The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Energy prices are spiking. Supply chains are under pressure again. And in the background, a geopolitical order that Europe spent decades taking for granted is quietly being dismantled.
That's the context for the latest episode of Startup Insider's Investments & Exits, and it's why the conversation between our Managing Partner Nikolas Samios and Florian Heinemann from Project A feels very urgent.
The core argument: the underlying trends like energy security, strategic autonomy and resilient infrastructure were already there. These didn't become relevant because of Iran, but they've been building for years. What's changed is the cost of continuing to ignore them.
What Nikolas and Florian make clear is that European resilience isn't just a defense story. The NATO framework actually splits the 5% spending target into hard military systems and supporting infrastructure, and that second category is enormous. Energy grids, mobility systems, raw material access, sovereign cloud infrastructure. These are the things that determine whether Europe can function under pressure, and most of them have barely been touched by venture capital. That's the opportunity and the obligation.
For founders: the barriers to starting something have never been lower. The urgency to build the right things has never been higher.