# Stanislaw Kastory and Mikolaj Firlej, Co-founders and General Partners at Expeditions: Backing Europe's defence startups with €197m fund

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scaling-europe-7780754/stanislaw-kastory-and-mikolaj-firlej-co-founders-and-general-partners-at-expeditions-backing-europe-s-defence-startups-with-197m-fund
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scaling-europe-7780754/stanislaw-kastory-and-mikolaj-firlej-co-founders-and-general-partners-at-expeditions-backing-europe-s-defence-startups-with-197m-fund.md
Podcast: [Scaling Europe](https://stenobird.com/podcast/scaling-europe-7780754)
Published: 2026-07-22T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scaling-europe/episodes/Stanislaw-Kastory-and-Mikolaj-Firlej--Co-founders-and-General-Partners-at-Expeditions-Backing-Europes-defence-startups-with-197m-fund-e3mc0ov
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/108a8a74c/podcast/play/123125983/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-6-21%2F428352419-44100-2-aaf403b5188ea.mp3
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Duration seconds: 1310

## Resource

Expeditions is one of Europe's only venture funds dedicated to defence and security startups. The firm recently closed its second fund at €197m. Stanislaw Kastory and Mikolaj Firlej are Co-founders and General Partners at Expeditions. The firm backs early-stage teams across defence, cybersecurity, quantum and space technology. The new fund plans to make around 40 early-stage investments, with half its capital reserved for follow-on rounds. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: ⁠https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk⁠ Sponsors: Chargebee: ⁠https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026⁠ SurrealDB: ⁠https://surrealdb.com/⁠ Airwallex: ⁠https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope⁠ Lovable: ⁠https://lovable.dev/⁠ Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:08 - Expeditions closes its €197m second fund 1:04 - How raising fund two differed from fund one 4:23 - Fund one's early bets in defence tech 7:10 - What's different about fund two's strategy 9:40 - Where Europe's biggest defence gaps are 12:36 - How Expeditions finds and evaluates startups 16:20 - Do European countries compete for their own defence champions? 19:52 - Financing war vs. financing European defence

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