Eleven of the 15 investors most active in private defence companies have backed firms in both the US and Europe since 2024, according to Dealroom, the data platform.
The analysis, published on 2 October, covers equity rounds since January 2024 in the 25 best-funded private defence companies.
Those 25 companies have raised $35.5 billion between them.
Seventeen are American and seven are European, with the remaining company Israeli.
The most active backers
The 15 investors each backed three or more of the 25 companies.
Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, was the most active, with six.
None of its six is European.
Accel and General Catalyst followed with five each, and two of those in each case were European.
Advent International, the private equity group, backed four, two of them European.
8VC, Founders Fund and Sequoia also backed four each, with one European company apiece.
Beyond venture capital
Ten of the 15 are venture funds, two are growth or private equity investors, and one is an angel.
Elad Gil, the angel investor, and Thiel Capital each backed three, and both had two European holdings.
JPMorgan was the only bank on the list, with three companies including one European.
In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture arm, was the only government-backed investor, also with three and one European.
Who stayed home
Four of the 15 backed only non-European companies: Andreessen Horowitz, NightDragon, Space VC and Washington Harbour Partners.
Accel, General Catalyst, Advent International, Elad Gil and Thiel Capital each backed two or more of the seven European names.
Dealroom concluded that defence technology has its own set of backers.
A handful of venture funds sit on many of the leading companies, and American investors are already in most of Europe's.
