The changing face of defence-tech

By Neil Robertson

The narrative around defence has evolved. It’s no longer considered the sin stock it used to be, and over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a significant uptick in investor and media interest in emerging defence technology. This year, we’ve seen a greater push towards sovereign capabilities and technologies that enhance national resilience.

Our work in the space sector over the last six years highlighted how important it is as a domain of defence. From Earth observation and situational awareness, to in-orbit manufacturing, orbital logistics and launch. Our work with Glasgow-based rocket company Skyrora, has focused on the importance of having sovereign space launch capabilities, both from a commercial and defence point of view. The MoD’s ISTARI programme marks a vital step in strengthening the UK’s defence space capabilities. But without sovereign launch, our ability to deploy and maintain critical systems remains at the mercy of foreign providers. Launching our own payloads isn’t just an economic policy; it’s a strategic act of self-reliance.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, our efforts in the defence sector have escalated. Not only in an effort to shine a spotlight on some of the innovation coming out of the country, but also as we’ve seen more investors turn to the opportunities there and the eagerness of Primes to have emerging technology on their radar, we’ve been able to put our network to good use. In 2025, we’ve been front and centre for some of the key conversations about the security of Europe, learning from Ukraine to create more agile procurement processes, to harnessing battle-proven technology. We have:

• Helped the Janus Consortium launch the UK cohort for the MoD’s DASA and NATO Dianna accelerator programme with five startups from across Europe
• Been invited by BRAVE1 to investor events at the Ukrainian Embassy, showcasing some of the country’s standout defence-tech companies.
• Given a dinner speech to a former defence secretary, investors and industry stakeholders about the role Ukrainian technology can play in saving lives and creating a safer Europe
• Been invited to a dinner with Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital to hear about how the country has revolutionised procurement and testing processes to make sure technology is being put into the hands of those that need it, and the country as a whole benefits from a rapid feedback loop
• Been invited to an event involving a Prime to talk about the importance of digitisation and cloud infrastructure when it comes to transforming the defence sector
• Helped a number of clients to prepare and react to the government’s announcement on additional defence spending and a new £400m defence innovation fund.
• Continued our fundraising efforts for Project Atlas, Ukraine’s drone defence wall running 1,300km across the frontline.

For the rest of the year and for the foreseeable future, we’ll continue our work helping defence tech companies connect with the right stakeholders and deliver the key messages can help them achieve their objectives.