Well, the UK is (kind of) putting its money where its mouth is? At the very least, they’ve got an all-star on their naming committee.
On Friday, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that they’d officially carried out their first-ever “Dragon’s Den” style competition, where ten defense and dual-use startups (per the MoD) pitched their tech to “more than 100 potential investors in the audience.”
The audience at the MoD event—modeled on the British version of Shark Tank, for our lovely American readers, and—included “venture capitalists, institutional investors, and defence stakeholders looking to back breakthrough technologies.”
The pitching competition is part of a broader push by the MoD to provide mini-contracts (called “lite” by the MoD) for defense and dual-use companies out of a £20M pot that can, basically, be validation for companies looking to raise money from investors.
Glad to see we’re putting emphasis on the whole “the government thinks it works” thing, but (and call us cynical) we can’t imagine that £20M will go very far without a whole heck of a lot of private investment.
To note: The MoD did not name the ten companies that participated in the competition.
In with the new: Let’s start with the positive. The UK MoD has, in recent years, realized that it’s, like, woefully behind in terms of new, hot, sexy defense tech—and they’re trying to do something about it.
Government-wide policies like the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and new initiatives like UK Defence Innovation have made a push for the adoption of new tech—but critics argue things are still moving too slowly.
- Per the SDR, the UK military aims to employ a 20‑40‑40 force mix, with 20 percent heavy equipment, 40 percent single-use drones and munitions, and 40 percent reusable drones.
- Last spring, the Labour government also said it would ring-fence £400M ($542.4M) for a UKDI fund that will be able to find, buy, and integrate innovative tech.
- The UK also says it’s “slashing red tape” for robotics and defense under reforms by the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO).
- Initiatives like the British Army’s Project ASGARD have set out to incorporate new tech into a £1B ($1.36B) “digital targeting web” to “connect sensors, shooters, and decision-makers.”
- The UK launched a Defence Office for Small Business Growth, which aims to help out smaller defense companies, in January.
The British Army has also carried out exercises—like the infamous Haraka Storm in Kenya—to try out drones of all flavors from companies you’ll know very well if you read Tectonic—Helsing, STARK, Arx, and the like. (We’ll spare you rehashing the drama.)
Out with the old: But here’s the issue—contracts remain tiny, and the emphasis (even in the Strategic Defence Review) remains on big ol’ exquisite systems. (Frigates FTW.)
Plus, there’s the bald eagle-shaped elephant in the room (let us have the metaphor).
Well-established American defense tech companies from Anduril, to Applied Intuition, to Saronic have set up shop across the pond and are angling to scoop up portions of that innovation funding. (FWIW: Anduril already scored a £30M contract with the MoD to send drones to Ukraine).
And—can’t forget about Helsing, which has majorly set up shop in London, opened a factory in Plymouth, and worked on Project ASGAARD and Project ACHERON (autonomous systems).
We haven’t even mentioned the primes. Pretty crowded space for a new startup trying to get its hands on a contract.
Building bridges: All this aside, the UK seems pretty pumped about Dragon’s Den. “We are matching our world-leading innovators with the private financers who, alongside government, will help to take the next generation of warfighting technology from the drawing board to the frontline to boost our national security,” Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement.
We’ll reserve judgment until we hear about the rounds that actually came out of the event. Any tips?