Update: Since publishing this story, the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF) has continued to expand its partnership network. Its latest cooperation framework is with Civitta. The deal was signed during the EUDIS Defence Accelerator bootcamp in Tallinn on 14 October, but the two have been working together for some time now [doing what?]. This MoU essentially paves the way for more activities.
Civitta describes its role as “connecting defence needs with the innovation ecosystem.” It identifies relevant companies and technologies, and structures funding and programs around these. As with the EDF’s partnerships with Archangel and Darkstar, Civitta will in theory help EDF access solutions and companies it might not have found or connected with on its own. Under the agreement, EDF will take part in Civitta-organised seminars, bootcamps, and other activities. We’ll be keeping an eye on this programme to see what comes out of it.
The Estonian Defence Forces and defence fund Archangel have signed a three-year cooperation agreement. The agreement was signed by Major Ivo Peets, Commander of the EDF’s Force Transformation Command, and Nicholas Nelson, Founder and managing partner of Archangel.
Archangel is a European defence-focused venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies. The cooperation will focus on strengthening the exchange of information and connections between the Defence Forces, defence technology companies and investors, with the aim of supporting the development and adoption of relevant technologies.
“Cooperation between the Defence Forces and the defence industry helps us build a shared understanding of needs, technology and opportunities. We welcome the opportunity to work with Archangel and to strengthen the links between innovation, investment and the development of defence capabilities,” said Major Peets, who signed the deal at the ABCD Conference in Tallinn, part of Estonian Defence Week
Resilience Media understands the EDF is finalising other deals like this with other investors, including Estonian defence fund Darkstar.
Two-way street
“This is very much a two-way street and exchange on both sides of information,” Nelson told Resilience Media. “For the West to do well and the broader NATO alliance to do well, we need better understanding and better collaboration and cooperation in real time, not just at conferences or random touch points, and more transparency on a regular basis, and that’s what we’re providing here, and that’s what we provide with the other governments and militaries we’ve partnered with.”
Details of Archangel’s of agreements with governments and militaries have not been disclosed.
Nelson said that Archangel has been engaged with Estonia since the fund’s inception, due to its “impetus to act and this realistic view of the problem and the threats they face, and they are the most interested in partnering with industry, be it startups, scale-ups, or even your standard large aerospace companies, all the way through to private capital.”
Lived the mission
Why Archangel is a good fit for this, Nelson believes, is down to its team, they have “lived the mission.” Two of the team have served in the military, and Nelson himself worked in government and was deployed in Afghanistan. He says “you wouldn’t run a life sciences fund without someone with a life sciences PhD, so you shouldn’t run a defence fund without having lived the mission.”
He also follows this up by saying that Archangel backs defence startups before they have any revenue or contracts, which is the stage most funds avoid.
“We hope that many more funds will follow suit and engage with them and undergo the requisite vetting and everything,” he added.
Darkstar
Estonia’s defence tech fund Darkstar has also signed a cooperation agreement with EDF’s Force Transformation Command (FTC). Kasper Gering co-founder and General Partner at Darkstar, who signed the agreement with Major Peets, said, “The FTC deeply understands Estonia’s and Europe’s defence needs. Darkstar sees what is being built and who is building it. That is a useful combination of perspectives.”
He said that Darkstar has been collaborating with the FTC all along, “we bring thousands of companies across Estonia, Ukraine, and Europe to the wider attention of military stakeholders. At the same time, in our bootcamps, hundreds of companies gain deeper insight into military thinking, operational context, and capability development. This agreement lets us do more of that in a clear and transparent way.”
