
9 days · 12 summary articles
Stark, the German defence-tech start-up that builds weaponised drones, has raised €500 million in a single funding round led by Sequoia, Founders Fund and the NATO Innovation Fund, marking the largest European defence-sector raise of 2026 so far. The capital injection was confirmed today by Stark and multiple investors, including Project A and Air Street Partners, according to Tech.eu and Sifted . The Financial Times separately reported that US billionaires linked to Peter Thiel participated despite prior criticism of Stark’s financiers .
The round values Stark at more than €2 billion and will bankroll rapid scaling of its drone platforms, which are already deployed in Eastern Europe. NATO’s Innovation Fund, the alliance’s €1 billion venture vehicle, joins the round for the first time, underscoring the alliance’s growing comfort with commercial defence start-ups. Sequoia’s European arm led the round, with Founders Fund increasing its exposure after an initial 2025 seed.
In parallel, Reflection AI, an open-source start-up barely two years old, has signed a seven-year compute deal with SpaceX worth up to $6.3 billion. Under the agreement, Reflection AI will pay SpaceX $150 million monthly for access to Nvidia chips housed in SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data centres, according to The Next Web . The arrangement places Nvidia on both sides of the transaction, as SpaceX is both a tenant and a supplier of compute capacity.
Elsewhere, Ubotica Technologies, an Irish spacetech company, secured $11 million to expand its orbital AI platform that delivers real-time maritime intelligence, Tech.eu reported . The round, led by Mercia Ventures, will accelerate deployment of the company’s sensors aboard multiple launch providers.
Away from hardware, the Manhattan primary is becoming the first real-world test of AI’s electoral spending power. Industry groups have already spent millions to target a candidate who advocates stricter AI regulation, the Financial Times noted . Meanwhile, Nvidia faces a new lawsuit from music company Jamendo over alleged unauthorised use of copyrighted material in AI training datasets, Reuters reported .
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