FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ScaleWolf, together with finance expert Marius Dubnikovas, is launching a new podcast series, “Investments and Defense”, dedicated to venture capital, defense technologies and the changing role of private investment in strengthening Europe’s security.

Across the series, Marius Dubnikovas and ScaleWolf Managing Partner Edvinas Kerza will discuss how venture capital funds operate, how investors should assess risk and potential returns, and why defense and dual-use technologies are increasingly becoming a distinct investment category.

The series will also examine the practical side of defense investing: how technology companies are selected, how their potential is assessed, why access to military end users matters, and what is required to turn an early-stage technological solution into an internationally scalable business.

The first episode, “Are Investment and Defense Compatible?”, starts with the fundamentals. Marius Dubnikovas and Edvinas Kerza discuss what venture capital actually is, why the word “risk” often creates unnecessary fear, and how investing through a professionally managed fund differs from betting on the success of an individual company.

“A venture capital fund is not a casino. Risk is managed through company selection, diversification and active work with the portfolio.”

Unlike investments in publicly listed companies, venture capital investments are usually made for a longer period and cannot be sold quickly. Investors provide capital to companies that are still developing products, entering markets or building the capacity required for international growth.

Not every company will succeed. The fund model is therefore based on building a diversified portfolio in which the growth of the strongest companies can compensate for investments that perform less successfully.

“The investor is not choosing one startup and hoping it succeeds. The investor is gaining exposure to a professionally selected and managed portfolio.”

The discussion between Dubnikovas and Kerza also raises a broader question: whether investment and defense should be viewed as separate topics at all.

Private capital can help promising technologies move from laboratories and early prototypes towards production, international sales and real-world use. Without sufficient growth capital, even strong technologies may fail to reach the scale required by defense customers.

In this context, investing in defense and dual-use companies is not only about responding to rising defense expenditure. It is also about building technological and industrial capabilities that Europe currently lacks.

“Europe does not have a shortage of technological ideas. The challenge is turning those ideas into companies capable of producing and delivering at scale.”
For investors, this means access to a market driven by long-term security needs, technological innovation and increasing demand for sovereign European capabilities. However, it also means accepting longer timelines, sector-specific risks and the fact that returns cannot be guaranteed.

The purpose of the “Investments and Defense” series is to explain these topics in a practical and accessible way.

Future episodes will look more closely at how venture capital funds make money, how companies are valued, how investment portfolios are built, why some startups fail, and what separates a promising defense technology from an investable company.

The series will also explore the defense market itself, including how startups work with military customers, why testing and operational validation are essential, and how Lithuanian and European companies can scale into international defense markets.

The first episode of “Investments and Defense”, featuring Marius Dubnikovas and Edvinas Kerza, is now available on YouTube.