London data start-up MISTT has raised £5m in a round led by Expeditions, with the government's National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Seedcamp and three other investors taking part. The company plans to begin UK government pilots in December.
MISTT is building what it calls a shared space-time grid. The system gives AI models and autonomous systems one consistent picture of where and when things happen, and records how certain each observation is.
The company says it does not build world models or autonomous systems itself. Instead, it provides the structured four-dimensional data those systems need to work from.
The founders
Co-founder and chief executive Dan Eaton served as a Royal Marines officer for more than 20 years. Chief scientist Matt Bristow previously worked at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).
Chief technology officer Casey Esworthy was formerly a chief architect at Microsoft. The founding year and headcount were not disclosed.
The round
Expeditions led the £5m round. Watchkeeper, Seedcamp, NSSIF, Overmatch and FJ Labs also invested.
The valuation was not disclosed, and neither were individual cheque sizes or how ownership was split after the round.
NSSIF is the government-backed fund that invests in dual-use technology relevant to UK national security. Its stake gives MISTT a government shareholder before any government contract has started. This pattern is becoming more common among early-stage UK defence companies.
Expeditions partner Sam Burrell said most organisations could benefit from faster, better-structured 4D data.
Market focus
MISTT is putting defence customers first. It also sees civilian uses in shipping, insurance and climate monitoring, all of which depend on tracking assets and conditions across space and time.
The pilots scheduled for December 2026 will be the company's first public deployment with the UK government. Customers have not been named.
Use of funds
Over the next 12 to 18 months, MISTT plans to grow its team, improve platform performance, deliver the UK government pilots and expand its work with NATO allies.
Context
The raise comes during a busy week for UK defence technology funding. London-headquartered UFORCE closed a $700m Series A on the same day, co-led by the National Wealth Fund. Government-backed vehicles, NSSIF among them, are increasingly investing alongside private venture capital at every stage, from seed rounds to unicorn-sized rounds.
Original source: Startups Magazine: https://www.startupmag.co.uk/funding/mistt-2026-growth-funding/
