Company: Tekever
Co-Founder: Ricardo Mendes
Website: https://www.tekever.com/
About Tekever
Tekever is the European market leader in AI-centric unmanned aerial systems, more commonly known as drones. Through a meticulous combination of innovative engineering and complex generative artificial intelligence technology, its drones support governments and security agencies across the globe complete reconnaissance, intelligence and surveillance missions which range from monitoring borders and protecting and tracking marine wildlife.
Founded in 2001, Tekever was created out of founder, Ricardo Mendes’ identification of a gap in the market to use drones to gather data from vast, remote areas. The company started off with a focus on building software that could connect as many devices as possible to create intelligent distributed systems. In 2009, they recognised the gap in the market to use drones gather vast amounts of data.
At the time, the UAS market was primarily dominated by defence companies focusing on hardware whilst Tekever believed software and AI were the key to unlocking its true potential, which led the company to develop its own hardware and software for these systems.
Today, Tekever is a vertically integrated company with full control over every aspect of the value chain including aeronautical design, manufacturing and software development.
Impressively, the company has raised EUR 90 million in the last two years, most recently announcing its NATO Innovation Fund backed EUR 70 million fundraise in November 2024. This is a major milestone in Tekever’s journey, with the fundraise being backed by a number of leading VC players, including Baillie Gifford, the early backers of Airbnb, Spotify and SpaceX. Tekever’s latest, and only second ever fundraise, will provide it with the strategic expertise needed to fuel the next phase of its already profitable global growth.
On the ‘why’ behind the fundraise, Tekever’s CEO, Ricardo Mendes said: “We’re living in a highly volatile world, experiencing exponential change and the transformative power of software, AI and robotics. TEKEVER was built to embrace and leverage this reality, providing its customers with future-proofed, AI-centric hardware enabled systems that are produced at scale and effectively delivered and sustained globally.”
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