Tough Tech by the Tough Ten 2026
“Tough Tech by the Tough Ten” report — a first-of-its-kind map of defense, dual-use, cyber, and space innovation ecosystems & VC investments in the NATO & EU Eastern Flank states. Its inaugural edition was launched at the European Defence Week 2025 in Paris, and the current edition of 2026 was first presented at the Resilience Media conference in London on October 6, 2026.
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Definitions
TOUGH TECH - Science- and engineering-led companies operating in the defence, security and resilience (DSR) space across NATO’s priority technology areas. Qualitative profiles also cover cognitive warfare; it is excluded from the summary charts.
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Artificial intelligence (AI)
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Autonomous systems
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Quantum technologies
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Biotechnology and human enhancement technologies
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Space
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Hypersonic systems
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Novel materials and manufacturing
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Energy and propulsion
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Next-generation communications networks
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Cognitive warfare
TOUGH TEN - from the Baltic to the Black Sea, Europe’s Eastern Flank is where security needs are most urgent, where defence spending is increasing apace and where the markets are among the most dynamic on the continent.
The Tough Ten countries are:
* Finland * Estonia * Latvia * Lithuania * Poland * Czechia * Slovakia * Romania * Hungary* Bulgaria
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Key findings and next steps
Europe’s Eastern Flank, the ten countries from Finland to Bulgaria that we call the Tough Ten, is where Europe’s security needs are most urgent. It is also becoming one of the continent’s most dynamic markets for Tough Tech: science- and engineering-led companies in defence, security and resilience.
Relative to GDP, the Eastern Flank now allocates a higher average share to defence than the NATO average, and venture capital is following. The Tough Ten commit an average of 3.3% of GDP to defence, more than the United States (3.2%) and the NATO average (2.9%). Lithuania (5.4%), Estonia, Latvia and Poland all exceed NATO’s 3.5% core-defence spending threshold for 2035, nearly a decade ahead of the deadline. Tough Tech venture investment rose from $994.5 million in 2025 to about $1.7 billion so far in 2026 and is projected to reach $2.3 billion this year, more than double last year’s record. For investors, this points to committed buyers, urgent demand and long-term spending commitments.
Tough Tech accounts for a substantial share of the region’s recorded venture funding. Since 2024, 32% of all venture capital in the region has gone to Tough Tech, twice the share of the rest of Europe (16%) and four times that of the US (8%). In 2026 alone, the share reached 56% and Tough Tech now takes 87% of all deep-tech funding. Specialist investors find deep deal flow and founders committed to the mission.
Built next to the front line, priced before the rest of the market. The region’s technology is battle-tested in Ukraine. Latvian companies have secured orders for 17,000 drones, Ukrainian designs are entering production in Finland and Romania, and Poland plans to build 10,000 interceptors a year. ICEYE shows where the region’s companies can go: valued at over €10 billion, it delivered Poland’s sovereign radar satellites in under twelve months. Yet most of the region’s companies are still early-stage. Rounds are growing while the number of active investors has halved since 2022, leaving a clear opening for new lead investors.
“A year ago, our first Tough Tech by the Tough Ten report set out a conviction born of experience: the ten nations of Europe’s Eastern Flank, from Finland to Bulgaria, stand closest to the threat – and are building the technology to counter it. Today, the results speak for themselves. This second edition updates our map of the funds, companies and breakthroughs that have emerged since. With defence spending at levels unseen since the Cold War, the question for investors is no longer whether to back the region, but whether they can keep pace with it.
Our region understands the urgency. Defence-industrial capacity must scale and innovation must reach production faster. Proximity to the threat gives our founders an advantage others lack: direct feedback from end users and the opportunity to test, iterate and deploy at the speed the battlefield demands. What they need now is steady circulation, not occasional transfusions. Frequent, smaller orders – with training, support and upgrades built into the contract – give startups reliable revenue and faster feedback. Continuous procurement creates investable demand, and investable demand turns startups into the industrial base Europe needs.
I invite you to explore the country deep dives that follow: ten ecosystems, their funds, policies and the companies to watch. And if you share our conviction, join us as a partner for the third edition. The Eastern Flank is moving fast, and mapping it takes many hands.”
Viktorija Trimbel, Managing Director at Coinvest Capital / www.coinvest.lt
Board Member at DAEN - Defence Angels European Network