85% of NATO’s defence-tech funding goes to the US. AVP and Earlybird raised €500M to change that.
Europe is pledging hundreds of billions to defence. Almost none of the venture money funding the technology behind it is European.
Since 2019, the US has captured around 85 per cent of all NATO defence-tech venture funding, according to the founders of a new fund out today. Europe accounted for just 6.2 per cent of NATO-wide defence-tech VC raised in 2025, even as the continent’s defence budgets surged.
AVP and Earlybird want to narrow that gap. The two firms have launched E2D, a €500mn growth-stage fund focused on European defence and dual-use technology, with the explicit goal of keeping startups’ capital, talent, and intellectual property in Europe.
The plan is to invest about €25mn each into roughly 20 companies. A first close is set for 30 June, with major financial institutions and corporates as backers, and a first investment expected by the summer.
Why the money is moving now
The...
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