NEWS

Iran attacks Diego Garcia

The UK confirmed that Iran fired two missiles at a British-American base in Diego Garcia. The missiles appeared to be two-stage intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

What is interesting is that the 4,000km range of the missiles is roughly double what most analysts thought Iran capable of. Although they failed to hit anything, the extended range now puts European capitals such as Berlin, Paris and Rome within reach.

That is a failure of intelligence. Although there have long been rumours of a 3,000-4,000km class missile, it seems they were not confirmed as operational.

Although Iran is unlikely to target European cities, I suspect this development will force a reassessment of air defence postures across Europe. For years the planning assumption for NATO was that Iran was a regional missile power. No longer.

That is good news for air defence companies, whose order books appear to be getting longer in 2026.

UK shifts to a 10-year defence procurement plan

The UK MOD set out plans to move away from annual budgeting towards a 10-year procurement model. The approach was outlined during a Defence Committee session last week.

That will be welcome news for companies supplying to MOD and in particular for early-stage businesses which will benefit from greater visibility of revenues.

This is a quiet but important reform. Defence procurement has historically struggled to accommodate venture-backed companies. Not because the technology was lacking, but often because the demand signal was inconsistent.

A 10-year horizon begins to align the MOD with how modern defence companies are built. Since they are capital intensive upfront, investors must believe in predictable future revenues to justify writing a cheque. This change helps those investment cases.

UK gets 100-qubit quantum computer

Infleqtion, an American quantum computing company, has delivered the UK’s only operational 100-physical-qubit system to the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), with its Sqale platform.

When I was at NSSIF I led the fund’s investment into Infleqtion. Back then it was a private company largely focused on quantum clocks and quantum sensing. Now it is listed on the NASDAQ with a market cap of ~$2bn.

The fact that an American company has delivered this capability is both surprising and not surprising. The UK is an incredible source of talent for quantum, birthing a great number of exceptional founders and world-leading technologies. But as companies get larger the opportunities for investment and acquisition get smaller. And the US quickly becomes a sensible destination for growth.

A 100-qubit computer is small beer - IBM has recently developed one with 1,121 qubits. But for the UK it marks an inflection point - the opening of a market and the planting of a flag.

Meanwhile, the UK government just announced £1bn in funding for the development of large-scale quantum computers. It aims to retain quantum talent amid global competition.

FUNDRAISING

Sierra Space, an American developer of space-based solutions for national security, raised a $550m Series C at an $8bn valuation led by LuminArx Capital Management.

Vast, an American developer of space stations, raised a $500m round led by Balerion Space Ventures.

Advanced Navigation, an Australian developer of navigation systems for GNSS-denied environments, raised a $100m Series C led by Airtree Ventures.

Cape, an American developer of a mobile carrier for people operating in secure environments, raised a $100m round led by Bain Capital Ventures and IVP.

Arc, an American developer of electric boats and propulsion systems for commercial and defence use, raised a $50m Series C co-led by Eclipse, a16z and Menlo Ventures.

Swarm Aero, an American manufacturer of large drones and software that enables coordinated drone swarms, raised a $35m Series A co-led by Two Sigma Ventures and Silent Ventures.

ENPULSION, an Austrian developer of electric propulsion systems for small satellites, raised a $26m round led by Nordwind Growth.

Lux Aeterna, an American developer of reusable satellites, raised a $10m seed round led by Konvoy.

EGIDE, a French developer of low cost counter-drone interceptors, raised an €8m round co-led by Expeditions, Eurazeo and Heartcore Capital.

Mantis Space, an American developer of lasers to provide energy to spacecraft in orbit, raised a $10m seed round led by Rule 1 Ventures.

Navi AI, an American developer of AI to improve pilot training and performance, emerged from stealth with $6.7m in funding from United Airlines Ventures and others.

Breaker, an American developer of autonomous vehicle orchestration software, raised $6m in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

R2 Wireless, an American developer of passive radio frequency (RF) spectrum sensing and situational awareness, raised a $5m round.

Mirai Robotics, an Italian developer of autonomous vessels and AI control systems for maritime surveillance, raised $4.2m in pre-seed funding led by Primo Capital, Techshop and 40Jemz Ventures.

Quantcore, a British developer of domestic manufacturing capacity for superconducting quantum hardware, raised a £2.5m seed round co-led by PXN Ventures, Blackfinch Ventures and Scottish Enterprise.

Enigma, an American developer of a platform for logistics in contested environments, emerged from stealth with $2m in funding.

Diffraqtion, an American developer of quantum sensing technology, raised more money in an extension to its pre-seed round from February 2026.

GOING PUBLIC

Horizon Quantum, a Singapore-based developer of software for quantum computers backed by Expeditions, went public on the NASDAQ raising $120m. Its market cap is now more than $500m.

Swarmer, a Ukrainian developer of software for drones and other autonomous systems, went public on the NASDAQ. Its market cap is now more than $400m.

Merlin, an American developer of flight autonomy software, went public on the NASDAQ. Its market cap is now more than $1bn.

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