EUROPE · DEFENCE · DUAL-USE
No government money, no VC money
We studied 328 defence funding deals worth $14B. Every company that raised big VC money took government money first. We show you every grant and tender that opens gate one and speeds up everything after it.
The Four Gates of Defence Funding
Four gates to pass: a grant, government capital, a prime partnership, a VC round.
Each one unlocks the next. Each one needs its own strategy and its own data.
Innovation award
A government body has formally recognised your capability as relevant to a published gap.
Proof to passchallenge win + named operator sponsorGate 2Sovereign investment
The buyer's own capital arm has diligenced you. Quasi-procurement validation that private capital reads as de-risking.
Proof to passproduction orders + first paid pilotGate 3Prime partnership
A program owner has selected you as a subcontracting path into existing procurement programs.
Proof to passdesign-in on a named program calendarGate 4Tier-1 VC round
Consensus. Tier-1 entry is the mechanism by which a company becomes the category winner in a winner-take-most market.
Proof to passprocurement anchor an investor can underwriteCase study
Kraken passed all four in 31 months, DASA contract to $1B Series B. Stark compressed them into 22. In the recorded data, no European path to a tier-1 round bypasses the sovereign layer.
The problem
Grants and tenders close on fixed dates.
Miss one, and the next window is 6 to 12 months out.
You can not control the schedules
EU and national funding calls close on fixed dates. Governments vote budgets once a year. Big defence contractors lock in their suppliers on set calendars. Miss a deadline and the next chance is six to twelve months away. You can not speed it up, you can only catch it or miss it.
Investors want proof, not promises
Defence investors fund results in a strict order: government-backed funds invest after you have won contracts, and big VCs invest after the government funds do. Pitch the next investor before you have the proof they need, and you'll spend six months collecting rejections to learn that rule.
Your wins need to come in the right order
In our data, startups that won a single grant reached a serious VC round about half the time. Startups that won several, in the right order, made it 75% of the time. The difference isn't winning more, it is making each win set up the next one.
The subscription
One subscription, every gate covered
Each gate ships a free dated snapshot; the subscription keeps them all alive. No tiers, no add-ons.
FieldFaster
EUR 49/mo
Annual: EUR 490, 2 months off, digital book included. Cancel anytime.
Funding-call monitoring
EDF, EUDIS, DIANA, DASA and national MoD windows across 15+ countries, on one deadline horizon flagged for your eligibility.
Tender monitoring
BAAINBw, DGA, FMV, NSPA and TED CPV 35, continuously, with bid or no-bid reads and the pre-tender signals upstream of publication.
The live investor graph
656 investors and 328 tracked deals: sovereigns, syndicates and tier-1 entries, and what proof preceded each fund's entry.
Prime windows and eligibility tracking
Supplier and open-innovation windows at the European primes, with qualification, regulatory and offset developments in one place.
Your four-lane calendar: planning documents, budget votes, tender windows and prime design-freezes, with your raise positioned 90 days after your next proof-point.
Replaces: a junior bid manager on portal watch, weeks of founder investor research at deadline pressure, and a BD hire working primes cold.
How it works
From diagnostic to first horizon in a day
Take the diagnostic
2 minutesWhich gate, which country, which proof. Five questions.
Brief your instruments
10 minutesWhat you build, where you sell, what you can certify.
First horizon in 24 hours
24 hoursYour deadlines, your matches, your next proof-point. Cancel anytime.
What you get
The field, covered
- ✓Every EDF and EUDIS deadline on your calendar before it matters
- ✓Tenders matched to what you can actually win
- ✓Warm paths into primes instead of cold outreach
- ✓An investor list that already fits your thesis
- ✓Certification milestones before a prime asks
- ✓Your next raise positioned 90 days after your next proof-point
Questions
Before you ask
What is a gate instrument?
A continuously updated dataset with one job: watching a defined slice of the European defence field for your venture and reporting when something needs you. One instrument per gate, each the living version of a free snapshot.
Is the methodology really free?
Yes. The Four Gates of Defence Funding framework, 18 steps, the case studies and the cohort data are free on the gates pages. The instruments that execute it are the product.
Why not just hire someone?
A junior bid manager costs EUR 70,000 to 90,000 per year and watches one country at a time. The full instrument stack costs EUR 49 per month and never sleeps.
Do I need all of it?
You get everything either way: one subscription covers all four gates plus the funding timetable. The diagnostic tells you which gate you are at, so you know where to start.
What does EUR 49 get me?
Everything: funding-call and tender monitoring, the live investor graph, prime windows with eligibility tracking, and the funding timetable, in one workspace. No setup fee, cancel anytime. Annual takes 2 months off and includes the digital book.
Is my data safe?
Your briefing stays in your workspace, is never shared across customers and is never used to train public models.
Who is behind FieldFaster?
FieldFaster is a Swiss Aerospace Ventures company, built on the defence funding data you can explore in the investor graph above. The same dataset the methodology's evidence chapter is built on.
Start now
Your next proof-point has a date. Find it.
Everything for EUR 49 per month. Cancel anytime.
Start here
Take the 2-minute diagnostic
Five questions: your gate, your prescription, your next proof-point.
Take the 2-minute diagnosticRead first
Read the methodology, free
The Four Gates of Defence Funding: the framework, the evidence, the discipline rule.
Read the methodology, freeNot ready
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