Earlybird and AVP’s €500M fund puts European strategic tech in focus
Earlybird and AVP launched a €500M growth fund for European defence and dual-use deeptech, showing how strategic technology is becoming a larger venture capital priority in Europe.
European venture capital is becoming more strategic. The launch of a large growth fund from Earlybird and AVP shows that defence, resilience and dual-use technology are moving closer to the centre of the European startup conversation.
What happened
Earlybird and AVP launched E2D, a €500M growth-stage fund focused on European defence and dual-use deeptech companies.
The fund is designed to back companies working on strategic technologies that can serve both civilian and security-related markets, including areas such as advanced computing, autonomy, industrial resilience, communications infrastructure and other deeptech categories.
Why it matters
This is a strong capital signal for Europe. Many European deeptech companies face a funding gap when they move from early-stage research or prototypes into growth-stage commercialisation.
A dedicated €500M fund suggests investors are trying to keep more strategic technology companies funded locally, instead of letting promising European startups depend too heavily on overseas growth capital.
The bigger picture
The European tech narrative is shifting from “can Europe build global software companies?” to “can Europe control enough of its own critical technology stack?”
That makes strategic tech, dual-use infrastructure and deeptech resilience more investable. Earlybird and AVP’s fund is not just a VC fund launch — it is part of a broader move toward European technology sovereignty.