Portfolio: Our First Defence Investment and Why We Chose Levato
We are putting our money where our mouth is.
Defending our democracies may be the most important thing right now. But while U.S. investors are pouring billions into technologies of national interest, Europe is still stymied by indecisiveness. To help Nordic and Baltic defence startups move ahead, we decided not to wait but act.
We have invested in Levato, a Norwegian startup developing a defence simulation and training platform called Vantage. Having secured early contracts with the Royal Norwegian Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, Vantage helps develop tactical leadership and operational planning through simulated and real exercises. Scenarios include threats to subsea cables and joint NATO operations in the Baltic Sea, amongst others.
“With all of the Nordics and Baltics soon in NATO, we foresee an increased defence collaboration in the region,” said Jonas Dromberg, founder and principal at Revalence Ventures. “Together with the adjacent High North dimension, the region is set to play a key role in providing tech resilience amid the world’s geopolitical reshuffle.”
The Vantage platform
North Sea pipeline scenario exercise
To have military academies, command staff and field units trained in state-of-the-art technologies is key to successful defence. We believe that the demanding Nordic environment and its proximity to Russia will force local operators to develop better defence processes and products, resulting in exportable plug-and-play technologies that help build category leaders. Vantage, for its part, is capable of adapting to new categories such as drone and cyber.
“Levato extends its expertise to the government sector, providing scenario simulations specifically designed for defense, emergency response, and incident management,” Luis E. Velazquez, chief technology officer at the U.S. Marine Corps, wrote on LinkedIn. “Their commitment to leveraging gaming technology for educational and training purposes sets them apart as a leader in the field.”
Currently in the H4A batch at BMNT, the defence tech equivalent to Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, Levato’s Vantage platform has managed to place itself on an accelerated procurement track and is seeing increased interest from the U.S., NATO and even Ukraine. Early users say the simulations are both effective and engaging.
With Vantage, “our students are displaying more interest and motivation in the disciplines. We are able to challenge them in operational organization, leadership and problem-solving methods at a whole new level,” said Tor Ivar Strømmen, commander at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy.
European defence technology investing is slowly ridding itself from self-induced hurdles. While the U.S. defence technology scene has already attracted more than 100 billion dollars, Europe is lagging behind. The U.K., for example, has generated just one billion in investments during the last ten years. But with European defence budgets on the rise and technology earmarks expected to balloon, defence tech startups are increasingly seen as investable objects also with institutions.
“We expect European defence tech investments to begin catching up with the U.S. in the medium term,” said Dromberg. “There’s already a handful of initiatives that are going to leverage this. We feel privileged to be able to help support them.”
For the most in-depth look at the European defence tech space today, please see the inaugural “European Dynamism and Defence” report by Air Street Capital.
