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VCs are known to move in herds , which is why Eric Slesinger stand out a bit . While most American investor furrow AI startups or U.S.-based defense technical school startups , the former CIA officer is hunt for defense technical school softwood in Europe . In fact , Slesinger , founder of201 Ventures , recently close a $ 22 million fund focused on seed - stage European defence tech startup . His path from developing appliance and software for CIA agents to becoming perhaps the only American VC exclusively investing in European defense tech also come out to be a prescient one .
What would compel someone to leave “ the best first job ever ” at the CIA to pursue this specific ambition ? As Slesinger recite TechCrunch in a recentStrictlyVC Download podcast interview , the response issue forth from identify a critical shifting that many missed . “ I go out because I noticed that the secret sector was progressively playing a office in this challenger that I previously had understood really to just be a regime to government competition , ” Slesinger explained . “ What became obvious more so every day was that the private sphere was playing such a big role here . ”
With grade from Stanford in mechanically skillful engineering and Harvard Business School , Slesinger ’s background helped set him to bridge over the gap between defense engineering and commercial ventures . But it was his willingness to go against conventional wisdom that has made him interesting to investors , founders , andtech reportersalike .
“ I have always enjoyed going where other people incline to not want to go , ” say Slesinger . “ That was why I enjoy the study at the CIA so much . A couple of things that hoi polloi there used to say was , ‘ go where others do n’t go and do what they ca n’t do . ’ ”
As for what U.S. VCs were missing , from Slesinger ’s point of view there were three things . First , “ Europe has individual entrepreneurs that are just as thirsty , just as high-pitched strong belief , and just as saucy as anywhere else in the world . ” Second , “ European governments waited way too long to rethink what the organisation on their own protection meant , and therefore had n’t actually take a critical heart towards it . ” And third , “ Europe was apace being see and will , in my opinion , continue to be the site of serious gray zone competitor , ” meaning activities by state or non - state thespian that fall between traditional peacefulness and straight-out warfare .
Perhaps the most surprising scene of Slesinger ’s European speculation has been the cultural resistance he says he encountered regarding defense investments . In 2022 , after moving from the U.S. to Madrid , he started the European Defense Investor internet , which now let in entrepreneurs , investor , and policymakers . In a 2023Medium military post , Slesinger write about how his European VC colleagues were afraid to talk about their Defense Department - related investments . Unlike in America , he tell TechCrunch , defense technical school investment in Europe “ was seen as rough-cut , something that should be done but not spoken about , and certainly not spoken about in civilised company at the dinner table . ” ( Slesinger chop-chop added , “ I ’m overdo a little snatch , but there ’s a kernel of truth there . ” )
He say that cultural hesitancy resulted in “ many founders believe about it , resolve not to construct a fellowship in the [ defense mechanism ] space . ” Now that ’s modify . The NATO Innovation Fund — the humanity ’s first multi - autonomous venture capital stock , backed by 24 NATO ally and launched in the summertime of 2022 after the Russia - Ukraine warfare broke out — has helped . Indeed , it ’s a significant angel of 201 Ventures .
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So has the care garner by up - and - coming defense technical school startups on the continent , including Munich - based Helsing , which is explicate AI for exercise on battlefields and is currently prise at more than$5 billionby its investors . Another up - and - arrival in Slesinger ’s portfolio is Delian Alliance Industries , an Athens - based outfit developing surveillance tower to discover autonomous threats . Delian has so far raisedseed fundingbut is a hot ticket that ’s surely being actively court by VCs .
With eight investment to date , 201 Ventures focuses on technologies that address that grayish zone competition because , in Slesinger ’s Holy Writ , it ’s “ happening at scale in Europe , and it will for the next couple of tenner . ” These market dislocations , he enunciate , “ whether they ’re price inefficiencies or a administration play a larger part in a market that it might otherwise if not for want a autonomous capability . . .these gray zone dislocations actually are a good form of alpha . ”
In addition to Delian , another of Slesinger ’s stake isPolar Mist , a Swedish inauguration producing nautical drone with advanced navigation capabilities . Other focusing country admit hypersonics and subsurface mapping .
One challenge in funding defense tech startups is the longer development timeline compare to traditional venture investments . Slesinger acknowledged this stress in his chat with TechCrunch : “ If you have a 10 - year - speculation - stock life round , that ’s a material thing that we sort of have to do things to taste to speed up or bend a little moment . ”
Slesinger also cogitate that “ European company ought to be doing more lobbying at much earlier stages . ”
Both elevate enquiry about whether his gamble will ante up off for investors . At the same time , his former vision for a more self-directed European defense ecosystem is becoming squeeze by a whole lot of other investors these days as geopolitical stress come up and Europe rethinks its security arrangements .
Data published originally this year by the NATO Innovation Fund and the inquiry group Dealroom show up that European startups working on refutation and related tech raised 24 % more capital in 2024 than in 2023 , hitting$5.2 billion — surmount even AI funding .
With President Donald Trump refund to part in January and cast doubt on the U.S. ’s commitment to European defense , that figure is likely to mount even higher .
