Defense tech startups had their best funding year ever in 2025

PARIS — Defense-technology startups had their best funding year ever in 2025, with investors keen to finance autonomous systems and artificial intelligence for the battlefield, according to data from business-intelligence providers that track venture capital funding.

The value of venture capital deals in defense technology jumped to a record $49.1 billion last year from $27.2 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by PitchBook and shared with Defense News. The PitchBook data includes startups that provide dual-use technology, including companies whose primary markets are civilian but also have defense applications.

Equity funding for defense technology startups more than doubled to $17.9 billion last year from $7.3 billion in 2024, according to CB Insights , which uses its own classification method and also includes dual-use companies. Defense tech outpaced overall equity funding, which rose 47% to $469.3 billion on the back of rising funds for AI startups, based on CB Insights data.

Investor money is flowing into defense as military spending rises globally, with some of the biggest budget increases in Europe . Meanwhile, battlefield use of drones and AI-enabled systems in Ukraine has helped validate those technologies, with a focus on cheap, scalable systems and faster data processing and decision-making.

“Ukraine demonstrated drone and autonomous system effectiveness in real combat, fundamentally shifting how VCs view defense investments,” said Jason Saltzman, head of insights at CB Insights, in an emailed comment. He said the growing investor base and investment opportunities in dual-use artificial intelligence helped drive record defense-tech funding.

In 2026, defense-tech startups will have to prove to investors they can turn funding into actual production at scale, according to Saltzman.

Manufacturing scale is “the next competitive battleground” in the defense-tech space, said Ali Javaheri, senior analyst for emerging technology at PitchBook, in emailed comments. “We are going to see a concerted push to expand throughput through investments not just in new facilities, but in the production toolchain itself, including robotics and software-augmented manufacturing.”

American defense-technology startups attracted most of the money last year, with equity funding in the U.S. nearly tripling to $14.2 billion from $5 billion a year earlier, according to CB Insights. That compares to defense-tech equity funding in Europe rising 38% to $2.48 billion.

The difference is partly explained by more large funding rounds in the United States last year, including Anduril raising $2.5 billion in June, valuing the California-based maker of autonomous systems and battlefield software at $30.5 billion. Texas-based Saronic, which makes uncrewed surface vessels, raised $600 million in February at a valuation of $4 billion.

The comparison was more favorable for Europe in terms of the count of defense-tech startups that received investor backing, according to the CB Insights data, with the number of equity funding deals there rising 67% to 100, compared to the tally in the U.S. rising 30% to 155 deals.

Last year’s funding rounds for primarily defense-focused startups were led by Anduril, Helsing and Saronic, the same trio that topped the charts in 2024, according to Crunchbase, another company that compiles VC funding data. Helsing, which develops battlefield AI software, raised €600 million ($695 million) in June at a reported valuation of €12 billion.

The number of firms actively investing in defense tech increased 41% last year, with “mainstream venture” dropping previous ethical objections to investing in defense and reframing it as supporting democratic values, according to Saltzman at CB Insights. AI opened new funding opportunities in both pure defense applications and broader dual-use technology, he said.

The emphasis in 2026 is shifting towards the speed of getting systems fielded, and budgets this year will prioritize artificial-intelligence enabled systems, autonomous platforms and collaborative combat aircraft, according to Saltzman.

“Growth will depend on whether these startups can solve the harder problem: translating venture capital into large-scale manufacturing capacity and navigating supply-chain constraints that have kept most from reaching battlefield scale,” Saltzman said.

Manufacturing-focused defense investment rose to $4.7 billion across 39 deals in 2025 from $2.6 billion across 24 deals in 2024, according to PitchBook data published in a separate research note on Friday. Much of the scale-up capital for manufacturing between 2022 and 2025 went to drones, space systems and infrastructure, and defense electronics and sensing, according to the data.

The implication for investors going into 2026 will be that “execution, not invention, will determine returns,” Javaheri wrote. “Companies that convert facilities into repeatable output will disproportionately capture both capital and contract velocity.”

Defense tech investment will continue to grow in 2026, according to Javaheri, in comments to Defense News. He said autonomy will remain a core focus, but broadening beyond aerial systems into maritime and ground vehicles in particular, while industry consolidation will show a clear acceleration.

“I would not be surprised to see a major venture-backed defense tech startup acquired by a traditional prime contractor in the first half of the year as incumbents look to buy proven capabilities rather than build them from scratch,” Javaheri said.

Venture capital exits from defense-tech investments also jumped to a record last year, rising to $54.4 billion from $18.2 billion in 2024, PitchBook data show. Most of the exits were through acquisitions of defense-tech startups, led by Nvidia’s €20 billion purchase of Groq, which makes AI hardware and software for applications including military autonomous systems.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——据追踪风险投资资金的商业智能提供商的数据显示，2025 年国防科技初创企业获得了有史以来最好的融资，投资者热衷于为战场上的自主系统和人工智能提供资金。

据PitchBook汇编并与《防务新闻》分享的数据显示，去年国防技术领域的风险投资交易额飙升至创纪录的491亿美元，高于前一年的272亿美元。PitchBook的数据涵盖了提供军民两用技术的初创公司，包括那些主要市场为民用但同时也拥有国防应用的公司。

根据CB Insights的数据，去年国防科技初创企业的股权融资额增长超过一倍，从2024年的73亿美元增至179亿美元。CB Insights采用其独有的分类方法，并将军民两用企业也纳入统计范围。CB Insights的数据显示，国防科技领域的股权融资增速超过了整体股权融资增速，后者增长47%至4693亿美元，主要得益于人工智能初创企业融资额的增加。

随着全球军费开支的增长，投资者资金正涌入国防领域，其中欧洲的军费预算增幅最大。与此同时，在乌克兰战场上无人机和人工智能系统的使用，验证了这些技术的有效性，重点在于低成本、可扩展的系统以及更快的数据处理和决策速度。

CB Insights 的洞察主管杰森·萨尔茨曼在一封电子邮件评论中表示：“乌克兰在实战中展现了无人机和自主系统的效能，从根本上改变了风险投资机构对国防投资的看法。” 他指出，不断增长的投资者群体和军民两用人工智能领域的投资机会推动了国防科技领域创纪录的融资。

萨尔茨曼表示，到 2026 年，国防科技初创公司将不得不向投资者证明，他们能够将资金转化为实际的大规模生产。

PitchBook新兴技术高级分析师阿里·贾瓦赫里在电子邮件评论中表示，制造规模是国防科技领域的“下一个竞争战场”。他指出：“我们将看到各方齐心协力地扩大产能，不仅投资新建工厂，还投资生产工具链本身，包括机器人技术和软件增强型制造。”

据CB Insights的数据显示，去年美国国防科技初创企业吸引了大部分投资，美国国防科技领域的股权融资额几乎翻了三倍，从前一年的50亿美元增至142亿美元。相比之下，欧洲国防科技领域的股权融资额增长了38%，达到24.8亿美元。

部分原因在于去年美国出现了更多大规模融资，例如总部位于加州的自主系统和战场软件制造商Anduril在6月份融资25亿美元，估值达到305亿美元。总部位于德克萨斯州的无人水面舰艇制造商Saronic在2月份融资6亿美元，估值达到40亿美元。

根据 CB Insights 的数据，就获得投资者支持的国防科技初创企业数量而言，欧洲的情况更为有利，那里的股权融资交易数量增长了 67%，达到 100 笔，而美国的这一数字仅增长了 30%，达到 155 笔。

去年，主要专注于国防领域的初创公司融资轮由 Anduril、Helsing 和 Saronic 领投，这三家公司也位列 2024 年融资榜首。据另一家风险投资数据公司 Crunchbase 的数据显示，Helsing 是一家开发战场人工智能软件的公司，该公司在 6 月份融资 6 亿欧元（约合 6.95 亿美元），据报道估值达 120 亿欧元。

据CB Insights的Saltzman称，去年积极投资国防科技的公司数量增长了41%，主流风险投资机构放弃了此前对投资国防的道德异议，并将其重新定义为支持民主价值观。他表示，人工智能为纯粹的国防应用和更广泛的军民两用技术都开辟了新的融资机会。

据萨尔茨曼称，2026 年的重点将转向加快系统部署速度，今年的预算将优先考虑人工智能赋能系统、自主平台和协同作战飞机。

“增长将取决于这些初创企业能否解决更棘手的问题：将风险投资转化为大规模生产能力，并克服供应链限制，这些限制阻碍了大多数企业达到战场规模，”萨尔茨曼说。

根据PitchBook周五发布的另一份研究报告，以制造业为重点的国防投资预计将从2024年的26亿美元（24笔交易）增至2025年的47亿美元（39笔交易）。数据显示，2022年至2025年间，制造业领域的大部分规模化投资流向了无人机、空间系统和基础设施以及国防电子和传感技术。

贾瓦赫里写道，这对投资者而言意味着，到2026年，“执行力而非创新能力将决定回报”。“那些将设施转化为可重复产出的公司将不成比例地获得资本和合同的快速增长。”

据贾瓦赫里在接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，国防科技投资将在2026年继续增长。他指出，自主系统仍将是核心重点，但投资范围将从空中系统扩展到海上和地面车辆等领域，同时行业整合速度也将明显加快。

“如果今年上半年一家大型风险投资支持的国防科技初创公司被传统主承包商收购，我不会感到惊讶，因为现有企业更倾向于购买成熟的技术能力，而不是从零开始构建，”贾瓦赫里说。

PitchBook的数据显示，去年国防科技领域的风险投资退出额也创下历史新高，从2024年的182亿美元增至544亿美元。大部分退出是通过收购国防科技初创公司实现的，其中最引人注目的是英伟达以200亿欧元收购了Groq，该公司生产用于包括军事自主系统在内的应用领域的AI硬件和软件。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。