Tenna Systems, a defence tech startup building software for spectrum intelligence, just pulled in $13.5 million in seed funding.
The round was oversubscribed, with Costanoa Ventures leading and support from Viola Ventures, Fresh Fund, 202 Ventures, plus some returning backers.
They plan to move faster on rolling out their hardware-free tools that help military teams monitor and manage radio frequencies with no extra gear needed.
These days, everything on the battlefield runs on wireless, from drones and satellites to secure comms. That brings big headaches like jamming, spoofing, and all kinds of interference, which can cripple defence and aerospace systems.
Tenna’s platform gives operators a live look at what’s really going on in the electromagnetic spectrum, so they can spot threats and react in real time, all without installing new hardware.
A Software-First Approach to Spectrum Resilience
Defence forces have difficulty adapting to rapidly changing signal environments due to traditional electronic warfare (EW) and spectrum monitoring systems relying on custom equipment and expensive physical sensor deployments.
Defending Tenna’s founders, twin brothers Avner and Gabriel Bendheim, both seasoned veterans with extensive experience in signals intelligence (SIGINT) and electronic warfare (EW) systems, concluded that the majority or all of the remaining work could be accomplished using software.
This software created the ability to exploit all existing radio frequency receivers, including:
- radio receivers
- sensor receivers for aircraft
- sensor receivers for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
- As well as receivers in satellites and those in mobile (cell) telephones, and convert them to be used as a sensor network.
“It is like AccuWeather for electronic warfare,” said Tenna’s co-founder and CEO, Avner Bendheim.
This system collects, for a given area of interest, the various sensor data and integrates them into a real-time visualization of the area of interest in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum, allowing mission planners and electronic warfare (EW) units to visualise the problems in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum in real-time.
Unlike traditional systems that have been designed to work on a specific infrastructure and specialized hardware, Tenna’s systems are designed to work on the systems, equipment, and platforms that are in use by the defence customers.
This results in greater scalability than existing systems. It has been reported that Tenna is capable of pinpointing the sources of RF interference with an accuracy of about 50 to 200 meters.
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Products Built for Real-Time Threat Understanding
Tenna offers three products that address different aspects of real-time spectrum monitoring and resilience.
Arena provides real-time tracking and monitoring of spectrum coverage and gaps in complex environments.
Tracer offers tools for precise geo-location of interference sources and emitters for quick response and mitigation.
Halo is an embedded software “armour” that operationally shields wireless systems to keep them connected during active interruptions.
With these tools combined, defence operators gain a holistic understanding of current and future spectrum challenges. Not only do these tools pinpoint interference, but they also identify how to counter the interference.
Growing Defence Partnerships and Market Expansion
Tenna’s software is already in action with the U.S. Army and Air Force, and the company is working with several federal defence agencies and top contractors to grow even more.
Their tech isn’t just sitting in labs; it’s out there with allied forces in real conflict zones, where messy, contested spectrum environments can make or break missions using drones, navigation, comms, and ISR gear.
Investors are paying attention. Greg Sands, who leads Costanoa Ventures, says Tenna is pushing spectrum intelligence into new territory, helping defence teams protect their wireless systems everywhere from air, sea, land, and even space.
Now, with fresh funding, Tenna’s gearing up to more than double its team this year. They’re going all-in to boost their presence in the U.S. defence world and sharpen their software.
