TEKEVER Becomes Europe’s Latest Defense Unicorn with Bold USD 500 M UK Strategy

Defense tech company TEKEVER has secured new funding that propels its valuation beyond USD 1.335 billion, officially making it Europe’s newest unicorn. The round was fully backed by existing investors, including Ventura Capital, Baillie Gifford, the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Iberis Capital, and Crescent Cove.

Coinciding with this milestone is the launch of OVERMATCH, a transformative five-year, USD 500 million development program aimed at bolstering the UK’s defence industry with cutting-edge, autonomous AI-driven technologies. The initiative is set to generate over 1,000 high-skilled jobs, enhance domestic UAS (drone) production, and build sovereign next-gen warfare capabilities.

TEKEVER’s battlefield-tested systems, developed in collaboration with the UK Ministry of Defence and Ukrainian forces, have logged 10,000+ combat flight hours and contributed to the destruction of over USD 3.75 billion in Russian military assets. OVERMATCH aims to scale this success through four key pillars: Build, Network, Scale, and Partner, including the creation of UK Centres of Excellence for Autonomy and expansion of pan-European testing infrastructure.

CEO Ricardo Mendes emphasized agility as the new frontier in defence innovation, asserting TEKEVER’s commitment to creating a collaborative ecosystem that empowers businesses of all sizes to scale faster than adversaries.