Sigli continues its educational mission with a new episode of Innovantage podcast. This time Max Golikov, the company’s CBDO and the host of the podcast, invited Brent Christiaens to join the discussion about the dual-use technology and investments in it.
As a Managing Partner and co-Founder of Seven Capital, a dual-use technology VC fund, Brent knows a lot about this market, its peculiarities, and the specific challenges that it faces today. This episode of Innovantage is full of unique insights and valuable practical recommendations for startup founders. For those who prefer reading a short summary, we have gathered the most valuable ideas in this article.
What is the dual-use technology?
The term “dual-use technology” refers to products or solutions that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Today, there are different examples of this type of technology. But drones are probably the most well-known one. While many of them may have been built for mapping or agriculture, currently, they can be used for surveillance or combat missions.
Brent mentioned heat mapping software that in combination with drones can go over the battlefield and detect the positioning of soldiers in bunkers. But then, the same solutions are used in Belgium to define heat dissipation in houses and identify problem points. Moreover, the police can apply such technology in many cases. For instance, it can be helpful to detain people suspected of weed cultivation.
One of the key peculiarities of dual-use technology solutions is that they should be developed really fast when there is such a need. And very often research and some already existing products from the public side are transferred to the military side with some changes.
However, there are also examples of the technology moving in another direction and coming back to the public side again. The technology, which is initially quite expensive, can be mainly developed for dual-use technology purposes. Over time, it becomes cheaper and enters the civil world. Something similar happened to cars during and after the Second World War.
And now it is expected that exoskeletons will make the same journey. Today these external frameworks that can support human movement and enhance endurance are produced on a small scale for the defense market. But it is expected that in some years, they will become cheaper and will be available to anyone who needs them.
Can AI be applied in the dual-use technology projects?
When asked about artificial intelligence in the dual-use domain, Brent mentioned that it is often chosen to power various tech products for the military market today.
But for investors and the industry itself, it’s more important to understand the real implementation of AI. For example, AI can power software for mapping that can be used for military purposes.
One of the companies that Brent’s fund works with offers an AI-powered solution that can help city authorities find some areas or things in the streets that can be cleaned or repaired. Drones or cars equipped with cameras can capture images and AI can process them in real time. Any detected issues can be immediately sent to the relevant authorities that can take measures.
This technology can do practically the same thing in the war zones. It can identify drones or mines and provide instructions for mining teams. In such an application, we can say that AI is saving lives.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult to imagine that such a product as an AI chatbot for the military will be ever launched. Even if we do not take the ethical perspective into account, it’s vital to understand that it will be impossible to get comprehensive data for any apps of this kind. Various chatbots today often rely on the technologies delivered by such giants as OpenAI, Google, or Microsoft. And these companies prefer to distance themselves from military conflicts.
Ethical side of the dual-use technology projects
In a conversation with Max, Brent said that quite often dual-use technology projects are founded by people who are not entrepreneurs. They are just individuals who see that their country needs some help with the protection of its borders and of its future. And they start thinking about the ways to address the ongoing need. That’s what such VC funds as Seven Capital can observe today. People try to support Ukraine in its fight for its existence and want to get funding for their projects.
Brent explained that at Seven Capital, before choosing startups to support, they always do their best to find out who the founders are and what their real goals are. For the fund, it’s crucial to understand the motivation of the founders.
For instance, when people are working with Ukraine because they sincerely want to help, that’s one story.
But if founders are just looking for another war zone in the world just in order to make it their market, that’s already a red line that Seven Capital is not going to cross because of ethical considerations. When the war becomes business, that’s not the case for Brent’s fund.
VC funds are more than just about financing
Of course, the main benefit of VC funds for startups is the possibility to attract investments for their projects. Nevertheless, such funds are also about the possibility of becoming part of a growing community and establishing valuable contacts.
Brent explained that in general, dual-use technology funds have a lot more security protocols than other funds. They always have to be very careful with any data that they get, even if isn’t under an NDA. And founders can’t get access to information about other startups.
That’s why it is hard for the founders of one project to go to another project in the fund in this industry with a proposal to work together. They always need to deal with a high level of secrecy.
But representatives of such funds can build the required connections between projects. They can go to a startup with an offer to cooperate with their another portfolio company when they see that both sides are interested in one thing. Moreover, they are invested by one fund, they already will have some common ground that will put them together.
The task for funds is to create their own communities, contribute to them, and support their development.Building such business ties between different startups can be highly beneficial not only for the projects separately but for the fund’s community as a whole.
Practical recommendations for startups
It’s natural that to attract investors startups should stand out from the row. To achieve this goal, founders have a lot to do. They should demonstrate their energy and authenticity. Quite often these qualities are even more important that experience. Founders should be able to explain what they want to get with their projects and be brave in what they say and what they do.
However, all this is not enough if you do not know how the investment industry works. Brent shared some practical tips that could be highly helpful for people who are thinking about raising funds for the realization of their projects.
Ask for introduction
It’s not always the best idea to go to the fund on your own. It will make more sense to find somebody from the industry who can introduce you.
You can find another fund or another entrepreneur who knows you and can help you with establishing relations with a fund where you are looking for investments.
Very often people think that it is such an inconvenience to ask others to make an intro for them. But it’s highly important. It is beneficial not only for startups that want to make a good first impression. That’s a win-win game for all the parties. Brent explained that he likes it when other funds bring them high-quality companies. Such things are crucial for building good relationships between funds.
Given this, people will be happy to introduce you and your project. It can become an excellent contribution to their own business and reputation.
Respect people’s time
Brent recommended founders be well-prepared for communication with funds. It’s good to think about all the questions that investors may ask and have answers to them in advance.
Moreover, it will be sensible to provide different options for building a dialogue when it’s time to get to know each other better.
Someone may want you to go through your pitch deck, show a lot of data related to the research, or just tell a story behind your project.
It’s always necessary to show that you value people’s time and to use the provided opportunities as efficiently as possible.
Update a fund on your progress
One of the main problems is that founders often give up just after their first application is declined. That’s definitely not the right way.
Even if the fund has told you that your project is not suitable for getting investments at the moment, it doesn’t mean that you can’t expect to receive financial support in the future.
When you already have an established contact, you need to keep it warm.
That’s why you can regularly (for example, once a month), share your updates that can show your growth. Even if this fund doesn’t choose you, your project will be already known and you will have people who can make an intro for you in the future.
Overall, the dual-use investment ecosystem is rather small. Brent said that there are only around 50-60 funds with big liquidity in total. And all of them know each other. Their representatives closely communicate, which makes the ecosystem quite tight-knit.
It means that when you work in this sphere, you always know what is happening around you and what the ongoing trends are. When a fund has information about a good startup, this startup can become visible to everyone in this space.
AI: Promising technology or hype?
The conversation in this Innovantage podcast episode also touched on the role of AI in the tech world. Brent and Max agreed that today the value of AI shouldn’t be underestimated.
However, there is one problem with its market positioning. It may seem that many projects believe that the word “AI” in their names is the key to success. Nevertheless, in reality, the situation is absolutely different. Today, it looks like people are, if not bored, but at least indifferent to AI. It’s more valuable to see what a product can offer you and then surprisingly discover that it’s powered by AI than just to know from the very beginning that it is AI-powered.
According to Brent, AI is very cool but it doesn’t have to be in your product’sname. AI doesn’t need to be explicitly mentioned for people to recognize you are an AI company
He also shared some real-life examples. For instance, he mentioned a company that works in the retirement space. People can use its solution to ask questions like “How many years do I have before retirement?” or “Where and how should I invest to get a passive income when I retire?”, etc.
The company’s chatbot quickly provides them with detailed answers. But the issue is that people actually haven’t been informed that their questions are processed and answered by AI. Everything looks like the company has an excellent team of specialists who really know a lot about the retirement system.
Probably if the company had revealed that it was AI, people would have asked harder questions and then would have compared the received answers with all the other available AI models.
Is Belgium a good country for startups?
Brent said that he moved to Belgium from the UK. That’s why he can assess this country from the perspective of a foreigner. Belgium is at the center of everything. It’s European head and is often perceived as the capital of Europe. In Belgium, you can be in the middle of everything, you can get everywhere really quickly, and a lot of big things happen in Brussels. The offices of Seven Capital are located right in front of the European Commission and Brent’s fund does a lot of events with this institution.
Belgium is a very good place to be specifically if you are looking for grants or subsidies or if you want to get in touch with the right people.
But it’s very rarely the end market of companies. It means that it is always populated with very internationally thinking companies.
However, as for startups working with dual-use technology, there can be a serious challenge. The community is still quite small and there are practically no examples of how such projects work.
Though Seven Capital is a Belgium-based fund, a gigantic part of its deal flow comes from Central Europe. However, the fund is open to investing in local companies as well.
Conclusion: What will the next decade bring us?
When Max asked Brent to share his predictions for the dual-use industry for the next 10 years, Brent preferred to stay rather cautious. The only thing that he is confident about is that technology will get better. Nevertheless, he decided not to be very optimistic. That’s why he didn’t say that the lives would be better because of that. People are struggling right now. In this context, it could be absolutely wrong to claim that, for example, in five years everything is going to improve because the technology will have solved everything by that time.
However, we can hope that the lives of people who are protecting their homes at the moment will finally come back to normality. And that it will happen as soon as possible.
That was the 7th episode of the Innovantage podcast and we hope that you have found interesting ideas in it. If you want to learn more about technologies and their impact on different aspects of our lives, do not miss the next episode hosted by Max Golikov.
Read more:
AI in Education: How LLMs and Oxford AI Research Are Transforming Education in 2025
Neural Networks & Expert Systems: the AI Revolution in the Era of Digital Transformation
Deep-Tech Startups and AI Innovation: Insights from Leesa Soulodre on the Innovantage Podcast
AI ecosystem in Lithuania: How the country is leading innovation
Building an AI-Powered Government: Estonia’s Approach to Data and AI Innovation
