# Two of Europe's biggest tech investors, Earlybird and AVP, are raising a EUR500m fund aimed only at defence and dual-use. It is private capital built to stop European defence startups shipping their scale-up rounds, and their IP, across the Atlantic.
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## Public content

**issue:** 8
**type:** pulse
**date range:** 18 Jun 2026
**tagline:** Two of Europe's biggest tech investors, Earlybird and AVP, are raising a EUR500m fund aimed only at defence and dual-use. It is private capital built to stop European defence startups shipping their scale-up rounds, and their IP, across the Atlantic.
**published at:** 2026-06-20
**sections:** 
  -     **body:** On **18 June**, **Earlybird** and **AVP** (AXA Venture Partners) launched **E2D**, a **EUR500 million** European **defence and dual-use** growth fund, one of the larger Franco-German tech tie-ups to date.

It is deliberately **growth-stage**, not seed: about **20 companies**, an average cheque near **EUR25 million**, spanning the **space, air, land, maritime and subsurface** domains. The **first close is 30 June**, anchored by major financial institutions and corporates as limited partners. The backdrop is the largest shift in European security spending in a generation: **France EUR76bn**, **Germany EUR152bn**, and the EU's **EUR800bn** defence plan.
    **emoji:** 💶
    **label:** FUNDING
    **heading:** A EUR500m fund for the missing layer
  -     **body:** The timing is the signal. E2D's first close lands on **30 June**, the exact day the **EIC's STEP Scale Up Defence call** opens the first-ever direct **public equity** into the sector. Public and private capital are converging on the same week, and the same problem.

That problem is the **scale-up gap**. Europe builds defence and dual-use startups well, but founders have long had to cross the Atlantic for **Series B and beyond**, exporting capital, talent and IP in the process. For a founder, the lesson is that the new money is concentrating exactly there: a **EUR25m-plus round** in defence or dual-use no longer means a US lead by default. Line up the public anchor (EIC) and the private growth lead (funds like E2D) as two halves of the same stack.
    **emoji:** 🧭
    **label:** WHY IT MATTERS
    **heading:** Private money meets the public push

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