AI drone maker hits $6.4 billion valuation as Ukraine war spurs defense tech

AI drone maker Tekever on Wednesday said it had hit a $6.4 billion valuation, as Europe races to rearm amid the Ukraine war and mounting threats from Russia.

The Portuguese-British company, which raised a $580 million round, develops AI-powered autonomous systems including surveillance drones. Tekever says its drones have clocked more than 50,000 operational flight hours in Ukraine since 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion began.

University of California Investments and Baillie Gifford led the round, with Merlyn Advisors, Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital also contributing.

Tekever said in July that the U.K. Ministry of Defence had selected it to provide surveillance technology under a program worth up to £400 million (around $530 million) over 10 years.

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

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

Tekever said it would use the funds to deepen its international presence, expand its industrial and technological capabilities, and accelerate strategic acquisitions.

"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," Ben Wallace, portfolio manager at Merlyn Advisors and a former U.K. defense secretary, said in a statement.

"Tekever has a proven track record that shows it can do all three."

The company is one of a number of European defense tech startups that are raising increasingly sizable rounds amid a rearmament campaign from countries in the region.

German autonomous drone duo Helsing and Quantum Systems raised $1.8 billion and 1 billion euros, respectively, in July. British air and missile defense company Cambridge Aerospace raised $300 million in August and German AI-enable unmanned systems startup Stark raised 500 million euros in June.