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."

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm. Editing by Mark Potter)

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