Dual-use drone startup Tekever has raised €70 million ($74 million) for product development and expansion into new markets, particularly the United States. The news is part of a trend of small technology-driven startups moving into markets typically dominated by large “defense primes.”
It also shows that unmanned drones are becoming much more sophisticated, due in part to the pace of development caused by the Ukraine war. Just last month, another European drone startup, Origin, raised funding for a precision attack drone system currently operating in the country.
Tekever's funding round comes from Scottish investment firm Baillie Gifford & Company (which previously backed SpaceX) and NATO, a €1 billion defense and dual-use VC fund announced in 2023. Led by the Innovation Fund. The fund has ties to and focus on NATO. We support startups building technology in categories such as defense, security, and resilience.
Tekever's surveillance drones, which were founded in Portugal and also operate in the UK and France, are used in civilian settings to track migrant smugglers across the English Channel. Its largest drone, the ARX, can command large numbers of smaller drones to monitor land, seascapes, or battlefields.
Unlike most traditional aerospace companies, Tekever controls every aspect of its operations, from airframe design and manufacturing to payload, avionics, software, data, and AI. The company says this means it can quickly adapt its products based on customer needs and the rapidly changing landscape of modern warfare.
CEO Ricardo Mendes told Bloomberg News that Europe needs to be more proactive. [Europe is ] It lags behind technological developments. ”
Tekever raised his own money before raising a Series A of €20 million from Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital in 2022.
The valuation of this latest round, Series B, has not been disclosed.
NATO Innovation Fund Partner Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky told TechCrunch: “The drone market is growing rapidly in Europe from 2022 onwards. We are proud to support Tekever as we have a deep interest in the field and the company's wide range of applications in ISR for companies and governments across Europe, as well as in the defense sector.”
Chris Evdaimon, private company investment manager at Baillie Gifford, added in a statement: “We were attracted to Tekever's approach to building drones with its software-centric, vertically integrated model.”
Tekever's drones are deployed in Ukraine with the European Maritime Safety Agency and the UK Home Office.
The UK's National Security Strategic Investment Fund and Silicon Valley-based Crescent Cove Advisors also participated in the round, as did existing investors Iberis Semper and Cedrus Capital.
Additional reporting by Anna Heim