Tel Aviv, Israel – ASIO, an Israeli defence technology company pioneering autonomy, enhanced awareness and resilient navigation for the tactical domain, on July 20 announced the successful completion of its first funding round, raising $15 million.
The investment was led by Protego Ventures, a leading Israel-based defence-focused venture capital fund investing in early-growth companies advancing breakthrough technologies across critical defence domains, in partnership with Aliya Capital Partners as co-lead investor. Aliya Capital Partners is a leading alternative investment firm whose portfolio includes category-defining companies in AI, space, defence, and autonomy.
Founded by Tomer Malchi and Yaniv Malchi, ASIO develops advanced tactical systems for manoeuvring forces operating in complex and contested environments. Built on its proprietary GeoFusion™ technology, the company’s solutions solve the coordination and communication challenges of joint multi-force operations, enabling ground dominance through interoperability, operational autonomy, enhanced situational awareness, and resilient edge navigation. ASIO’s systems are deployed at scale across all branches of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and are in operational use by defence customers worldwide.
“This investment marks an important milestone in ASIO’s growth,” said Tomer Malchi, Founder and CEO of ASIO. “Modern battlefields demand technologies that enable tactical units to operate independently, maintain mission continuity, and make faster, better-informed decisions and to support interoperability with other system in the field. This investment will allow us to accelerate innovation, expand globally, and continue delivering combat-proven operational capabilities that can be deployed at scale.”
“Most defence companies build for a single platform. ASIO solved the harder challenge: enabling joint forces to remain coordinated, oriented, and operational even when GPS and communications are denied,” said Lital Leshem, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Protego Ventures. “That’s the power of GeoFusion, and it’s why ASIO’s systems are trusted by defence customers around the world. Building a profitable, bootstrapped company while reaching this level of operational maturity is exceptional. We’re proud to lead this investment and support ASIO’s next phase of global growth.”
“ASIO is exactly the kind of category-defining defence technology company we look for – combat-proven, capital-efficient, and built by operators who understand the battlefield firsthand,” said Ross Kestin, Founder and CEO of Aliya Capital Partners. “This investment deepens our commitment to Israel’s defence-tech ecosystem, and we’re proud to co-lead alongside Protego Ventures in backing Tomer, Yaniv, and the ASIO team as they scale their platform to defence customers around the world.”
Founded and built as a profitable, bootstrapped company, ASIO will use the new funding to scale production, accelerate product development and extend its reach to global customers. The company continues to expand its partnerships with governments, defence primes, OEMs, and strategic industry partners across North America, Europe, and Asia.
ASIO develops combat-proven solutions that ensure operational independence for ground manoeuvrers. Its portfolio includes mission-enhancement and tactical intelligence systems, command and control platforms, situational awareness, resilient and GPS-independent navigation systems for aerial platforms, advanced target acquisition, and north-finding technologies, all powered by its proprietary GeoFusion™ core. ASIO systems are deployed across the IDF and adopted by defence customers worldwide.
Protego Ventures is an Israel-based defence venture capital fund investing in breakthrough technologies that address today’s most urgent defence and security challenges, including drones, AI and machine learning, sensors, aerial defences, and UAVs.
Aliya Capital Partners is a Miami-based alternative investment adviser that pursues what it brands “Alternative Alpha” across four strategies: venture capital, sports ecosystem, special situations and real estate. The firm manages $6B across 70+ investments and a team of 25 professionals, led by founder and CEO Ross Kestin. Its venture portfolio centres on late-stage growth and category-leading technology companies in AI, space, defence and autonomy.
