Europe is waking as much as the want to spend money on protection, and so are Ecu VCs. However with a painful historical past of Soviet occupations, Lithuania didn’t look forward to the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to succeed in its 3rd anniversary to devote 5% to six% of its GDP to army spending — and fund protection startups.
Lithuania’s sovereign VC fund Coinvest Capital used to be a pioneer in that regard, and it nonetheless is an outlier in now not requiring civilian use instances. “We have been the primary within the area [to be] absolutely approved to do protection investments again in March 2023,” mentioned Viktorija Trimbel, its managing spouse since February 2023.
In contrast to many Lithuanians, Trimbel isn’t tall in any respect. However what she lacks in basketball doable, she makes up for in power and relentlessness, particularly with regards to advocating for innovation in protection tech to fortify Europe’s safety.
Unmanned Protection Techniques (UDS), a Vilnius-based corporate considering optimizing the “kill chain,” gained Coinvest’s greatest funding in that area, however it isn’t the one one. Consistent with Trimbel, the evergreen fund has invested some €6.8 million (roughly $7.37 million) into aerospace, protection, and dual-use startups since 2023.
In comparison to the billion-dollar rounds flooding into U.S. protection tech firms, the volume would possibly not sound very spectacular. That’s until you imagine it in line with capita, one thing folks incessantly urge you to do on this small Baltic nation of two.89 million population.
Co-creation is every other perception that Lithuania incessantly emphasizes, as does Coinvest. As its identify suggests, the early-stage fund is co-investing into startups with industry angels and different VCs. For early-stage offers, it followed a capped profit-sharing construction that Trimbel is especially enthusiastic about.
As a board member of the Lithuanian Trade Angel Community (LitBAN), which now has 324 participants, she’s in particular prepared to look extra sensible cash go with the flow into the marketplace. Whilst the collective price of Lithuania’s startup ecosystem higher 39 instances in 10 years, the rustic nonetheless lacks an go out as impactful as Skype’s used to be for Estonia.
Nonetheless, liquidity occasions corresponding to Vinted’s secondary sale had a drip-down impact, and Trimbel thinks Coinvest can multiply those euros speedy. When it exited Interactio after simply 18 months, its laws boosted angel traders’ returns from 9x to 34x. “I imagine that used to be probably the most components which facilitated an explosive expansion of the industry angel ecosystem,” Trimbel mentioned.
In protection tech, too, Trimbel champions the good fortune of others in securing capital. Coinvest’s sole restricted spouse, Lithuania’s nationwide construction financial institution, additionally equipped “main capital injections to different native VCs like BSV Ventures or ScaleWolf, together with [the] Lithuanian contribution to the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF),” she celebrated on LinkedIn.
In a similar way, Trimbel is happy to look governments throughout Europe embracing the rage of “making an investment in deterrence and protection to additional make stronger competitiveness and resilience of Ecu international locations.”
That’s a necessity Lithuania is sorely acutely aware of, incessantly deeply in my opinion. “When I used to be 18, I noticed with my very own eyes, Russian tanks killing folks. So for us, it’s now not a textbook tale,” Trimbel mentioned, regarding the 1991’s January Occasions wherein the Soviet army tried to suppress Lithuania’s independence motion.
The trauma of Soviet rule that’s deeply ingrained in Lithuania’s collective reminiscence stretches a long way past 1991. “It’s one thing that each and every circle of relatives has skilled a technique or every other: profession, deportations, killings. We don’t want to learn why we want to spend money on protection,” Trimbel mentioned.
Nonetheless, because the struggle in Ukraine, there’s a renewed sense of urgency and unity. The 2025 version of Radarom, a public fundraising marketing campaign for Ukraine, amassed greater than €5.6 million for drones and anti-drone techniques, together with from UDS. Trimbel recommended it, urging, “Strengthen Ukraine NOW … and every other day until victory.”
Like just about all Lithuanians, Trimbel remembers the place she used to be when Russia introduced its full-on invasion of its japanese neighbor on February 24, 2022. A couple of days previous, she used to be in a foreign country together with her two daughters, and so they mentioned whether or not they will have to go back as indicators of struggle amounted — till her youngest daughter identified that they needed to: They’d left the cat.
Cat or no cat, Trimbel would most probably have returned to Lithuania both means. She issues out that her first identify, Viktorija, or Victory, is a superb fit for her relentless character. Her circle of girlfriends may be as much as par: “As a substitute of going to the bar and discussing a brand new purse or a get dressed or lipstick, we cross to the taking pictures vary,” she mentioned with a grin.
After all, now not everybody reacts the similar means — it’s best human to revel in a flight or freeze reflex. Within the instant aftermath of the struggle, on the other hand, she aimed to get others out of this paralysis through encouraging them to take sensible steps. One in every of them used to be to enroll in volunteering tasks that experience received steam throughout Lithuania.
Essentially the most emblematic group in that box is the government-backed nonprofit Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union (LRU). Whilst it’s devoted to the protection and strengthening of Lithuania, its actions lengthen past army coaching: Along side Coinvest and others, it co-organized the Hearth Defend hackathon, which can go back in 2025 for a 3rd version.
That’s the context wherein Trimbel is pictured above, along with the Union’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Linas Idzelis (in uniform) and retired Lt. Col. Valerijus Šerelis, former squadron commander of the particular operations forces that the not-that-random nation despatched to make stronger NATO allies in Afghanistan after 9/11.
LRU additionally contributed to civilian reaction all the way through the COVID-19 pandemic, as did Trimbel, who invested efforts right into a helmet-based air flow coverage venture. “COVID used to be a just right practice session to mobilize society all the way through instances of danger,” she mentioned. For her, that danger has now modified, however it is extremely a lot actual.
However even now, Trimbel cares about spaces rather than protection tech, and so does Coinvest. She spoke enthusiastically of portfolio startup Walk15 and its upcoming “Labrador stroll,” an outside hike with canine to inspire folks to take extra steps to be extra lively — actually.
Alternatively, as she wrote in a contemporary LinkedIn put up, “no different funding returns will subject if Ukraine won’t obtain enough make stronger from allies and Europe shall be invaded additional.” As her identify and character counsel, she gained’t relent in her efforts to stop this result.
protection tech,Lithuania,coinvest capital
Supply hyperlink
