Tekever has selected Cahors, France for its new Centre of Excellence for dual-use autonomous systems, a key part of the company’s €100 million investment program, at the Choose France summit, May 2025.
This site will allow Tekever to develop its production, integration, testing, and product development capacity, strengthening France’s defense industrial base and increasing the deployment of drones for defense and security applications.
Ricardo Mendes, CEO of TEKEVER, stated, “Building on our announcement at the Choose France summit in May, we are delighted to confirm the creation of this new industrial site in Cahors. This move reinforces TEKEVER’s long-term commitment to French and European sovereignty, and to supporting institutions in fulfilling both defence and security missions.”
Cahors was specifically chosen due to Tekever’s close collaboration with the Occitanie region.
By growing its Occitanie presence, Tekever can reinforce its place in the dynamic regional ecosystem. The company is able to collaborate with partners of all sizes to develop, test, and industrialize advanced technologies supporting French and European capabilities in defense and security applications.
The Cahors site, positioned within the “Mecanic Vallée” cluster, enables access to industrial partners, public institutions, and academic bodies. This location also offers the Cahors-Lalbenque aerodrome, providing Tekever with test site access to conduct flight validation of its drones.
Nadia Maaref, Director of TEKEVER France, commented, “We are proud to launch this new phase of our development in France with the establishment of our Cahors site to reinforce our industrial capabilities, made possible by the invaluable support of the Occitanie region, its AD’OCC agency and Grand Cahors. This site represents an important step in anchoring TEKEVER within the regional fabric, where we see great potential to forge strong, long-lasting partnerships.”
Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Regional Council, added, “I would like to thank TEKEVER for choosing Occitanie, and more specifically the Lot department, as the location for its drone manufacturing activities. The result will be the creation of 100 jobs over five years. This facility is aligned with our €200 million Sovereignty and Defence Industry Sector Contract. France must be able to rely on a solid industrial base, especially given the current geopolitical instability. This choice also demonstrates that reindustrialisation must involve the regions. We will work alongside TEKEVER to facilitate their arrival in the Lot department and support the development of the activity in Occitanie and France.”
The new Centre of Excellence complements Tekever’s French headquarters in Toulouse, dedicated to engineering, R&D, and support functions with a highly skilled team of engineers and scientists. Recruitment for the Cahors site specifically will begin in the final quarter of 2025.
As a European unicorn, this development is part of TEKEVER’s acceleration to drive global expansion, underpinning its ambition to lead autonomous defence and security systems.
Jean-Luc Marx, President of Grand Cahors and Mayor of Cahors said, “The representatives of Greater Cahors and Cahors Sud are delighted to have been able to attract TEKEVER. By welcoming this defence and security unicorn, the region is experiencing a real turning point in its history, becoming a key player in European industrial sovereignty. This new establishment in our labour market area is the first building block of a future ecosystem centred on drones and their diverse fields of application. This is the result of a successful cooperation launched a year ago between Aerospace Valley, the Occitanie region via its Ad’OCC Agency and local officials. We would like to thank the company and its leaders for their trust.”
