Alex van Someren has spent his career at the frontier of technology, venture capital, and national security. From joining Acorn Computers as a teenager, the company that seeded ARM Holdings, to co-founding cryptography firm nCipher, becoming a partner at Amadeus Capital Partners, and later serving as the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security, his career offers unique insight into how capital and innovation shape geopolitics.

In this episode, Alex explains how the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSIF) mirrors DARPA-backed venture in the US, why government must learn to take risk to access frontier technology, and the realities of venture capital returns. He discusses the hype and risks around artificial intelligence, the disruptive potential of quantum computing, the fragility of semiconductor supply chains, and the ESG debate around nuclear energy and small modular reactors.

For investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, this conversation maps the crucial intersection of capital, technology, and defence in a changing global order.

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Thank you to our episode partner

Brookfield Private Equity: Global leader in acquiring and driving operational transformation in industrials and essential business services.

For more information, visit:

www.brookfield.com/it-takes-industry

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💼 Learn more at:

Paladin Capital Group

🌐 www.paladincapgroup.com

Alex van Someren

www.paladincapgroup.com/people/alex-van-someren/

Ross Butler Founder and Host Fund Shack

🌐 www.fund-shack.com

CONNECT on Linkedin

www.linkedin.com/in/rossbutler1/

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Alex van Someren, Fund Shack, Venture Capital, Private Equity, National Security, Defence Technology, Dual-use Technology, Cryptography, nCipher, Amadeus Capital Partners, Acorn Computers, ARM Holdings, National Security Strategic Investment Fund, NSIF, DARPA, Government Venture Capital, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Quantum Computing, Post-Quantum Cryptography, National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC, Semiconductor Supply Chain, CHIPS Act, National Semiconductor Strategy, Space Technology, Satellites, ESG, Nuclear Energy, Small Modular Reactors, Fusion Energy, Private Markets, Technology Innovation, Geopolitics, UK Venture Capital, Silicon Valley, Defence Spending, NATO, Paladin Capital, Calypso AI, Emerging Technologies, Risk and Innovation, Venture Returns

0:00 – Introduction

0:40 – From teenage coder to Acorn Computers and ARM Holdings

2:33 – Leaving school at 17: self-taught entrepreneur

3:26 – Building nCipher and cryptography’s real-world applications

5:27 – Dual use: civilian vs. national security technology

7:21 – The hidden history of venture capital and DARPA

8:58 – The UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSIF)

10:42 – Risk, government spending, and culture clash with VC

15:53 – “If you aren’t losing at least half your money…”

20:08 – The US CHIPS Act and Europe’s semiconductor challenge

29:23 – Venture capital’s boom in defence spending

36:18 – AI is over-hyped, over-used, and makes us stupid

40:30 – Defending the corporate AI stack (Paladin & Calypso)

44:00 – Quantum computing: encryption at risk

47:38 – Why space is now accessible to schoolchildren

51:31 – ESG and nuclear: small modular reactors, fusion, and energy policy

56:10 – Why making money in venture capital is so hard

59:05 – Closing reflections