Berlin defense startup STARK closes €500M round
Vanta, STARK’s product line of unmanned surface vessels (USVs), complements traditional naval fleets by enablingreal-time situational awareness, while integrating into naval networks and multi-domain command structures. © STARK
Berlin-based defense tech company STARK has closed a €500 million Series C funding round, just months after its Series B turned it into a unicorn. According to reporting by hartpunkt, the fresh capital comes from a broad coalition of investors spanning defense, technology, and institutional finance.
The round includes heavyweights like Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, the NATO Innovation Fund, Project A, Air Street Capital, 201 Ventures, Advent, and Döpfner Capital. Sequoia partner Luciana Lixandru noted that few companies can execute at STARK's speed and scale, and that the firm is committed to supporting the next phase of growth.
Founded in 2024, STARK is already active in five countries and operates around 20,000 square meters of production space. The company plans to put more than 80 percent of the new funds directly into research, development, and manufacturing, including new facilities for electronic warfare and expanded capacity to produce several thousand drone systems per month.
CEO Uwe Horstmann was clear about the mission: "The challenge for Europe is no longer whether we can innovate, but whether we can scale industrially." STARK's best-known product, the Virtus loitering munition, was procured by the German Bundeswehr earlier this year. The company says it intends to build sovereign European defense capabilities, with industrial scale as the defining goal.