The European Investment Fund’s largest ever defence commitment will back 25 early-stage startups across Europe through the German manager’s third fund.

The European Investment Fund has committed €50 million to Join Capital’s third fund, its largest single defence investment to date, as European institutions ramp up efforts to channel public capital into defence-focused venture funds.

The commitment, announced at the EIB Group Forum in Luxembourg on 4 March and backed by the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility, will support Join Capital Fund III, which is targeting €235 million in total and plans to back 25 early-stage deep tech startups across defence, dual-use, security and space.

Join Capital, founded in 2017 and operating out of Berlin, London and Milan, has previously backed companies including Optics11, a Dutch fibre-optic sensing firm, Quadsat in Denmark, and Kreios Space in Spain.

The fund currently manages more than €150 million in assets and counts the NATO Innovation Fund, KfW Capital and Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti among its investors.

Jan Borgstädt, a founding partner at Join Capital, said the fund backs technologies that create “an asymmetric advantage” for military and commercial customers, arguing that dual-use investment delivers both deterrence and economic growth for Europe.

The EIF’s anchor commitment is designed to draw in additional private capital alongside public money, supporting early-stage defence innovation across Europe.

The broader Defence Equity Facility, which was initially sized at €175 million, is expected to mobilise around €500 million in investment into defence, space and cybersecurity funds.

The announcement reflects a broader push by European institutions to move beyond procurement and direct lending, and toward building a private capital market for defence technology.

Venture investment into European defence, security and resilience startups reached a record €4.8 billion in 2024, according to Dealroom data, with public institutions increasingly acting as the anchor that makes specialist private funds viable.