Onodrim Industries, an Amsterdam company that plans to buy and hold European defense and industrial suppliers, raised $300 million in a Series A round led by Lux Capital that values it at $1.3 billion, nine months after its seed financing.
General Catalyst, Lakestar, Altimeter, Strike Capital, 137 Ventures, 8090 and Expeditions also invested. The round follows a seed round of about $45 million earlier this year and brings total funding to about $345 million. Onodrim was founded by Chief Executive Aistis Šimaitis and Chief Technology Officer Alexander Blessing, both formerly of Palantir Technologies.
Venture money, buyout strategy
Onodrim intends to take controlling stakes in established aerospace, defense and industrial manufacturers, focusing on dual-use businesses that sell to civilian and military customers and on suppliers that can relieve bottlenecks in Europe’s arms supply chain. Unlike a buyout fund, it says it will use permanent capital and keep the companies indefinitely, adding software, engineers and sales support to help them win larger contracts. It has not yet announced a purchase and expects its first acquisitions in the coming months.
The valuation rests on the model rather than on any revenue from owned businesses. Onodrim is also opening offices in Munich and Turin, in addition to Amsterdam, London and Vilnius, putting it closer to Germany’s and Italy’s mid-size engineering firms.
The round adds to a run of large checks for defense startups as European governments raise military budgets. It also shows venture investors financing roll-up strategies once left to private-equity firms, betting that technology can lift margins at family-owned manufacturers that already hold the certifications and customer relationships new entrants lack.
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