https://asksendai.com/tags/drone/ Recent content in Drone on Ask Sendai Hugo en-us Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:02:15 +0000 https://asksendai.com/post/2026/02/25/sequoia-an/ Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:02:15 +0000 https://asksendai.com/post/2026/02/25/sequoia-an/ <figure class="ma0 w-75"><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1731579884331-95c1da04e988?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3w5ODE4OTh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw2fHxkcm9uZSUyMHdhcnxlbnwwfDB8fHwxNzgyMzc1NjQ2fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" alt="Sequoia and Founders Fund just backed a drone startup Stark whose drones failed"><figcaption> <p><small><em>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@sergeykoznov">Sergey Koznov</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com">Unsplash</a></em></small></p> </figcaption> </figure> <p> Stark raised €500 million, surpassing the approximately €300 million it was seeking, from Sequoia, Founders Fund, and the NATO Innovation Fund, among others, valuing the company at above €3.5 billion. The Berlin startup’s Virtus drones failed to hit a single target across four attempts during live-fire trials with British and German forces in November 2025, yet Germany approved a €269 million Bundeswehr contract regardless. More than 80% of the new capital goes toward manufacturing capacity, with Stark contracted to equip an entire German brigade in Lithuania by the end of 2026. </p>