Jefferies x Euronext European Disruptive Tech Conference | Defense Tech
This article draws on the Defense Tech panel at the Jefferies x Euronext European Disruptive Tech Conference, moderated by Chris Squire of Jefferies, with Alex Fries (CIO, Kraken Technology Group), Victoria Gurtler (Head of Strategy, Helsing), Dário Pedro (CEO, Beyond Vision) and Quentin Petitjean (CFO, Alta Ares).
Defense has long been one of the hardest industries to enter, with decades-long programs, government customers and high technical barriers. Yet the past four years have produced a wave of new European companies winning contracts and capital at a pace few expected. This shift rests on lasting changes in how wars are fought, how equipment is built and how nations think about their own security.
The front line has become the development lab
Speed of adaptation is now the defining competitive advantage. Alta Ares, founded in 2024 between Kyiv and Paris, builds drone interception systems and has grown from five people to around 150 in two years. Its challenge is keeping pace with the threat. Russian attack drones have moved from propeller designs flying at around 300 kilometers per hour to jet-powered variants approaching 600 kilometers per hour and operating at altitudes of up to 8,000 meters. Ukrainian forces respond by adapting software and hardware almost simultaneously.
Beyond Vision, the Portuguese drone maker, keeps a dedicated team supporting Ukrainian users, with harder problems routed straight to its engineers. The company sees the ability to iterate and respond as more decisive than having the best technology on paper.
Victoria Gurtler (Head of Strategy, Helsing) offers a telling illustration of how quickly software now moves: “When we ship equipment for military exercises, customs clearance can take a month or two. By the time our team arrives, so much has changed that the first job is a full software update.”
A generational shift at sea
In the Black Sea, the Russian fleet was largely destroyed or confined to port by a country without a traditional navy. For Alex Fries (CIO, Kraken Technology Group), the lesson for Western militaries is uncomfortable: large, expensive warships are increasingly difficult to defend.
Fries described a move from the carrier strike group towards a “hybrid navy” of crewed and uncrewed, large and small vessels, with small, fast, expendable craft, a capability Western navies largely lack today. The change is akin to the transitions from wooden to steel ships and from battleships to aircraft carriers. Kraken, which makes uncrewed surface vessels, already has boats deployed in the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf. As Fries put it, it is “better to be lucky than smart”, and the company had the right equipment at the right moment.
Newcomers and established primes are building together
Much of the growth is happening in partnership with incumbents. Kraken sells directly to end users, has a joint venture with Rheinmetall and a partnership with Anduril. Large primes, Fries explained, see its fleet as a new route to market: a radar or weapons system developed at great expense can reach customers on a Kraken vessel, provided it fits the payload space. Helsing’s first major industrial partnership was with Saab, which helped establish its presence in Europe.
This creates a reinforcing cycle. Armed forces want the platforms that carry the most capability, and primes want their systems on the platforms that are being bought. Companies that sit between the two hold a valuable position.
Ukraine’s industry will shape European defense
Ukraine’s defense sector is now developing capabilities of its own, and experts expect it to play a major role in Europe’s rearmament. Both Beyond Vision and Alta Ares treat Ukrainian companies as partners, valuing the chance to test and refine products far faster than elsewhere.
Experience outside Ukraine shows why full capability matters. Alta Ares recalled large numbers of Ukrainian drones sold into the Middle East that went unused because buyers lacked training and software support. Beyond Vision saw the same pattern in the Gulf, where systems that are not fully automated are often bought and left on the shelf. Automation also eases the burden on operators. Alta Ares was founded partly to reduce fatigue among frontline drone pilots who, as Quentin Petitjean (CFO, Alta Ares) noted, “do not exactly have a nice breakfast in the morning with a fancy coffee or English tea.”
Demand rests on more than one conflict
Investors often ask what peace in Ukraine would mean for demand. Kraken expects three structural forces to persist in any scenario. The first is the long transition to hybrid navies, a procurement cycle spanning years and possibly decades. The second is rebuilding a depleted industrial base. “You lose wars when you run out of kit,” Fries says, pointing to the difficulty Gulf states faced in replenishing interceptor missiles when they were not first in the production queue. The third is the fragmentation of security alliances, which is pushing more countries to invest in sovereign capability.
Demand also extends well beyond Europe. Beyond Vision operates in more than 25 countries and described rising demand in the Gulf, South America, Canada and Africa, where it is building a large facility in Egypt.
Fragmentation points to consolidation
Growth has also brought crowding. More than 230 defense start-ups have been founded in Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and every nation wants its own champion. Gurtler, a US veteran working for a European company, said the ecosystem cannot reasonably support them all and expects M&A to increase significantly over the next few years. Procurement is evolving too, with more bilateral agreements, such as the Trinity House agreement between the UK and Germany, accelerating contracts that once required consensus across EU member states. For investors, the picture is what Fries called “a jagged frontier”, with sensible and speculative valuations, proven and unproven technologies side by side.
Experts leave little doubt that European defense technology has moved beyond a wartime surge. Faster development cycles, new naval doctrine, industrial rebuilding and sovereign rearmament all point to sustained investment. The next phase will reward companies that can scale manufacturing, deliver complete capability and take part in the consolidation that a crowded market makes likely.
