Uwe Horstmann

Who they are

Uwe Horstmann is CEO of STARK and Founding General Partner at Project A Ventures — he co-founded Project A in 2012 and stepped into the operator seat at STARK, a Berlin-based loitering munitions company, in October 2025.

Person

Uwe studied at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (BSc) and the University of Stuttgart (Master's), then spent over a decade building Project A Ventures into one of Europe's most active early-stage investors, managing around €1.2B in assets across more than 100 portfolio companies. He co-founded Project A in 2012 and rose to General Partner, with a growing focus on dual-use and defence technology — backing companies like Quantum Systems (backed through its unicorn milestone) and ARX Robotics (European defence robotics). In October 2025, he crossed from investor to operator, stepping in as CEO of STARK, a Berlin-based defence tech company already in Project A's portfolio that builds unmanned weapons systems including loitering munitions — a factory opening in Swindon and a product unveiling followed shortly after. He remains a Founding Partner at Project A, making him a rare GP-turned-portfolio-CEO. His public voice is active on LinkedIn, covering European defence tech, dual-use technologies, NATO, and defence procurement; he spoke at StartSummit on resilience tech, participated in a national-level defence and innovation event in May 2026, welcomed a Prime Minister at a Project A defence event in June 2026, and shared takeaways from a NATO Defence event in July 2026. The through-line is a conviction that Europe needs sovereign defence infrastructure — and he's now building it directly, not just funding it.

Company

Project A Ventures, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Berlin, has grown to around €1.2B in assets under management and supports over 100 portfolio companies as one of Europe's most active early-stage investors. Its most notable recent strategic move is a deliberate expansion into defence and dual-use technology — backing battlefield robotics and AI-powered defence applications in areas historically underserved by VC. That thesis has produced concrete milestones: portfolio company Quantum Systems reached unicorn status, and ARX Robotics marked a significant European defence robotics moment, both publicly championed by Horstmann. The firm operates from Berlin and London.

Market

Project A competes in the European early-stage VC market, where it differentiates by pairing financial capital with operational support. Its defence tech push puts it in a small but fast-growing cohort of European VCs willing to back dual-use and military applications — a space that US funds have historically dominated and that European sovereign-capability pressure is now accelerating. Macro headwinds — geopolitical volatility, tariff dynamics, and the AI funding concentration in the US (roughly 79% of global AI funding went to US companies in 2025) — raise the bar for European non-AI companies and reinforce the case for differentiated sector bets like defence.

Network

Uwe's closest named collaborator is Anton Waitz, who co-leads the Project A venture practice alongside him as fellow General Partner. At Project A he has also worked alongside Jack Wang, who covers defence investments. His portfolio network spans Quantum Systems and ARX Robotics, companies he has publicly championed through significant milestones.

Anton Waitz· General Partner, Project A Ventures
Jack Wang· Defence investor, Project A Ventures

How they likely show up

Co-founded Project A in 2012 and stayed as GP for over a decade → thinks in long investment cycles, not short mandates.
Crossed from GP to portfolio CEO at STARK in October 2025 → high agency; willing to take personal risk to prove a thesis, not just fund it.
Active LinkedIn presence on European defence tech, NATO, and dual-use — covering Quantum Systems, ARX Robotics, and STARK milestones → comfortable being publicly visible and treats conviction as a competitive signal.
Spoke at StartSummit, a national defence innovation event, a Prime Minister welcome, and a NATO Defence event all within roughly 12 months → operates at the policy-meets-capital interface, not just the startup world.
Backed defence tech from the VC seat before stepping into the operator role → decisions are thesis-driven and he has likely stress-tested the STARK bet longer than most CEOs have known their company.

Conversation tips

→ Reference the Swindon factory opening or the STARK Virtus loitering munition unveiling — he was publicly vocal about it and it signals he's in execution mode, not just vision mode.
→ Ask about the GP-to-CEO move specifically — it's an unusual career decision and he'll have a considered answer about why operator risk made more sense than board distance at this stage.
→ Engage on European sovereign defence capability, not just startup metrics — his LinkedIn and speaking record show this is the frame he operates in.
→ Don't treat Project A and STARK as separate topics; he's running both simultaneously, and the relationship between the two is central to his current identity.
→ Cite a specific portfolio company (Quantum Systems unicorn, ARX Robotics) rather than 'your portfolio' — it signals you've actually followed his work.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the STARK Virtus loitering munition unveiling and the Swindon factory — he posted about it publicly and it's the most concrete proof point that he's now an operator, not just a backer.
Reference Quantum Systems reaching unicorn status — he publicly endorsed both the Series B and the dual-use milestone, and it's a clean example of the defence thesis paying off from the investor side.
Lead with the GP-to-CEO move in October 2025: he left the Partner seat to run a portfolio company building unmanned weapons systems — that's a strong and specific conversation starter about conviction versus comfort.

Discovery questions

You backed STARK as an investor before stepping in as CEO — what did you see from the board seat that made you want to be inside the building instead?
The Project A Defence Tech Continuum positions the firm as a specialist in this space — how do you think about the tension between staying a generalist early-stage fund and developing deep sector credibility in defence?
European defence procurement is notoriously slow relative to the US — what's the realistic path to scale for a company like STARK, and where does NATO fit into that?

Avoid

Don't treat the defence-tech angle as a passing trend or ask whether 'ethics' might complicate the business — he has made this the explicit centre of both his investment thesis and his operating role, and surface-level scepticism will land as homework not done.

Make it yours