VC | E520 | I am only in venture, because I'm doing defense. I'm not in defense because I'm in venture

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1d ago 46:43

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Welcome to a new episode of the EUVC Podcast, where we bring you the people and perspectives shaping European venture.
This week, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Nicholas Nelson, founding GP of Archangel, the new defense-first fund going all in on the blunt reality of European strategic autonomy.
Nicholas is no newcomer to this. From advising governments to serving in Afghanistan, launching syndicates, or building dual-use bridges when few wanted to touch defense, he’s stayed on the same mission while the market shifted all around him.
In this episode, Nicholas breaks down why Europe needs unapologetic defense-first investing, why dual-use alone won’t cut it, and what founders, LPs, and co-investors must face up to if they’re serious about Europe’s sovereignty.
Here’s what’s covered:

00:00 | Nicholas Nelson’s journey: from service to syndicates to Archangel
02:00 | Two decades of doing defense before it was cool
04:00 | Why now? Why real defense? Why not just dual-use?
07:00 | The war tech shift: tanks out, rapid iteration in
10:00 | Ukraine’s ‘hourly sprints’—why on-the-ground matters
13:00 | Deterrence, lethality & Europe’s strategic gap
16:00 | When dual-use brands muddy the water (and why that’s risky)
19:00 | The bullets & bombs dilemma: investing when LPs say no
22:00 | Primes, vendor lock & the truth about the military industrial complex
26:00 | ESG tensions: Europe’s extra layer of complexity
30:00 | The pan-European Anduril myth—why it doesn’t map
34:00 | Local vs. pan-European scaling: what’s realistic
37:00 | Exit routes & why the big growth rounds go abroad
40:00 | The flywheel we didn’t get to—coming in part two

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