Lakestar募集3亿美元欧洲韧性基金并警告依赖美国科技

Revolut and Spotify investor warns Europe over reliance on US tech
A leading European tech investor that backed Spotify and Revolut has warned that the continent’s dependence on American technology and capital has become a strategic vulnerability.
Klaus Hommels, founder of venture capital firm Lakestar, said recent moves by Washington to restrict Anthropic from exporting sensitive AI models were the latest sign that Europe needed to build greater technological independence.
“If you don’t get the message now and still believe these fairy tales that are told to you by the salespeople of American technologies, then this is without responsibility,” Hommels told the FT.
“You need to be as independent as you can, and that means the technology as well as the financing of the technology,” he added.
His warning comes as Lakestar said it had raised a $300mn “resilience” fund that will back dual-use and defence technology companies across Europe and other Nato-allied countries, with investors including the UK’s BAE Systems.
Hommels, who also chairs the Nato Innovation Fund’s geopolitical and strategic advisory council, last year signalled plans to stop raising generalist venture funds at Lakestar as he turned his focus towards boosting Europe’s resilience.
Lakestar has tapped former US top diplomat Mike Pompeo, former UK chief of defence staff Sir Nicholas Carter and former German armed forces chief of staff Volker Wieker, along with the UK tech entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox for the fund’s advisory board.
Investor interest in defence technology has surged on the promise of higher military spending by Europe’s governments following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The conflict and the proliferation of drones have also spurred changes in battlefield technology.
Lakestar has backed several of the region’s leading defence technology start-ups, including the UK drone interceptor group Cambridge Aerospace, the $18bn German drone firm Helsing and rocket start-up Isar Aerospace.
In 2024, Hommels said he would invest more than €100mn of his own money in defence start-ups, warning that it was clear even before Donald Trump’s re-election as US president that Europe needed to boost its resilience.
While he believes there was a role for US venture capitalists to back European defence tech start-ups, Hommels warned: “It is important that the overall governance is European . . . if there’s an escalative situation the governance needs to be in a situation to prioritise European interests first.”
Hommels said he believed this year would be key for European defence tech start-ups to prove the efficacy of their technologies and push to win military contracts.
He also called for European defence tech companies to pursue mergers in order to create larger competitors, improving their chances of winning procurement deals.
“The biggest advantage we have over China, Iran and Russia is we can mobilise private capital,” he said. “The moment there is procurement you feel there is recognition, you feel you become part of the ecosystem and the flywheel of leveraging private capital works.”