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Qluu
Techstars '26Los Angeles, US · Founded 2025 · 3 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
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QLUUos is a sovereign AI platform that detects, tracks, and neutralizes unauthorized drone threats to critical infrastructure, running entirely on edge infrastructure without cloud dependencies. The system serves power plants, water treatment facilities, airports, and natural gas pipelines, using machine learning to predict threat trajectories and generate response options in real-time.
Also known as Commander Qluu · QLUU · Qluu Lab · QLUUos
Investors · 1
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026QLUU develops "Commander Qluu," an artificial-intelligence system the company markets as an AI battle commander for autonomous defense. The platform is described as covering air, land, sea and space domains, spanning 11 threat domains, and running on more than 40 in-house ("sovereign") AI models that the company says were built from scratch without third-party dependencies. QLUU positions the system as predictive rather than reactive, forecasting threat behavior instead of responding to detections after the fact.
The company frames its market around the cost asymmetry of modern drone warfare: it cites an estimated $1–2 billion spent intercepting roughly 300 inexpensive drones and missiles during Iran's Operation True Promise, and argues that a $200 off-the-shelf drone can disrupt a $2 billion power plant. QLUU states that most critical-infrastructure operators have no drone detection capability, and that legacy radar was designed for jets rather than swarms of low-cost drones flying at low altitude. Against that backdrop the company advertises a cost of $2,050 per intercept versus $4,000,000 for a Patriot missile.
Alongside the Commander Qluu software, the company's inquiry options indicate offerings that include QLUUos software, intelligence-as-a-service, custom hardware and drone fleets, government and defense solutions, and partnership or integration work.
Founding story
The company is led by founder and CEO Arkadiy Okhman, described as a Ferrari hypercar designer who moved into defense; co-founder and CTO Mike Jacobs, described as a former FBI analyst and AI architect with two prior exits; and chief strategy officer James Gavrilis, whose background is in defense strategy and Department of War acquisition.
Business model
QLUU sells software and services to defense and critical-infrastructure organizations. Its stated engagement types include QLUUos software demonstrations, intelligence as a service, custom hardware and drone fleets, government and defense solutions, and partnership or integration arrangements. The company emphasizes a sovereign ownership model in which the customer owns the model weights, training pipeline, data and evaluation framework.
Traction
The website lists relationships under "Trusted By & Partnered With" including a U.S. Army OTA, MAK Technologies, Techstars and Terminal Autonomy, and states that model performance is independently verified on held-out data.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography
Market position
Positions itself as the first AI battle commander for autonomous defense, targeting the gap left by legacy radar systems designed for aircraft rather than low-cost drone swarms, and addressing the cost asymmetry between inexpensive attack drones and expensive interceptors.
QLUU differentiates on sovereign, self-built AI models with customer ownership of weights, training pipeline, data and evaluation framework; edge-only operation with no cloud dependency; multi-domain coverage in a single platform; predictive rather than reactive threat handling; and a claimed per-intercept cost far below that of conventional interceptors.
Technology
The platform is built on more than 40 AI models the company says it developed from scratch without third-party dependencies, providing coverage across 11 threat domains and the air, land, sea and space environments. It is described as edge-native, running on-device with no cloud dependencies or external API calls, and as predictive rather than reactive, with performance the company says outperforms physics baselines across domains and is independently verified on held-out data.
Go-to-market
Direct engagement through the company website, which routes inquiries by category (software demo, intelligence as a service, custom hardware/drone fleets, government and defense, partnership/integration, and investment). The site also lists relationships with a U.S. Army OTA, MAK Technologies, Techstars and Terminal Autonomy.
Operators of critical infrastructure such as power plants, along with government and defense organizations, and builders of autonomous systems seeking integration or partnership.
Geography
Described on the company website as a California-based U.S. company.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- Qluuqluulab.com · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Qluu do?
- QLUU builds an edge-native, AI-driven autonomous defense platform for detecting and countering drone threats across 11 domains.
- Who are Qluu's investors?
- Qluu's investors include Techstars.
- Where is Qluu headquartered?
- Qluu is headquartered in Los Angeles, US.