AI drone startup Tekever raises $580M at $6.4B valuation as Europe ramps up defense tech spending

European autonomous systems startup Tekever has raised $580 million in the first close of a Series D round at a $6.4 billion valuation, giving the Portuguese-British company fresh capital as governments across Europe pour more money into drones, AI, and homegrown military technology.

UC Investments and Baillie Gifford led the round, with Merlyn Advisors joining as a new strategic investor. Existing shareholders Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital, and Iberis Capital participated. Tekever expects further Series D closes as it brings in more strategic investors.

The size of the financing puts Tekever among a growing class of European defense tech companies attracting large institutional checks. Yet the company has something many younger defense startups are still trying to acquire: extensive operational experience.

Tekever says its systems have logged more than 50,000 operational flight hours in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. That battlefield record has become central to the company’s pitch as it moves from wartime deployments into longer-term government procurement programs.

Founded in Portugal in 2001 and now headquartered in Britain, Tekever develops autonomous surveillance systems built around unmanned aircraft, software, sensors, and AI-based intelligence. The company has sought to position itself as more than a drone manufacturer, selling an integrated surveillance system that can collect, process, and turn aerial data into usable intelligence.

“Artificial intelligence, autonomy and sovereign technological capability will be fundamental to the security and resilience of democratic societies in the decades ahead,” founder and CEO Ricardo Mendes said in a statement.

“This investment gives us the resources to move faster, scale further and continue building a global technology leader from Europe.”

From Ukraine to long-term military contracts

Tekever’s experience in Ukraine is beginning to translate into major government programs.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence selected the company for the British Army’s CORVUS surveillance program earlier this year. The contract could be worth up to £400 million, roughly $530 million, over 10 years.

Tekever (Image credit: Tekever)

That transition matters. Defense startups can demonstrate impressive prototypes and still face years of procurement hurdles before reaching meaningful deployment. Tekever has already put its technology through sustained operations and is now using that record to compete for long-duration contracts.

Chris Evdaimon, an investment manager at Baillie Gifford, said Tekever’s software-centric model and operational experience have helped the company turn technology into deployable systems at speed, Reuters reported.

The new capital will go toward international growth, manufacturing and technology capacity, acquisitions, and further development of AI-driven autonomous systems.

Investors chase Europe’s defense tech buildout

Tekever’s $580 million round lands amid a surge of private investment into European defense technology.

German defense technology companies Helsing and Quantum Systems raised $1.8 billion and €1 billion, respectively, in July. British air and missile defense company Cambridge Aerospace raised $300 million in August, and German unmanned systems startup Stark raised €500 million in June.

Behind those rounds is a larger shift in European defense policy. Governments are increasing military spending and looking for more technology that can be developed and manufactured closer to home. Russia’s war in Ukraine has put drones, autonomous systems, electronic warfare, and battlefield AI near the center of that push.

Private investors are increasingly financing part of the buildout rather than leaving governments to bankroll every emerging supplier.

Tekever sits at an unusual intersection of those trends. It has battlefield operating data, a major British procurement program, AI-based autonomous technology, and a manufacturing operation investors can fund at scale.

Merlyn Advisors portfolio manager and former U.K. defense secretary Ben Wallace framed the opportunity around Europe’s ability to create its own defense technology companies.

“Europe’s security will increasingly depend on its ability to build technology companies that can innovate at speed, scale industrially and deliver capabilities that respond to real operational needs,” Wallace said in a statement, according to CNBC.

For Tekever, the $6.4 billion valuation is a bet that 50,000 hours over Ukraine can become something much larger: a European autonomous systems company that can turn battlefield experience into contracts across multiple countries.