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03 Jul 2026

YPOG advises Project A on investment structuring and EUR 500 million Series C for defence startup Stark

"YPOG advised investor Project A on structuring the investment vehicles and on its participation in the EUR 500 million Series C financing of Berlin defence startup Stark, a round led among others by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. Advisory work covered regulatory, tax, corporate matters and transaction support."

YPOG advised Project A on structuring the investment vehicles and on the Series C investment in Berlin defence startup Stark. YPOG provided comprehensive advice on regulatory, tax and corporate law matters and delivered transaction support for the funding round totalling EUR 500 million. The round was led, among others, by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. More than 80% of the newly raised capital is earmarked for research and development and for expanding production capacities in Europe, including additional research facilities in electronic warfare and scaling production to several thousand systems per month. Stark, founded in 2024 and based in Berlin, develops software-driven, AI-enabled unmanned systems for European and NATO armed forces, including loitering munitions and swarm technology designed to remain operational in highly contested electronic environments. The company, one of the fastest-growing defence startups in Europe, works with the German Federal Armed Forces and NATO partner states and has systems such as the Virtus platform in procurement and testing programmes. Stark recently expanded into the United Kingdom and Sweden, acquired Berlin software company Pleno and secured a contract from the German Federal Armed Forces with a volume of EUR 268 million. YPOG represented client Project A with a team composed by: Dr. Stephan Bank (Lead, Funds), Partner, Berlin; Dr. Helder Schnittker (Lead, Tax Structuring), Partner, Berlin; Lennart Lorenz (Regulatory), Partner, Hamburg; Dr. Saskia Bong (Co-Lead, Funds), Associated Partner, Berlin; Dr. Dajo Sanning (Tax Structuring), Associated Partner, Hamburg; Dr. Wolfram Dickersbach (Tax Structuring), Senior Associate, Hamburg; Franziska Wüst (Funds), Associate, Berlin; Dr. Frederik Gärtner (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Berlin; Dr. Sarah Sostak (Transactions), Associate, Berlin.
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