Portuguese Drone Unicorn Tekever Plans to Build Factory in Japan and Export to Asia
Claire Weston
Portugal's Tekever plans to build a drone factory in Japan — the first foreign defense firm to manufacture on Japanese soil — and use it as a launchpad for Asian exports. This means → Japan's defense supply chain is shifting from pure imports to homegrown production with foreign partners.
Who is Tekever? How did a software firm become a defense unicorn?
Founded in 2001 as a software company, Tekever pivoted to drones in 2008.
A €500 million ($574 million) funding round in 2025 pushed its valuation past $1 billion — unicorn status.
It now operates production sites across five European locations, with clients including the Royal Air Force.
In plain terms = a company that started writing code is now supplying NATO allies with military drones — in under twenty years.
What did the Ukraine battlefield prove?
Tekever's drones specialize in ISR — intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. They carry no weapons and fly over 2,000 km on a single charge.
The company has supplied drones to Ukraine and claims they helped inflict roughly £3 billion (~$4 billion) in damage to Russian military assets over three years.
Over 10,000 hours of combat data fed back into the product, hardening it against jamming — the drones keep flying when GPS or radio links go down.
This means → Ukraine was not just a sales channel. It was a live-fire feedback loop: real electronic-warfare conditions forced rapid product iteration.
Why Japan? How wide is the policy window?
Japan revised its defense equipment and technology export principles in April this year, clearing a path for lethal-weapon exports.
The government plans to update three core security documents this year and draft a large-scale domestic drone procurement and production plan.
Small drones and maritime drones are already among 17 priority sectors for public-private investment.
In plain terms = Japan is pivoting from decades of near-zero arms exports to actively building a drone industrial base — and Tekever is stepping through that window.
What does the Japan factory plan look like?
Japanese trading house Marubeni will serve as Tekever's sales agent, opening doors to local clients.
Tekever is scouting sites and expects to announce specifics within months.
The plan: integrate Japanese sensors and components, build a local supply chain, and ultimately produce drones entirely from Japanese parts.
CEO Ricardo Mendes: "We will focus on connectivity — how these drones talk to each other, how they work with humans, and how to build industrial foundations in a sovereign way."
Can Tekever hold its ground in the competitive landscape?
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is developing its own defense drones — the largest potential domestic rival.
Tokyo startup Terra Drone has announced acquisitions of two Ukrainian interceptor-drone companies, taking a "buy the tech" approach.
U.S. defense-tech firm Anduril Industries has already set up operations in Japan.
This reflects a market going from near-zero to a multi-player land grab. Tekever's core bet: can the "first foreign mover + local supply chain" combination outrun the rest?
Why does this matter beyond one company's expansion?
Geoeconomics researcher Hirohito Ogi notes: relying on imports for expendable defense materiel like drones creates vulnerability in a crisis.
Building domestic manufacturing solves that — and peacetime exports are the way to keep the production line commercially viable.
This means → Tekever's Japan factory is not just a business decision. It is helping Japan answer a bigger question: how does a country long dependent on defense imports build drone-manufacturing capacity from scratch?
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.