Good afternoon from the team at Resilience Media
Some very highly capitalised companies had a lot of big news in the last week, from media days and acquisitions to partnerships and investments. All of the news in question stemmed from European-based startups, perhaps a signal that the funding investors are funnelling into the ecosystem is slowly taking effect.
- We broke the news of Rome-based Exein’s funding round, led by Balderton Capital. I find this cybersecurity technology exciting as it covers both connected devices and the networks they are connected to.
- A few weeks ago, Helsing opened its doors to media for the first time. We share our learnings from a company with a reputation for secrecy, delving into their world-view on sovereignty, autonomy, and diversifying domains across land, sea, and air. You can read the piece below in The Long Read section.
- German dronemaker Quantum Systems invested into Ukrainian defence robotics startup, Frontline. Could startup alliances be Europe’s secret weapon in its bid to bolster defences in a new era of warfare? More here.
- Stark acquired Pleno, adding to its already considerable software stack. Pleno’s tech will help contribute to Stark’s work on autonomous drone swarms, particularly Virtus, which makes it even more competitive to Helsing’s HX-2 loitering munition.
We also covered the Andruil Edge Data Mesh technology, reported from the British Army Project ASGARD launch, looked at Brussels fresh €130B investment into defence, space, and resilience; and tracked the K4 Startup Studio battlefield AI announcement out of Ukraine.
Lastly, we have our first dispatch from France, where we look at Guichet Unique (French for ‘one-stop shop’) to fast-track engagement with startups building dual-use technologies that include military applications. You can find it in our Dispatches From section below. And with that, I’ll be back in your inbox next week.
-Leslie, co-founder, Resilience Media
Resilience Conference Speaker Announcement
With only 9 days to go until our Early Bird ticket sales end, we wanted to highlight speakers joining us from the Estonian defence tech startup and venture capital community. Situated on NATO’s Eastern Flank, steeped in startup culture, and with a Russian occupation in living memory, Estonians have strong views on investing in and adopting defence technology. Joining us will be:
Sille Pettai
SmartCap, the Estonian state investment vehicle, made waves when it announced it would not put money in any fund that was not capable of making defence tech investments. The woman behind that message is Sille Pettai, SmartCap CEO. When she last appeared on our stage, she made a powerful call to action from a country very aware of the threat it faces.
Kusti Salm
Kusti Salm left the Estonian Ministry of Defense to lead Frankenburg Technologies, a missiles systems startup and he’s not afraid to talk about things that go bang. After hearing him speak at our Future of Defence Tech Innovation and Manufacturing event at Munich Security Conference, we are thrilled he’s returning to our stage to go more in depth on the progress Frankenburg Technologies has made and what the future looks like.
Ragnar Sass
From co-founder of Estonian unicorn Pipedrive to co-founding Darkstar, Ragnar Sass is an unstoppable convening force. He will join us at Resilience Conference to talk about everything from building a defence tech ecosystem to raising a defence-first fund, with a bit about convoy driving to Ukraine thrown in.
On a sunny July day in Munich, Helsing held its first press day. Described in the mainstream press as ‘secretive’ this day proved they are willing to be anything but. A large group of journalists from around Europe convened in their office, leaving their phones and computers in a secure room and firing up newly-purchased dictaphones. The half-day briefing that followed offered deep insights into Helsing’s technologies, team, and views on the defence tech and threat landscape.
If one line framed the day, it was from Helsing co-founder and co-CEO Dr Gundbert Scherf: ‘Deterrence is only credible if you can move fast.’ Here’s what we learned over six hours with the Helsing team.
Resilience Media is supporting the Estonian funding organisation Help99. They have done great work raising money to send hardware directly to Ukraine. We will be writing more about this, but today we want to focus on a campaign run out of the UK.
Help99 produce wonderful shoulder patches for their campaign funders. We recently received this patch and handwritten note after funding a campaign. Please contribute to the 4th UK Battalion campaign now and have a direct impact on Ukraine’s fight for freedom.
The French Army is nicknamed La Grande Muette, “The Great Mute” in reference to its long-standing stance of neutrality (and thus silence) in all things politics, economics, and civil life. But these days – with an imperative across Europe to build more self-sufficiency and initiative into national defences – it’s finally making some noise.
Last month, the French Ministère des Armées (MinArm) – the French equivalent of the U.S. Department of Defense and U.K. Ministry of Defence – held court at VivaTech, the 180k-visitor technology fair held annually in Paris. Its large pavilion showcased open innovation projects in the fields of space, AI, quantum, defensive cyber operations, and wargaming; and alongside that, MinArm set out a new playbook for the 14,000 startups visiting the show. “Innovate with Defence,” it said, with a one-stop shop (literally “Guichet Unique”) to fast-track engagement with startups building dual-use technologies that include military applications. Read the full piece here.
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