Kraken raises $175M to become a maritime-defence unicorn

First the Royal Navy shoved a robot boat out of a transport plane at 1,300 feet. Then its maker became Europe’s newest defence unicorn.

Kraken Technology Group, a British maker of uncrewed surface vessels, has raised $175m (€152.9m) in a Series B round. It values the company at more than $1bn. Kraken announced the raise this week, crossing into unicorn territory.

Digital Transformation Capital Partners (DTCP) led the round. The backers read like a map of Europe’s rearmament. The British Business Bank, the NATO Innovation Fund and Germany’s Rheinmetall all took part. So did Inocea Group and a clutch of European VCs. Earlier backers, among them the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund and Speedinvest, converted their stakes to equity.

Cheap, fast, and already at war

Kraken builds dual-use composite boats that run with no crew aboard. The line-up runs from the low-signature K3 SCOUT to the high-endurance K5 KRAKEN. A third boat, the K4 MANTA, skims the surface before submerging for covert work. The pitch is speed and modularity over size. Small hulls get re-rolled for surveillance, logistics, anti-submarine work or precision strike.