Creoir, an Oulu-based defence technology company specialising in voice AI for mission-critical systems, has secured a seed investment from Swedish venture capital fund Gungnir Capital, which is leading the ongoing seed round. The round has a target of €2 million. The funding will be used to accelerate the commercialisation of its EdgeVUI and Operator Assistant products and to respond to growing demand from European defence customers.
Technology for High-Pressure Defence Environments
Operators of complex defence systems, including command and control platforms, combat management systems, vehicles, sonar systems and radios, often work under intense cognitive load where every second counts. Creoir's EdgeVUI product allows these operators to interact with systems by voice, hands-free and in their native language. Operator Assistant, an AI-powered knowledge base, provides instant access to mission-critical information in demanding environments.
Offline Voice AI and On-Device Processing
Creoir's technologies run entirely on the device, work offline with no cloud dependency, and are designed for noisy, security-critical environments where connected solutions are not an option. EdgeVUI provides defence-grade voice AI through natural language understanding tools using automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech and speech signal enhancement technologies from Cerence AI. This combination supports secure, hands-free operation without relying on external connectivity.
Established Defence Partnerships
Creoir already works with several of Europe's leading defence primes and system integrators, including ongoing projects at Saab, Leidos, and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The company was founded in 2012 in Oulu by Antti Lilja, Jaakko Mattila, and Oskari Ketola, a team with long backgrounds at Nokia in embedded systems and wireless technologies. It also recently announced its selection for the NATO Innovation Range for the Layered Counter-UAS Initiative, an operational experiment focused on counter-unmanned aerial systems.
Investor and Founder Perspectives
Gungnir Capital is a Swedish venture capital fund focused on early-stage defence and security resilience in Europe, investing from pre-seed to Series A. Its Managing Partner, Max Villman, is a former JAS 39 Gripen fighter pilot who said modern command systems can overwhelm operators with information and that offline voice control in noisy conditions wins tempo. He added that Creoir solves a real operational problem with technology already in projects at Europe's leading defence primes.
Antti Lilja, CEO and co-founder of Creoir, said defence operators work under extreme pressure and hands-free voice interaction returns critical attention to the mission. He noted that European demand for voice AI in defence systems continues to grow as programmes prioritise operator efficiency under operational stress. Lilja added that Gungnir Capital's backing will help the company accelerate deliveries and move solutions from validated pilot projects to fielded capability.
Company Background and Regional Focus
Creoir is a Finnish defence technology company developing voice AI for defence and mission-critical systems. The company positions itself as a trusted speech technology partner helping defence customers future-proof command and control systems, reduce cognitive load, and enhance situational awareness through secure on-device voice AI. Gungnir Capital's previous portfolio investments include Finland's Kelluu, Denmark's Acodyne, and Swedish-Finnish Monava, reflecting its focus on European defence and resilience technologies.
The seed investment positions Creoir to scale its on-device voice AI from successful pilot projects to broader fielded capability across European defence programmes. With established relationships at Saab, Leidos and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, participation in NATO experimentation, and support from a specialised venture investor, the company is aligned with the region's growing emphasis on operational resilience and secure autonomy. As defence operators face ever-increasing information loads, offline voice interaction may become a critical component of future command and control systems.