NATO Innovation Fund invests in TEKEVER as part of €70 Million Funding Round Alongside Baillie Gifford

November 20, 2024

Funding to fuel sustainable growth plan and facilitate geographic expansion into new markets
Investment will fund continued product innovation and scaling of production capacity

The NATO Innovation Fund has joined Baillie Gifford in investing in TEKEVER, a leading European company in the AI-enabled Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) sector. Other investors include the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Crescent Cove, Iberis Semper and Cedrus Capital.

This investment will accelerate TEKEVER’s growth by enabling investment in R&D to support product innovation – across current UAS and new product lines to ensure the company’s technology stays ahead of curve in the rapidly evolving technical landscape. TEKEVER will also use this funding to expand its global production, delivery and support footprint to meet the growing demand for its products and services.

“We’re living in a highly volatile world, experiencing exponential change and the transformative power of software, AI and robotics. TEKEVER was built to embrace and leverage this reality, providing its customers with future-proofed, AI-centric hardware-enabled systems that are produced at scale and effectively delivered and sustained globally. For our Series B, more than investment, we wanted to find partners that shared these beliefs and could help us execute on our Vision. We’re thrilled to have Baillie Gifford as a lead investor – an incredible organization with extremely long-term views, and an extensive track record of backing companies that have profoundly transformed our society. NIF, NSSIF and Crescent Cove bring profound knowledge and experience on the Global Security and Defence market to the table, both from a European and a US perspective, which will be important in helping us, and our customers, navigate the challenges ahead.”

Ricardo Mendes

CEO, TEKEVER

“Unmanned aerial system technologies are critical to advancing defence, security and resilience. We are thrilled to support TEKEVER – whose technology is revolutionising the defence and commercial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sectors – and look forward to collaborating with the company on identifying pathways to use its technology in order to support more governments and businesses across the Alliance”

Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky

Partner, NATO Innovation Fund

About TEKEVER

TEKEVER provides drone-based Intelligence-as-a-Service, surveying ultra-wide areas and sharing real-time data that allows customers to act in a timely and efficient manner to avoid threats to human life, the environment and economy. Its technology is dual-use, deployed by civilian and military organisations as well as private companies, with applications ranging from detecting environmental threats such as oil spills, wildfires or flash flooding to gathering intelligence and conducting search and rescue missions for defence and security purposes.

Unlike traditional aerospace companies, TEKEVER is vertically integrated and has full control of every aspect of its subsystems and value chain, from airframe design and manufacturing to payloads, avionics, software, data and AI, which enables the company to rapidly adapt its products based on evolving customer needs and shifts in the global economic and political landscape.

Customers include 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 systems have been deployed to Ukraine to enable some of the most complex and demanding long range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, performed under the most extreme operational and technical conditions.

“TEKEVER is a rapidly growing and already profitable company, a rare combination in defence, national security and space start-ups. We were attracted by its approach to building drones – with a software-centric and vertically integrated model – along with the real-life experience TEKEVER has accumulated from operations in Ukraine and its work with the UK Home Office and European Maritime Safety Agency.”

Chris Evdaimon

Investment Manager, Private Companies at Baillie Gifford

Why TEKEVER – Closing the market gap for affordable drones

By Ben Balmforth, Senior Investment Associate and Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, Partner

The NIFs decision to invest in Tekever stems from the noticeable gap in the market for affordable MALE fixed-wing drones with high payload capacity and extended mission range. Whilst the small drone sector has witnessed a surge of innovation and new market entrants, this segment remains less served, with the most advanced offerings typically monopolized by large primes.

Tekever stands out in this landscape due to their vertically integrated, natively European sovereign, agile, and software-first approach to aerial intelligence. Serving both the defence and civilian markets, their platforms are perfectly suited for long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, making them indispensable for Europe’s current critical issues defence issues such as the war in Ukraine, and civilian applications such as maritime border security.