ARX Robotics, a German defense startup backed by NATO’s technology fund, has raised venture capital funding for the second time in the past year as it plans an expansion in the UK. Germany’s HV Capital led a €31 million ($35.2 million) financing round with participation from private equity firm Omnes Capital, the Munich-based startup said on Monday. Earlier backers Project A and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s €1 billion Innovation Fund, which invested last June, also joined the current round. ARX Robotics declined to share its new valuation. The company makes self-driving, modular battlefield robots designed to be fitted with equipment like radar or medical stretchers. It’s one of several defense newcomers in Europe drawing investor interest as European governments rush to increase military spending, particularly with local contractors. Marc Wietfeld, chief executive officer of ARX Robotics, said the startup will use its new funding for a production facility in southwest England, spending £45 million ($59.9 million) on the plant over the next three years to produce 1,800 vehicles annually. Currently, he said his company makes “a few hundred” robots a year.

Full report : Munich-based ARX Robotics, which makes self-driving, modular battlefield robots, raised €31M led by HV Capital and plans to build a plant in southwest England.