Keen Venture Partners take a large step in reshaping the defence-tech in Europe by announcing the first close of its new defence and security technology fund at a little over 150 million euros. This milestone is making the fund the most significant venture capital fund of this type in Europe and is a sign of how fast the region’s demand for innovative solutions for advanced defence is increasing.
The fund is a good investment opportunity for various institutions, such as the European Investment Fund and the Dutch pension fund PME. For Keen, this is not only a money-related success but also an acknowledgment of their goal to support the development of the technologies that the traditional players in the defence industry may have been too slow or too cautious to adopt. Their firm is acting as a link between Europe’s strategic requirements and the innovations of the startup world which is moving at a breakneck speed, mainly in the matters such as cybersecurity, autonomous systems, AI-powered intelligence, and next-generation space technologies.
They set up Keen Venture Partners in 2016 and the trio the founders of the company being Giuseppe Lacerenza, Alexander Ribbink, and Ties Klinkhamer, who all shared the view that the continent should foster its own deep-tech and defence capabilities if it intends to be both competitive and secure. Their view was heavily influenced by the fact that defence procurement in Europe is very slow and this is a big problem considering how fast global threats evolve. The new threats include cyber attacks, drones, AI surveillance, and digital espionage that all require fast innovation and startups in general are in a better position to offer this than the old-fashioned contractors.
The difference between the company’s old method and the new one which global security demands is where the company can find not only an opportunity but also a responsibility to act.
During the years, the company has had the chance to cultivate a formidable continent-wide network of politicians, military experts, and business leaders. This ecosystem in which they thrive had a vital role in providing the right atmosphere both for the Intelic AI and Perciv AI to grow. These are two startups that work in the fields of intelligence, automation, and security and create tools that can be used both in the defence industry and the commercial sector. Those initial wins boosted Keen’s confidence in its idea that the world’s tough-security problems can be solved through local technology innovations, given that the right startups get the capital and mentorship that they require.
Keen’s work is characterized by the execution of an investor thesis-driven, hands-on model, which is one of the factors most in favor of the company. The fund is active, whereby the capital is simply invested without any further involvement and the venture firm then steps back, which is not the case for this fund as Keen cooperates with founders from seed through Series B. The company intends to provide the necessary support to the young companies when they enter what could be a quite perplexing next stage of working on the defence and security market in which the company will encounter difficulties in respect of regulation, government procurement, and data sensitivity.
With its new financing, Keen will be able to provide between €1 million and €10 million to more than 25 companies that are based in Europe and are members of NATO. The firm’s goal is not simply to offer support to a group of founders but with the help of these founders to set in motion a defense-tech ecosystem that is not just interconnected but is also capable of competing with the rest of the world on an equal footing—particularly as geopolitical tensions keep changing security priorities.
The firm assumes that the primary concern for the start-ups capable of generating the next wave of innovations in the defence sector is proficiency in the making of dual-use technologies, i.e., these being products that are commercially scalable yet, at the same time, are strong enough to be useable for national security purposes. This would also cover the entire gamut from secure communication networks and AI-enabled threat detection to autonomous surveillance systems and advanced space infrastructure.
They are also eager to enter new uncharted territories such as emerging technologies in which Europe’s might is not yet fully realized. As far as cybersecurity goes, it is the number one concern for them, especially, as government institutions and commercial enterprises keep on facing cyber-attacks that become increasingly more sophisticated. The company will also be investing in projects related to autonomous systems, space technologies, and AI-powered defence platforms, as these are expected to be the core focus of future defence strategies.
By establishing a new fund, Keen wants to be able to help speed up the transition to a more independent defence posture that Europe needs and, at the same time, such a posture has to be a combination of both the resilience of a strategic nature and state-of-the-art innovation. In case the company manages to achieve its goal, it would then be instrumental in shaping the following chapter in the evolution of Europe’s defence-tech; essentially, it could be the startups that would then be leading the way to their role as the protectors of the continent in a world that remains largely unpredictable.