Hamburg-based growth investment firm DTCP is launching a €500m defence fund to back startups, having raised €300m so far — which the firm says would be the largest such defence-focused fund in Europe.
The new fund, DTCP’s eighth, will back around 30 companies with an average investment of €20m — making it among the more later-stage defence investors in Europe. It will focus on startups in software, cyber, defence, AI and autonomous systems, the firm said, with a focus on Europe as well as NATO countries in some cases.
Speaking at the DLD conference on Friday, managing partner Thomas Preuss said that DTCP had focused on making investments in digital transformation over the past decade and was now aiming to apply the same approach to defence. DTCP had already gained some experience in the sector through its investments in cyber security companies and startups like Quantum Systems, the German drone manufacturer, he said.
The new fund will invest in NATO countries, or in partner countries, including Ukraine. “The clear focus of this fund is to strengthen the European defence supply chain,” he said.
Preuss said it had been an “extremely complicated” process to persuade LPs to invest in the defence sector but many institutional investors acknowledged that times had changed. “This is the beginning of a very long cycle of intense technology investment in defence infrastructure,” he said. “And we are convinced that this will be a very strong investment strategy with a very strong return potential.”
DTCP, formerly the investment arm of Deutsche Telekom, spun out on its own in 2015, and largely focuses on growth equity and digital infrastructure investments. It currently has more than €3bn assets under management.
The new fund comes amid a defence tech hype sweeping European investors, and is among several such funds being raised by fellow VCs. Keen Venture Partners, a Dutch VC, is currently raising a €200m fund; Swiss VC Lakestar is also raising a reported $300m defence fund; Polish VC Expeditions closed a €100m defence fund last autumn; while Berlin’s Project A is mulling a smaller defence and security-focused fund in 2026, Sifted reported. The NATO Innovation Fund also launched in summer 2023 with €1bn to invest in both startups and VC funds.
Update, January 16, 2026: This article has been updated with comments from managing partner Thomas Preuss from the DLD conference.
