Defense and resilience as the next frontier of impact? Interview w. Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky (NATO Innovation Fund) ๐
Description
Key insights:
* Interview with Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, Partner at NATO Innovation Fund (it took place live at GoWest in Sweden)
* I know itโs risky and dodgy to talk about defensetech investments on an impact VC newsletter/podcast. I thought it was worth the risk to open up the discussion about what is defined by impact - is defense an impact topic if you operate in a war economy?
* If you grew up in some parts of the Western World over the past 30 years, chances are youโve never really had to think about defense. That reality is changing.
* Defensetech is particular as most investments are deep-tech, capital-intensive, hardware-based, sold B2G, and require manufacturing to scale.
* The three main barriers for defesentech to scale: 1. ESG exclusion criteria, 2. Hard to match the procurement criteria of states to win large contracts as start-ups, and 3. Limited demand signals.
Agenda:
* Why defense is back ๐
* Particularities of deep-tech in defense ๐ฌ
* Barriers for defensetech today ๐ง
* Selling B2G in defense ๐๏ธ
* Overlap between climate and resilience / security โป๏ธ
* Next steps for NIF ๐งญ
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit impactvc.substack.com
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