German drone startup Stark cracks 500 million valuation after only 18 months

The Munich-based defense startup Stark Defence has completed a financing round worth 65 million.

Munich -based defense startup Stark Defence has completed a financing round just 18 months after its founding – and reportedly reached a valuation of around $500 million (approximately €430 million). The news portal Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, and the startup has now confirmed the round to Sifted .

The round was led by Silicon Valley investor Sequoia Capital, as the company confirmed. A total of approximately $62 million was invested, bringing the total investment to date to approximately $100 million.

Previous investors include tech investor Peter Thiel, the CIA-affiliated VC fund In-Q-Tel, the NATO Innovation Fund, the Berlin-based venture capital firm Project A, and Doepfner Capital, a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm led by Moritz Döpfner, son of Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner (Gründerszene is part of Axel Springer) , according to Bloomberg. According to insiders, entrepreneur, Palantir co-founder, and investor Joe Lonsdale (8VC) was also in talks about investing.

The company Stark develops autonomous, armed drones exclusively for military purposes – and is currently testing its first drone in combat operations in Ukraine. Colloquially, they are sometimes referred to as "kamikaze drones" or "loitering munitions," while the military term for these unmanned weapon systems is "disposable drones."

Stark, now based in Berlin, was founded by Florian Seibel in Munich. Seibel, a former Bundeswehr officer, had previously founded the drone company Quantum Systems in 2015 and turned it into a unicorn a few weeks ago. According to the company, Quantum generated revenue of €110 million in 2024 and aims to increase its business to half a billion euros by 2026.

But while Quantum remained limited to reconnaissance drones – because several major investors had excluded weapons projects for ethical reasons – Seibel found a way to meet the growing demand for combat drones: Together with Sven Kruck, also a former Bundeswehr officer, he founded Stark Defence as an independent company in 2024.

Since summer 2025, Stark has been massively expanding its business activities in Europe. The startup opened a factory for series production in Swindon, UK. Stark also recently acquired the Berlin-based software startup Pleno, whose navigation software is designed to enable the control of entire swarms of autonomous drones.

According to insiders, in addition to ammunition, Stark is also working on AI systems for command and control software that can process data streams from battlefields and coordinate the deployment of multiple drone types. The development of additional military hardware for sea, land, and air operations is also on the agenda. This puts Stark in competition with Germany's first defense unicorn, Helsing.

The German Armed Forces are currently testing products from both Stark and its rival Helsing, currently the most valuable European defense tech startup.

The rapid rise of Stark and the other defense startups is directly linked to increased defense spending in Europe. Germany plans to double its defense budget to €162 billion by 2029.

With a valuation of half a billion after just one and a half years, Stark is experiencing one of the fastest growth stories in the European defense industry.

Germany, particularly the Bavarian capital of Munich, has become a hub for military startups in recent months and is taking a pioneering role. In addition to Helsing and Quantum Systems, Art Robotics is also based here, and Project Q recently launched. Various Munich-based space startups are also currently exploring expansion into the field of military use.