Arondite
"Orchestrate every mission"
London defence software firm whose Cobalt platform commands drones, uncrewed vessels and sensors for the British Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade and Royal Navy.
Arondite is a British defence technology company that builds software for commanding mixed fleets of crewed and uncrewed systems. It was founded in London in 2023 by Will Blyth (CEO) and Rob Underhill (CTO). Blyth spent more than a decade as a British Army officer, then worked at the UK Ministry of Defence and led UK defence strategy at Palantir. Underhill was a lead engineer at BAE Systems and a founding engineer at Garrison Technology. The company calls itself "the British defence tech company for an autonomous age". Dealroom lists about 48 staff.
Cobalt is the company's product, an AI-assisted mission orchestration and command-and-control platform. It is hardware-agnostic. It brings sensors, effectors, robotic platforms, enterprise data such as order of battle and equipment, and open-source intelligence into one operational picture. Operators can then task many uncrewed assets as a single force. Cobalt includes modules for terrain and approach-route analysis, real-time synchronisation of manoeuvre across domains, dynamic deconfliction of routes and boundaries, and digital orders at each echelon. It also covers threat detection, classification, prioritisation and engagement, electronic-warfare and signature management, and mapping of friendly and adversary communications. Arondite says new capabilities can be integrated in days rather than months, with humans kept in the decision loop. It markets four packaged use cases: Hybrid Navy, Counter-UAS, Recce-Strike and Site Security. Early use cases also included minefield clearance and counter-intrusion.
Land forces are the main customer base so far. In March 2026 Arondite announced a multi-million-pound UK Ministry of Defence contract to deploy Cobalt across the British Army's Very High Readiness Force. Cobalt is the integration and C2 layer for the 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, letting operators control drones and other uncrewed systems from one interface. The British Army had already used Cobalt on exercises, including NATO's Forest Guardian on the eastern flank. Arondite says it holds contracts across the Army, the Royal Marines, the Royal Navy and parts of the Royal Air Force.
At sea, the Royal Navy uses Cobalt for Hybrid Navy experimentation under the Maritime Big Play programme, including reconnaissance of littoral access points. In that work Cobalt combines multi-domain autonomous assets, live satellite data and AI classification models into one planning and C3 tool. Arondite is also Babcock's partner on the ARMOR Force concept, unveiled in December 2025 with HII. In that concept Cobalt is the autonomy and mission orchestration layer that lets crewed and uncrewed vessels and aircraft be commanded as one fleet from ship or shore.
Arondite raised a USD 2.25 million pre-seed round in July 2024, led by Concept Ventures and Creator Fund. In May 2025 it raised a seed round of about USD 10 million led by Index Ventures, bringing total funding to more than USD 12 million. Its website lists ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certification, UK Cyber Essentials Plus, JOSCAR accreditation as a registered defence supplier, and an Armed Forces Covenant Silver Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Company Facts
Founded
2023
Primary Role
Software/Algorithm
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Europe
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Early-Stage VC
Funding Total
-
Certifications & Memberships
