Venture capital investors are stepping up investments into European “Iron Dome” type air defence technologies as governments look for cost-effective ways to counter mass attacks from drones.
Some of the industry’s most prominent backers, including Lakestar, Lux Capital and Accel, have backed recent fundraising rounds for nascent companies such as Tytan Technologies of Germany and UK-based Cambridge Aerospace.
Cambridge Aerospace has just closed a $100mn round led by Spark Capital, valuing the start-up at about $400mn, said people familiar with the fundraising. Tytan has so far raised more than €15mn and Sweden’s Nordic Air Defence recently raised $4.4mn in early-stage funding.