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Starting the dual-use drone Tekfir It raised 70 million euros ($74 million) to develop its products and expand into new markets, specifically the United States. This news is part of a trend of small, tech-driven startups moving into markets typically dominated by large “defensive primes.”
It also appears that drones are becoming much more sophisticated, partly due to the pace of development resulting from the war in Ukraine. Just last month, another European drone company, pedigreedhas raised funding for a precision drone system currently operating in that country.
Tekever’s funding round was led by Scottish investment firm Baillie Gifford & Co. (which previously backed SpaceX) and the NATO Innovation Fund, a €1 billion dual-use defense venture capital fund announced in 2023. The fund is linked to NATO and focuses on supporting startups that build technology for categories such as defence, security and resilience.
Tekever drones were founded in Portugal but also operate in the UK and France, and have been used, in a civilian setting, to track down migrant smugglers in the English Channel. The largest drone, the ARX, can fly a number of smaller drones to monitor land, seascapes… or the battlefield.
Unlike most traditional aerospace companies, Tekever controls all aspects of its operations from airframe design and manufacturing to payloads, avionics, software, data and artificial intelligence. The company says this means it can quickly adapt its products based on customer needs, as well as the rapidly changing theater of modern warfare.
CEO Ricardo Mendez He said Bloomberg News says Europe needs to step up to the plate: “We have a war in Ukraine on our border and (Europe) is lagging behind in terms of technological growth.”
Tekever was bootstrapped ahead of a €20 million Series A raise in 2022 from Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital.
It is not disclosing its valuation in this latest round, which is Series B.
“The drone market has grown significantly in Europe since 2022,” Patrick Schneider-Sikorski, partner of the NATO Innovation Fund, told TechCrunch. “At the NATO Innovation Fund, we have a deep interest in technologies that can make an impact in both civilian and civilian markets.” We are also proud to support Tekever due to the company’s broad applications in defence, as well as intelligence, surveillance and intelligence (ISR) services to companies and governments across Europe.
In a statement, Chris Evdemon, investment director for private companies at Baillie Gifford, added: “We were attracted to Tekever’s approach to building drones – with a software-focused, vertically integrated model.”
Tekever drones have been deployed in Ukraine, in cooperation with the European Maritime Safety Agency and the UK Home Office.
The UK National Security Strategic Investment Fund and Crescent Cove Advisors (based in Silicon Valley) also participated in the round, as did existing investors Iberis Semper and Cedrus Capital.
Additional reporting by Anna Heim
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