Portugal’s Tekever raises $74M for dual-use drone platform deployed to Ukraine

Dual-use drone startup Tekever has raised €70 million ($74 million) to develop its product and expand into new markets, specifically the U.S.. The news is part of a trend of smaller tech-driven startups moving into markets normally dominated by large ‘defense primes’.

It also shows that unmanned aerial drones are becoming far more sophisticated, in part due to the pace of development generated by the war in Ukraine. Only last month, another European drone startup, Origin, raised funding for its precision-strike drone system currently operating in that country.

Tekever’s funding round was led by Scottish investment company Baillie Gifford & Co. (which has previously backed SpaceX) and the NATO Innovation Fund, the €1 billion defense and dual-use VC fund announced in 2023. The fund is connected to NATO and focused on backing startups that build tech for categories like defense, security, and resilience.

Founded in Portugal but also operating in the U.K. and France, Tekever’s surveillance drones have, in a civilian setting, been used to track migrant smugglers in the English Channel. Its largest drone, the ARX, can command a number of smaller drones to surveil the land or seascape… 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 AI. The company says this means it can quickly adapt its products based on customer needs, as well as the rapidly changing theatre of modern warfare.

Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Mendes told Bloomberg News that Europe needed to step up to the plate more: “We have the war in Ukraine on our borders and [Europe is ] lagging behind in terms of technological growth.”

Tekever bootstrapped before raising a Series A of €20 million in 2022 from Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital.

It’s not disclosing its valuation with this latest round, and we are asking to find out whether this is a Series C or an extension to a previous round.

NATO Innovation Fund partner Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky told TechCrunch: “The drone market has grown exponentially in Europe since 2022. At the NATO Innovation Fund, we have a deep interest in technologies that can deliver impact in both the civilian and defence markets and we are proud to back Tekever on account of the company’s extensive applications in defence, as well as ISR for businesses and governments across Europe.”

In a statement, Chris Evdaimon, Investment Manager, Private Companies at Baillie Gifford, added: “We were attracted by Tekever’s approach to building drones – with a software-centric and vertically integrated model.”

Tekever’s drones have been deployed in Ukraine, with the European Maritime Safety Agency, and the U.K.’s Home Office.

The U.K.’s 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