- Lakestar has closed Lakestar Resilience I, the largest privately backed institutional venture fund in Europe dedicated to defence and resilience technologies.
- The portfolio includes Helsing, TEKEVER, ARX Robotics, Isar Aerospace and other startups that have collectively raised more than $5 billion and employ over 5,000 people.
- Best known for early investments in Spotify, Airbnb and Revolut, Lakestar is now turning toward a sector many investors once avoided altogether.
For most of the last two decades, Lakestar earned its reputation by spotting consumer technology winners before almost everyone else. It invested in Spotify before streaming reshaped the music industry, backed Airbnb while home-sharing was still a radical idea, and recognised Revolut’s potential long before digital banking became mainstream.
Last week, the venture firm announced the final close of Lakestar Resilience I, a $300 million fund focused entirely on defence, security and critical technologies. The vehicle was oversubscribed, with investor demand comfortably exceeding its target.
The portfolio already includes companies such as Helsing, TEKEVER, ARX Robotics, Auterion, Isar Aerospace, Kraken Technology Group and several startups still operating in stealth. Collectively, those companies have raised more than $5 billion, generated several billion dollars in revenue, and employ over 5,000 engineers, researchers and defence specialists.
Lakestar has also assembled an advisory board reflecting the fund’s ambitions, bringing together former NATO military leaders Sir Nicholas Carter and General Volker Wieker, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and technology entrepreneur Baroness Martha Lane Fox.
Europe’s defence founders don’t look like traditional defence founders anymore
The companies attracting venture capital today share something that would have seemed unusual only a few years ago. Many weren’t founded by former military officers or executives from established defence contractors but by software entrepreneurs, academics and engineers who see modern defence as a computing problem.
Torsten Reil, co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, began his career studying computational biology at Oxford before leaving academia to build NaturalMotion, an AI-powered animation company whose software appeared in blockbuster video games and Hollywood films. When Zynga acquired the business for $527 million in 2014, Reil had little reason to start another company. Seven years later, he co-founded Helsing, convinced that artificial intelligence would become as important to defence as aircraft or tanks.
Helsing’s first €8.5 million came largely from wealthy families rather than institutional investors, who were not yet convinced. The company is now valued at around $18 billion, making it Europe’s most valuable defence AI startup.
A similarly unconventional story can be found in Portugal. Ricardo Mendes founded TEKEVER in 2001 while studying computer engineering at Lisbon’s Instituto Superior Técnico. The company spent almost a decade developing enterprise software before pivoting into surveillance drones in 2010, years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine turned defence technology into one of venture capital’s fastest-growing sectors.
TEKEVER’s drones now patrol the English Channel, support Ukrainian operations, and work alongside organisations including the RAF and the European Maritime Safety Agency. The company has quietly become Portugal’s seventh unicorn without attracting the profile of many Silicon Valley startups.
Defence is among Europe’s fastest-growing technology markets
Lakestar’s latest fund reflects a much broader shift across European venture capital. Only a few years ago, many institutional investors avoided defence because of ESG concerns or uncertainty around military applications. That hesitation has largely disappeared.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising geopolitical tensions and Europe’s push for greater strategic autonomy have transformed defence from a niche investment category into one of the continent’s biggest technology opportunities.
Lakestar’s portfolio reflects exactly that trend: rather than backing legacy defence manufacturers, the firm is investing in companies building AI software, autonomous vehicles, robotics, aerospace platforms and cyber capabilities.
The competition is between ecosystems
Lakestar isn’t the only investor betting that defence will define Europe’s next technology cycle. The NATO Innovation Fund launched a €1 billion vehicle to support dual-use technologies across allied nations, while firms including General Catalyst, Plural, Project A and HV Capital have also increased investments in defence and resilience startups as geopolitical priorities reshape venture capital.
Lakestar’s own portfolio spans much of Europe’s emerging defence stack: Helsing builds military AI software, ARX Robotics develops autonomous ground vehicles, Auterion powers drone operating systems, Isar Aerospace is expanding Europe’s launch capabilities, and TEKEVER has become one of the continent’s most operationally deployed drone companies.
Rather than placing isolated bets, Lakestar appears to be assembling an ecosystem of companies addressing different layers of Europe’s defence infrastructure.
What’s next?
Lakestar’s first generation of investments reflected an era when venture capital focused on changing how people listened to music, booked holidays or managed their money.
Its newest fund reflects a different moment, one where the conversation has shifted toward supply chains, autonomous systems, AI, satellites and national resilience. That doesn’t mean consumer technology is any less important, but it does suggest where many investors believe the next decade’s defining companies will emerge.
15 years ago, backing Spotify or Airbnb looked unconventional. Lakestar is making another contrarian move today, wagering that Europe’s biggest technology success stories of the 2030s may be built not around convenience, but around security, sovereignty and resilience.
