Tekever raises €500 million at €5.5 billion valuation

Portuguese drone maker Tekever has announced a first close of a $580 million Series D funding round, worth more than €500 million, lifting its valuation to $6.4 billion, or more than €5.5 billion.

The round was led by UC Investments, the University of California’s investment arm, and Baillie Gifford, with participation from Merlyn Advisors, Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital and Iberis Capital. Tekever said UC Investments’ backing marked its first direct investment in Europe. The company added that this first phase covered most of the financing, but that it expects to complete additional Series D stages in the coming months to bring in new strategic investors.

Chief executive and co-founder Ricardo Mendes said the funding gives Tekever the resources to “move faster, scale further and continue building a global technology leader from Europe”. In a statement, he also said the investment brings together investors around the company’s long-term ambitions in science, artificial intelligence, autonomy and sovereign technological capability.

The fundraising comes after Tekever was selected by the UK Ministry of Defence to supply CORVUS, a new surveillance capability for the British Army, under a programme worth up to £400 million over the next ten years. The company is in an expansion phase and has operations in the UK, France, Ukraine, the United States, Estonia and Portugal.

Originally published at Eco.pt