In Plain Sight - Intelligence Methods for Venture Capital
07 May 2025 - A Weekly Publication by New North Ventures
NatSecEDGE Conference: Securing America’s Technological Advantage
At New North Ventures, we recognize that America's technological advantage requires deliberate cultivation through strategic partnerships and principled investment. The NatSecEDGE Conference represents a crucial convergence point where visionary leaders across the defense innovation ecosystem align their efforts to address emerging threats and seize technological opportunities.
Hosted by The Cipher Brief in Austin, Texas on June 5-6, this gathering focuses on frontier domains including AI, Space, Quantum, and critical infrastructure protection. These fields represent both our nation's greatest vulnerabilities and its most promising avenues for maintaining strategic superiority.
New North Ventures' support and participation underscore our commitment to fostering public-private collaboration that accelerates dual-use innovations. Our team looks forward to engaging with decision-makers who share our mission of strengthening national security while creating commercial value through transformative technologies.
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LIMITED AVAILABILITY: Secure your position now at this transformative national security conference.
Join us at NatSecEDGE as we advance the critical mission of protecting democracy through principled innovation and investment. Together, we will shape the technological frontier that safeguards our nation's future.
NEW NORTH VENTURES PRESENTS: INVESTING IN THE GLOBAL COMPETITION AND INNOVATION ERA
May 13, 2025 11:00 AM EST — VIRTUAL WEBINAR
As geopolitical tensions intensify and technological competition accelerates, strategic investors must navigate complex risks and identify mission-critical opportunities. New North Ventures invites you to join our executive briefing on investing in the Global Competition and Innovation Era, featuring expert analysis from the Executive Director of the Council on Global Competition and Innovation alongside our team's presentation on Dual-Use Venture strategy. This webinar delivers actionable intelligence on strengthening both national security and investment portfolios through principled capital allocation in frontier technologies.
While markets chase fleeting trends and headlines, elite investors and intelligence professionals master the art of systematic pattern recognition that reveals tomorrow's winners before they emerge. The difference between good and exceptional returns lies not in luck or access, but in the ability to see around corners—transforming scattered information into strategic insight while others remain blind to the signals hidden in plain sight.
This shared methodology begins with frameworks that intelligence officers have refined across decades of high-stakes analysis. They systematically evaluate criticality, assess vulnerabilities, and measure effects—creating a disciplined approach that cuts through complexity to identify what truly matters. In venture investing, we apply remarkably similar process and principles to evaluate founding teams, market dynamics, and technical differentiation.
The deeper we examine this parallel, the more revealing it becomes. Intelligence officers don't collect random data points; they meticulously connect them across time to reveal patterns invisible to casual observers. Similarly, elite venture firms aren't simply seeking interesting companies—they're detecting trajectories before markets recognize them.
We don't chase dots. We draw lines through time.
This disciplined approach reveals itself in the numbers: elite venture firms conduct detailed evaluation of approximately 200 opportunities annually to close just 4 deals. This 2% selection rate isn't arbitrary—it represents the rigorous filtration that separates signal from noise. When examining these opportunities, decisive patterns emerge.
This principle takes on particular significance in defense technology investing today. With $3.2 billion already deployed into startups this year and pre-revenue companies commanding $100 million valuations in some markets, we face an environment demanding heightened vigilance. The Pentagon's proposed $1 trillion budget offers unprecedented opportunity but also creates vulnerability for those without disciplined methodology.
The most sophisticated investors recognize that patterns reveal themselves only to those willing to observe systematically cross-dimensionally. They build investment theses that identify technologies with robust commercial applications alongside defense potential—creating asymmetric advantage regardless of political shifts.
This is precisely how mission-oriented investors strengthen both national security and economic resilience. Everyone in this market plays the odds, but only the best recognizes the patterns before they materialize.
At New North Ventures, this intelligence-driven approach isn't merely a philosophy—it's the operational foundation of everything we do. We apply these principles to identify dual-use technologies that address critical national security challenges while creating significant commercial value. By maintaining unwavering focus on the signals that matter most and partnering with mission-driven founders, we position our portfolio companies at the convergence of necessity and opportunity.
The market will always chase what's visible to all. We prefer to invest in what's hiding in plain sight.
More links to explore:
Founded: 2014
Key People: CEO Oleg Vornik
Elevator Pitch: Droneshield Ltd develops and sells hardware and software for drone detection and security. The principal activity of the Company is the development, commercialization, and sales of hardware and software technology for drone detection and security.
Funding: JP Morgan Chase (NYS: JPM) acquired a 5.31% stake in the company (ASX:DRO) for an undisclosed amount on 5 May 5 2025 through a private placement.
In our most recent episode of the Securing Our Future Podcast, general partner Jeremy Hitchcock sits down with Paul Thompson, a 20-year Army Special Forces veteran now helping bridge critical technology gaps at Morgan 6 LLC. Together, they dive into how commercial and national security sectors collaborate to drive innovation.