ICEYE, a Finnish satellite developer with a number of defense contracts, has raised money at a €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) valuation, capitalizing on the military spending boom across Europe.

Venture firm General Catalyst led the financing round, which included €150 million in new equity and €50 million in a secondary sale for early investors, Iceye announced on Friday.

Rafal Modrzewski, ICEYE’s chief executive officer, said his startup reached profitability this year, making the funding “not strictly necessary.” But he described the capital as a means for more quickly launching satellites to improve Europe’s military capabilities.

“Nobody wants Europe to be ready in five years,” he said in an interview. “People want Europe to be ready tomorrow.”

Nations across Europe have pledged to spend historic sums on defense as the threat from Russia has intensified, spurring a flood of cash into startups hunting military contracts. That’s led to some concern about an investing bubble, even from those within the sector.

ICEYE, which formed in 2014, originally developed Earth-observation satellites for monitoring environmental changes like ice cap melting. Since the war in Ukraine began, the startup has focused primarily on defense. It builds synthetic aperture radar satellites, which are designed to provide high-resolution images and identify objects through smoke, clouds and darkness.

It competes with a range of public and private satellite providers that, like ICEYE, claim they are investing deeply in software.

The company has signed deals in the US, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. But Modrzewski said a majority of its business now comes from Europe. This year it has signed deals with armed forces in Poland, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands. Modrzewski said ICEYE is “in discussion” with two more European countries.

ICEYE is also teaming up with large primes to boost production. The Finnish company agreed in May 2025 to establish a joint venture for satellite production with German defense giant Rheinmetall AG. The German company’s CEO, Armin Papperger, said in November that he expects about €2 billion in potential orders during the next two quarters from the satellite business, a joint venture with Iceye.

General Catalyst, a US-based fund, has become a prolific backer of defense startups in Europe, including drone-maker Helsing. With its new deal, Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, General Catalyst’s head of Europe, joins ICEYE’s board.

“It’s probably one of the fastest-moving segments within defense and government procurement that we are seeing,” she said. “It’s pretty insane.”

Modrzewski said ICEYE launched 25 satellites this year and plans to produce one unit a week next year.

In June, the CEO told Bloomberg he expected revenue to double to more than €200 million in 2025. Sales have gone “better than what I thought” he said on Friday, but he declined to provide an exact figure.

The company has held talks with banks about an initial public offering as soon as next year, Bloomberg reported earlier. Modrzewski said at the moment “there is no such plan.”

AP Møller Holding A/S, the company controlling the assets of Denmark’s billionaire Maersk dynasty, participated in the new round along with Bpifrance and a range of Finnish investors. Polish investors, including the investment arm of state development bank BGK as well as the family office of InPost SA founder Rafal Brzoska, also participated in the funding.

The company said it has raised €600 million to date. It declined to share a prior valuation.

With the new funds, Modrzewski said ICEYE will invest in software and data tools to provide real-time intelligence to clients. “At the end of the day, nobody buys satellites just to own satellites,” he said. “People are really trying to figure out, ‘What is my enemy doing and what is my enemy about to do.'”

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