Stark said more than 80 per cent of the capital raised will be invested directly into R&D and manufacturing.
Stark, the German defence tech startup which makes weaponised drones, has today confirmed it has raised €500 million in new funding.
Sequoia, Founders Fund, the NATO Innovation Fund, Project A, Air Street Capital, 201 Ventures, Advent and Döpfner Capital are amongst the investors in the round, it said. The funding round values Stark at €3.5bn.
Stark, which is backed by US technology billionaire Peter Thiel, said the funding will be used to fund new electronic warfare research facilities, scale production output, and accelerate the development of sovereign defence capabilities.
It said more than 80 per cent of the capital raised will be invested directly into R&D and manufacturing.
Founded in 2024, Stark has become a poster child of Europe’s defence tech industry amid increased spend on defence by European governments.
Uwe Horstmann, founder and CEO, said:
“The challenge facing Europe is no longer whether we can innovate, it’s whether we can scale. This financing is a €500 million commitment to Europe’s defence industrial base — funding the engineers, factories and technologies that Europe needs now.”