Lockheed Martin Ventures Pours $100 Million Into Europe With New London Office

Jan de Vries · 2026-07-17

American venture capital firm Lockheed Martin Ventures is making a big move into Europe. It's opening a new office in London and plans to invest at least $100 million (€87 million) of its $1 billion (€874 million) fund into promising DefenceTech companies across the continent. "We are reaching even deeper into the investing ecosystem, meeting our potential partners where they are," says Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. "Our presence will help us seize opportunities for investing earlier in the startup lifecycle, ensure technical interoperability with existing platforms, and better support our allied customers." ### Why Europe and Why Now? Lockheed Martin Ventures' plan to deploy part of its investment capacity in Europe comes amid a surge of financing activity across the continent's DefenceTech, dual-use, unmanned-systems, and sovereign-intelligence sectors. We've seen more than $1.24 billion (€1.086 billion) raised by nine relevant companies, with $1.14 billion (€1 billion) of that total coming from Quantum Systems' Series D. The other disclosed rounds together account for approximately $98.9 million (€86.3 million). UK-based comparators include London's SatVu and Occam Industries and Bristol's Uplift360, making the United Kingdom—where Lockheed Martin Ventures intends to establish its European office—a visible part of this funding pipeline. ### What Lockheed Martin Ventures Looks For "We are looking to invest in technologies that complement the company's national security capabilities and help advance solutions to meet current and future customer mission needs, while further strengthening the transatlantic defense industrial base," adds Dan Tenney, senior vice president of Global Business Development and Strategy. "We expect our investment strategy to evolve as technologies emerge and the startup environment matures in markets where we do business around the world." ### A Track Record of Success Founded in 2007 with initial funding of $100 million (€87 million), Lockheed Martin Ventures is the investment arm of the American aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin. Since its founding, it has matured 60 companies to become suppliers. To date, it has invested more than $500 million (€437 million) in more than 120 companies. Over the past two years alone, 25 companies have been added to the portfolio. ### Beyond Capital: What Startups Get Apart from capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures provides portfolio companies with access to resources such as their engineering talent, technologies and research, and the full suite of Lockheed Martin's business and technical expertise. This isn't just about writing a check—it's about giving startups the tools they need to scale. ### The Bigger Picture The focus on European innovation follows the largest boost in available capital in the fund's history. In April, the company announced it would boost investment capacity from $400 million (€349 million) to $1 billion (€874 million). Using a portion of that enhanced funding capacity, Lockheed Martin Ventures Europe will accelerate the insertion of new technologies into DefenceTech—part of the company's commitment to strengthen the transatlantic defense industrial base. The firm says they have already invested in a number of European companies, and more details are available on their website. This move signals a strong vote of confidence in Europe's growing DefenseTech ecosystem and could open doors for startups looking to scale with backing from one of the world's largest defense contractors.