{"id":761633,"date":"2026-02-13T11:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/761633\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T11:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:20:20","slug":"drone-startup-stark-claims-unicorn-valuation-following-german-armed-forces-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/761633\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone startup Stark claims unicorn valuation following German armed forces deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-block=\"p\" class=\"\">German armed drone startup Stark has secured a fresh round of undisclosed funding that reportedly boosts its valuation above \u20ac1bn, Manager Magazin reports.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">The new valuation was confirmed to Sifted by a person close to the company.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">&#8220;Stark is officially worth more than one billion,\u201d they tell Sifted, adding that the company\u2019s valuation is likely to increase further once a new agreement with the German armed forces has been signed.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">The fundraising comes as European governments \u2014 including Germany\u2019s \u2014 expand defence procurement, with planned purchases of strike drones potentially worth hundreds of millions of euros.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">According to Sifted sources, Stark will sign a new contract with the German armed forces in the coming weeks, worth \u20ac2.4bn.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">\u201cIt\u2019s a framework agreement. But they have already booked \u20ac280m, which they will buy directly this year,\u201d the source says. \u201cThe plan is to roll out the equipment to an entire brigade in Lithuania in December\u2013January 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">The startup was founded in 2024 by Florian Seibel, cofounder of German autonomous drone startup Quantum Systems, to build weaponised drones. Seibel has since left the company and former Project A general partner Uwe Horstmann has taken over as CEO.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">Prior to this latest unannounced raise, Stark had raised a <a href=\"https:\/\/sifted.eu\/articles\/german-drones-startup-stark-funding-sequoia-62\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$62m round in August<\/a> last year, led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Thiel Capital, the NATO Innovation Fund, In-Q-Tel, Project A and D\u00f6pfner Capital.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">That round valued the company at roughly $500m and brought its total disclosed funding to about $100m since its founding.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">The company recently announced the opening of a new location in Stockholm, following its expansion to the UK in November last year.<\/p>\n<p data-block=\"p\">Stark now employs around 450 people and, according to Arlt, plans to double that number in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German armed drone startup Stark has secured a fresh round of undisclosed funding that reportedly boosts its valuation&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,92209,35905],"class_list":["post-761633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-stark","tag-startup-funding"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116063058154821104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}