European defence-technology group Tekever said Tuesday it has raised $580 million in a first close of its Series D, valuing the AI-drone maker at $6.4 billion and turning the Ukraine-hardened surveillance firm into one of Europe’s highest-valued private defence-tech companies.
Baillie Gifford And UC Investments Anchor The Round
The round is co-led by University of California Investments and Baillie Gifford, and adds Merlyn Advisors as a new strategic investor alongside returning backers Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital. CEO Ricardo Mendes said additional closes are expected in the coming months as Tekever finalises talks with further strategic investors on the same $6.4 billion post-money mark.
The financing lands as European governments race to rebuild sovereign UAV capacity after three years of watching Ukraine test Western and Russian drones in live combat. Tekever’s AR-series aircraft have flown more than 50,000 operational hours over Ukrainian territory since 2022, generating the sort of hard-won failure data that trained the machine-learning stack now bundled into every unit.
Where The $580M Goes: CORVUS, Manufacturing And Deals
Mendes told investors the capital will underwrite four priorities: expanding the UK CORVUS surveillance programme — a contract worth up to £400 million ($530 million) over 10 years signed with the British Ministry of Defence — scaling manufacturing on both sides of the Channel, hardening the AI-autonomy stack and, crucially, funding acquisitions in adjacent sensing, electronic-warfare and satellite-communications niches.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the Portuguese-founded, London-headquartered company is already in preliminary talks with two European sensor makers as the fresh cash unlocks its first outbound M&A campaign since a Series C in mid-2024.
Ukraine Combat Log Now A Fundraising Moat
Investors say the Ukraine track record has become the decisive differentiator for European defence-tech valuations, echoing the premium that Silicon Valley pays for combat-proven AI. Tekever’s AR5 medium-altitude platform, already deployed by the Portuguese Air Force for Atlantic maritime patrol, is now marketed as a Group 3 alternative to the ageing US drone incumbents whose ISR gear predates the era of long-range Russian jamming.
The $580 million close also reinforces the trend chronicled in August’s $4.87 billion robotics-funding tally, in which defence and dual-use platforms captured a widening share of European venture capital as sovereign buyers pull the industry away from consumer drones.
Reporting based on coverage from Tech Startups, CNBC and Bloomberg.