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Kela Technologies

Defence · Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel · Founded 2024

Kela is a defense‑technology startup building a secure, open operating system for modern militaries. Founded in Israel in July 2024 by alumni of elite intelligence and defense units, the company emerged from stealth after the October 7 attacks with a mission to help Western democracies adapt to a battlefield increasingly shaped by civilian technologies. Kela’s platform is designed to let militaries plug emerging commercial capabilities—such as AI models, drones, sensors and edge devices—into existing defense systems quickly, without the long delays and vendor lock‑in associated with traditional procurement. At the core of Kela’s product is an AI‑powered, modular software layer that ingests and fuses data from diverse sources, processes it in real time, and presents commanders with a unified, dynamic command interface. This battlefield operating system enables forces to see, understand and act across connected assets—from frontline units and unmanned systems to remote sensors and decision‑support tools—while remaining flexible enough to integrate new technologies as they appear. Designed and battle‑tested in collaboration with the Israeli defense establishment, the platform is explicitly focused on rapid iteration under fire: deploying capabilities quickly, learning from real‑world use, and updating the system at the pace of conflict, rather than the pace of traditional defense platforms. Kela is backed by top‑tier US venture firms Sequoia Capital and Lux Capital, alongside strategic investor In‑Q‑Tel, and has raised around 100 million dollars across Seed, Series A and a subsequent growth round within its first year. The company has scaled a highly technical team in Tel Aviv and completed its first acquisition, buying AI FinOps startup Pelanor to strengthen its real‑time analytics and optimisation capabilities for resource‑constrained environments. With early deployments in Israel and ambitions to support US and other Western militaries, Kela positions itself as a foundational software layer for democratic defense institutions, aiming to translate the speed and adaptability of commercial technology into operational advantage on the battlefield. Keywords: defense‑tech, battlefield operating system, command and control, AI & analytics, edge computing, sensor fusion, open architecture platform, B2G, Israel, Western militaries, dual‑use technology.