German investment firm Digital Transformation Capital Partners (DTCP) has launched a €500 million fund focused on European defence, security and resilience technologies, adding to a small but growing pool of private capital explicitly targeting the sector.
The fund, known as Project Liberty, has already secured commitments of around €300 million and is continuing fundraising ahead of a final close, which DTCP says will be Europe’s largest. It will target Series A to C investments of about €20 million per company, with a portfolio size of around 30 companies.
Project Liberty will invest in areas including cyber defence, software, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. While its primary focus is Europe, the fund may also back defence and security technologies from NATO member states and close partner countries where these strengthen European industrial capacity and supply-chain resilience.
At its target size, Project Liberty ranks among the largest dedicated European defence technology funds to date. It joins a small but expanding group of specialist vehicles, including Keen Venture Partners’ €150 million European Defence & Security Tech Fund, Poland-based Expeditions Fund II, and early-stage investor Archangel, which focuses on next-generation defence technologies.
Vicente Vento, CEO of DTCP said that Europe has begun a “long-term and irreversible path to modernise its defence capabilities” and there is “technological transformation across the entire value chain”.
Thomas Preuß, Managing Partner at DTCP and Chief Investment Officer added that”technological capability is a core prerequisite for Europe’s sovereignty, security, and democratic stability.”
The fund’s launch comes as investment in Europe’s defence sector accelerates, underpinned by sustained increases in military spending, supportive EU policy initiatives such as the ReArm Europe framework, and growing emphasis on sovereign industrial capabilities amid geopolitical uncertainty.
European defence stocks have rallied strongly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with aerospace and defence indices trading near record levels and several major contractors posting double-digit gains in recent weeks, against heightened uncertainty around actions of the United States.
DTCP manages more than €3 billion in assets across eight funds, focused primarily on technology and digital infrastructure.