Roark VC

Unlike our friends in the US and MIiddle East, UK and European firms do not benefit from a VC culture that matches well with the nature of defence-tech’s nor the speed at which the industry is progressing. UK and European VC’s tend to be conservative in their portfolio companies and have an elongated due diligence process. In addition, government funding tends to be cumbersome in deployment, invasive in the reporting structures and focused on entirely the wrong things.

At Roark we have spent the vast majority of 2023, 2024 and 2025 talking with VC’s and government agencies. We have held hundreds of meetings across the continent and, despite all of these meetings, some going to 4th and 5th rounds, 97% of our funding comes from VC’s in the US and Middle East.

With the above in mind and to support the ecosystem of defence-tech’s inside the UK and EU who are struggling to fund we are announcing our first strategic investment fund.

If you pitch us, we promise you this:

We will review all pitches

We will respond to all pitches

Your pitch will be assessed by people who know the industry and with technical prowess

We will give you a yes/no inside 1 week post-meeting

If we agree to fund you, we will make funds available inside 5 days

We will cover legal fees

Our Investment Areas

Must be defence-tech focused; hardware or software acceptable

Must be initial capital after F&F

Must be raising for direct equity or on SAFE terms

Must be based in the UK or EU

If you wish to apply for funding please send a cover email with an attached deck to jo@roark-aerospace.com

LP’s

If you wish to invest in our fund, please send a cover email to jo@roark-aerospace.com with your funds location, strategy and portfolio.