Tekever
Assembly Line
Tekever raises $74M for dual-use drone platform deployed to Ukraine
Dual-use drone startup Tekever has raised €70 million ($74 million) to develop its product and expand into new markets, specifically the U.S. The news is part of a trend of smaller tech-driven startups moving into markets normally dominated by large “defense primes.”
Tekever’s funding round was led by Scottish investment company Baillie Gifford & Co. (which has previously backed SpaceX) and the NATO Innovation Fund, the €1 billion defense and dual-use VC fund announced in 2023. The fund is connected to NATO and focused on backing startups that build tech for categories like defense, security, and resilience.
TEKEVER, ViaSat Enter Strategic Alliance to Expand the Civilian Use of Drones with Advanced Satellite Communications
The TEKEVER Group, a leading Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) manufacturer, and ViaSat, an innovator in broadband and communication technologies and services, have announced a strategic alliance to expand the civilian use of drones with advanced satellite communications. This joint collaboration will bring ViaSat’s communication technologies onto TEKEVER’s drone platforms to push the boundaries of UAS range in civilian Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) applications. Research and development (R&D) activities will combine TEKEVER platforms and ViaSat hardware to develop communication systems for current and next-generation civilian drone applications.
ViaSat technologies will include satellite communication products that are robust and can be integrated with Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems driving the use of drones in “unsegregated” or civilian airspace. The products that will be developed through the TEKEVER and ViaSat strategic alliance will expand the range of civilian service applications for drone usage through enabling smaller platforms and longer missions.