Onodrim aims to position itself as a European competitor to Palantir Technologies Inc. and Anduril Industries Inc. amidst a surge in defense spending in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Defense startup Onodrim is emerging from stealth with an audacious pitch: it wants to build Europe's next industrial powerhouse for war.
The Amsterdam-based company says it will combine software, hardware and advanced manufacturing to position itself as a European competitor to Palantir Technologies Inc. and Anduril Industries Inc., which have already signed millions of dollars' worth of contracts on the continent.
To kickstart its ambitions the startup has raised €40 million ($48 million) in a debut funding round, it told Bloomberg, led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Lakestar and General Catalyst. Thiel is a founder of Palantir.
Palantir alumni Aistis Simaitis and Alexander Blessing co-founded the firm along with Christian Garrett. Garrett's 137 Ventures also has stakes in Anduril and Elon Musk's SpaceX, along with several other US defense tech startups. Simaitis and Blessing will serve as chief executive officer and chief technology officer respectively.
"Europe faces a critical moment to rebuild its strategic capabilities," General Catalyst President Jeannette zu Furstenberg said in a statement. "Onodrim is building the tools and infrastructure Europe needs to remain secure and competitive."
While Onodrim's initial funding is relatively small compared with the cost of manufacturing high-tech weapons and software at scale, it is a large debut sum for a European tech company. French military drone company Harmattan AI, which launched in 2024 and now has a valuation of $1.4 billion, attracted about $30 million in its seed round.
The startup is set to benefit from a surge in defense spending in Europe that followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The continent's total defense outlay could approach $1 trillion in coming years -- the figure was about $500 billion in 2025 -- with an explicit focus on buying local.
That means Onodrim is entering a crowded field: Germany's Rheinmetall AG has ambitions of being a "one-stop shop" for Europe's defense needs. Saab AB flew its Gripen fighter last year with an AI system at the controls. Ukrainian drone companies, already producing at scale, are working with foreign partners and may soon be cleared to export.
Another European defense startup, Helsing, has signed contracts with European governments and was last valued at about €5 billion ($5.93 billion) in a funding round in 2024.
Onodrim derives its name from the works of JRR Tolkien, just as Palantir and Anduril do. In the author's literature, the word refers to the tree-like Ents who protect the forest in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy.