information, assess the threat and authorise the engagement. Deployment ultimately requires a command chain capable of monitoring the airspace and preventing a civilian aircraft, an authorised drone or a misidentification from turning a protection operation into an incident. INLEAP does not yet control this entire chain on its own: it primarily controls the laser effector and relies on partners for some of the sensors, software and operational integration.

With FASTLIGHT HELD, INLEAP joins a system built by several partners

FASTLIGHT HELD, the company’s second product, makes INLEAP’s intended role clearer. The system combines its laser effector with an unmanned ground vehicle developed by HENTSCHEL SYSTEM and a C-UAS software platform supplied by STARK. The complete system is designed to travel across difficult terrain and protect units, convoys or temporary installations against drones, including NATO Class I and Class II systems.

Trials are due to begin in the third quarter of 2026, with commercial availability targeted for 2027. FASTLIGHT HELD therefore remains a programme undergoing validation, not a system already in mass production or operational deployment.

A counter-drone system combines several disciplines: radar detection, radio-frequency analysis, electro-optics, command and control, identification, effector selection and the deployment platform. Few startups can develop every one of these components alone.

While this distributed architecture is logical, it nevertheless creates a strategic risk.

INLEAP currently controls primarily the effector, while STARK supplies the command-and-control software and HENTSCHEL SYSTEM provides the ground platform. Other partners will need to contribute sensors, detection capabilities and integration with armed-forces systems.

Two paths are therefore possible. INLEAP could become the reference supplier of an effector integrated into multiple European architectures. It could also find itself in the middle of a chain in which the software provider, systems integrator and prime contractor retain the customer relationship and capture most of the value.

To avoid becoming an interchangeable component, the startup will need to demonstrate that its beam-steering technology delivers a sufficiently significant advantage in precision, safety, compactness or cost.

The €20 million must now build a manufacturing company

The funding will first be used to standardise the assembly and testing of FASTLIGHT SHIELD and FASTLIGHT HELD. INLEAP also plans to strengthen quality assurance, secure its supply chain and begin the certification processes required for industrial and military environments. Part of the capital will also finance sales teams, support operations and new sites in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

The company says it is seeing strong order intake, but has disclosed neither the number nor the value of these orders, the identity of the buyers or the delivery timetable.

The German Ministry of Defence and the BUNDESWEHR CYBER INNOVATION HUB are also working with INLEAP through partnerships.

The “eye-safe” promise opens the civilian market and concentrates the risk

Eye safety remains one of the areas that INLEAP must further develop, document and have certified.

The company is conducting a study for the German Ministry of Defence on the technical, legal and operational requirements governing the use of lasers at BUNDESWEHR sites. It is also working with the BUNDESWEHR CYBER INNOVATION HUB on LASERDOME, a project designed to test the technology under more realistic conditions and against multiple drones. Detailed results from this work have not been made public.

CILAS is the closest European comparison

INLEAP is entering a market in which several programmes have already moved beyond the demonstration stage.

In Europe, France’s CILAS is probably the closest competitor. Its HELMA-P system is designed to neutralise small drones and can be deployed on a building, vehicle or ship. It formed part of the security apparatus for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The French company, majority-controlled by MBDA and SAFRAN, therefore has an initial public reference from a major civilian event.

In Germany, MBDA and RHEINMETALL are operating on a different scale. In July 2026, the two groups received a mid-three-digit-million-euro contract to develop a naval laser system scheduled to become operational in 2029. The demonstrator had previously completed more than 1,000 firings during a year of sea trials.

The United Kingdom is also accelerating the DRAGONFIRE programme, developed by MBDA, LEONARDO and QINETIQ. A £316 million contract is intended to equip the ROYAL NAVY from 2027. The British government puts the cost at approximately £10 per shot and says the system is precise enough to hit a coin from one kilometre away.

Israel, meanwhile, has IRON BEAM, developed by RAFAEL with ELBIT. This 100 kW-class system targets not only drones but also rockets and mortars. It was delivered in late 2025 for integration into Israel’s multilayered air-defence architecture, although its full operational deployment remains gradual.

Australia’s EOS has sold the Netherlands a 100 kW-class laser system under a €71 million contract. Deliveries are expected in 2027 or 2028. EOS claims a cost of less than $10 per shot and has recently opened a production and integration centre in Singapore to support its international contracts.

These programmes are not directly comparable with FASTLIGHT SHIELD. Most target higher power levels, larger threats and heavier platforms. They nevertheless show that the military-laser market is already occupied by groups capable of investing several hundred million euros, running trials over several years and selling complete architectures.

INLEAP must avoid a head-on race for power. Its natural position lies instead in compact systems designed for small drones, mobile units and infrastructure operating under stringent safety constraints.

Sometimes the laser’s main competitor is no laser at all

Competition is not limited to producers of directed-energy weapons. A counter-drone system can jam communications, take control of the drone, deceive its navigation system, launch an interceptor drone, fire a projectile, use a missile or emit an electromagnetic pulse. Each technology addresses a different configuration.

D-FEND SOLUTIONS, for example, has developed a “cyber takeover” approach that detects certain radio communications, takes control of the drone and forces it to land in a designated area. The solution has an obvious appeal for airports and urban environments, where destroying the target could cause falling debris.

DRONESHIELD and AARONIA focus in particular on radio-frequency detection and jamming. MARSS and several European startups are developing interceptor drones. EPIRUS is working on LEONIDAS, a high-power microwave system capable of affecting several electronic devices simultaneously.

Lasers offer three advantages: high precision, no dependence on ammunition stocks and a low marginal cost once the system has been installed.

They also have several limitations. They require a clear line of sight. Their effectiveness can be reduced by rain, fog, dust or smoke. The beam must remain on each target for long enough to produce an effect. Finally, unless several effectors are deployed, threats are generally engaged sequentially.

Against a swarm, a microwave weapon can neutralise several drones with a single emission. When confronting a hijacked civilian aircraft, radio takeover can avoid destroying it. Against an autonomous drone with no radio link, jamming may become ineffective, restoring the advantage to the laser or an interceptor.

The market is therefore unlikely to produce a single winner. It should instead move towards multilayered systems capable of switching between effectors according to the target, environment and threat level.

A multibillion-dollar market of which INLEAP will capture only a fraction

The proliferation of drones on battlefields, along borders and near civilian infrastructure is driving strong market growth.

Reuters currently places the global counter-drone market at between $3 billion and $7 billion. It is growing by approximately 20% a year and could reach $14.5 billion by 2030. This growth is attracting suppliers of radars, software, jammers, interceptor drones and directed-energy weapons. It is also increasing the risk of inflated claims and the commercialisation of systems whose operational effectiveness remains difficult to verify.

MARKETSANDMARKETS, for its part, estimates that the European market could grow from $1.24 billion in 2025 to $4.16 billion in 2030. As is often the case in defence, differences between research firms reflect not only growth assumptions but also the definitions they use: some include only neutralisation technologies, while others also count detection, command-and-control systems and services.

These figures therefore do not represent INLEAP’s directly addressable market, because the company currently operates in only one layer: the laser effector. Its market share will depend on how many architectures select a laser, the effector’s weight in the total system price, the company’s production capacity and the agreements it signs with integrators.

Several business models remain possible. INLEAP could sell FASTLIGHT SHIELD directly, market FASTLIGHT HELD with its partners, supply its effector to prime contractors, license its beam-steering technology or generate maintenance and upgrade revenue.

Its industrial business may also remain important. Applications in additive manufacturing, batteries and materials processing offer a market that is less dependent on military authorisations and public-procurement cycles. They can provide a validation environment and help amortise technology investments.

This dual positioning is an advantage, provided the company does not spread itself too thinly across two markets with profoundly different customers, certification requirements and sales cycles.

Tomorrow’s competitors could come from the factory floor

The market is already attracting laser manufacturers with far greater financial and production capabilities.

NLIGHT now sells several classes of high-energy lasers ranging from 10 to 70 kW and has secured US defence contracts. Its evolution shows how a specialist in laser sources can gradually move up the value chain towards complete systems.

TRUMPF, meanwhile, controls laser sources, beam delivery, optics, sensors and industrial laser-system integration. The German group has not announced a product directly comparable with FASTLIGHT SHIELD, but it possesses many of the capabilities required either to enter the market or supply a competitor.

IPG PHOTONICS, COHERENT, LUMIBIRD and AMPLITUDE could also become suppliers, partners or potential entrants. As governments increase their funding for these programmes, the boundary between industrial and defence lasers will become more porous.

A mid-sized company such as GYS would currently sit further away from the effector itself. It has expertise in power electronics, cooling, welding, assembly and mass production, but has not publicly demonstrated equivalent capabilities in high-energy lasers, adaptive optics or advanced beam steering.

Its most likely entry route would be to supply subsystems, form a joint venture with a photonics company or acquire a technology component. The example nevertheless illustrates another form of competition: INLEAP will not only have to monitor defence startups. It will also have to contend with industrial companies capable of assembling, cooling and manufacturing several hundred systems once the market moves into mass production.

Europe creates demand, then requires coalitions

In February 2026, the European Commission presented an action plan on drone and counter-drone security. It aims to strengthen testing capabilities, encourage joint procurement and mobilise several instruments, including HORIZON EUROPE, the EUROPEAN DEFENCE FUND, EDIP and SAFE.

The EUROPEAN DRONE DEFENCE INITIATIVE is intended to provide an initial capability before the end of 2026 and become fully operational in 2027. At the same time, the Commission wants to reduce the fragmentation of military procurement and foster European supply chains.

For INLEAP, this policy opens three doors: funding for new trials, participation in consortia and access to multinational contracts.

It also forces the startup to choose its alliances quickly. European defence markets favour coalitions that bring together sensors, software, platforms, effectors and integrators. A startup with differentiated technology but no route into these architectures can remain stuck at the demonstrator stage for years.

The next milestones are therefore clear: secure certifications, publish verifiable performance data, demonstrate effectiveness under different weather conditions, engage multiple targets, clarify the system’s full cost and convert trials into firm orders.