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November 24, 2025

Founders will miss out on ‘10x’ their valuation if they don’t lean into the defence hype, says Iceye cofounder

Finnish spacetech Iceye has been leaning into defence; cofounder Pekka Laurila thinks other startups might need to as well


Anne Sraders

3 min read

Iceye cofounder Pekka Laurila on stage at Slush, 2025. Courtesy of Slush

The defence tech hype is increasingly prompting deeptech startups working on everything from climate solutions to space to target government and military customers. According to some buzzy startups, like Finnish spacetech Iceye, that reframing might be critical for the startup’s valuation. 

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Anne Sraders

Anne Sraders is a senior reporter at Sifted, based in Berlin. She covers the VC industry and deeptech startups. She also writes Sifted's weekly VC newsletter Up Round. Follow her on X and LinkedIn

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