Portuguese AI drone startup Tekever raises €70 million

Tekever, a Portugal-based developer of an artificial intelligence-driven drone platform,  announced it has raised €70 million, or $74 million, in new funding to scale up production and expand its market reach, especially into the United States.
The Series B funding round was led by Baillie Gifford and backed by the NATO Innovation Fund, with participation from the U.K.-government-owned National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Crescent Cove Advisors LP, Iberis Simper and Cedrus Capital.

Baille Gifford is known for backing companies such as Airbnb Inc., Spotify AB and SpaceX. In comparison, the NIF is a €1 billion bund launched in 2022 backed by 24 NATO allies to support early-stage startups and other venture capital funds developing dual-use emerging technologies critical to security and defense challenges.

Tekever provides what the company calls “intelligence-as-a-service” by delivering drone capabilities that can scan vast areas and share real-time data with a wide array of customers, including government, military and private companies. Applications of its technology include surveying for environmental issues such as oil spills, wildfires or flash floods and assisting with search and rescue missions for defense purposes.

The company’s platform has been deployed in Ukraine to contribute to long-range intelligence and reconnaissance.

Tekever differentiates itself from other drone platforms and aerospace companies by maintaining full control over every aspect of its drone platform — airframe design, manufacturing payloads, avionics, software, data and AI. The company said that allows it to adapt its platform capabilities rapidly to changing customer needs.

Drones built by the company include capabilities such as catapult and vertical takeoff-and-landing, or VTOL, with recovery methods that include traditional landing and parachute. The company has been working on building its largest drone ever, the ARX, which will have a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kilograms and incorporates advanced AI technologies.

This higher carry-weight will allow it to house a swarm of smaller drones that will use it as a “mother” drone, marking it as the first to do so in the company’s product line. The ARX will coordinate the swarm of small drones to perform complex missions while in the field using its AI capabilities.

Customers of Tekever include the European Maritime Safety Agency and the U.K. Home Office, as well as defense and security forces throughout Europe, North America and Southeast Asia.

SiliconAngle