Registration over the link is required:
www.eventbrite.com/e/defense-commercial-revenues-balance-tickets-1565171473009
Defense & commercial revenues of tech startups, how to balance? (Aug 21, Thursday, 6-9pm, Menlo Park). Panel discussion will cover (aero)space, dual-use tech, work with large defense contractors, rapid manufacturing, what we learned from Ukraine war, bio-defense. 5 top defense VCs speaking:
Jake Chapman (managing director, Marque Ventures);
Thorsten Claus (former founding partner, NATO Innovation Fund);
Matt Kaplan (investment analyst, Shield Capital);
Chris Moran (executive director & general manager, Lockheed Martin Ventures);
Kristina Vulgan (co-founder, Ferocity Capital).
Schedule (PM Pacific):
6:00-6:30 -- networking;
6:30-7:15 -- panel discussion;
7:15-8:00 -- answering audience questions;
8:00-9:00 -- networking.
We do recommend to register in advance, seats are limited (100).
Venue: Canopy, suite 100, 1300 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Speaker biographies:
Jake Chapman has been in and around the venture industry for almost 20 years as a lawyer, three-time founder, and venture capitalist, including as managing director of the Army Venture Capital Corporation. Jake is an adjunct at Rand, where he works on commercialization and national security topics. Jake is also the managing director of Marque Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on national security technology. He writes all too frequently on Twitter as @vc and somewhat less frequently on LinkedIn.
Thorsten Claus is an American investor focused on defense resilience, dual-use technology, and rebuilding industrial capacity. A founding partner of the NATO Innovation Fund, he has led over 120 direct investments, raised 9 funds, and served on 23 boards across dual-use startups in the U.S. and Europe. A former VP Engineering and CNC machinist for defense and space systems, he works closely with technical teams on strategy, production, and scaling. His focus: aligning capital with sovereign capability and long-term readiness.
Matt Kaplan is an investment analyst at Shield Capital, investing at the intersection of commercial and national security in companies building in AI, autonomy, space and cyber. Previously he was a research advisor at Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He's a Stanford University graduate, BS in computer science with honors in international security studies.
John Christopher "Chris" Moran is the Executive Director and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures; the venture capital investment arm of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Chris was serving in a variety of positions at Applied Materials for over 32 years. Most recently as a head of the Business Systems and Analytics group. Before he was a head of Corporate Strategy and General Manager of Applied Ventures -- investing arm of Applied Materials. Chris is a MIT graduate, BS and MS in mechanical engineering.
Kristina Vulgan is a co-founder and managing partner of Ferocity Capital, focusing on deep tech, cybersecurity, bio-defense. She was a founding advisor to the NATO Fund. Had international relations work before, including speech writing for Slovakia prime minister. Studied at Commenius University (Bratislava), Stanford University, London School of Economics.
About event sponsors:
Firehawk is an end-to-end energetics company, revolutionizing the supply chain to fuel the future of defense to deter and win tomorrow's wars. We build rocket motors powered by our 3d printed propellant – faster and more cost effectively with the ability to manufacture and distribute almost anywhere in the world. Firehawk designs its products at its Dallas headquarters, is building a 340 acre production facility in Lawton, Oklahoma, and performs static fire and flight tests at two facilities in West Texas, including a 30-square-mile launch range. For more information, visit www.firehawkaerospace.com
infiniRel improves profitability of utility scale solar plants by assessing operational efficiencies and extending the life critical assets, electronics, such as inverters and battery energy storage systems. Energy associated risk assessment and solutions for on-orbital data centers and defense units. www.infinirel.com
