Shearwater Aerospace announced it has closed a $3 million seed financing round to accelerate the commercialization of its Smart Flight platform for uncrewed aircraft operations. The Montreal-based company said the funding will support the rollout of its AI-powered mission-planning technology across the dual-use sector, including both commercial and defense applications.
The round was led by a strategic Canadian corporate venture capital investor. Proceeds will be used to enhance Smart Flight’s autonomous capabilities, support early customer deployments, and expand the company’s engineering and customer-facing teams.
Shearwater Aerospace’s Smart Flight platform is designed to enable mission success in challenging weather and complex terrain environments. The drone-agnostic system leverages real-time environmental intelligence to extend flight range and endurance while delivering resilience and predictability for high-stakes missions. According to the company, Smart Flight can extend operational range by 30%, improve transit efficiency by 25%, and reduce pilot workload by 90%.
The company partners with drone system integrators and prime contractors to support long-range and beyond visual line of sight operations across commercial and defense programs. Its platform dynamically plans and adapts routes in real time, using topographical features and weather conditions as strategic inputs to optimize performance and mission outcomes.
Founded to advance AI-powered autonomy in real-world conditions, Shearwater Aerospace positions Smart Flight as a weather-optimized and topographically trained navigation solution for uncrewed aircraft. The company said it is now transitioning from successful trials to broader real-world deployment as it scales toward operational readiness and commercial growth.
KEY QUOTES
“Securing this financing allows us to focus squarely on execution. We’re moving from proven trial success to large-scale real-world deployment and expanding the platform’s capabilities to support operational readiness and commercial growth.”
Chad Armstrong, CEO & Co-founder, Shearwater Aerospace
“It’s encouraging to see strong Canadian backing for deep-tech ventures like Shearwater. This investment reflects ongoing confidence in the team’s ability to scale its technology globally, and TandemLaunch is proud to continue supporting their journey toward market leadership.”
Emilie Boutros, Partner, TandemLaunch
