Shifters, a technology company developing AI-native autonomous robotic teams, announced a $10.2 million seed funding round led by Ace Capital Partners, bringing the company’s total funding to $15 million.
The round included participation from Aurelius Capital Management, Corner Ventures, Arkin Capital, STEP World, and Fresh Fund. The company said the new capital will support the expansion of its AI capabilities, manufacturing readiness efforts, and international operations as it advances its mission of deploying autonomous ground robotic systems into hazardous environments before human personnel are exposed to risk.
Founded around the principle of “Robots Go First,” Shifters is building supervised autonomous robotic teams designed to help operators improve situational awareness, extend operational reach, and reduce human exposure in dangerous environments. The company’s technology targets applications across defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and hazardous commercial operations.
While aerial drones have transformed intelligence gathering and surveillance missions, Shifters is focused on bringing similar levels of autonomy and operational effectiveness to ground-based missions, particularly in environments such as tunnels, rubble-filled areas, contaminated zones, and other locations where visibility and safety challenges remain significant.
The company’s platform combines AI-driven decision-making, mission orchestration software, and modular robotic systems that can be configured for different operational requirements. Shifters is designing its technology around Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) principles, enabling integration with mission-specific payloads and customer environments through open APIs and partner ecosystems.
According to the company, it has already completed demonstrations of coordinated robotic entry and navigation capabilities with defense and security stakeholders. The latest funding will help accelerate development of agentic AI functionality while supporting manufacturing scale-up and expansion of operations across its existing footprint in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Potential defense and security applications include reconnaissance, intelligence collection, perimeter security, sensing operations, and preparation for high-risk missions. The technology also has potential commercial uses in infrastructure inspection, agriculture, mining, and search-and-rescue operations.
The funding comes as defense organizations increasingly prioritize artificial intelligence, autonomy, and open-system architectures as part of broader modernization efforts aimed at enhancing operational effectiveness and reducing risks to personnel.
KEY QUOTES:
“The first asset into a dangerous environment should increasingly be a robot, not a person. 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.”
Ofer Ballin, CEO And Co-Founder, Shifters
“The challenge is not simply building a robot that can move. 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.”
Assaf Chaprak, CTO And Co-Founder, Shifters
“At Ace Capital Partners, we continue to back the technologies redefining defense and dual-use autonomy. Shifters is exactly that kind of company, and the AI motion control layer it is building is exactly the kind of capability we believe will define the next era of ground robotics.”
Shimon Tsentsiper, Co-Founder And Managing Partner, Ace Capital Partners
