European defence tech is ‘booming’ as funding jumps nearly 30% in H1 2025

The data now confirms what VCs and founders have been saying: defence tech has become one of the hottest sectors in Europe in 2025. 

As geopolitical tensions between Russia, the US and elsewhere ratcheted up in recent years, investors are increasingly taking out their chequebooks. According to new Sifted data for the first half of 2025 (H1), VCs funnelled €946.3m into defence startups — a hefty 26% increase from the same period in 2024, making it one of the top five best-funded sectors for the first time.