Space and
defence venture.

A comprehensive study of the firms financing the future of space and defence technology across the West: who is raising capital, who is writing cheques, and who returns to market next.

This edition maps the venture funds investing in space, defence and dual-use technology across North America and Europe: 207 firms and 286 funds, the institutions that back them, the portfolios they hold and the capital they are raising now. All data has been drawn from the public record to the best of our ability, and each figure carries its provenance: SOURCED where a public page states it, RECORDED where it is a count from our dataset, and GP-stated where a manager's statement is unconfirmed or cannot be linked. Where a figure is not sourced, as with a currency conversion or a simple projection, it is labelled MODELLED and its method is given, so the reader always knows how a number was reached. Where a source gives no currency, we say so.

In keeping with the terms under which commercial data is licensed, no proprietary database content appears in these pages. Information outside the public record, and any valuation of an individual company, has likewise been withheld.

Thirty funds are profiled in detail, available on request; the rule is on page 20.

A short primer.

Six terms carry most of this report. Readers who work in venture can turn to the summary on p.5.

Summary.

Fund formation.

Dedicated space, defence and dual-use funds by vintage year and manager region.¹

2026 runs to 31 October 2026, the dataset’s cut-off.

Counts of fund rows (RECORDED). A vintage is the year of the launch or close a fund's main cited source reports, re-checked against that source for this edition; it is not standardised to first or final close, so it can differ from a close cited elsewhere.

Counts of fund rows (RECORDED), as on p.5.

Notable exits.

The eight exits of 2025 and 2026 that the most firms in our dataset had backed. Exit values are not shown.^{1, 2}

Exit, buyer or exchange and year SOURCED; backers RECORDED. Each listed exit has two or more dataset backers. * Profiled in detail; overviews available on request (p.25). SpaceX, listed on Nasdaq (SPCX) on 12 June 2026, is counted in the chart and the table; backer sources are on p.21. In the chart, Tomahawk Robotics is dated 2023, when AeroVironment completed the purchase.

2026 runs to 31 October 2026, the dataset’s cut-off.

Deals.

Dated deal records per year, by manager region, and for the twelve firms with the most dated deal records since 2019. Counts only; no round sizes.¹

Firm types: PE, private equity; CVC, corporate venture capital; VC, venture capital; government, a government investor.

Rounds with a public date (RECORDED). One row per firm per round, so a round with two firms in the dataset counts twice. Coverage is strongest for 2025 and 2026.

The investor landscape.

207 firms and 286 funds: 95 firms in North America and 112 in Europe.¹

Counts RECORDED. Only the dedicated band enters the capital totals. Osney Capital Fund I (cyber) counts as dedicated; the 4 parallel, feeder or duplicate rows repeat another fund's capital or are not funds.

Of the 163 dedicated funds, 101 have a public size; the 91 from a primary source or SEC filing enter the totals (p.10).

Disclosed capital.

91 dedicated funds have a size from a primary source or an SEC filing. The median is US$70 million at the dataset's exchange rates (MODELLED).¹

Sums of sizes as their sources state them, never combined across currencies (RECORDED). Sums include 11 lower bounds. A primary source is a release from the GP, fund counsel, an LP or a regulator. The US-dollar sum includes 49 SEC Form D amounts sold, which record offering progress only.

A further 9 dedicated funds have a size only from a press report or an aggregator (SOURCED); they are not in these sums. In US$, the 42 sizes from GP, counsel, LP or regulator releases total US$7.8 billion and the 49 Form D amounts sold US$7.1 billion (MODELLED). Each band includes its lower bound. The three funds of US$1B and over are American Dynamism Fund II (US$1,176M, GP release) and US Innovative Technology Fund and its Parallel Fund II (SEC Form D amounts sold, US$2.9B together); each parallel fund reports its own sales and is counted as a fund. Without the three, the total is US$10.8 billion; without American Dynamism Funds I (US$600M) and II, US$13.1 billion (MODELLED). First In's US$148M, which includes SBA-guaranteed leverage, is in these sums. None of the 4 Canadian dedicated funds (ONE9 Special Mission Fund I, the ONE9 / Sentinel platform, Tidal Fund II and the Sea-to-Space Ventures fund in formation) has a sourced size.

The thirty profiled funds by disclosed capital.

Source: fund sources are listed in the detailed fund overviews, available on request (p.25). Labels show each size in the currency its source states (SOURCED); ≥ marks a lower bound (a first close or an 'over' figure). Bars are scaled in US$; euro sizes at ECB annual averages: 2023 1.0813 (Galaxia), 2024 1.0824 (Vsquared II, Alpine I, Expansion), 2025 1.1300 (Expeditions II, Keen, Omnes Real Tech 2, Balnord I); 2026 January–October average 1.1574 (DTCP); sterling at the Bank of England 2025 average 1.3185 (Osney I) (MODELLED). First In's US$148M includes SBA-guaranteed leverage. Cantos Fund IV's US$70M is stated by the GP in a post whose link is withheld because its address names a person (GP-stated).

The thirty at a glance.

Selection: dedicated funds with a size from a GP, counsel, LP or regulator release, vintage 2022 or later, one per firm, ranked by size in US$ (MODELLED, rates below); lower bounds rank at their stated floor; ties go exact first, then alphabetical.¹

Sizes in the currency each source states (SOURCED); the chart ranks them in US$. Euro sizes converted to US$ at ECB annual averages: 2023 1.0813 (Galaxia), 2024 1.0824 (Vsquared II, Alpine I, Expansion), 2025 1.1300 (Keen, Omnes Real Tech 2, Balnord I); 2026 January–October average 1.1574 (DTCP, Expeditions II); sterling for 2026 at the January–October average of the Federal Reserve's monthly rates, 1.3437 (Osney I) (MODELLED).

Stage and technology.

Two tags for each of the thirty, built only from the Kennox dataset. Stage is the range of rounds at which the firm first backed the companies on record; technology is the firm's two most common technology groups. Both are firm-level, since most sources do not name the vehicle. The figure in brackets is the number of companies behind each tag, and 'Not recorded' means the dataset holds no named round or sector for that firm.

RECORDED. Stage: the earliest and latest named entry round (incubation, pre-seed, seed, then Series A onward) among the firm's companies on record, each company counted once at its earliest named entry. Technology: each company's recorded sector description, grouped by Kennox into launch and propulsion; satellites and EO (Earth observation); in-space infrastructure; communications; sensing and SSA (space situational awareness); autonomy and drones; counter-drone and air defence; munitions; maritime systems; navigation and timing; AI and software; cybersecurity; compute and chips; quantum; and manufacturing and materials. The two largest groups are shown, ties in that order. Counts include the firm's other funds. Neither tag is a stated mandate, and a fund's own release may describe its strategy differently. Tags resting on one or two companies are indicative only.

The next raise.

31 dedicated funds are in market without a final close: 8 with a public first close or raise to date, 23 without one.¹

Amounts and targets SOURCED, in the currency the source states; a target is never counted as a size. Status RECORDED at 31 Oct 2026.

Commitments and connections.

Public LPs that back the most managers, and where the thirty share LPs and companies.^{1, 2}

Managers named RECORDED; amounts SOURCED where a source states one, in that currency; sums RECORDED. 'Up to' approvals, aggregate figures and amounts reported only by the press are not summed. The EIF row includes commitments to vehicles outside the dedicated band: Kembara €350M, Nazca €40M and Radix €25M (the last per a PFR Ventures release). BBB's two stated amounts are both Seraphim commitments (£30M to its first fund in 2016, US$20M to SSV II); BBB's 2026 release gives £40M for the 2016 commitment, and the 2016 release's £30M is used. Under the SBICCT initiative, the SBA, in partnership with the US Department of Defense, licenses funds to borrow leverage it guarantees; the SBA is not an LP and is not listed. No US federal LP programme is mapped; In-Q-Tel is carried as a government-backed investor with 1 deal record. Public LPs here are government bodies and government-backed funds; public-employee pension plans are counted as pension LPs (p.5).

Commitments and connections (continued).

RECORDED. Company links are firm-level unless the fund page names the vehicle.

Corporate LPs named among the thirty (SOURCED, no amounts stated): Arabsat, Eutelsat, NEC and SKY Perfect JSAT (SSV II); Deutsche Telekom and Porsche SE (DTCP Defence Fund I); BAE Systems and Keysight Technologies (Expeditions Fund II); BAE Systems (Lakestar, press; vehicle not named); TDJ Venture (OTB Ventures Fund II).

Deployment on record.

What each of the thirty managers has said in public about its fund, and what it has on record for the next one. Dry powder is a modelled figure and is not shown in this edition.

Commitment SOURCED; deployment and reserves GP-stated where on record; next raise SOURCED where a successor fund or filing is named, RECORDED where none is announced or the fund is still in market, with sources listed in the detailed fund overviews, available on request. Only one of the thirty managers has stated its deployment plan in public. Each fund is profiled in detail; overviews are available on request (p.25).

Earlier funds of the thirty managers on record (SOURCED; FD = SEC Form D amount sold): American Dynamism Fund I, 2024, US$600M; Razor's Edge Fund I, 2010, US$55M (FD), and Fund III, 2022, US$340M; Harpoon Fund II, 2019, US$45.2M (FD), and Fund III, 2021, US$122.0M (FD); Scout Fund III, 2021, US$55M, and Fund IV, 2022, US$29.8M (FD); Seraphim Space Fund I, 2017, £70M at its second close; Overmatch Fund I, US$70M (year not stated in its source); Veteran Ventures Capital Fund I, 2019, US$20M; J2 Fund 2, 2021, US$26.3M (FD); Balerion Fund I, 2023, US$34.66M (FD); Marlinspike Fund I, 2022, US$29.7M (FD); Space Angels Fund I (Space Capital), 2017, US$14.7M (FD), and Space Capital III, 2023, US$21.05M (FD); Squadra Fund I, 2019, US$12.6M (FD); Cantos III, 2021, US$16.5M (FD). Years are recorded vintages. OTB's first fund is sized only by an aggregator and is left out.

LP capital pool.

Public pools of LP capital for space, defence and dual-use managers, in the currency each source states.¹

Sizes SOURCED, in the currency the source states; programme sizes are not fund closes. Status RECORDED at 31 Oct 2026. Pools whose source gives no size are listed but left off the chart above. The NATO Innovation Fund invests both directly (p.8) and in funds, and its €1,000M covers both. BDC Defence Fund and StrongNorth are the two parts of one C$1 billion BDC allocation. No US federal LP programme is mapped; the SBICCT initiative provides leverage (p.15).

Access map.

Who backs the thirty, whether each manager is raising, and how often it leads. It does not show whether a fund is open to new investors.

RECORDED from the LP and deal records, firm-level for leads, which are partial. Fund overviews on request (p.25).

Method and notes.

Sources.

Every page’s notes, grouped by page and numbered as on that page. All links were checked on 31 Oct 2026; some sources block automated access and may need to be opened in a browser. These pages hold the notes for pages 05–10 and 12–18; notes for the detailed fund overviews are supplied with them on request.

Disclaimer.

Research and text by Kennox Ventures. Typeset in Prata and Inter.

Detailed fund overviews.

Firm and fund-level profiles of the thirty funds, with notable investments, fund breakdowns and LPs on record, are available on request from Kennox advisory at [email protected].