(Editor’s note: Welcome to our inaugural Europe Business Briefing, part of our Tech Tuesday series. We cover tech across Europe because our highly skilled internationals are engineers, physicists and entrepreneurs. This post includes information from media releases.)
Yes, the United States is still dominating tech, powered by trillions of dollars in capital at the various venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road, and in New York, Austin and Boston. But the truth is, there’s more activity across Europe than we can track.
And now, the Americans are arriving with bags of cash, eager to capture the best in European technology, particularly interested in dual-use technology … both military and consumer.
Military and defense tech dominates this inaugural Europe Biz Briefing.
A Croatian drone tech company Orqa has as secured a 5.8 million euro investment from one of the largest venture capital firms in The Valley. The round was led by Sand HIll Road-based Lightspeed Venture Partners as the lead investor in a Decisive Point (USA ) and the company’s existing investor Day One Capital (Hungary) participated in the syndicate.
The capital injection will accelerate the development and production of autonomous drones of the new generation for the defense and enterprise market, according to media reports.
Orqa executives have state that they’ll use the new investment to expand the workforce and open a US production facility, according to media reports.
Orqa has positioned itself as a trailblazer in the development of advanced autonomous soutions for drones, and this latest investment from one of the largest American venture capital funds – Lightspeed has $25 billion under management – speaks volumes about its reputation.
Lightspeed, Radius Capital (US), Decisive Point (US ) and the company’s existing investor Day One Capital (Hungary) participated in the round. This investment has arrived at a crucial time for the drone industry and its place in Western markets. As regulations and focus shift toward affordable, mass production, major opportunities are opening up at an unprecedented scale in the defense and enterprise markets.
Orqa manufactures and sells thousands of drone components, radio systems, drones, VR goggles and controllers each month, uniquely positioned to address key global challenges. The Russia-Ukraine war, where thousands of their drones are being used by the Ukrainian forces, is feeding its growth since Croatia has offered unwavering support to Ukraine since day one of Russia’s invasion.
Tensions have also been growing in the the Red Sea region, where low-cost Houthi drones managed to disrupt global supply chains. These challenges highlight the strategic importance of affordable, counter-drone systems. “We’re currently at a technological tipping point. The ability to produce and deploy large
quantities of affordable, highly effective drones will redefine the battlefield and beyond,” said Srđan Kovačević, Orqa’s CEO.
–– Lauren Simmonds in Zagreb
NATO DIANA accerlerator at TU/e
We did not know there’s a NATO accelerator at Technical University of Eindhoven.
Then we saw this on LInkedIn:
Five international startups have been selected to join the NATO DIANA Accelerator at The Gate Brainport Eindhoven in January 2025. DIANA stands for Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic. These innovative companies will collaborate with NATO DIANA to develop dual-use technologies applicable to both commercial and defense markets.
Selected startups are:
• Akheros Sas (France) – Cybersecurity and behavioral intelligence
• Starnav (France) – Imaging technology for geometric data-based navigation
• SecuBlox GmbH (Germany) – Deepfake detection using blockchain, IoT, and AI
• BioSistemika (Slovenia) – Laboratory software development
• Eduworks Corporation (USA) – Data management for complex organizations
Dutch startups joining international hubs are Eindhoven-based Cubiq technologies and Rotterdam-based Spherical. Cubiq has developed quantum technology for secure communications. Spherical has created power systems for satellites.
Each startup gets 100,000 euros in initial funding, with the potential for an additional 300,000 euros upon completion of the program’s Phase 1.
Some background:
When we would suggest back in the day that Eindhoven startups try to get funding from DARPA or the U.S. Department of Defense, local accelerator founders were aghast. “We would never dirty money from the military or accept money from arms makers.”
How times have changed.
The DIANA accelerator is scheduled to start on 13 January. Startup accelerator The Gate serves as the partner for the selected startups. DIANA accelerator The Gate Brainport Eindhoven is part of a broad collaboration between the Dutch Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Brainport Development, the Brabant Development Agency (BOM), and the Province of North Brabant to strengthen innovative capabilities and expertise in dual-use technologies.
EIT Jumpstarter
Twenty-four new, science-based start-ups made the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final: 49 teams from 21 countries competed in nine categories, collectively winning prizes valued at 50,000 euros. This was the culmination of this year’s edition of the pre-acceleration programme EIT Jumpstarter – an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, part of the EU, which aims to train and convert innovative ideas into startup businesses, with 1 million skilled in deeptech.
Throughout the seven-month program, participants identified and validated the best business model for their science-based innovative ideas. The aim of this process is to turn their ideas into market-ready start-ups. From 600 applications, 180 innovators were selected for the training, and the top 49 teams were shortlisted to compete in Budapest in eight categories based on the industry – from food to energy.
The winning teams ranked first in their categories were:
• NEAMO from Latvia (EIT Food)
• BIOCHIP- PATHFINDER from Portugal (EIT Health),
• StoreNow from Portugal (EIT InnoEnergy),
• Yapar3D from Türkiye (EIT Manufacturing),
• Total Energy from Croatia (EIT RawMaterials),
• Urbix Hub from Bulgaria (EIT Urban Mobility),
• POWAR STEAM from Spain (New European Bauhaus),
• Drone NonDestructiveTesting from Ukraine (Rebuild Ukraine),
WellscanPro from Kosovo recieved the Western Balkans special award, and the Most Outstanding EIT Jumpstarter Alumni statuette went to Lightly from Czechia.
The programme has trained 1,180 participants so far, leading to the establishment of 124 new start-ups in emerging countries and contributing to the creation of 2,100 new jobs. Plans for 2025 include additional support for talent from Ukraine, the Western Balkan, the Mediterranean, and EU outermost regions innovators
The next edition of the program will be opened in January, but pre-registration is already
available here.
Ukraine GovTech
It’s been almost 70 years since Russia invaded a European country. Now, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has European institutions dedicating resources to reinforcing Ukraine’s already robust tech innovation hub.
The World Economic Forum opens the Global Government Technology Centre (GGTC) in Kyiv to scale Ukraine’s GovTech practices worldwide. GGTC Kyiv became the world’s second GovTech Centre after Berlin and the 21st Centre of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Network.
Core initiatives of the GGTC Kyiv include:
- GovTech Observatory for monitoring global GovTech trends and fostering data-driven decision making. By combining cutting-edge research with user-friendly tools and partnerships with global thought leaders, the GovTech Observatory will serve as a bridge for knowledge exchange and support evidence-based policymaking in the global GovTech landscape;
- Innovation Gateway as a matchmaking platform to pilot and scale transformative technologies in Ukraine while attracting global investments. By uniting key Centers of Excellence (CoEs) which will be established by the government, business, and civil society (including such tracks as AI, EdTech, Defense Tech, Semiconductors, BioTech, Green Tech, AUV), the GGTC Kyiv will create a framework to showcase Ukraine’s innovation potential and to attract foreign investors and partners;
- FutureGov Education to set up a training ground for public sector leaders to adapt emerging technologies. In partnership with CDTO Campus By testing and implementing emerging technologies such as digital twins and AI tutors, the GGTC Kyiv will provide a space for experimentation, helping public sector leaders evaluate and adapt the most promising digital solutions.
FS Group expands into Eastern Europe, Nordics
FS Group, a leading European cybersecurity vendor and provider with more than a decade of experience investigating high-tech crimes, has expanded into the Eastern European and Nordic markets.
Ukraine-based FS Group provides cybersecurity products and services to the B2B and B2G sectors, helping businesses protect critical assets and data from evolving threats. Having started with cybersecurity investigations, FS Group focused on gathering Big Data, which was the core of the products that the company developed and has been providing during cybersecurity services provisioning and via the partners` network to end customers globally.
Leveraging partnerships and its track record in mitigating threats to critical infrastructure, especially in Ukraine, FS Group is bringing its expertise to the new regions. Both are ripe for expansion and innovation. In 2024, Poland was ranked the most cyber- attacked country globally, with over 1,000 attacks per week targeting organizations, according to the US International Trade Administration. The problem is also acute in Sweden, with 59 percent of the local organizations suffering at least one cyberattack, with brand and reputation damage being the most cited consequence.
In Finland, the growing occurrence of cyber attacks prompted the government to increase its cyber-AI defense spending by 30 percent to 280 million euros in 2024.
