TL;DRDutch defence startup Destinus is seeking €200M at a €5B+ valuation ahead of a planned Amsterdam IPO, Bloomberg reports.
Destinus, the Netherlands-headquartered defence startup that manufactures cruise missiles and autonomous drones, is in talks to raise approximately €200 million ahead of a planned initial public offering, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is seeking a valuation north of €5 billion based on forecast annual revenues of roughly €500 million.
Founded in 2021 by Mikhail Kokorich, a Russian-born physicist and serial entrepreneur who renounced his Russian citizenship in 2024 in protest against the war in Ukraine, Destinus has grown from a hypersonic aviation research project into one of Europe’s most significant defence industrial companies. The startup employs 750 engineers and specialists across production facilities in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Ukraine, and manufactures more than 2,000 cruise missile systems annually.
The company’s product portfolio centres on the Ruta, a cruise missile system that has been operationally validated and deployed by Ukrainian armed forces since 2023. In early 2026, Destinus unveiled the Ruta Block2, capable of carrying a 250-kilogram payload with a range of up to 450 kilometres. The lineup also includes the Hornet interceptor drone, currently being tested by the French Army, and longer-range autonomous strike platforms under development.
