Australian defense technology startup Breaker has raised $9 million in seed funding.
The funding was led by US VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners, with support from existing backer Main Sequence, which led a $2 million pre-seed in 2025 about 12 months ago. The startup, which was born out of the UNSW Founders Defense 10X program in 2023, is currently headquartered in the US in Austin, Texas.
The new funding will go towards the development and adoption of the Sydney startup’s AI agent software.
Breaker’s platform allows military operators to coordinate teams of up to 100 autonomous systems across the air, land, and sea using voice.
Founders Matthew Buffa, Michael Irwin, and Vanja Videnovic are former engineers at Anduril, Droneshield, and Hargrave Technologies.
Co-CEO Mr Buffer said operator bottlenecks were one of the Australian Defense Force’s most costly capability gaps.
“Today, autonomy still means one operator controlling one robot using a remote control or laptop, severely limiting the number of autonomous systems that can be deployed,” he said.
“With our technology, a single human operator simply interacts with a set of autonomous systems via radios already onboard. Then, an onboard AI agent responds with real-time, situational-aware responses, translating the operator’s intent into machine behavior. This allows the operator to stay focused on their mission, such as driving a truck or piloting a helicopter.”
robot orchestration
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlighted the effectiveness of drones as military weapons. Cheap drones as bombers piloted by Ukrainian soldiers have been used to devastating effect against Russia’s expensive military machinery, but it’s still one battle at a time.
Buffa says the next frontier is orchestration: how to manage and coordinate teams of robots quickly, at scale, and under pressure.
“Breaker’s software changes the operator-to-robot ratio, turning small teams into force multipliers. The robots become true teammates who understand the mission and complete the mission,” he said.
The startup’s software runs entirely on each robot, with no cloud connectivity or external networks required. This is essential in what the military calls a “denied environment,” an environment where communications are blocked or denied. Breaker agents continue to operate autonomously and make mission-aligned decisions.
Bessemer partner David Cowan said Breaker’s robotic agents will redefine how the military deploys and manages autonomous systems.
“Breaker is tackling one of the toughest and most important problems in defense technology by enabling small teams to safely control large numbers of robots through an intuitive natural language interface,” he said.
armored vehicle demo
Breaker’s AI agent software was recently installed on the mission system of a Boxer armored vehicle at German manufacturer Rheinmetall’s Australian test facility. The Boxer is an Australian-made 8×8 armored vehicle used by militaries around the world.
Rheinmetall Australia’s Adam Henrichs said the project demonstrated how Breaker’s AI agents can be integrated at the tactical edge of complex combat environments.
“By integrating Breker’s software into Boxer, operators were able to use simple, intent-based voice commands to task the unmanned air system with forward reconnaissance missions while continuing to operate the vehicle without making any major changes to Boxer’s existing design,” he said.
“This is a powerful example of how co-innovation by industry can accelerate capacity development, and we look forward to advancing this work towards full integration.”
If you want to see some cool stuff the Breaker team does, and it looks like something Tom Cruise should do in Mission: Impossible, check out this video.
