Lakestar has closed its first dedicated resilience fund with $300 million in commitments to invest in defense and dual-use technology companies across Europe and NATO-allied markets. The oversubscribed fund attracted demand exceeding its original target.
Lakestar Resilience I is backed entirely by private capital, including strategic and institutional investors and large industrial family offices. Lakestar described the vehicle as Europe’s largest privately funded institutional venture fund dedicated to defense and dual-use technology.
Dual-use technologies are products and systems that can serve both commercial and national security applications. The category includes autonomous systems, artificial intelligence software, drones, space infrastructure, cybersecurity technologies, and advanced manufacturing platforms.
Lakestar plans to invest in founders developing technologies intended to strengthen European and allied security, sovereignty and industrial resilience. The firm will support companies from early stages through later periods of commercial expansion.
The fund is managed by a team with more than a decade of investment experience in the sector. Lakestar said it began building its defense and resilience portfolio in 2017, before the category received broader attention from venture investors.
Lakestar currently manages more than $6 billion across institutional venture funds and private investments. The firm believes Europe requires additional private capital to develop critical technologies without becoming overly dependent on foreign suppliers.
The existing portfolio includes Helsing, Frankenburg Technologies, UFORCE, Twentyfour Industries, Kela, and Onodrim. Lakestar also backs several other companies that remain in stealth mode.
Additional portfolio companies include ARX Robotics, Auterion, Cambridge Aerospace, Constellr, Dominion Dynamics, Isar Aerospace, Kraken Technology, Lateration, SE3 Labs, SWARM Biotactics, Tekever, The Hacking Games, Tiberius and Tytan.
The companies operate across autonomous platforms, AI-powered defense software, drone manufacturing, missile systems, maritime technologies, and space infrastructure. Several have developed products used in operational settings or procured by European and allied governments.
Lakestar said founders across its resilience portfolio have raised more than $5 billion in private capital. Their products and services have generated several billion dollars in revenue and are used by military and government customers across multiple countries.
The portfolio companies collectively employ more than 5,000 people across engineering, software, manufacturing, policy, and defense-related disciplines. Lakestar believes the group represents one of Europe’s largest and fastest-growing clusters of defense technology talent.
Resilience I will give Lakestar additional capital to back new companies and continue supporting existing portfolio businesses. The firm intends to help founders navigate product development, industrial scaling, government procurement, and international expansion.
The fund is supported by an advisory board comprising former senior leaders from defense, government, and technology. Members include retired General Sir Nicholas Carter, retired General Volker Wieker, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Carter previously served as chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom, while Wieker was the inspector general of the German Bundeswehr. Their experience is expected to help portfolio companies understand European and NATO defense structures.
Pompeo brings experience across U.S. national security and diplomacy, including relationships relevant to defense procurement and international policy. Lane Fox contributes experience in technology entrepreneurship, digital policy, and public institutions.
Lakestar said the advisory board will help founders operating at the intersection of technology, procurement and geopolitics. The firm believes these relationships can provide strategic and operational support beyond the capital the fund has committed.
KEY QUOTES:
“Freedom is not for free. Sovereignty and Europe’s capabilities in critical technologies are a core concern for all of us. Europe and its Western allies need sovereign technology capital in the defence and dual-use sectors. At Lakestar we have backed founders in this space for almost a decade, well before it became a consensus view. This fund delivers on a commitment I made in October of last year. The founders in Europe’s defence technology ecosystem are building world-class companies that develop and bring to scale innovative solutions used in combat and procured by militaries and governments around the world. Our portfolio companies supply a large share of the defence solutions allied governments are acquiring today. We are committed to our founders from an early stage and will continue to back them as they scale. The dedicated Resilience I fund gives us the capital and the focus to partner with founders who have chosen to solve the hardest problems in the most consequential category of our time. The strong valuation uplifts we have already seen in our resilience portfolio confirm that markets recognise the scope of the transformation underway to protect Europe’s prosperity, resilience, and security. We are proud to welcome four outstanding leaders to the Resilience I Advisory Board, each of whom has shaped the Western defence, security and technology ecosystems at the highest levels. For those building the infrastructure of Western security, there is no better set of partners to navigate the institutions that will determine who wins. The Board is a strategic and operational force multiplier for founders competing at the intersection of technology, procurement, and geopolitics.”
Klaus Hommels, Founder and Chairman of Lakestar
