20VC: The Future of War: Are We Ready & What Needs to Be Done | China, Russia and Trump: What Happens Now | Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | Torsten Reil, Co-Founder @ Helsing
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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
1h 12m
2 speakers
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When we started Helsing in March 2021, we actually put one of our slides that we thought there were going to be two galvanizing events. One of them was going to be an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the other one an invasion of Taiwan by China. There is a big wave coming towards us. It is autonomy and software in defense, and it's unstoppable. The thing that we have to avoid is the Tesla moment for the defense sector. If we collectively, including the primes, don't understand that and don't adapt, the same thing is going to happen to defense as happened to the car industry. Where are we in three years with Russia-Ukraine? What happens in China and Taiwan? Again, I think it's plausible that there will be...
I mean, my word, those intros have gotten good. This is Harry Stebbings, and I am so excited to welcome one of the great entrepreneurs of Europe to Hotseat today, Torsten Reil. Torsten is the co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, a new type of defense company providing artificial intelligence to protect our democracies. Torsten has raised over $825 million, from the likes of Prima Materia, Eli Gill, Excel, and General Catalyst, to name a few. I also had wanted to make this show happen for a long time. Torsten does not do podcasts, and so this one meant a huge amount to me. But before we dive in, what do Henry Ford and AI have in common? Neither could change the world without automation. In the future, there will be two types of businesses, those that have automated and those that wish they had. UiPath, the undisputed leader in automation, is taking us into the era of agentic automation. UiPath's new AI agents don't just follow rules, they think, they make decisions, they work alongside the world's most powerful software robots already trusted by over 10,000 businesses.
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Atio also lets you build Zapier-style automations, gives you powerful reports, and works perfectly for any go-to-market motion from PLG to sales-led. And Atio is designed for the next era of companies like yours. And companies like yours shouldn't have to deal with inflexible, one-size-fits-all CRMs. So join industry leaders like Eleven Labs, Replicate, Modal, and more to scale your startup beyond the next level. Head over to atio.com forward slash 20VC and you'll get 15% off. That's 15% off your first year at atio.com forward slash 20VC. And if Atio helps you stay ahead by streamlining your relationships and operations, today I want to talk about a venture fund making waves with its unusual model. I'm talking about the Fundrise Innovation Fund, which is democratizing venture capital as a public venture fund. For example, most of the AI revolution is being built and funded in the private markets.
Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, these are incredible multi-billion dollar companies, but they're inaccessible to 99% of investors until they go public. Well, those days are finally over. Visit fundrise.com forward slash 20VC to check out the Fundrise Innovation Fund's impressive $150 million portfolio for yourself. Carefully consider the investment material before investing, including objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. This and other information can be found in the Innovation Fund's prospectus at fundrise.com forward slash innovation. This is a paid sponsorship. You have now arrived at your destination. Torsten, I've wanted to do this for a long time. Thank you so much for joining me today.
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