Defence AI start-up Adarga races to land new funding

A developer of AI-driven software used by the defence and intelligence communities and backed by a fund which employs the former defence secretary, Sir Ben Wallace, is racing to secure millions of pounds of new funding.

Sky News has learnt that Adarga, which was founded in 2016, is in detailed talks with a prospective investor about injecting between £6m and £8m into the company.

A board meeting is understood to have been scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the potential capital injection.

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The accelerated fundraising comes several weeks after Sir Donald Brydon, the City grandee who has chaired companies including Royal Mail Group and London Stock Exchange Group, stepped down as Adarga’s chairman.

He has been replaced in that role by Rob Bassett Cross, the former Army officer who founded and runs the software business.

Sir Donald took up the role in May 2022.

Adarga announced a $20m funding round exactly two years ago to facilitate its expansion.

That round was led by BOKA Group, a so-called deeptech investor which now employs Sir Ben as a partner.

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Adarga describes itself as specialising in information intelligence, providing data and insights to corporate and other clients to aid their decision-making in often-complex and dangerous situations.

It declined to comment on its fundraising talks on Wednesday.