NEWS

Germany buys American UAVs

Germany has ordered eight MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones from General Atomics, an American defence prime, at a cost of €1.52bn.

This initially feels off-brand for Germany, which has been a staunch champion of sovereign European capability since Munich Security Conference one year ago.

But there are many (largely strategic) capabilities which are still provided to Europe by the US. At least for the moment. I imagine European leaders across the continent are currently reviewing that list quite carefully. My sense is there will be some investment opportunities therein.

Russia fits air-to-air missiles on Shahed drones

This is a story from December but worth mentioning as it seems that the Kremlin is now deploying more of these against Ukraine. Russian forces appear to be fitting R-60 air-to-air missiles to Shahed-style drones, in theory giving them the capability to engage Ukrainian fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

In and of itself, this development doesn’t pose much of a threat to Ukrainian aircraft. The Russian UAVs are not fast or manoeuvrable enough to effectively use the R-60s, for now at least.

But what’s interesting here is the trajectory of Russian UAV innovation. Western defence primes and neoprimes are developing high-cost CCAs (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) to fly alongside crewed fighter jets. Meanwhile Russia is going after the AK-47 of air-to-air drone technology - cheap, reliable and operable by everyone from Mujahideen to child soldiers.

China and its quantum warfare weapons

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) says it is using quantum technology to gather high-value military intelligence from public cyberspace. It claims that more than 10 experimental quantum cyber warfare technologies are under development and being ‘tested on the front line’.

This is more propaganda than reality. Most quantum technologies aren’t ready to be deployed on the front line, although some are not far off.

But that will soon change. Quantum sensing, in particular, is a technology that will reset the paradigm for navigation and positioning. In the future we will be much less reliant on GPS and other space-based capabilities.

China is pushing hard to integrate these frontier technologies into its defence capabilities. If it can do so ahead of the West, it will have an edge.

FUNDRAISING

Noveon, an American manufacturer of rare earth magnets, raised a $215m Series C led by One Investment Management (OneIM).

Aikido Security, a Belgian developer of security technology for scanning code, cloud infrastructure, and runtime environments, raised a $60m Series B at a $1bn valuation. The deal was led by DST Global.

Equal1, an Irish builder of quantum servers for data centers using silicon-based processors, raised a $60m round.

Hydrosat, an American builder of thermal infrared imaging satellites, raised a $60m Series B co-led by Hartree Partners, Subutai Capital Partners, and Space 4 Earth.

Novee, an Israeli builder of AI agents for penetration testing which mimics offensive cyber tactics, emerged from stealth with $51.5m in seed and Series A funding led by YL Ventures, Canaan Partners and Zeev Ventures.

GovDash, an American developer of AI software to help win, manage, and deliver government contracts, raised a $30m Series B co-led by Mucker Capital and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation.

Distributed Spectrum, an American developer of AI signals intelligence, raised a $25m Series A led by Conviction and Shield Capital.

Fractile, a British developer of hardware and software solutions for AI inference, raised a $22.5m round led by NATO Innovation Fund.

Dominion Dynamics, a Canadian startup looking to build a new arctic defence prime in Canada, raised a $15m seed round led by Georgian.

SkyFi, an American provider of on-demand access to satellite imagery and geospatial insights, raised a $12.7 million Series A round co-led by Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital Advisors.

TwentyFour Industries, a German developer of cost-effective drones, emerged from stealth with $11.8m in early-stage funding led by Lakestar and OTB Ventures.

Cyb3r Operations, a British developer of software to provide real-time visibility into third-party cyber risk, raised a $5.4 million round led by Octopus Ventures.

Ethereal Exploration Guild, an Indian developer of a fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, raised a $5m Series A led by TDK Ventures.

Ionech, a British company developing a technology to harness clean energy from ambient air, raised a £2m seed round led by Elbow Beach.

Aule Space, an Indian developer of spacecraft aiming to grapple onto existing sats in GEO and provide up to six years of extra propulsion, raised $2m in pre-seed funding led by pi Ventures.

ThinkOrbital, an American developer of defence-driven space capabilities, on-orbit servicing solutions, and in-space construction technologies, raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by TFX Capital.

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