Good afternoon from the team at Resilience Media

We’re starting to get excited about Resilience Conference 2025 in London on 29-30 September. We are crafting an agenda that will focus deep into the most important topics for our sector, and soon we’ll start to share more aboutk the panels. Today I want to highlight some of the exceptional speakers who will be on the stage. The Early Bird ticket rate ends on July 31 so grab yours at the discounted pricing today.

At the conference, we are focussed on operators, disruptors, and experts. Here’s just a few of the people trailblazing in defence tech who will be on the stage:

Uwe Horstmann, Founding Partner, Project A

If you’re on LinkedIn, Uwe Horstmann needs no introduction. A vocal advocate of funding defence tech startups, the Rocket Internet-veteran just raised a fresh €325M fund which is great news for early-stage startups in Europe. We’re looking forward to hearing about Uwe’s investment thesis which has seen Project A participating in funding ARX Robotics, Quantum Systems, Labrys, and more.

Mimi Keshani, CSO, Hadean

With a degrees in neuroscience from UCL and Cambridge, Mimi Keshani, CSO at Hadean is truly impressive. Equally interesting is her part in Hadean’s growth, becoming the product of record for modelling disasters from COVID-19 to foreign invasions. We were lucky enough to see what Hadean can do first hand, and like everyone else who’s seen it, we were pretty stunned.

Rob Murray, CEO, DSR Bank

DSR Bank Founder and CEO Rob Murray is truly unique in this ecosystem, having served in the British Army, led innovation at NATO and then at Saab. Now he’s on a mission to diversify the capital available to Defence, Security, and Resilience companies by founding a specialist bank. We’re thrilled to welcome Rob back to the stage to talk about this latest part of his journey, and the work he and his team are undertaking to ensure we can fund the defence we need.

Elsewhere on Resilience Media, we’re covering a lot of startup funding. Are you raising a round? Get in touch, we’d love to know more.

-Leslie, co-founder, Resilience Media

Watching the events unfold in Ukraine has given me a profound sense of urgency, and a much clearer understanding of what truly keeps a nation standing. This isn’t just another war; it’s what I call the “Kilowatt War.”

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have turned energy into a central battleground. We’ve seen cities go dark for hours every day, vital services strained, and daily life turned upside down. By mid-2024, over half of Ukraine’s power generation was gone. This isn’t just about blowing things up; it’s a calculated move to break a country. The message is clear: if you rely on a central power grid, you’re vulnerable. This crisis makes finding strong, local power sources an absolute top priority for modern defence. Read the full piece by Ivar Kruusenberg, founder and CEO of PowerUP Energy Technologies here.

MassChallenge is now accepting applications for its U.S. Early Stage Security & Resiliency Program, running from September to November 2025 in Boston. The program is designed for startups working on dual-use innovations in areas such as:

Secure communications and infrastructure
Energy and power systems
Human health and performance
Resilient supply chains and logistics
Emergency response and humanitarian tech
Maritime and naval technologies

Startups will receive zero-equity support, mentorship, and curated access to the Mass Challenge defence network. Applications are open now through July 15, apply now!