| Across 8 deals, KP Labs led with €4.4m. 5 companies are new to the map, alongside 6 investors — for the founders raising and the investors deploying. |
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 News | [Funding signal] |
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[This issue · 8 Oct – 21 Oct] €12m are flowing into European defense tech |
Across 8 deals, KP Labs led with €4.4m. 5 companies are new to the map, alongside 6 investors — for the founders raising and the investors deploying. |
| Watch these two weeks light up on the map → |
[Biggest deal] |
KP Labs €4.4m KP Labs, a Gliwice-based space-tech company, raised €4.4M in growth equity from Momentum Capital Partners, its first fund investor, to scale its in-orbit data processing, which cuts downlink delays; Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space are among its customers, and defense and public-sector satellite operators are among its targets. |
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[Rounds, funds & grants] |
Poland |
Polish satellite data processing company KP Labs secures €4.4M growth investment KP Labs, a Gliwice-based space-tech company, raised €4.4M in growth equity from Momentum Capital Partners, its first fund investor, to scale its in-orbit data processing, which cuts downlink delays; Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space are among its customers, and defense and public-sector satellite operators are among its targets. [Investors] Momentum Capital Partners |
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Baltics |
Estonian space startup Golbriak raises €4M seed to scale satellite laser communication terminals Golbriak Space, a Tallinn-based satellite communications company, raised €4M in seed funding co-led by Join Capital and PhotonVentures — its first institutional round — with the Takeoff accelerator also taking part. The money scales production of its laser communication terminals for satellite constellations, airborne and high-altitude platforms and drones; the terminals support the SDA optical standard. [Investors] Join Capital · PhotonVentures · Takeoff Accelerator |
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Danish-Lithuanian drone maker Monopulse raises €2M+ seed led by CoInvest Capital Monopulse, a Danish-Lithuanian maker of the Falcon MK3S reconnaissance drone (NATO Class I) used by allied armed forces, raised a seed round of more than €2M led by CoInvest Capital, with NGL Ventures' syndicate of 68 business angels, angels from the Lithuanian Business Angel Network (LitBAN) and Plug and Play. The money goes into production capacity and expansion into Scandinavia. [Investors] CoInvest Capital · NGL Ventures · LitBAN · Plug and Play |
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Ukraine |
WildField Ventures raises €1.6m toward a €13m fund for Ukrainian dual-use startups WildField Ventures has raised €1.6m from five investors toward a €13m target, per its SEC filing, for Ukrainian dual-use startups, with about three quarters of the money going to Ukraine. Its first disclosed investment is DoD Solution, the Estonian-Ukrainian drone-autonomy company; two more holdings are unnamed. |
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TENCORE takes an equity stake in NODRICS, maker of the MAT1LDA amphibious platform Ukrainian defense-tech company TENCORE has taken an equity stake in NODRICS, which builds the MAT1LDA amphibious platform for crossing water obstacles and rough terrain, carrying up to 500 kg on land and 400 kg on water. TENCORE paid from its own funds; the size of the stake and the terms were not disclosed. NODRICS joins the TENCORE Ecosystem, which TENCORE says it will build through further deals. [Investors] TENCORE |
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TENCORE takes an equity stake in TOR, maker of a heavy wheeled ground robot Ukrainian defense-tech company TENCORE has taken an equity stake in TOR, which makes a heavy wheeled unmanned ground vehicle with armored wheels for logistics and cargo in difficult terrain; the Khartiia brigade has ordered from it. TENCORE paid from its own funds; the size of the stake and the terms were not disclosed, and TENCORE says more deals with other manufacturers are in its pipeline. [Investors] TENCORE |
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Acoustic sensor developer Zvook raises from a new Czech Fund Ukraine vehicle managed by DEPO Ventures Zvook, a Ukrainian developer of acoustic sensors, is the first investment of a new €3.8M fund (up to €5.8M) managed by DEPO Ventures and set up by National Development Investments, a subsidiary of the Czech National Development Bank, under the Fund Ukraine programme, for startups in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia with tickets of up to €500K. The terms of the Zvook deal were not disclosed. [Investors] DEPO Ventures |
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[Acquisitions] |
Phantom Defense completes the acquisition of counter-drone net-capture maker KARAKURT Phantom Defense, a Ukrainian defense manufacturer with nine production sites and 620 employees, has completed the full acquisition of KARAKURT, which builds net-capture hardware for physically intercepting drones. Terms were not disclosed. |
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[New on the map] |
Companies NODRICSTORKP LabsKARAKURTGolbriak SpaceInvestors Momentum Capital PartnersNGL VenturesLitBANDEPO VenturesPhotonVenturesTakeoff Accelerator |
[Capabilities] |
Space drew the most capital in these two weeks, ahead of Autonomy & uncrewed systems and Sensing, ISR & surveillance. |
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| Autonomy & uncrewed systems — €2m · 3 deals | |
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| Sensing, ISR & surveillance — undisclosed · 1 deal | |
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| Air & missile defense / C-UAS — undisclosed · 1 deal | |
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[Defense Valley take] |
A quiet fortnight for rounds: €12m across six rounds and one fund, the largest of them KP Labs' €4.4m growth round. The money was small and early: satellite laser links from Estonia, drones from Denmark and Lithuania, acoustic sensors from Ukraine. The bigger story is who is buying. In Ukraine, Phantom Defense took over KARAKURT and TENCORE took stakes in two ground-robot makers, NODRICS and TOR, with more deals in its pipeline. Across Europe, KARAKURT was the 15th acquisition we have tracked this year, and seven of those 15 were made by venture-backed scale-ups that are still raising rounds of their own: Quantum Systems, STARK, Tekever twice, Destinus, Sensofusion and Swarmer. For a component company the exit used to mean a prime. More and more it means a scale-up that is still raising money of its own. [Lorenz · Defense Valley] |
[Who bought in 2026] |
Every acquisition we have tracked this year, split by whether the buyer is a venture-backed scale-up that is still raising rounds of its own. |
15 acquisitions in European defense tech so far in 2026 |
| 7 of 15 made by venture-backed scale-ups that are still raising rounds |
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[Venture-backed buyers · 7] Destinus ← Daedalean Jan
Sensofusion ← Atol Aviation Apr
Tekever ← Cloudsweep Jul
Quantum Systems ← SensusQ Jul
Tekever ← Flowcopter Sept
STARK ← Raydiant RF Sept
Swarmer ← Ratel Robotics Sept |
[Other buyers · 8] Safran Electronics & Defense ← Syntony GNSS Feb
Exosens ← Emberion Apr
ORCRIST Technologies ← Lancelot Systems Aug
GDI Simulation ← Agenium Group Sept
Terra Drone ← Kurin Technologies Sept
Rohde & Schwarz ← NEOSAT Sept
Rohde & Schwarz ← PHYTRONIC Sept
Phantom Defense ← KARAKURT Oct |
Completed or signed acquisitions only. “Venture-backed” means the buyer has a funding round on our map since 2024. Helsing's Keybotic deal closed in 2025 and is not counted; Rheinmetall's €138m award for the Mangalia shipyard is under appeal and not counted yet. Who funds and who acquires, on the map → |
[Where to be] |
• Future Forces Forum 2026 — 21 Oct, Prague details ↗• Critical Infrastructure Shield Hackathon — 23 Oct, Winterthur details ↗• German-Baltic Defence Industry Conference 2026 — 29 Oct, Vilnius details ↗• Berlin Security Conference 2026 — 3 Nov, Berlin details ↗ |
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