It might surprise some, given recent calls from figures such as Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for Europe to increase its defense spending, that Europe is, in fact, already on a trajectory of substantially increased investment in defense, particularly in technology. Investment in “Defense, Resilience, and Security” (DSR) tech has reached a record high, accounting for 10% of all venture capital (VC) funding in Europe. This week, the U.K. and NATO launched the first NATO-approved cohort of startups under the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) program, exemplifying this commitment to technological advancement.
DIANA, operating in partnership with the U.K., serves as a conduit for bringing in new technologies from startups across NATO countries. It consists of a network of 23 affiliated accelerator sites and 182 test centers. The program is designed to connect defense personnel, startups, and defense “prime” contractors, facilitating collaboration and innovation.
Leading the U.K.’s effort is the Defense and Security Accelerator (DASA), in collaboration with the IoT Tribe, which, in turn, heads the Janus Consortium, focusing on dual-use technologies. This collaboration also involves Atmos VC, a deep tech investor, and the SETsquared Partnership, a consortium of six U.K. research-led universities and various partners from the defense industry. The “Janus” name is derived from the Roman god of duality, signifying the dual-use nature of both civilian and defense technologies that will emerge from the program.
The first cohort, comprising five startups, has been selected for a six-month program with DASA. The selected companies, chosen from a pool of 2,400 applicants, span various fields including AI, electronics, semiconductors, and materials science. In a conversation with TechCrunch, Tanya Suarez, CEO of IOT Tribe, noted that 74 companies advanced in the selection process, with London’s accelerator hosting the final five. “With DASA, we run competitions for U.K. defense, and we’ve bought extra capacity within this system to put our own companies through as well,” she explained. “The cohorts that are going through at the moment answer the call for surveillance and sensing. So we’re looking at technologies that could be used to essentially monitor either people or equipment.”
Suarez added, “We have really close links to our customers across defense, plus we get a really great sense of the problems and the challenges that they’re trying to overcome. Through DASA’s partnership with NATO DIANA, we’re fast-tracking the development of dual-use technologies… that will benefit both military and civilian applications across the Alliance.”
The startups selected for the program are:
- AI Verse (France): An artificial intelligence (AI) company focusing on improving the accessibility, quality, privacy, accuracy, and labeling of images for computer vision models.
- EIFys (Finland): Founded by university researchers, the company aims to commercialize induced junction black silicon photodiodes.
- Metahelios (U.K.): A company building imaging technologies by applying a nanotechnological approach.
- RVmagnetics (Slovakia): A high-tech company focusing on sensors and identification technologies based on microwaves.
- Winse Power (Finland): A company developing optical links, a solution for delivering power and data with light, with applications in the sensing and surveillance fields.
