After extensive talks with government and industry leaders, it’s evident that Defense Tech is undergoing a revolution.

In the past 10 years, rapid tech advancements and the rise in internal tensions, geopolitical polarization, and asymmetrical warfare have spurred growth in resilience technology. Global defense spending now tops $2.2 trillion.

Although high-end defense tech is more sophisticated than ever, it is winning the battle but losing the war due to the Asymmetry Paradox. The cost gaps between Western top-of-the-line technology and low-cost drones and ballistic missiles are evident. Unlike ever before, civilian innovation is outpacing government-funded research and development, signaling a need to adopt an open-source approach to harness technology effectively.

Despite the opportunity to disrupt this huge market, Startups face various challenges when trying to penetrate the resilience market. Traditional defense prime contractors – such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Thales, and BEA – are giving a fight. They are highly focused on high-end research-based technology innovation. Moreover, they maintain a stronghold on military contracts through long ties with government agencies, a strong reputation for reliability, and despite long development cycles and monopolistic pricing.

In this report, we dive into different ways in which we believe resilience tech startups can win categories and build large companies.

For instance, one key area of sensitivity for defense tech companies is geographic focus, as government agencies often prefer local over global solutions. At Viola Ventures, we developed a framework inspired by the Israeli defense export model, emphasizing the existing commercial and security bilateral infrastructure. Unlike traditional Israeli tech startups, prioritizing the USA may not be the best approach for Israeli defense tech companies. Other attractive geographies, such as NATO and Asian countries, are increasing their defense budgets and seeking imported innovation, making them potentially better targets for Israeli defense tech founders to support democratic defense efforts.

What else can be found in our report:

• Different ways for how resilience tech startups win (value proposition, GTM, Geos, etc)

• Funding ecosystem and VC returns

• Why Israel is the perfect ecosystem for defense innovation – from deep talent pool to innovation and supportive ecosystem.

• Where we see opportunities to innovate – from autonomous systems to communication & Intelligence and Space Tech.

 

If you’re a founder innovating in the defense or resilience tech spaces, we’d love to hear from you.

Reach out to alexs@viola.vc