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Why Eric Slesinger, a former CIA officer, is now funding European defense tech

From TechCrunch

By Maggie Stamets

May 6, 2025

Why Eric Slesinger, a former CIA officer, is now funding European defense tech

Why Eric Slesinger, a former CIA officer, is now funding European defense tech

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Strictly VC’s Alex Gove speaks with Eric Slesinger from 201 Ventures, a firm focused on seed-stage defense tech startups in Europe. They discuss Slesinger’s journey from CIA to investor and how he recognized the untapped potential in European defense tech while others were dismissive. They also chat about how he’s working to overcome the cultural taboo that once made defense investments “bad manners” in European VC circles.

StrictlyVC Download posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop.

View original article on techcrunch.com

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