Lisbon-based dual-use drone startup Tekever has raised €70 million, with its valuation now above €1 billion. The funding will support the company's expansion efforts.
- Established in 2001 in Portugal, Tekever now operates across the UK and France.
- The startup delivers drone-based Intelligence-as-a-Service, enabling real-time, wide-area surveillance for timely responses to threats to human life, the environment, and the economy.
- Its dual-use technology supports civilian, military, and private sector missions — from detecting oil spills and wildfires to intelligence gathering and search and rescue.
- For example, Tekever’s largest drone, the ARX, coordinates smaller drones for land and sea surveillance and has been used to monitor migrant smuggling in the English Channel.
- The firm has also partnered with the European Maritime Safety Agency and the UK Home Office, as well as multiple defence and security forces and corporations throughout Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.
- Tekever's systems have been deployed to Ukraine for complex long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, carried out under extreme operational and technical conditions. The firm says its solutions have helped destroy over £3 billion in Russian military assets, including advanced air defence systems.
- A new funding round was led by NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) and investment company Baillie Gifford. Other investors include National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Cedrus Capital, Iberis Semper, and Crescent Cove Advisors.
