Esh-Tech, an Israeli defense tech startup, has raised $18 million as part of a funding round led by Kinetica Partners as it moves from development toward large‑scale production of its DroneLight counter-drone system.
Esh-Tech’s $18 million funding round, backed by a group of investors including Mahari, Renaton Capital, Q Fund, 2i Ventures, Hinkley, FFG, and several angel backers, and the Israel Innovation Authority, signals growing confidence in the country’s ability to develop cutting-edge defense solutions.
The announcement comes as Hezbollah’s escalating use of explosive and first-person-view (FPV) drones is emerging as one of the most urgent threats facing Israeli forces along their northern border.
Drones have accounted for a growing share of attacks in southern Lebanon
Since fighting resumed in the north earlier this year, drones have accounted for a growing share of attacks on IDF troops in southern Lebanon, with Israeli soldiers in some cases resorting to improvised defenses, including fishing nets sourced from Galilee fishermen, while the military works toward a more effective and universal countermeasure.
Fiber-optic-guided FPV drones in particular have proven resistant to jamming and electronic countermeasures, complicating the IDF’s response. Defense officials have also raised concerns that Hezbollah may have extended the range of its FPV drones far enough to threaten larger northern cities in Israel.
🇩🇪 Con su familia de blindados ACSV, FFG es otra de las animadoras de #Eurosatory2026
En París, la compañía alemana exhibe al ACSV equipado con el módulo VSHORAD CONDOR (Turra 30 SA) y la variante equipada con el C-UAS DroneLight de Esh-Tech
FFG tambien expone al vehiculo… pic.twitter.com/RXLi0SCxez
— Zona Militar (@Zonamilitar1) June 17, 2026
It’s against this backdrop that Esh‑Tech broadens its reach, saying the capital will support the establishment of a domestic production line, the finalization of development work, expanded hiring, and the scaling of international sales and delivery operations.
The Omer-based company develops laser‑based defense technologies designed for scalable and rapid response against aerial threats. Its flagship DroneLight system uses pulsed‑laser interception to provide a cost‑effective counter‑UAS capability intended for deployment across a range of operational environments.
According to Esh-Tech, the system carried out “successful operational testing under real-world conditions.”
The company’s CEO, Erez Riahi, said that the company is “fully focused on bringing DroneLight into operational service and delivering meaningful impact where it matters most.”
Esh-Tech has also previously said that its DroneLight is priced approximately 25% lower than legacy continuous-wave laser systems and that the technology is far more effective.
The Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense, Research and Development (Mafat) has backed much of that assessment. Several months ago, Esh-Tech was selected as a breakthrough company in the Mafat for Startups program, which means that it will receive up to NIS 10 million in support for its product.
Reliance on US-supplied weapons is a possible long-term vulnerability
In addition to concerns over Hezbollah’s increased use of FPV drones, some Israeli defense analysts have separately pointed to the country’s reliance on US-supplied weapons as a long-term vulnerability, arguing that a domestic industry capable of fielding systems like DroneLight reduces exposure to shifts in Washington’s posture. That argument adds a second rationale, beyond the immediate Hezbollah drone threat, for why investors are moving now.
Esh-Tech has been at the forefront of that shift since its founding six years ago. The company, based near Beersheba, employs only around 20 people there, but among them are some high-caliber specialists.
Those specialists have hit the ground running, developing systems that emit hundreds of coin-sized beams at a target. Once a beam registers a hit, additional beams are directed at the same point, and the combined energy brings the target down. Esh-Tech says they’re expecting to present their first operational system by September.
Unlike fiber-based systems, Esh-Tech’s laser uses pulse technology, allowing it to score a focused hit in a hundredth of a second. With an output of four kilowatts, it can destroy a target at a range of up to one kilometer.
Esh-Tech’s ambitions extend beyond Israel. The laser’s low power draw keeps the system compact enough to mount on armored vehicles, and the company says it is already in talks with manufacturers in Israel and abroad, with contracts worth millions from European buyers already in hand, and a lighter, Jeep-mounted version is in development.
For now, though, the company’s focus remains at home, on a system that can substantively meet the threats posed by Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border.
