Company
Munich-based defence-AI company founded in 2021, making military AI software and strike drones such as the HX-2 for European armed forces.
European startups raised $25 billion in the third quarter, up 77% on the year and the most in four years, Crunchbase data shows. Seed and early-stage totals held flat against 2025, so the growth came almost entirely from a few late-stage companies.
Reality
European defence startups can raise equity on policy intent. J.P. Morgan's bankers say the borrowing that funds production needs signed multi-year contracts from ministries that still buy one country at a time.
Reality
European startups raised $24bn in Q2 2026, but the concentration underneath the topline turns growth-stage exposure into an access problem and early-stage diversification into a much harder trade.
Reality
Smack Technologies' second raise of 2026 and Scale AI's fivefold contract jump point the same way: the buyer is paying for software in the field on a stopwatch, not for demos.
Reality
A $52mn seed closes with an $18mn top-up and a first office outside Africa. The argument that production can stay put now rests on a $100mn bookings number.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality
The Munich defence-AI firm has enlisted an e-commerce and mobile group to broker HX-2 strike drones to Japan's Ground Self-Defence Forces. The field trials run to the end of September.
Reality