Europe has just gained its first unapologetically defense-first venture fund. Archangel Ventures, led by Nicholas Nelson and Daniel Carew, is not here to hedge, not here to play dual-use semantics, but to put defense front and center.
Nic brings the lived experience of government, strategy, and deployments, with the policy networks to match. Daniel comes from a deep tech/DARPA-inspired investing background, obsessed with the frontier of what technology can achieve. Together, they’re building a fund that rejects the hype cycle and instead anchors itself in Europe’s sovereignty, resilience, and the urgent reality of our geopolitical moment.
Why Estonia? Why now? Because the frontier matters. From Tallinn to Vilnius to Warsaw, the tyranny of geography makes defense personal. Partnering with Superangel, Archangel is embedding itself in the heart of the Baltics—a region that already knows what it means to digitize, mobilize, and defend.
Archangel Ventures is a platform, a coalition of the willing, a bet that Europe can and must build its own defense ecosystem. As they put it, defense is not a bubble, not a passing Ukraine-driven hype cycle. It’s the crucible where the next generation of European technology—and deterrence—will be forged.
We’re proud to have launched this journey with them on the pod. Tune in:
01:00 Origins of Archangel — Nic on why he wouldn’t start with just any partner.
04:00 Why they teamed up — Daniel recalls NATO roots and complementary skillsets.
08:30 Why defense-first matters — Nic explains why dual-use doesn’t work at seed.
11:00 The timing challenge — Daniel on NATO’s long horizon investing.
14:00 Portfolio construction — Nic’s three buckets: unmet needs, future needs, unknown unknowns.
20:00 Filling the ecosystem gap — Daniel on bridging startups and primes in Europe.
27:00 Why Estonia — Nic on geography and teaming with Superangel.
33:00 Personal ties — Daniel on his Estonian family and NATO links.
41:00 On working with primes — Nic pushes back on the “dinosaurs” narrative.
53:00 Risks ahead — Nic on what happens if the war in Ukraine ends tomorrow.
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