What are the most valuable defense tech startups?

Top startups in the Defense Tech market ranked by valuation

Here is an updated table that ranks the top startups in the Defense Tech market based on their latest reported or estimated valuations.

If you need to dig deeper and get more detailed data, please check our report covering the Defense Tech market.

Which Defense Tech startups are worth the most today?

Defense Tech now has a surprisingly deep group of multi-billion-dollar startups, but Anduril is still in a completely different weight class from everyone else.

Our ranking puts Anduril at roughly $90B–$110B based on the valuation being discussed for its next financing, although the company's last completed round valued it at $61B. Helsing follows at $18B, then Castelion at $13B, Shield AI at $12.7B and ICEYE at roughly $12B.

After that comes another substantial group: Saronic at $9.25B, Quantum Systems around $8B, Hadrian at $7.87B, K2 Space at $6.8B in our current estimate and TEKEVER at $6.4B.

TEKEVER is worth highlighting because the evidence changed very recently. Its $6.4B figure had previously depended on an active financing process. The company has now announced the first close of a $580M Series D at that valuation, making the number much firmer.

The types of companies at the top also show how broad Defense Tech has become. Anduril and Helsing span software and autonomous systems. Castelion makes hypersonic strike systems. Shield AI builds autonomous aircraft and AI pilots. ICEYE operates radar satellites. Saronic builds autonomous ships. Hadrian builds automated factories.

The largest private defense companies today are spread across air, sea, space, missiles and manufacturing rather than clustering around one product.

Rank	Defense Tech startup	Current valuation used	Main business
1	Anduril Industries	$90B–$110B	Autonomous systems and defense software
2	Helsing	$18B	Defense AI and autonomous systems
3	Castelion	$13B	Hypersonic missiles and strike systems
4	Shield AI	$12.7B	Autonomous aircraft and AI pilots
5	ICEYE	~$12B	SAR satellite intelligence
6	Saronic	$9.25B	Autonomous military ships
7	Quantum Systems	~$8B	Autonomous military systems
8	Hadrian	$7.87B	Automated defense manufacturing
9	K2 Space	~$6.8B	High-power satellite platforms
10	TEKEVER	$6.4B	Autonomous military aircraft

How far ahead is Anduril from every other Defense Tech startup?

Anduril is so far ahead of the Defense Tech startup pack that even its confirmed $61B valuation is more than three times Helsing's $18B.

The newer figure is higher still. Reuters reported during the summer that Anduril was discussing another financing around a $100B valuation. Anduril responded that no decision had been made about future financing, so we treat roughly $100B as a current fundraising indication rather than a completed valuation.

That distinction matters, but it barely changes Anduril's position. At $61B, Anduril would still be about 3.4 times Helsing, 4.7 times Castelion and nearly five times Shield AI. At $100B, those gaps become roughly 5.6 times, 7.7 times and 7.9 times.

Anduril's rise has also happened remarkably quickly. The company reached a $14B valuation in 2024, $30.5B in 2025 and $61B after its $5B Series H this year. TechCrunch reported alongside that round that Anduril's revenue had doubled to about $2.2B in 2025.

The gap comes from both a steep valuation curve and a business that has already reached a scale few private defense startups have matched. Whether we use the last completed round or the newer fundraising discussion, Anduril remains the obvious outlier.

How many Defense Tech unicorns are there now?

Our current Defense Tech ranking contains about 33 companies at or around the $1B mark, which shows how ordinary a billion-dollar valuation has become at the upper end of this market.

The group stretches far beyond the obvious names. It includes autonomous systems companies such as Saronic, Skydio and Forterra; missile and propulsion companies such as Castelion and Ursa Major; space companies such as ICEYE, Apex and True Anomaly; manufacturing companies such as Hadrian; counter-drone businesses such as Chaos Industries and Epirus; and software companies such as Onebrief and Defense Unicorns.

A useful way to see the change is to look at the ranking position of a $1B company. Defense Unicorns sits around number 33 in our dataset. A valuation that once would have put a Defense Tech startup near the top of the category now barely gets it into the top third of this ranking.

There is also a cluster sitting right around the threshold. XTEND is approximately $989M in our dataset, while Raphe mPhibr, Rebellion Defense, Air Space Intelligence and Saildrone have ranges that come close to or touch $1B.

Dealroom's narrower European list currently identifies six unicorns among its 50 tracked Defense Tech companies. Our broader global universe produces a much larger count because it covers the United States, Europe, Israel, India and a wider set of military technology categories.

Which Defense Tech startups have increased their valuations the fastest?

Castelion, Saronic, Mach Industries and Shield AI have produced some of the sharpest valuation jumps in Defense Tech, with several multiplying their value within one or two financing rounds.

Castelion is one of the clearest cases. The missile startup was valued around $2.8B in its previous major financing and then reached a $13B post-money valuation after raising $800M in equity this year. That is roughly a 4.6-fold increase.

Mach Industries has moved even faster from a lower starting point. The company was valued around $470M in 2025, reached $1.8B this year and then climbed to roughly $3.7B after another financing only a few months later.

Saronic has gone from approximately $1B in 2024 to $9.25B after its latest $1.75B Series D. Shield AI moved from $5.3B in 2025 to $12.7B following its latest financing, an increase of roughly 140%.

Quantum Systems also more than doubled its valuation to about $8B. The company itself said the increase came alongside fast revenue growth and profitability, so there is more operating evidence behind the repricing than in some of the more speculative jumps.

These are unusually large moves for companies building aircraft, ships, missiles and other physical systems. Investors are repricing the strongest names very quickly once government demand, production capacity and large contracts start lining up.

Startup	Earlier valuation	Current valuation	Approx. change
Saronic	~$1B	$9.25B	~9.3x
Mach Industries	~$470M	~$3.7B	~7.9x
Castelion	~$2.8B	$13B	~4.6x
Shield AI	$5.3B	$12.7B	~2.4x
Quantum Systems	~$3.5B	~$8B	~2.3x
Anduril	$30.5B	$61B completed round	2.0x

Is Helsing now Europe's most valuable Defense Tech startup?

Helsing is currently Europe's most valuable private Defense Tech company in our ranking, at $18B.

The German company raised $1.8B in its Series E at that valuation. Helsing said demand from investors was substantially higher than the allocation available, and Dealroom now puts its cumulative funding at roughly $3.3B.

The gap with the rest of Europe is meaningful. ICEYE is worth more than €10B, roughly $12B at the financing exchange rate. Quantum Systems reached about $8B in its $1.2B Series D. TEKEVER has just confirmed a $6.4B valuation through the first close of its Series D.

That gives Europe four Defense Tech startups worth more than $6B in our current ranking. Stark, Cambridge Aerospace and Harmattan AI add another group of European companies in the billion-dollar range.

Helsing still leads clearly, but Europe now has enough large companies behind it that the story is much bigger than one breakout startup.

Are European Defense Tech startups actually catching the United States?

European Defense Tech startups are closing part of the gap with the United States, especially below Anduril, although American companies still dominate our highest valuation tier.

Europe now has Helsing at $18B, ICEYE around $12B, Quantum Systems around $8B and TEKEVER at $6.4B. Those four alone represent more than $44B of private-company value.

American startups remain more numerous near the top. Anduril, Castelion, Shield AI, Saronic, Hadrian and K2 Space all appear in our top ten.

Anduril makes the geographic comparison look especially lopsided. If we use the roughly $100B current fundraising reference, one American company alone is worth more than Helsing, ICEYE, Quantum Systems, TEKEVER, Stark and Cambridge Aerospace combined.

Below Anduril, Europe looks far more competitive than that headline suggests. European funding gives us a good indication of direction too. Dealroom found that European defense, security and resilience startups raised a record $8.7B in 2025, 55% more than a year earlier. Late-stage funding more than tripled to $4.7B.

Government budgets are moving in the same direction. The European Defence Agency says EU member states spent €418B on defense in 2025, 20% more than in 2024, with €115B going to equipment procurement. Spending is projected to rise further this year.

The United States still has the deeper startup ecosystem today. Europe is catching up fast enough, though, that the gap after Anduril is no longer overwhelming.

Are drones and autonomous systems dominating Defense Tech valuations?

Autonomous systems currently dominate the top of the Defense Tech valuation ranking more than any other technology theme.

Anduril builds autonomous systems across several domains. Helsing is developing AI-defined autonomous weapons and platforms. Shield AI builds autonomous aircraft and its Hivemind AI pilot. Saronic focuses on autonomous ships. Quantum Systems and TEKEVER build unmanned aircraft and related autonomous systems.

Further down, we find Skydio at $4.4B, Stark around $4B, Neros Technologies at $2.5B, Forterra around $1B–$1.2B, XTEND just below $1B and a long tail including Auterion, Firestorm, ARX Robotics and Darkhive.

The word "autonomy" has also become very broad. These companies are tackling aircraft, ships, ground vehicles, strike weapons, surveillance systems and the software that connects them.

A successful autonomy stack can potentially spread across several military platforms instead of being tied to one aircraft or one vehicle. That gives the best companies a software-like expansion story inside businesses that still sell expensive physical systems.

What types of Defense Tech startups get the biggest valuations?

Defense Tech investors currently pay the highest valuations for companies that combine software with hard-to-build physical systems.

The evidence is visible throughout the ranking. Anduril combines Lattice software with drones, interceptors, sensors and other hardware. Helsing couples AI with autonomous platforms. Shield AI combines its Hivemind software with aircraft. Castelion makes missiles. ICEYE owns and operates satellites. Saronic builds vessels. K2 Space makes satellite buses.

Hadrian is different again: its product is manufacturing capacity. The company reached a $7.87B valuation while building automated factories for aerospace and defense components.

Pure software businesses can still become valuable. Onebrief is around $2.1B, Defense Unicorns reached $1B and Govini sits around $1B–$1.3B in our dataset. Those are substantial valuations, but none comes close to the largest integrated platform companies.

Investors appear to put the biggest premium on software when it controls something scarce and difficult to manufacture, deploy or replace: missiles, aircraft, ships, satellites, sensors or factories.

Is space now one of the biggest parts of Defense Tech?

Space has become one of the largest Defense Tech startup categories, with more than a dozen companies in our ranking covering satellites, intelligence, communications and orbital operations.

ICEYE leads the group at roughly $12B. K2 Space follows at around $6.8B in our dataset. Apex is worth $2.3B, True Anomaly $2.2B, CesiumAstro roughly $1.5B–$2.5B, HawkEye 360 around $1.6B and Aalyria $1.3B.

The category remains deep below $1B as well. Umbra provides SAR imagery, Loft Orbital operates satellite infrastructure, Unseenlabs collects radio-frequency intelligence, Turion Space develops orbital surveillance and servicing systems, LeoLabs tracks objects in orbit and Albedo is working on very-high-resolution imaging from very low Earth orbit.

These businesses cover different pieces of the military space stack rather than competing for one identical contract.

ICEYE is a good example of how far the market has moved. Its latest financing included €450M of primary capital at a valuation above €10B, while the total transaction exceeded €1B once secondary shares were included. The company says seven European nations had procured sovereign ICEYE systems by the end of 2025.

Space is now a core Defense Tech market in its own right, with enough specialization to support several different billion-dollar companies.

Are missile and counter-drone startups becoming major Defense Tech companies?

Missile, interceptor and counter-drone startups have moved rapidly into the multi-billion-dollar part of Defense Tech.

Castelion is the standout at $13B. Its latest financing included $800M of equity plus a large revolving credit facility, and TechCrunch reported that the company had already secured more than $500M of U.S. military contracts.

Chaos Industries is valued around $4.3B–$4.8B in our dataset. Cambridge Aerospace has reached roughly $3.4B. Mach Industries is at $3.7B and is building weapons alongside its manufacturing capabilities.

Counter-drone companies are appearing at several valuation levels. Allen Control Systems is around $2.2B, Epirus roughly $1.1B–$1.4B, D-Fend Solutions $1.5B on its acquisition value, while Fortem Technologies, Aurelius Systems and Regulus Cyber sit further down.

One reason this category is attracting so much money is economic. Militaries need cheaper ways to stop drones and other low-cost threats without repeatedly firing interceptors that cost far more than the target.

Missile production has a related problem. Governments need much larger inventories and faster manufacturing than the traditional defense supply chain was built to deliver.

Startups attacking either side of that equation have suddenly become much more valuable.

Which Defense Tech startups became multi-billion-dollar companies unusually fast?

Several Defense Tech startups founded since 2022 are already worth multiple billions of dollars, an unusually compressed timeline for companies building physical military systems.

Castelion was founded in 2022 and is now valued at $13B. Saronic, also founded in 2022, is worth $9.25B. K2 Space was founded the same year and sits around $6.8B in our ranking.

Apex, another 2022 company, is worth $2.3B. Mach Industries was founded in 2023 and has reached approximately $3.7B. Harmattan AI, founded in 2023, is already worth around $1.4B.

Cambridge Aerospace is even younger. Founded in 2024, the company has already reached roughly $3.4B in our dataset.

These timelines would be aggressive even for software companies. They are especially unusual for businesses that need factories, supply chains, testing, regulatory approvals and government procurement.

Investors are effectively funding some of these startups several years ahead of the industrial scale implied by their valuations. It can produce extraordinary winners, but the production pressure is enormous.

Which Defense Tech startups have raised the most money?

Anduril has raised far more private capital than any other Defense Tech startup in our ranking, while Helsing, Shield AI, Saronic and Hadrian make up the next group of unusually heavily funded companies.

Anduril has now raised more than $11B. Its most recent completed round alone was $5B.

Helsing has raised roughly $3.3B. Shield AI has raised around $3.6B when we include its latest $1.5B Series G and earlier funding. Saronic is around $2.6B in our dataset, while Hadrian has raised roughly $2B–$2.2B.

Large rounds are becoming much more common. Helsing raised $1.8B, Saronic $1.75B, Shield AI $1.5B in common equity, Quantum Systems $1.2B and Hadrian $1.37B in its latest financing.

The numbers make more sense once we look at what these companies are building. Shipyards, factories, aircraft production, satellite constellations and missile manufacturing consume enormous amounts of capital before reaching scale.

There are still striking differences in how much money companies have needed relative to their valuation. Castelion is worth $13B after roughly $1.5B of funding in our dataset. ICEYE is around $12B after roughly $1.6B. K2 Space's valuation is several times the capital it has raised.

That ratio is not a profitability measure. Still, it shows that raising billions is no longer a prerequisite for reaching a multi-billion-dollar Defense Tech valuation.

Startup	Approx. valuation	Approx. total funding
Anduril	$61B completed / ~$100B discussed	>$11B
Helsing	$18B	~$3.3B
Shield AI	$12.7B	~$3.6B
Saronic	$9.25B	~$2.6B
Hadrian	$7.87B	~$2B–$2.2B
Quantum Systems	~$8B	~$1.9B
ICEYE	~$12B	~$1.6B
Castelion	$13B	~$1.5B
K2 Space	~$6.8B	~$941M
Skydio	$4.4B	~$854M

Are Defense Tech acquisition prices keeping up with startup valuations?

Recent Defense Tech acquisitions have produced billion-dollar outcomes, but they remain much smaller than today's largest private financing valuations.

BlueHalo is the clearest example. AeroVironment completed the acquisition in 2025, and later SEC filings put the fair value of the consideration, net of acquired cash, at about $3.485B.

That is a major exit. It is still far below Castelion's $13B financing valuation, Shield AI's $12.7B, Saronic's $9.25B or Quantum Systems' roughly $8B.

Our dataset also includes D-Fend Solutions at $1.5B on an acquisition basis, Edge Autonomy at approximately $925M, DZYNE Technologies at $876M and Capella Space at $425M.

The gap says something about expectations. Investors are currently willing to value the fastest-growing independent Defense Tech companies far above the prices paid in most completed acquisitions.

Remaining independent carries a large growth premium right now. That premium only works if these companies keep winning contracts and scaling production quickly enough to justify it.

How concentrated are Defense Tech startup valuations?

Defense Tech valuations are extremely concentrated, with a small group of companies accounting for most of the value in our 96-company dataset.

Using midpoints for valuation ranges, the companies in our table represent roughly $268B of combined value. About $194B sits in the top ten, or roughly 72% of the total.

The top five alone contribute approximately $156B, close to 58%.

Anduril explains much of the concentration. Using a $100B midpoint for its current valuation range gives one company roughly 37% of the entire dataset's value.

The drop becomes steep after the first few tiers. Around number 20, companies are worth roughly $2B. Around number 34, the ranking falls below $1B. Near number 60, valuations are close to $300M.

So the Defense Tech valuation boom is doing two things at once: increasing the number of valuable startups while concentrating an enormous amount of capital around a handful of perceived category leaders.

Part of ranking	Approx. combined valuation	Share of dataset
Anduril midpoint	~$100B	~37%
Top 5	~$156B	~58%
Top 10	~$194B	~72%
Top 20	~$227B	~85%
Remaining 76	~$41B	~15%
All 96 companies	~$268B	100%

Why are Defense Tech startup valuations rising so fast right now?

Defense Tech valuations are rising this fast because investors suddenly have both much more capital to deploy and much more evidence that governments will actually buy these products.

The funding numbers have changed dramatically. Crunchbase counted about $9.6B invested globally in military, national-security and law-enforcement startups during all of 2025. By early June this year, the same categories had already received more than $14.6B.

A broader PitchBook definition, which includes more dual-use companies, put Defense Tech venture deals at $49.1B in 2025 versus $27.2B in 2024. The totals differ because the category definitions are different, but both datasets show a large acceleration.

Europe gives us another view. Dealroom found that European defense, security and resilience startups raised $8.7B in 2025, nearly four times the amount raised in 2020.

Government procurement is expanding at the same time. EU defense spending reached €418B in 2025 according to the European Defence Agency, with €115B spent specifically on equipment.

Recent wars have also made several technology gaps painfully visible. Cheap drones, counter-drone systems, autonomous surveillance, missile inventories, satellite intelligence and manufacturing capacity have all become immediate procurement problems rather than distant research topics.

Investors can now point to budgets and contracts that simply did not exist at the same scale a few years ago. That makes the valuation boom much easier to understand.

Are these huge Defense Tech valuations backed by real business yet?

Some of the largest Defense Tech valuations already have substantial commercial evidence behind them, while others are still pricing in years of future execution.

Anduril provides one of the strongest examples. When it completed its $61B financing, CEO Brian Schimpf said revenue had doubled to approximately $2.2B in 2025. A $61B valuation would therefore equal roughly 28 times that previous year's revenue.

Shield AI has also moved beyond the prototype stage. Its valuation jumped to $12.7B shortly after its Hivemind autonomy software was selected for the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, and the company used part of its latest financing to acquire simulation specialist Aechelon Technology.

Quantum Systems offers another useful case because its own Series D announcement explicitly pointed to fast revenue growth and profitability when explaining its new $8B valuation.

ICEYE says it had sovereign systems procured by seven European countries by the end of 2025 and had reached satellite production of roughly one spacecraft per week. The company now plans to scale further toward 100 satellites per year.

TEKEVER's newly confirmed $6.4B valuation also comes after the company was selected by the UK Ministry of Defence for CORVUS, a British Army surveillance program worth up to £400M over ten years.

The evidence is thinner for some younger companies, especially where valuations have multiplied before production has reached comparable scale. A $10B valuation can therefore mean very different things depending on the company underneath it.

Is Defense Tech becoming too expensive?

Parts of Defense Tech now look extremely expensive relative to what the companies have proven commercially, although the evidence is too uneven to apply that judgment to the whole market.

The most aggressive cases are easy to spot. Castelion moved from roughly $2.8B to $13B in one financing cycle. Saronic rose from around $1B in 2024 to $9.25B. Mach Industries went from roughly $470M to $3.7B in little more than a year. Cambridge Aerospace has reached several billion dollars only a short time after being founded.

Those prices assume a lot of future production, future contracts and future margins.

Other companies give investors more existing business to work with. Anduril had about $2.2B of 2025 revenue when its $61B financing closed. Quantum Systems says it is profitable. ICEYE already has sovereign government customers and a running satellite production line.

A fresh financing valuation tells us what investors were willing to pay. It does not automatically prove that the business underneath is worth the same amount on a fundamental basis.

The clearest conclusion today is that valuations are running ahead of current operating scale in several parts of Defense Tech. Investors are betting that government demand will stay high for long enough for these companies to grow into the prices.

For some startups, that bet already has meaningful revenue and contract evidence behind it. For others, we still need to see the factories, ships, aircraft and missiles reach the production volumes implied by the valuation.

What does the Defense Tech startup valuation ranking tell us today?

The Defense Tech valuation boom is real, unusually broad and increasingly backed by actual government spending, but today's valuations range from very solid financing marks to aggressive expectations about what young companies can become.

Anduril remains the defining company. Its last completed $61B round already puts it far ahead of the market, while the newer roughly $100B financing discussion shows just how aggressively investors are thinking about its future.

What happens underneath Anduril is arguably more interesting. Helsing is at $18B, Castelion at $13B, Shield AI at $12.7B, ICEYE around $12B, Saronic at $9.25B, Quantum Systems around $8B, Hadrian at $7.87B and TEKEVER at $6.4B. Defense Tech now has a real second tier rather than one giant startup followed by a long tail.

We also count roughly three dozen companies at or near unicorn territory. The category covers autonomous aircraft, ships, missiles, satellites, counter-drone systems, military software, factories, propulsion and secure communications.

Autonomy is currently the strongest recurring theme, while space, strike systems, counter-drone technology and advanced manufacturing have all become large enough to support their own billion-dollar companies.

Europe has become much more relevant too. Helsing, ICEYE, Quantum Systems and TEKEVER together are now worth more than $44B, and European venture funding and defense budgets are both rising quickly.

The biggest uncertainty is no longer whether investors care about Defense Tech. They clearly do. The harder question is how many startups can turn these enormous private valuations into equally large operating businesses.

Our view is that the market has genuinely moved into a new phase. Valuations are being supported by much stronger procurement demand, bigger venture rounds and a growing group of companies with real contracts and revenue. At the same time, some of the youngest startups are being valued several years ahead of what they have proved operationally.

Defense Tech is therefore much larger and more credible than it was a few years ago, while still carrying considerable valuation risk below the surface.