Tekever, the Portuguese maker of surveillance drones, raised $580 million at a $6.4 billion valuation on 23 September. A week earlier, on 16 September, the UK Ministry of Defence awarded it a contract worth up to £400 million to replace the British Army’s Watchkeeper drones.
UC Investments, which manages the University of California’s money, and the fund manager Baillie Gifford led the round. Tekever called it a first close and expects more closings in the coming months. One new investor is Merlyn Advisors, where Sir Ben Wallace, UK defence secretary until August 2023, is a portfolio manager. Wallace said Europe needs companies that “innovate at speed, scale industrially”.
How the Army deal was won
The contract, Project CORVUS, did not come out of the competition the ministry ran for it. The defence procurement agency opened it in July 2025 and invited 18 companies to tender; eight bid by the closing date of 13 February 2026. According to the ministry’s own notice, none of the eight met its mandatory requirements.
The ministry then used section 43 of the Procurement Act 2023, which lets a buyer switch to a direct award when no suitable tender arrives. It said a second competition was not possible “for operational reasons”. Tekever was the only bidder to pass the first three stages of the assessment, the notice says, and it got the contract.
Watchkeeper has flown with the Army since 2014. The first order is for six AR5 aircraft, rising to up to 24 by 2029, built at a new Tekever factory in Swindon. The AR5 carries up to 50 kg of cameras and sensors, and Ukraine’s armed forces have used it against Russia.
An open accident report
The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch is still investigating an AR5 crash. On 24 August 2025 an AR5 Evolution Mk 2.3, registered G-TEKE, ditched in the English Channel after what the branch calls a single-engine failure. In its anniversary statement on 24 August 2026, the branch said the investigation was nearing completion and the final report would follow.
Tekever was founded in 2001 and calls itself bootstrapped from day one. The new money values it at about a third of Helsing, the German defence AI company, which was valued at $18 billion in July. The ministry says the AR5 will begin entering service with the Army later this year.
