Tekever closes $580M Series D at $6.4B, eyes defense M&A
TL;DR
- Sir Ben Wallace, former UK Defence Secretary, joined as portfolio manager at new investor Merlyn Advisors before the round closed.
- The £400M CORVUS British Army surveillance contract was announced concurrently, anchoring the raise to booked sovereign revenue rather than pipeline.
- UC Investments' stake is its first direct European investment, opening a new endowment-capital channel for European defense tech.
Portuguese drone maker Tekever closed the first tranche of a Series D at $580 million, valuing the company at $6.4 billion, and its founder is already pointing the balance sheet at rivals. UC Investments, the University of California's investment arm, and Baillie Gifford led the round, with Merlyn Advisors, Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital also participating, Bloomberg reported. It is UC Investments' first direct investment in Europe.
"The fund raise is precisely designed to support that growth, not only organically, developing new technology, but through acquisitions," founder and CEO Ricardo Mendes told Bloomberg, adding that he expects "tremendous consolidation" in defense tech over the next few years.
The pitch to investors leans hard on Ukraine. Tekever says its AI-powered surveillance drones have logged more than 50,000 operational flight hours there since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. The UK Ministry of Defence has picked the company to supply CORVUS, the British Army's new surveillance capability, under a programme worth up to £400 million over ten years and built on Tekever's AR5 platform.
Mendes framed the raise in near-sovereignty terms in a company statement: "scientific excellence, artificial intelligence, autonomy and sovereign technological capability will be fundamental to the security and resilience of democratic societies in the decades ahead." It arrives during a busy stretch on our military-AI tracker, with Ukraine-honed European suppliers repeatedly drawing US institutional capital this quarter.
What others are reporting
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Tekever (Company) Read →
First-party release names full investor roster including Merlyn Advisors, Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital, and Iberis Capital, and confirms additional Series D closings are planned.
This investment represents far more than a capital raise. It brings together an exceptional group of investors around a shared ambition for what TEKEVER is becoming.
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sUAS News Read →
UAS trade outlet carries Sir Ben Wallace quote as Merlyn Advisors portfolio manager, framing the raise around European sovereign defense technology capability.
Europe's security will increasingly depend on its ability to build technology companies that can innovate at speed, scale industrially.
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Tech Funding News Read →
Benchmarks Tekever's $6.4B against Helsing ($18B) and Quantum Systems ($8B) and flags European consolidation risk as NATO governments select national champions.
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Defense Here Read →
Defense trade framing stresses Tekever's vertically integrated model, translating R&D to operational capability rapidly, as its differentiator against software-only European peers.
Originally reported by bloomberg.com
Read the original article →Original headline: Tekever Raises $580M at $6.4B Valuation, Led by UC Investments and Baillie Gifford