July 13, 2026
NATO Innovation Fund backs €197M Expeditions Fund II to champion defence tech founders early & support scaling
- The NATO Innovation Fund is joined by BAE Systems, the European Investment Fund, Keysight Technologies, and Polish Development Fund (PFR) in backing Fund II
- Investments will focus on founders working to address Europe’s critical capability gaps, as well as to strengthen economic and industrial resilience
Warsaw-based Expeditions has announced the final close of its second fund at €197M, with continuous backing from the NATO Innovation Fund. Expeditions’ Fund II is investing in the technologies and founders that are shaping the future of European defence and strengthening its sovereignty.
Founded in 2021 by defence technology and autonomous warfare experts Dr Mikolaj Firlej and Stanislaw Kastory, Co-Founders and General Partners, Expeditions has raised more than double its initial target for Fund II.
We are doubling down on Expeditions because of our shared mission to identify, back and champion the innovators who are working to address NATO’s most pressing capability needs. Expeditions is betting on Europe buildind and deploying at scale sovereign advanced capabilities, especially autonomous systems, in the next two years. The fund will back defence tech founders early and provide them with access to the growth capital that they need to sustain the pace of their growth.
“For too long, Europe mistook stability for permanence and restraint for strength. The result was years of underinvestment in the capabilities that underpin security. That period is ending. Europe is re-awakening to the reality that security must be built, not assumed. We need to champion the founders that can deploy at scale and in weeks or months, not years. That will give Europe its strategic advantage to face constantly evolving threats.”
“Europe is not deploying new defence technologies at the pace needed to match the emerging threats we’re facing. Ukraine is now Europe’s strongest army and living proof that autonomous defence systems are fundamental to security. These advanced capabilities are urgently needed across the continent, and a lack of growth capital and European fragmentation has hindered progress to date. The next two years are critical, so we are doubling down on backing the technologies Europe needs to secure its future.”
New LPs in Fund II include Europe’s leading defence prime BAE Systems, U.S. defence software prime Keysight Technologies, the European Investment Fund through the InvestEU programme, and the Polish Development Bank, which are actively investing in strengthening European defence and resilience, alongside the Kosciuszko Foundation and Our Future Foundation.
The NATO Innovation Fund is doubling down on Expeditions alongside other existing LPs, such as the Polish Development Fund (PFR).
“Europe does not lack ideas but smart capital with the conviction to scale them. Expeditions has built their entire thesis around closing that gap for European defence tech – finding founders early and staying with them through the growth that follows as they turn innovation to real world capabilities. That’s exactly the kind of conviction NIF wants to back, and exactly what Europe needs more of.”
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