Unmanned systems: Stark raises 500 million euros in funding round

Stark has announced a funding round of 500 million euros for unmanned systems from Europe. The capital is intended to accelerate research, development and industrial production in Europe.

Plans include additional electronic warfare laboratories and a production line that is to turn out several thousand units per month in future. The company also aims to help Europe build its own sovereign defence capabilities. Stark is investing more than 80 per cent of the capital directly in research, development and production.

Only nine months passed between the company's founding in 2024 and its first order. Today, Stark has sites in five countries and produces on an area of more than 20,000 square metres. Most recently, it added a framework contract from the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) covering thousands of loitering munition systems.

Broad investor base for unmanned systems

Backers from defence, technology and institutional finance are taking part in the round. Those named are:

• Sequoia Capital
• Founders Fund
• NATO Innovation Fund
• Project A
• Air Street Capital
• 201 Ventures
• Advent
• Döpfner Capital

The breadth of the group is seen as an expression of growing confidence that Europe can develop, produce and field sovereign defence capabilities on a large scale.

The challenge for Europe is no longer whether we can innovate, but whether we can scale industrially.— Uwe Horstmann, founder and CEO of Stark

We are investing in the people, technologies and production capacities that will underpin Europe's security in future.— Uwe Horstmann, founder and CEO of Stark

With our investment in Stark, we backed an exceptional team with a bold vision for Europe's security from the very beginning. In less than two years, Stark has become a technology leader that impresses with groundbreaking platforms, has won key tenders and has built up industrial capacity across Europe.— Luciana Lixandru, Partner at Sequoia Capital