The Portuguese drone maker worth €1.2bn last year is now chasing €5.5bn
Tekever is in talks to raise around €500m from existing and new backers, in a round that would value the company at €5.5bn — close to five times its 2025 mark.
Tekever is in talks over a funding round of roughly €500m that would value the Portuguese drone maker at €5.5bn. If it closes on those terms, that is close to five times what the company was worth in May 2025, when it joined Portugal’s unicorn club at a valuation above £1bn, or about €1.18bn.
The money is earmarked for acquisitions and expansion, and is being sought from existing shareholders as well as new investors.
Why the jump is so large
Tekever grew in the right place at the right time. It builds long-endurance surveillance drones, a segment Europe started buying seriously after 2022, and it holds contracts with European armed forces that give investors the one thing defence backers want: recurring, predictable revenue.
A near-fivefold rise in little over a year is not explained by company fundamentals alone, though. It also reflects how much capital is hunting exposure to European defence, in a market with few comparable assets and plenty of liquidity. That pushes valuations up fast, and historically it pushes them down just as fast when the cycle turns.
What to check before treating the number as fact
None of this is signed. A round in negotiation is a round in negotiation, €5.5bn is the level being targeted rather than agreed, and the final figure can move. Neither the company nor its investors have issued a statement, and the institutional information remains what sits on Tekever’s own site.
The company’s recent run helps explain the trajectory. We covered its acquisition of CloudSweep to strengthen its artificial intelligence work, and the Corvus drone contract with the British Army. For a sense of how much money is moving through the sector, see also Germany’s Helsing raising €1.8bn.
By Oliver Grant
Chart: Tugadaily · data from Tekever and market reporting
