France and Germany's AVP and Earlybird launch E2D, a €500m European defence and dual-use growth fund

Summary

French-American platform AVP and German deep-tech firm Earlybird launched E2D, a €500m (about US$585m) growth-stage fund for European defence and dual-use technology, on 18 June 2026, reaching a first close on 30 June. The fund targets roughly 20 companies at an average ticket of about €25m across space, air, land, maritime and subsurface domains, overseen by a strategic committee including NATO officials and European defence executives. LPs are described as major financial institutions and corporates but were not named. The launch follows France's €76bn and Germany's €152bn defence commitments and the EU's €800bn rearmament plan.

The split

European tech and defence press treats E2D as a structural fix: a growth-stage vehicle to stop European defence startups from raising later rounds in the US, as Anduril and Mach have shown American capital dominates the category. The GPs frame it as sovereignty. Coverage is entirely European, itself the point, a continent trying to build the funding rails it lacks rather than a story the US venture press tracks.

By the numbers

• €500m (~US$585m), fund size.
• ~20, target companies at ~€25m average tickets.
• June 30, 2026, first close.
• €76bn France, €152bn Germany, €800bn EU, the backdrop commitments.
• Space, air, land, maritime, subsurface, the target domains.

Why it matters

Europe funds early defence startups but loses them at growth stage to US investors, capping its sovereign capability. A €500m growth fund with NATO-linked governance is a direct attempt to close that scaling gap, part of the same rearmament wave reshaping European industrial policy after Ukraine.

What to watch

• Named LPs and E2D's first growth-stage deals.
• Whether European defence startups now stay on European cap tables.
• Whether other EU managers launch competing dual-use growth vehicles.