Velaris Ventures

Advancing Defence,
Security & Sovereignty

European venture capital guided by operational needs.

Velaris brings together defence expertise, industrial experience and venture capital to identify technologies that can deliver capabilities Europe needs. Our approach starts with a specific user, a defined mission and the effect that must be achieved.

We focus on the journey from validated technology to qualification, industrialisation and operational deployment.

Explore Our Investment Focus Introduce Your Company

01 / Our perspective

The mission comes first

A promising technology becomes relevant when it addresses a real operational need.

We assess who depends on the capability, what happens if it fails and whether an acceptable alternative can deliver the required effect in time. This Mission Criticality assessment guides which opportunities advance through our investment process.

How We Work

02 / Investment focus

Three priority domains

We prioritise technologies that strengthen Europe’s ability to act, protect critical systems and maintain situational awareness.

S1Autonomous action

Trusted AI, Mission Autonomy & Robotics

Edge AI, physical AI and human-machine teaming for contested environments.

Computing infrastructure inside a data centre

S2Secure backbone

Sovereign Digital Infrastructure & Cyber

Resilient communications, sovereign cloud and edge infrastructure, and cyber defence for critical systems.

The Effelsberg radio telescope in Germany

S3Sense & connect

Space Systems, ISR & Orbital Infrastructure

Space as the sovereign sensing and connectivity layer across increasingly contested strategic domains.

Selective mission enablers

Considered when they remove a critical mission bottleneck.

S4Advanced Materials & Microelectronics
S5Energy, Water & Resources
S6Human-Machine Performance

Explore Our Investment Focus Photography credits

03 / How we work

Turning operational relevance into an investment case

01
Capability relevance
Does the technology address a defined user, mission and required effect? Mission Criticality comes first.
02
Investment conviction
Can the company turn that capability into an investable business, with credible milestones, a clear capital plan and an industrial path?
03
Portfolio fit
Does the opportunity fit the fund’s mandate, construction and risk discipline?

From investment to operational deployment

Our model is designed to support founders through qualification, industrialisation, procurement and adoption, while preparing for potential strategic transactions.

How We Work

04 / The team