Iron Wolf Capital

We're happy to kick off the week with some fresh investment news: we've just announced our investment in Vegvisir, the Estonian defence tech company building the command and control software layer for the multi-domain battlefield — the connective tissue between manned and unmanned systems across ground, air, maritime, and subsea domains. The investment will accelerate Vegvisir's product development, deepen integrations with allied unmanned platform providers, and expand its pipeline with commercial and government customers across NATO member states. The company's long-term ambition is to become to allied warfare what air traffic control became to global aviation – the single command interface through which all actors, assets, and decisions flow, regardless of origin or nationality. Proprietary, fragmented command architectures are the single largest obstacle to effective multi-domain operations. Vegvisir intends to make them obsolete. For Iron Wolf Capital, the investment in Vegvisir represents the continuation of a deliberate and accelerating conviction in the Baltic Sea region's defence technology. Our recent investments in UFORCE, Ukraine's first defence technology unicorn, and Onodrim Industries, among others, reflect the same thesis: that European founders operating in proximity to the sharpest end of the security threat environment are best placed to build the platforms that will define the next generation of warfare. We're proud to join an existing investor base including Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics, one of Europe's foremost developers of unmanned ground systems and a key participant in NATO's robotics and autonomous systems programmes. "We invest where technology meets an irreversible shift in how the world operates. The transition to multi-domain unmanned operations is exactly that kind of shift, and it demands a software-native, platform-agnostic solution that no existing player has adequately built. Vegvisir has the architecture, the team, and the ambition to own that space. We believe that over the next decade, Vegvisir can become one of the defining names in European defence technology, and this investment is our commitment to helping them get there," said Kasparas Jurgelionis, Managing Partner at Iron Wolf Capital. Read more at the link in the comments.

Today we’re glad to announce our latest investment into PDKINEMATICS, a Lithuanian defence engineering company. We co-led the €2 million seed round with Coinvest Capital to enable the team to scale manufacturing and expand deployments of its precision guidance systems for UAVs across Europe and Ukraine. Our Founding Partner Zygimantas Susnys championed the investment, commenting: “Precision-guided systems are the future of modern warfare. The PDKINEMATICS team combines entrepreneurial drive with deep engineering talent and moves at the speed this moment demands. They have earned credibility in Ukraine, and we believe it positions them to become a defining defence technology company for NATO allies.” Read more about the company’s plans at the link in the comments below.

For deep tech startups, investors and friends headed to Hello Tomorrow in Amsterdam, we hope to see you join us for an official side event on Thursday, June 11 on Deep Tech for a Sovereign Europe: Baltics & Ukraine. The event will bring together founders, investors, corporates, and ecosystem leaders from across one of Europe's fastest-growing deep tech regions 🇪🇪 🇱🇻 🇱🇹 🇺🇦. Our Managing Partner, Kasparas Jurgelionis will join a panel on the deep tech ecosystem outlook on Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, sharing key takeaways from the latest Baltic Deep Tech Report 2025, as well as his personal insights from years of working at the heart of these exciting ecosystem developments – in a region that combines world-class engineering talent, startup agility, digital-first societies, and real-world experience in resilience, security, and technological transformation. Join the event to hear lightning pitches from startups spanning AI, health tech, advanced materials, and defence, and network with investors, corporates, and startups attending the summit. Link to register is in the comments! Thank you to friends at Startup Estonia, Invest in Latvia, Startup Lithuania, and the Ukrainian Startup Fund for organising! See you soon!

We look forward to seeing deep tech, dual-use and defence tech startups join us for the Vilnius Founders: Building and Scaling Deep Tech in Defense on Thursday! Link to register in the comments 👇

Calling all defence, security, and resilience startup founders in Vilnius – join us for a Vilnius Founders: Building and Scaling Deep Tech in Defence event on June 4! At this meetup, proudly supported by our team at Iron Wolf Capital, operators and investors working at the frontier of defence and deep tech will come together to exchange valuable insights and network. You’ll hear directly from leading defence tech startup founders and investors on what it actually takes to start, fund, and scale in this vertical: how to validate and win early defence customers, build and scale complex technical teams, and what investors actually look for in this space. Investor insights will be shared by one of our Founding Partners, Viktoras Jucikas. We hope to see you there! Register at the link in the comments.

Last week, we had the pleasure of co-hosting a Deep Tech Breakfast at Latitude59 together with friends from Kiilto Ventures (thank you, Matti and Iris!) – an event that properly energized us ahead of the conference. The breakfast kicked off with a discussion on a key question for Europe right now: how do we build a more resilient, competitive and circular economy? The discussion highlighted why circularity is no longer just a sustainability topic, but is becoming a strategic advantage for Europe. From turning industrial side streams into valuable materials to rethinking resource efficiency at scale, deep tech is strengthening both European industry and resilience. Thank you to the inspiring and insightful speakers: Andres Sutt, Estonian Minister for Energy and Environment, Kerli Liivand, CTO of Jälle Technologies, and Eero Knuutila, CEO of LignoSphere! Additionally, our Partner Kadi-Ingrid Lilles presented the key takeaways and Estonia-specific data from the latest Baltic Deep Tech Report, linked in the comments. The audience was buzzing with excitement, hearing that deep tech now dominates Baltic startup funding, representing nearly half of all funding despite being just 13.5% of startups, with enterprise value growth outpacing even the US. Thank you to all of the inspiring founders and investors who joined us, building and backing novel solutions to hard problems - we hope to see all of you again soon.

Today, we've published the Baltic Deep Tech Report 2025, in partnership with Startup Estonia, Startup Lithuania, and WALLESS. The fresh data shows an ecosystem that has nearly tripled its share of startup funding in four years and outpaced the United States, the EU, and the Nordics in enterprise value growth. The key takeaways include: - Deep tech now dominates Baltic startup funding, representing nearly half of all funding (49.5%) despite being just 13.5% of startups, with enterprise value growing 2.8x in five years and outpacing even the US in relative deep tech EV growth. – A self-sustaining regional capital model is forming with 84% of deep tech funding now coming from domestic and European investors, with domestic investment up 238% in three years. – The ecosystem is entering its execution phase, demonstrated by a strong Series A surge, and nearly half of deep tech capital is concentrated at Series C, signalling that the Baltics are entering the phase where genuine category leaders get built. – Specialization clusters and a defence flywheel are co-emerging: energy and enterprise software each exceed €2B in EV, while the defence, security, and resilience vertical is quietly building a modern defence tech stack through commercial deep tech, echoing the trajectories of Israel and Ukraine. Read more and download the report at link in the comments.

Next week, Tallinn is getting our heightened attention as one of the Estonian startup ecosystem's key events, Latitude59, takes place from May 20-22. As it's becoming a tradition, we're hosting a Deep Tech Breakfast on Thursday, May 21, this time together with good friends from Kiilto Ventures. Join us, fellow founders, and investors, for a morning of deep tech insights and founder stories, networking, good coffee, and a light breakfast to kick off Latitude59! The morning includes a panel discussion on "Circularity as an act of European Resilience" with Eero Knuutila from LignoSphere, Kerli Liivand from Jälle Technologies, and Estonian Minister of Energy & Environment, Andres Sutt, as well as insights from the latest Baltic Deep Tech Report. As we're nearing capacity, save your spot on the link in the comments 👇. See you soon!

What a week!!!

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