European defence tech is the fastest growing venture category nobody wants to celebrate.

Between 2023 and 2026, European venture capital committed to defence and dual use startups grew roughly fourfold, from a low base. On a headline growth rate basis, no other European venture category is close.

The public conversation around the sector has not scaled with the capital. Most of the leading firms in the category still avoid the word defence in their marketing, positioning themselves as software companies with government customers.

The reluctance is understandable. European LPs have historically resisted the category, and consumer talent still prefers civilian software. It is becoming harder to sustain. The category's largest exits over the next three years are likely to be visibly defence adjacent, and the sector will be judged on how it handles that visibility.

The founders and investors we spoke to are, in private, uniformly clearer about their positioning than they are in public. That gap will close, one way or another, over the next twenty four months.