Defense-tech unicorns: what the war changed for startup money

Educational only — not investment, legal or tax advice.

In January 2022, a Portuguese drone company that had funded itself for two decades took its first venture round: €20 million, led by Ventura Capital. A month later Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In September 2026 the same company, Tekever, raised $580 million at a $6.4 billion valuation.

Tekever is not alone. Since 2022, a small group of European defense-technology startups has gone from niche to some of the most valuable private companies on the continent. This piece looks at what happened, using only company announcements and major outlets, and at what it teaches founders in any sector. It is not about the war itself, and it is not a recommendation to invest in anyone.

The numbers

According to a report by Dealroom and the NATO Innovation Fund, European startups in defense, security and resilience raised a record $8.7 billion in 2025, up 55% on the year before and nearly four times the level of five years earlier. The broader European venture market grew 16% in the same period. Late-stage funding in the sector tripled to $4.7 billion.

The biggest rounds tell the story:

Company (country)	Founded	Latest round	Valuation
Tekever (Portugal/UK)	2001	$580M Series D, Sep 2026	$6.4B
Helsing (Germany)	2021	$1.8B Series E, Jul 2026	$18B
Quantum Systems (Germany)	2015	$1.2B Series D, Jul 2026	about $8B
Stark (Germany)	2024	€500M, Jun 2026	€3.2B (company figure via Bloomberg; other outlets report more than €3.5B)

Two things stand out. Three of the four existed well before 2022. And the youngest, Stark, reached a multi-billion valuation in about two years.

Lesson 1: be ready before the demand arrives

Tekever’s founder has said the company was bootstrapped “from 5 people in 2001 to more than 500” by early 2024. It started in software to connect devices, moved into drones around 2009, and before 2022 was already flying maritime surveillance for customers such as the UK Home Office and the European Maritime Safety Agency.

So when demand for its products jumped, it had aircraft in service, a factory and paying customers. Reuters reports the company claims more than 50,000 operational flight hours in Ukraine since 2022, and it was selected for a British Army surveillance programme worth up to £400 million.

The founder lesson is not “predict the next crisis”. It is that money rushes to the companies that already have a working product when a market suddenly opens. That is true of a war, a pandemic or a new regulation.

Lesson 2: pivots compound

Quantum Systems started in 2015 with civilian drones, including a mapping drone called Trinity, and later moved into military reconnaissance. Tekever went from software, to drones, to selling intelligence as a service. In both cases the pivot reused something the company already had: an airframe, a software stack, a team that knew how to ship hardware.

Pivoting is not failure. In most of these stories, the long years before the breakout are what made the breakout possible.

Lesson 3: speed and proof are different clocks

Capital can compress the timeline. It cannot compress proof. The Financial Times reported in late 2025 that Stark’s strike drone missed its targets in four attempts during exercises with British and German forces; months later the company raised €500 million. Bloomberg reported in January 2026 that Ukraine paused some orders of a Helsing drone after field trials, which Helsing disputed, saying Ukraine had ordered more than 1,000 units.

The older companies on this list can point to years of deliveries, flight hours and contracts. The younger ones are often valued on what investors expect, not on what has been shown. For any founder, the same question applies: what is the evidence behind your valuation?

Lesson 4: the money debate changed, but did not end

For years many European investors avoided defense. That shifted. In March 2025 the European Investment Bank said it would lift limits on defense financing, while still excluding weapons and ammunition. In late 2025 the European Commission clarified that its sustainable-finance rules are compatible with investing in defense. The think tank Bruegel argues the real barrier was reputational, not legal. Critics, such as Finance Watch, argue that defense should never be labelled “sustainable”.

For founders in any sensitive sector, the lesson is practical: know which funds can invest in you before you pitch them. A fund’s own rules can end the conversation regardless of your numbers.

Lesson 5: hardware is hard

Every company here builds physical products that must work in the worst conditions. That means factories, supply chains and long testing cycles, which is why hardware startups usually need more capital and more patience than software startups. Investors who back them, including angels, should expect years without a straight growth line.

From the investor’s side of the table

I know a fund whose stake in a single unicorn is worth more than everything the fund raised. That is the power law: one company can return the whole fund, and nobody can tell you in year one which company it will be. Pivots are normal, and the founders who get there are the resilient ones.

The short version

The war did not create these companies. It turned years of quiet preparation into urgent demand, and European capital followed. For founders, the transferable lessons are to be ready before your market opens, to treat pivots as building blocks, and to remember that a valuation built on expectations still has to be earned with proof.

Sources

Written by Fabian Cisneros. Educational only — not investment, legal or tax advice. See the full disclaimer.

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