UAE's EDGE Group deepens stake in Israeli drone software maker High Lander in $16M round

DUBAI — Abu Dhabi's EDGE Group has increased its strategic investment in High Lander, an Israeli autonomous-aviation software company, as part of a $16 million addition that completes the startup's Series A and takes its total funding to $30 million.

Protego, STEP and Kinetica also participated in the round. High Lander, founded in 2018 and led by chief executive Alon Abelson, builds Vega, an airspace coordination platform, and Orion, a drone fleet management system. The new capital is earmarked for US and international expansion and a deeper push into defense and homeland security markets.

The Gulf angle here is the investor, not the company. EDGE, the UAE's defense conglomerate, chose to deepen a strategic position in an Israeli defense software firm while regional conflict is ongoing. That decision carries more signal than the round size: Abu Dhabi's defense establishment is continuing to build technology ties with Israel through commercial channels, even as the political environment remains strained.

Airspace coordination software sits at the center of both the commercial drone economy and modern air defense, making it a natural acquisition-adjacent category for a group like EDGE, which has spent the past several years assembling autonomous systems capabilities.

Watch whether EDGE converts this deepened stake into a board seat, a regional licensing arrangement or a full acquisition approach, any of which would mark the next step in UAE-Israel defense technology integration. Calcalist first reported the investment.