Darkstar, a defence tech ecosystem builder, introduced the official launch of Europe’s first pan-European defence fund absolutely devoted to backing actual army techniques, together with weapons and dual-use applied sciences.
The newly launched €25M fund has secured a primary shut of €15M, led by SmartCap, Estonia’s sovereign defence fund. Moreover, over 30 founders and supporters from throughout Europe additionally backed the fund.
With this fund, the Darkstar will concentrate on “combat-proven merchandise & groups, which have the very best affect for Ukraine WIN & Re-Arm Europe,” says Ragner SaaS, co-founder of Darkstar.
With particular person investments of as much as €1M per startup, Darkstar has already backed two firms and plans to shut one other 4–5 offers by year-end.
“Our mission is to strengthen nationwide safety and preparedness for NATO and its allies by fostering transformative defence applied sciences and constructing an ecosystem that thrives on innovation, collaboration, and real-world applicability,” says the corporate.
The fund solely targets defence innovators with high-impact, battlefield-ready applied sciences from guided munitions and different navigation to surveillance and unmanned techniques.
Darkstar: Constructing the defence tech ecosystem
Darkstar is a coalition of people and organisations bringing collectively experience from unicorn founders, army veterans, buyers, and technical leaders.
The VC agency is bridging the hole between trendy warfare challenges and the applied sciences wanted to deal with them.
On the core of Darkstar’s technique is its Bootcamp collection. It’s a high-intensity, five-day accelerator hosted in Kyiv.
These bootcamps unite defence startups, army items, and policymakers to co-develop, field-test, and deploy real-time options.
Every bootcamp allocates €1.5M in potential funding, and collaborating startups obtain reside fight validation, fast consumer suggestions, and direct engagement with authorities consumers and army procurement items.
Darkstar helps applied sciences with civilian and army usages, reminiscent of:
Satellite tv for pc imagingRobotics & AICommunications and navigation techniques
Moreover, the VC additionally actively invests in single-use battlefield techniques, together with:
Loitering and guided munitionsAutonomous weapon platformsTargeting and imaging payloads
“ReArming Europe begins with giving Ukraine the perfect and most superior instruments to win. We can not construct Europe’s future army with out studying from the 🇺🇦 frontline. That’s why our most crucial advisors are the perfect Ukrainian fight troopers,” says Ragner SaaS, co-founder of Darkstar.
