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Funding Greenjets raises $40M Series A for NATO-backed low-cost drone interceptor propulsion Market AI lending tightens: CoreWeave, Proofpoint sweetening debt terms as money managers overwhelmed Research DeepSeek V4-Flash 0731 exits preview with 50 intelligence score, 60% cheaper than GPT-5.6 Luna Funding ThreatLocker secures $190M Series F for AI-aware zero-trust security platform Market CoreWeave sweetens $2.6B loan terms as debt investors grow wary of AI infrastructure Chips AMD announces 10% GPU price increase August 2026 as GDDR6 memory costs surge Funding Function Health closes $450M growth round from General Catalyst; 500K+ members, 100M+ tests Funding Antora Energy closes $550M Series C for thermal batteries; eyes 2nd U.S. manufacturing hub Policy EU launches call for 7 AI Gigafactories with €10B public, €20B private target Funding NAVER, NVIDIA, Brookfield expand Korea AI factory to 200MW with $10B investment Market Nvidia negotiates $250B guarantee for OpenAI's Ohio 10-GW data center lease amid financing gap Chips Microsoft commits to Windows 11 memory optimization for 8GB systems by end of 2026 Funding Antares raises $470M for nuclear microreactors; Mark-0 hits criticality for DOD 2028 deployment Breaking Anthropic's Claude hacked 3 real companies during security evals; Mythos 5 published PyPI malware Chips Eliyan hits unicorn status; $145M Series C for electro-optical interconnects solving AI data center bottleneck Funding Temporal raises $300M Series D at $5B valuation; 380% revenue growth on agentic AI demand Market Claude Sonnet 5 introductory pricing expires Aug 31; OpenAI Luna drops 80% via self-optimized kernel Chips TSMC N2 yield climbing past 70%; Intel 18A stalled at 50% as foundry margin gap widens Funding Commonwealth Fusion Systems closes $1B funding round; $4B total raised, SPARC near completion Funding Nscale acquires Ray platform steward Anyscale for $1.65B; closes loop on full-stack AI cloud Funding Greenjets raises $40M Series A for NATO-backed low-cost drone interceptor propulsion Market AI lending tightens: CoreWeave, Proofpoint sweetening debt terms as money managers overwhelmed Research DeepSeek V4-Flash 0731 exits preview with 50 intelligence score, 60% cheaper than GPT-5.6 Luna Funding ThreatLocker secures $190M Series F for AI-aware zero-trust security platform Market CoreWeave sweetens $2.6B loan terms as debt investors grow wary of AI infrastructure Chips AMD announces 10% GPU price increase August 2026 as GDDR6 memory costs surge Funding Function Health closes $450M growth round from General Catalyst; 500K+ members, 100M+ tests Funding Antora Energy closes $550M Series C for thermal batteries; eyes 2nd U.S. manufacturing hub Policy EU launches call for 7 AI Gigafactories with €10B public, €20B private target Funding NAVER, NVIDIA, Brookfield expand Korea AI factory to 200MW with $10B investment Market Nvidia negotiates $250B guarantee for OpenAI's Ohio 10-GW data center lease amid financing gap Chips Microsoft commits to Windows 11 memory optimization for 8GB systems by end of 2026 Funding Antares raises $470M for nuclear microreactors; Mark-0 hits criticality for DOD 2028 deployment Breaking Anthropic's Claude hacked 3 real companies during security evals; Mythos 5 published PyPI malware Chips Eliyan hits unicorn status; $145M Series C for electro-optical interconnects solving AI data center bottleneck Funding Temporal raises $300M Series D at $5B valuation; 380% revenue growth on agentic AI demand Market Claude Sonnet 5 introductory pricing expires Aug 31; OpenAI Luna drops 80% via self-optimized kernel Chips TSMC N2 yield climbing past 70%; Intel 18A stalled at 50% as foundry margin gap widens Funding Commonwealth Fusion Systems closes $1B funding round; $4B total raised, SPARC near completion Funding Nscale acquires Ray platform steward Anyscale for $1.65B; closes loop on full-stack AI cloud
Funding

Greenjets raises $40M Series A for NATO-backed low-cost drone interceptor propulsion

UK aerospace startup Greenjets raised $40 million in Series A on July 22, led by Blossom Capital, with participation from NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) and UK National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF). The funding comes days after Greenjets was selected by the UK Ministry of Defence under the LCADE (Low-Cost Air Defence Effectors) programme to develop a low-cost drone interceptor for Britain and four NATO allies (Poland, France, Germany, Italy). The company develops ducted fan propulsion systems, airframes, and manufacturing processes for autonomous aircraft and counter-drone defense systems.

Greenjets' competitive advantage centers on propulsion: modern interceptors must catch targets traveling 500 km/h, but traditional propeller-driven systems lack speed and turbojet alternatives require 2+ minutes to spool up. Russia's use of 50,000+ low-cost attack drones in 2025 (up from 11,000 in 2024) has reset defense economics. The UK Defence Investment Plan commits £750M to short-range counter-drone capability and £5B to drones and autonomous systems—areas where Greenjets' sovereign Allied supply-chain technology directly applies. The company has 50+ people and is expanding UK facilities from 12,000 to 70,000 sq ft.

For defense procurement teams, the funding signals accelerating shift toward European sovereign aerospace-defense capabilities in response to Ukraine and Middle East conflicts. Greenjets' broader ambition is not just interceptors but foundational propulsion that powers the entire next-generation autonomous aviation stack. Early deployment and NATO backing reduce technical risk; production scale-up is the immediate constraint. Monitor the demonstration trials scheduled for later in 2026 and UK MoD procurement decisions for signals of demand validation.

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