Who we are
EBAN Space and Defence is our community that fosters and connects Europe’s ecosystem of space and defence technology angel and VC investors.
The mission of EBAN Space and Defence retains the goal of bringing together European national and pan-European organisations to promote, mentor, and invest in early-stage companies that are at the forefront of Space and Defence technologies, while simultaneously raising awareness of the entrepreneurial innovation and investment opportunities within these sectors.
Interested? Join EBAN to become part of the EBAN Space and Defence Community today!
What we do
Participate in the Space and Defence Programme during EBAN’s flagship events. We host both in person and online event to promote networking, best practice sharing and investment among the community.
Get access to the Space and Defence Community Startup Dealflow through our online dealflow sharing platform, powered by Dealum.
Get access to our online and in person workshops and webinars where key knowledge on how to invest in Space and DefenceTech is shared. You can already watch our Fly Me To The Moon Webinar Series below!
Fly Me To The Moon Webinars
How can you join
To join the EBAN Space and Defence Community you would need to go through a two step process
1) You will need to either be part of a member organisation that is affiliated with EBAN (i.e FiBAN, LitBAN, AeBAN). If you are not part of one of these organisations we suggest that you join one in your country or if you are a BAN Manager, you can become a member below
2) Now that you are a part of EBAN, you would need to either get in touch with the Steering Committee below or contact us directly at info@eban.org to let us know directly. After establishing contact the Committee will then decide internally to welcome you to this community. If you have any questions about the process you can let us know in the email above.
Steering Committee
Rita Sakus
EBAN Space and Defence Co-Chair
As a re-elected EBAN Board Member, Rita Sakus joins the Space & Defence Committee to help drive initiatives shaping Europe’s future in these critical sectors.
Rita has invested in and serves on the boards of several high-potential dual-use defence and space technology startups.
She uses her experience having previously worked at several high-tech Fortune 500 companies and with top VCs in North America, Europe and Israel to accelerate growth and unlock new opportunities.
Rita’s commitment to advancing the entrepreneurial landscape is exemplified through her role as co-founder and board member of LitBAN, one of Europe’s most successful business angel networks in recent years, enabling growth and success across the Lithuanian startup ecosystem.
She is the recipient of the Order for Merits to Lithuania, an avid scuba diver, and a proud Canadian-Lithuanian.
Petr Šíma
EBAN Space and Defence Co-Chair
Founder of DEPO Ventures with 25 years of experience in M&A and Corporate Finance with emphasis on business valuation. Founder of Angel Network and Grouport Investment Fund. Petr has extensive VC and Investor exposure accumulated over the years.
Nick Appleyard
Committee Member
Head of Space Solutions at European Space Agency – ESA
Gianluigi Baldesi
Committee Member
Head of the Ventures and Financing Office at ESA
Rob Desborough
Committee Member
Managing Partner Seraphim Space Fund, CEO Seraphim Space Camp
Ted Elvhage
Committee Member
Managing Partner at Rymdkapital
With a successful track record from backing European new space founders and recognized as a thought leader and successful angel investor in more than 50 startups and scaleups in the Nordics, Ted brings his entrepreneur spirit and business management as a founding partner of the Stockholm Business Angel Group in 2008, chairman of Keiretsu Forum Nordics since 2016 to support and invest in founders building new category winners in the spacetech segment.
Uli Fricke
Committee Member
CEO of FunderNation
Uli is the CEO of FunderNation, Germany’s only crowdinvesting platform that is run by a team of investment professionals. She is also one of the founders and CEO of Triangle Venture Capital Group, one of Europe’s leading investors in HighTech start-up companies.
Uli served as Chairwoman of Invest Europe (formerly the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association – EVCA) in 2010-2011. She was also named the most powerful person in private equity for 2010 by REAL DEALS and has been recognised by Dow Jones as one of the 100 most influential women in Europe’s finance industry.
Throughout her career, Uli served on numerous boards of companies and has been a longstanding board member of the EVCA. She currently serves on the board of iPharro, semafora and SemEO. Uli is member of the Space-Tech Advisory Council, the aws Seed Financing Board in Vienna, the Kuratorium of Fraunhofer MOEZ in Leipzig and the EBAN Space Executive Committee.
Uli was one of the pioneers in the early internet days, programming BTX (the German internet predecessor) back in ’88. She graduated at the age of 21 from the University of Applied Sciences, Worms with an MBA. Before co-founding Triangle Venture Capital Group in 1996, Uli has been CEO and founder of a number of start-up companies which she later sold successfully.
Uli is an unflinching optimist and an entrepreneur to the core – so it’s best not tell her something “does not work”. In her leisure time Uli enjoys snowboarding, ballroom dancing and cooking.
Guy Gourevitch
Committee Member
President of Defence Angels & Defence Partners
Guy was the Deputy Director of Software and Networks at Bull Group, and later founded the Artificial Intelligence department at Steria Group. He then served as Sales Director and eventually Director of French Operations at General Electric IS.
A Business Angel since 2005, Guy has invested in forty-five technology start-ups. He is a member of the board of several companies, as well as the founder and president of venture capital firms. Guy was also the former President of France Angels and is currently the President of Defence Angels, a business angel network focused on strategic technologies.
Created in 2022, Defence Angels has funded 25 early-stage strategic start-ups in sovereignty-relevant domains, including equipment for defence and civil security, aeronautics and drones, space technologies (launchers and ground infrastructures), cybersecurity, AI and cognitive technologies, virtual reality and simulators systems, non-destructive testing, robotics and autonomous systems, new materials, optronics, high-performance computing, and quantum systems
Defence Angels now brings together 90 Business Angels, with 6 regional delegations and 30 partners, including accelerators and public and private research laboratories. Additionally, Guy is the co-founder and President of Defence Partners, a Club Deal uniting major industrial groups from both the defence and civil markets, working together in start-up investment and open innovation.
Rainer Horn
Committee Member
Managing Partner at SpaceTec Capital
Rainer Horn is the Managing Partner of SpaceTec Capital, an early stage investor in space-related technologies which enable the digitalisation of large industries and address infrastructure challenges. SpaceTec Capital also advises investors on M&A transactions and start-up coaches in business and technology strategy.
Rainer is also leading the consulting firm SpaceTec Partners and a member of several institutional boards in space programmes in Europe and Asia. Prior to becoming a successful entrepreneur, Rainer was the leader of the European space consulting practice at Booz Allen Hamilton. Rainer has studied at ESB in Reutlingen & London and he attained an MBA from INSEAD.
Candace Johnson
Committee Member
Serial Space Entrepreneur & Investor, EBAN President Emeritus
Candace Johnson is a co-founder of SES, the world’s pre-eminent satellite group and the architect of SES Global. She is also the founder of various companies as Loral Cyberstar-Teleport Europe, Europe’s first independent private trans-border satellite communications network, and Europe Online, the world’s first Internet-based online service and a founding investor and Member of the Board of Kacific, the high-throughput Satellite Internet System for the Pacific.
Under her presidency of EBAN, she co-founded MBAN, the Middle East Business Angel Network and ABAN, the African Business Angel Network. Ms. Johnson is also the President of three investment funds and is the founder of the Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN), Global Board Ready Women (GBRW) and the VATM, the German Association of Private Telecom Operators.
Tiina Laisi-Puheloinen
Committee Member
CEO, FiBAN | Board Member | Defence & Deep Tech Advocate
With over two decades of leadership experience spanning startups and larger enterprises, Tiina brings deep expertise in scaling companies, navigating complex ecosystems, and developing innovative strategies. As the CEO of FiBAN (the Finnish Business Angels Network), she connects early-stage ventures with capital, mentorship, and market opportunities.
Tiina also serves on various boards and has a strong background in defence: she worked in the Finnish Defence Forces and served as a peacekeeper in a NATO-led mission in Kosovo. She is an active reservist in the Finnish Defence Forces, and her military rank is Major.
By joining EBAN Space & Defence, Tiina aims to strengthen Europe’s dual-use and defence startup ecosystem, catalyzing cross-border investments, fostering collaboration, and elevating the role of angel networks in strategic technologies.
Alexandre Mencik
Committee Member
Board member at the ACCESS.SPACE alliance and investor
Alexandre is an entrepreneur, co-founder of startups and the founder and CEO of the Space Platform.
He serves on the board of the ACCESS.SPACE alliance and of other organizations.
Alexandre works extensively on public funding and invests in startups as an angel and through ventures. He is also a mentor for several space-related startup support programs.
Alexandre is a former Executive Director of a Fortune 200 company, represented aerospace clients and served in the European Commission. He has a background in spacecraft technologies from the CNES, a Juris Doctorate and a Master in Air and Space Law.
Dominykas (Dom) Milašius
Committee Member
Co-founder, Delta biosciences; investment scout, BSV Ventures
Dom is a deep tech entrepreneur and investor, with a decade of previous experience in strategic and geopolitical risk advisory across EMEA.
As a co-founder of Delta biosciences, he manages the venture’s commercial strategy, including the space medicine program and astro-chemistry testing in space. With BSV Ventures, Dom scouts for emerging dual-use founders, supports portfolio companies, and grows connectivity with other innovation ecosystems.
He is an alumnus of the Paris Institute of Political Studies and a member of LitBAN.
Stephan Reckie
Committee Member
CEO at Angelus Funding
Stephan is Executive Director of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Space, a global ecosystem for Astropreneurs, and serves on the Executive Committee of European Business Angels Network (EBAN) Space.
Stephan is a Co-Founder and CEO of Edge of Space, a company enabling STEM access to space for students globally. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Angelus Funding, a trust-based global angel network investing in innovative and meaningful opportunities.
Stephan serves on the board of directors of numerous companies and has personally made 39 investments since 2012. He is also an adjunct professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, teaching entrepreneurial presentation and sales methods.
Lorenzo Scatena
Committee Member
Secretary General of E. Amaldi Foundation.
Stefan Schneider
Committee Member
Space Downstream Entrepreneurship Officer at EUSPA
Martin von Koch
Committee Member
CIC-SV, Commercialisation Officer at ESA.
EBAN Space Chairman Emeritus
Fabrice Testa
EBAN Space Chairman Emeritus
Co-Chairman Luxembourg Space Tech Angels
Fabrice Testa is a serial entrepreneur and an innovator who successfully founded, co-founded or participated in the launch of multiple tech startups which created hundreds of jobs and generated multi-millions revenues. As an angel investor, he is the Chairman of EBAN Space Executive Committee and the Co-Chairman of the Luxembourg Space Tech Angels association. Fabrice Testa is also a mentor in several national and European startup support programmes.
He holds a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from University of Liege and a MBA from Solvay Business School. He also completed a number of post-graduate degrees at MIT in Strategy & Innovation and Machine Learning, and at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business in Venture Capital.
Anthony Clarke
EBAN Space Chairman Emeritus
EBAN President Emeritus and Managing Director at UK Space Tech Angels & Newable Private Investing
Anthony is professionally a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Legal Secretary having qualified whilst with the City of London based Deloitte Haskins & Sells.
His early career post qualification was as a CFO and CEO of a number of U.K. based SMEs before becoming a serial angel investor nearly 25 years ago. During this period he founded the UK’s first Government backed Angel Co investment Fund in 2002 namely London Seed Capital where he was also its CEO. He also founded London Business Angels twenty years ago and sold this business and its associated Angel VC arm to City of London based Newable Group in 2017. He remains as an Investment Committee member of Newable’s private investment arm.
Anthony joined the Board of EBAN in 2004 and served as its President from 2004/2009. He is currently President Emeritus of EBAN. He also co founded UKBAA in 2003 and was its Chair from 2004/2012.
Anthony is a co founder and Managing Partner of early stage City of London based VC firm Seraphim Capital which was established in 2006. It manages circa 125m EUR which includes the world’s first Series A Space Fund notably Seraphim Space Fund which was launched in 2016.
Anthony cofounded EBAN Space in 2016 and was its President until 2019. He is also a Board Member of the UK’s Space Research and Innovation Network ( SPRINT)
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