Renowned investor Klaus Hommels, founder of venture capital firm Lakestar, delivers a sobering analysis of Europe’s vulnerabilities and the urgent need for resilience in the face of global tensions.
Drawing on a recent trip to Ukraine, he highlights the stark reality of European sovereignty at risk, emphasizing that the war in Ukraine is not just a regional conflict but a proxy war in the ongoing power struggle between the U.S. and China. “We are without our own power, without our own strategy”, he warns, pointing to Europe’s lack of political will and structural preparedness to address these challenges.
Hommels advocates for increased defense spending, particularly in technology, arguing that this strategy offers faster results than traditional military assets. “A small drone is more efficient than a fighter jet”, he notes. “This asymmetry is crazy.”
The Lakestar founder also shares alarming statistics: All European NATO members spend less on defense than Russia alone; European armies have only 4-5 days worth of ammunition; and the continent has seen a dramatic reduction in military assets since 1992.
The solution, Hommels says, lies in strategic investment and strong venture capital. Seeing technologies as both societal necessity and economic opportunity, he is willing to invest “a nine-digit sum of my own money into these kind of businesses”, Hommels says.
