WATCH: Main Street Accessibility to Defense Tech Investing

In the 2025 NatSec100, we identified a need for defense tech to gain expanded access to individual and non-institutional investors as a way to democratize the sector, bring in patriotic capital, and incentivize the adoption of mission-critical technologies. For this reason, SVDG partnered with Alumni Ventures to host a webinar exploring the opportunities defense and dual-use technologies for non-institutional investors.

In a dynamic exchange, the panel examined the effects of increasingly democratized investment in defense and the growing trend of defense companies pursuing IPOs. In keeping with Alumni Ventures’ mission, they also explored how individual investors can access venture-backed startups and help advance mission-driven companies. The panelists highlighted “Innovation-Adoption” as the challenge of the next ten years, and discussed the important role that both Main Street and Wall Street will play in taking defense tech from the fringes to the front stage.

The webinar featured Alumni Ventures Principal Drew Wandzilak, SVDG Executive Director Michael Keating, Eric Lang, Vice President at Evercore, Emily McMahan Co-Founder of AIN Ventures, and Jamie McGurk, General Partner at BAM Elevate.

Even if you did not catch the webinar live, you can (and should) still watch the recording. Let us know what you think!