2025 Boston Innovation Summit: Shaping the Future of Dual-Use Innovation, Fundings: Comand AI, Droneway, Sublime Security
18 December 2024 - A Weekly Publication by New North Ventures
Save the date! New North Ventures invites you to the third annual 2025 Boston Innovation Summit on 6 February 2025. Experts will convene to explore the latest on trusted capital, maritime domain awareness, dual-use tech financing, and cyber defense collaboration. Gain insights from industry leaders and connect with innovators transforming national security through disruptive tech.
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with the future of dual-use innovation. RSVP and learn more: New North Ventures: Boston Innovation Summit 2025
CYBERA: We’re excited to report CYBERA’s groundbreaking efforts in scam prevention and response. Recently showcased at Inventx AG in Zurich, CYBERA’s innovative solutions empower financial institutions like Clientis AG to proactively monitor and protect customers against scams. With 25% of the global population affected by scams last year, CYBERA’s mission is increasingly critical to individuals and institutions.
Additionally, CYBERA partnered with Token Recovery to enhance crypto scam response and asset recovery capabilities. This collaboration enables CYBERA to identify, trace, and recover high-value assets more effectively, providing better outcomes for victims.
HavocAI: HavocAI recently conducted a live demonstration at Congress, showcasing its groundbreaking technology. Members and staffers had the opportunity to command and control real autonomous boats from 400 nautical miles away, highlighting how easily HavocAI’s systems integrate into real-world operations.
The Tech Investment Playbook for Victory
The United States faces a critical juncture in maintaining its technological and defense superiority as near-peer competitors like China rapidly advance in dual-use technologies, which have applications in both commercial and government markets. Over the past decade, China has leveraged government-linked venture capital funds, military-civil fusion strategies, and a robust commercial ecosystem to scale innovations in areas like AI, drones, and micro-satellites.
This strategy provides startups with critical long-term funding and runway, enabling them to overcome barriers that often hinder U.S. startups. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) struggles with outdated funding processes, contracting inefficiencies, and slow technology adoption, leaving promising American dual-use technologies stuck in a "valley of death" before they can reach operational readiness.
To counter these challenges, the U.S. must redefine its approach to fostering defense innovation by streamlining DoD processes, embracing outcomes-based contracting, and aligning venture capital investment with mission-critical needs. Key reforms include implementing multi-year funding mechanisms, enabling fiscal flexibility, and incentivizing collaboration between defense units and private industry.
Additionally, U.S. venture capitalists must adopt a mission-driven approach, leveraging deep defense expertise to guide startups through complex procurement cycles and ensuring technologies are operationally viable from the start. By accelerating the integration of dual-use technologies and supporting innovation at scale, the United States can safeguard its global leadership and enhance national security in an increasingly competitive geopolitical landscape.
More links to explore:
Founded: 2023
Key People: Co-founder Bruno Raillard
Elevator Pitch: An automatic command-providing software designed to help defense forces with decision-making and operating capabilities.
Funding: The company raised EUR 8.5 million of seed funding in a deal led by Eurazeo on December 16, 2024.
Founded: 2009
Key People: CEO Yassine Qammous
Elevator Pitch: A drone technology designed to collect aerial data for security and surveillance, mapping, agriculture and facility inspections.
Funding: The company raised venture funding on December 16, 2024.
Key People: CEO Joshua Kamdjou
Founded: 2019
Elevator Pitch: An email security platform designed to write and run custom detection and response rules to block phishing attacks.
Funding: The company raised $60 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by IVP on December 12, 2024, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $270 million.
Look for a new episode of the Securing the Future Podcast wherever you listen. In our most recent episode, general partner Jeremy Hitchcock sits down with journalist Tim Mak for a powerful discussion on national security, his experiences reporting from Ukraine, and insights from his acclaimed work on the NRA and global conflict.
