Catch up on the latest insights into the defense industry.
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French Interceptor Startup Alta Ares Raises €50M Series A
The era of France’s most famous exports being wine, cheese, and Spurs phenoms may be coming to an end, at least if Alta Ares has anything to do with it. This morning, the French counter-drone software and hardware startup announced that it’s raised a €50M ($58M) Series A led by Air Street Capital, alongside Cherry… Read More
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STARK Unveils Two New Drones
If y’all thought the drone craze was dying down, think again. In the past 24 hours, German defense tech darling STARK unveiled not one but two new drones—Cascade and Gambit—at ILA Berlin. Gambit is a man-portable quadcopter designed for ISR and short-range strikes, while Cascade is a tube-launched loitering munition (also man-portable) with a range… Read More
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Meet Gardar, Norway’s New €80M Defense Fund
The Nordics are heating up, y’all. This morning, Norwegian VC Sandwater announced the launch of a new €80M ($92M) fund called Gardar, which will “[invest] in Ukrainian defence tech startups from Seed to Series B.” The new fund was set up in conjunction with Ferd AS (a big ol’ family-owned Norwegian investment firm) and Munkene,… Read More
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Allen Control Systems Raises $200M at $2.2B Valuation
The defense tech unicorn club just got its newest member. On Friday, Austin-based counter-drone startup Allen Control Systems announced a $200M Series B led by Smash Capital at a whopping $2.2B post-money valuation—a massive jump from its $170M Series A valuation last year. The drone-downing dollars really do just keep on coming. Ribbit ribbit: A… Read More
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Antares Nuclear Wins the Race to Criticality
When the Department of Energy launched the Reactor Pilot Program last June, it set a July 4, 2026, target for startups to switch on their microreactors and hit criticality—when a nuclear fission chain reaction becomes self-sustaining. Antares, an LA-based space and defense-focused nuclear startup, beat that deadline by a month. Yesterday, the company reached initial… Read More
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Anduril Set to Win ACV cUAS Award
The Marines are on a bit of a spending spree this week, aren’t they? Yesterday, the Marine Corps announced that it intends to issue a sole-source contract to Anduril for non-kinetic counter-drone technology for its Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs), including the company’s Pulsar-L EW platform and vehicle integration kits “to meet an urgent requirement.” According… Read More