On average, the Bundeswehr takes twelve years to adopt new technologies. A startup has eighteen months of runway. When those two timelines don't line up, the whole idea fails, and that still happens far too often today.
But the moment has shifted. With the 2024 EU Defence Industrial Strategy and the Zeitenwende special fund, it's clear that private players are no longer just spectators. VCs have already moved in. For business angels, the question is no longer whether but how, and why now is the right time to get in. And for the Bundeswehr, how can we think about defence in a sustainable, long-term way?