u/jboncr4ck

I spent a few weeks studying Helsing, and a big focus was their hiring and team culture.

The board alone is impressive: Daniel Ek (Spotify), Tom Enders (ex-Airbus CEO), Denis Mercier (former French Air Force chief of staff and ex-NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation), and Jeannette zu Fürstenberg from General Catalyst.

On the exec side they pulled Antoine Bordes, who co-ran Meta's FAIR lab, and Robert Fink, the chief architect of Palantir Foundry, plus senior leaders out of Tesla. A lot of them are Europeans who'd gone to the US for big tech and came back specifically to work on European defence.

[deleted]

Defence tech is the fastest growing sector in Europe (+150% YoY).

Few years ago, almost no European VC wanted to even touch the category. Today the continent is producing some of the most consequential autonomous systems, UAVs, USVs, AI command software, and counter-UAS interceptors in the world.

I created Europe's Defence Tech database, kicking off with the 60 I considered the most promising at the minute.

Some findings:
> 44 out of 60 startups in the database were started after 2020. 31 of them are post-invasion
> DACH region has the most diverse ecosystem, with representatives in each category, except maritime & naval systems
> NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Lakestar, Expeditions, and Project A are the most active backers of startups on the list, with 7, 6, 4, and 4 startups backed, respectively

In the database you'll find:

> Startup websites and LinkedIn URLs
> Accurate descriptions of their main activities
> Founding team
> Founding year
> HQ cities and countries
> Notable institutional backers
> Tags for easier search

Database is completely free for those interested. This is version 1.0 of the database, as I plan to keep it live, suggestions and recommendations for additions are more than welcome. Let me know below who I should add.

Here's the link for those interested: https://www.theventurist.eu/p/the-60-companies-shaping-europes