Episode Details

Defence, security and resilience startups in Europe have grown 4x over the past five years, with funding now reaching nearly $9 billion as larger rounds start to emerge.

Sander Verbrugge, Partner at the NATO Innovation Fund, says the ecosystem is now producing companies with real revenue and scale. He argues the bigger issue is awareness.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/

Omni: The AI analytics platform trusted by fast-growing companies like Perplexity, Synthesia, and dbt Labs. Check them out here: https://omni.co/

Venture Comet: The platform that gives startups and scale-ups real-time equity tracking, daily business insights and automated management information. Check them out here: https://venturecomet.com/

Timestamps:

0:33 - Introduction to NATO Innovation Fund

2:11 - DSR startups funding growth and 4x increase

3:18 - What defence, security and resilience actually mean

5:31 - Why larger rounds are driving the ecosystem

7:20 - Key hubs across Europe and rise of new regions

9:04 - Where more funding is still needed

11:02 - How NIF evaluates and deploys capital

13:01 - Changing attitudes towards defence investing

16:01 - Specialist vs generalist investors in defence

18:00 - Portfolio examples and companies to watch

20:33 - Why awareness is Europe’s biggest challenge