By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, Oct 16 (Reuters) - German startup Stark

Defence on Thursday named Uwe Horstmann, the founding partner at

venture capital firm Project A, as its chief executive officer.

Stark's "Virtus" attack drones are deployed in Ukraine. It

also makes an unmanned surface vessel called Vanta and AI

command and control software called Minerva.

"We are developing a range of systems in the background ...

we want to deliver first and then talk about it," Horstmann

said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has increased investment in

European defence startups fivefold since 2020, producing three

unicorns - startups with a valuation of $1 billion - on the

continent.

Stark, which means strong in German, was valued at $500

million at its last funding round in August.

It was founded in 2024 by Florian Seibel, who also founded

defence unicorn Quantum Systems, and is backed by Project A,

along with tech billionaire Peter Thiel and venture firm

Sequoia.

Asked about the possibility of another funding round this

year, Horstmann said: "I wouldn't rule it out. But, we won't go

on a fundraising tour."