Tekever opens German arm in Munich, its fifth national base in a year of deals

Tekever has opened a German subsidiary headquartered in Munich, giving the Lisbon-based drone maker a dedicated base for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The move comes weeks after the company closed a $580m Series D round at a $6.4bn valuation, and follows a run of national expansions across the continent.

The new office will house engineering, business development and customer-facing teams rather than a sales desk alone. It is Tekever's sixth location in Europe, adding to existing operations in Portugal, the UK, France, Ukraine and Estonia.

Why Germany, why now

Germany's armed forces have already taken delivery of Tekever's first uncrewed aircraft in the country, a heavy-lift system built for long-endurance missions. The Bundeswehr is using it to assess how autonomous aircraft could support logistics and troop support rather than only surveillance, according to the company.

That trial, not yet a procurement contract, gives Tekever a foothold in a market it has been courting as Germany increases defence spending. Chief executive Ricardo Mendes framed the expansion as a long-term bet on German industry rather than a one-off sale.

"TEKEVER Germany represents an important milestone in our European growth strategy and reflects our long-term commitment to Germany," Mendes said. He added that the country's "engineering excellence, innovation and industrial capability" made it a natural place to build a regional base.

On the Bundeswehr relationship specifically, Mendes said: "Our collaboration with the Bundeswehr has already demonstrated the value advanced autonomy can bring across multiple mission areas, including logistics and force support."

A busy few weeks for Tekever

The Germany launch is the third major announcement from Tekever in under a month. In September the company signed a contract worth up to £400m with the UK Ministry of Defence under the CORVUS programme, anchoring production of its AR5 aircraft at a Swindon facility. Around the same time, it disclosed a €200m investment tied to its French operations.

Both came shortly after Tekever closed the first tranche of a $580m Series D round, led by UC Investments and Baillie Gifford, which valued the 25-year-old company at $6.4bn. That funding was earmarked for international expansion, manufacturing capacity and possible acquisitions, and the Munich office appears to be an early use of that money.

For European founders watching the defence-tech sector, the pattern is notable: Tekever is building sovereign, country-by-country operations rather than selling into each market from a single Portuguese base. That approach mirrors how larger defence primes operate, and it signals an expectation that European governments will keep favouring suppliers with local engineering and manufacturing presence over purely imported systems.

What is still unproven

Tekever has not disclosed the size of its German team or a timetable for converting the Bundeswehr evaluation into a purchase order. The company's pitch rests partly on its operational record in Ukraine, where its systems have reportedly been used for surveillance, though that track record does not guarantee traction in Germany's more cautious procurement process.

With roughly 888 staff spread across eight European locations and North America, Tekever is scaling quickly for a company that only became a defence-focused autonomy specialist in recent years after decades as a broader technology firm. Whether Munich becomes a genuine engineering hub or stays a liaison office will depend on what the Bundeswehr decides to do once its evaluation of the heavy-lift drone ends.