In 2025, venture capital funding for these startups increased to $1.5B, making it the industry’s most active year ever. Defense technology now accounts for 6.2% of total venture capital funding in Europe, up from less than 1% in 2020. This growth has been driven by advances in AI, robotics, and autonomous systems, which have become key drivers of global progress in security and resilience technologies. Europe maintains its leading position in quantum technology venture capital but lags far behind the US in space technology and in the production of AI chips and processors. AI microchips (semiconductors) are crucial for maintaining resilient supply chains and enabling sovereign computing. Record investment in European defense technology in 2025 was supported by large funding rounds, such as the €600M raised by German startup Helsing in June. The number of unique investors in the sector is rapidly increasing, with forecasts predicting a 300% rise in their numbers by the end of 2025 compared to 2019.
