Some companies grow loud. Tekever grew quietly, then suddenly everyone noticed. Its drones now fly in the war in Ukraine, and its founder and CEO, Ricardo Mendes, sat down this Wednesday with journalist Vítor Gonçalves on RTP’s “Grande Entrevista.” For the Portuguese drone industry, it was a moment in the spotlight. Mendes has spent 25 years in this field, and the story he told starts far from any battlefield.
From a few IST friends to a $6.5 billion company
Tekever began as a small software company run by young engineers from Instituto Superior Técnico. “Very ambitious kids,” Mendes called them, with a big vision: build something in Portugal that could reach a global scale.
They did it without outside money, by designing solutions, selling them and putting the earnings back in. After its latest funding round, Tekever is valued at an estimated $6.5 billion, which makes it the most valuable technology company ever based in Portugal.
A software mindset in a hardware world
Around 2009, the team moved into autonomous systems. Back then, drones belonged mostly to defense. Then consumers arrived, and now you can walk into a shop and leave with one for under 100 euros.
The founders came from software, and that shaped everything. Their systems, Mendes says, have to evolve as fast as phones and computers do. They also chose not to sell hardware alone. The offer was a full service with the equipment included, giving clients the end result they wanted.
The first big customers were the European Maritime Safety Agency and the British Home Office, and both still work with Tekever on maritime surveillance. In the English Channel, drones help respond to the migration crisis, and reaching someone in the water within minutes instead of hours is still part of the job.
Ukraine changed the picture
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Tekever already led its market in Europe. Defense wasn’t its main field, though. Governments came calling, the British among them, asking the company to send systems to Ukraine and see how they could help.
Mendes is careful to explain the setup. Tekever sells to national or international institutions, not to the Ukrainian government, even though day-to-day operations involve Ukrainian forces. Its early systems weren’t ready for war, since they had been tuned for years for other missions. So the team keeps adapting to what changes on the ground.
Today the drones handle long-range, long-duration missions over land, sometimes staying up for 14 to 16 hours. They help forces follow movements and pass information along in real time. If one is shot down or captured, no relevant data can be pulled from it.
Would Tekever sell to the wrong side? Mendes says its values sit above business, and in Ukraine there’s no doubt where the company stands.
Robots as common as the internet
Mendes expects robotics to become as widespread as the internet. Not long from now, he suggests, going without a robot nearby for small everyday tasks will feel as strange as going without a connection does today. On artificial intelligence, his view is that safe conditions have to be built for it, as with any technology.
He also described ARX, a project that combines wide-area, high-altitude watching with fine, precise surveillance, including audio and not only images.
Why this story matters beyond drones
Tekever shows how defense technology companies can start in code and end up shaping security debates in Europe, including the push for technological sovereignty. If that path appeals to you, browse software development jobs and notice how many roles now touch autonomy, data and AI. The devs.com.pt website follows stories like this one, where a small team’s ambition turns into a company the whole continent watches.
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