Europe is waking up to the need to invest in defense, as well as European VC. But with a painful history of Soviet professions, Lithuania did not expect the third anniversary of Russia’s occupation in Ukraine to reach its third anniversary to perform 5% in 6% of its GDP for military spending – and the beginning of fund protection.
Lithuania’s Sovereign VC Coinvest Capital Fund was a pioneer in this regard, and it is still a farthest not to seek cases of civil use. “We were the first in the region (to be) fully authorized to make investments in defense again in March 2023,” said Victorja Trimel, his governing partner since February 2023.
Unlike many Lithuanians, Trimbel is not long. But what lacks the basketball potential, it makes it in energy and relentlessness, especially when it comes to protecting innovation in protection technology to strengthen Europe’s security.
Unmanned Pilot Defense Systems (UDS), a Vilnius -based company focused on optimizing the “killing chain”, received the largest coinvest investment in that field, but it is not the only one. According to Trimbel, the Evergreen Fund has invested around € 6.8 million (approximately $ 7.37 million) in the beginnings of airspace, dual protection and use since 2023.
Compared to the billions of billions of dollars that are flooded in US Protection Technology companies, the amount may not seem very impressive. If you do not consider it per capita, something people often ask you to do in this small Baltic country of 2.89 million inhabitants.
Cross-creation is another notion that Lithuania often emphasizes, as Coinvest does. As his name suggests, the early phase fund is co-investing in startup with business angels and other VCs. For early phase deals, it approved a structure captured for the profit sharing for which Trimel is particularly passionate.
As a member of the Lithbanian Angel Board Board, which now has 324 members, it is particularly prone to see more flow of smart money on the market. While the collective value of Lithuania’s initial ecosystem increased 39 times to 10 years, the country still lacks an output so influential that Skype was for Estonia.
However, liquidity events such as secondary sales of Vinted had a dripping effect, and Trimbel thinks Coinvest can multiply these euros quickly. When he left Intectio after only 18 months, his rules increased the return of angel investors from 9x to 34x. “I believe it was one of the factors that facilitated an explosive growth of the business angels ecosystem,” Trimel said.
Even in defense technology, Trimbel samples the success of others in providing capital. The only limited coinvest partner, the National Bank of Lithuania, also provided “major capital injections for other local VCs such as BSV Ventures or Scalewolf, including (contribution) Lithuanian in the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF),” she celebrated.
Similarly, Trimbel is pleased to see governments across Europe embracing the trend of “investing in prevention and protection to further support competition and resistance to European countries”.
This is a need of Lithuania is very aware, often deeply personally. When I was 18, I saw with my own eyes, Russian tanks killing people. So for us, it is not a story of textbooks, “Trimbel said, referring to the events of January 1991 in which the Soviet army tried to suppress Lithuania’s independence movement.
The trauma of Soviet rule that is deeply rooted in the collective memory of Lithuania extends far away from 1991.
However, since the war in Ukraine, there is a renewable sense of emergency and solidarity. The 2025 edition of Radarom, a public fundraising campaign for Ukraine, collected more than € 5.6 million for anti-drones, including UDS. Trimbel approved it, looking, “Support Ukraine now … and every other day until victory.”
Like almost all Lithuanians, Trimbel remembers where it was when Russia began its full occupation of its Eastern neighbor on February 24, 2022. A few days ago, she was abroad with her two daughters, and they discussed whether they had to return as signs of war-while her youngest daughter showed that they had a cat.
Cat or no cat, Trimbel is likely to have turned to lithuania the same way. She points out that her first name, Victoria, or victory, is a good match for her ruthless personality. Her circle of girlfriends also depends: “Instead of going to the grass and discussing a new bag or a dress or lipstick, we go to the shoot range,” she said with a smile.
Of course, not everyone reacts the same way – it’s only human to experience a flight or freezing reflex. However, after the war, it aimed to bring others out of this paralysis by encouraging them to take practical steps. One of them was to join the volunteer initiatives that have gained steam throughout Lithuania.
The most emblematic organization in that field is the Lithuanian Riflemen Union supported by the Government (LRU). While dedicated to the protection and strengthening of Lithuania, its activities extend beyond military training: along with Coinvest and others, it co-organized HACKATHON FIELD, which will return in 2025 for a third edition.
This is the context in which Trimbel is photographed above, along with the Union Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Linas Idzelis (uniform) and retired Lieutenant Colonel Valerijus Šerelis, former commander of the Special Operations Forces squad that the NATO allies were sent to Afghan.
LRU also contributed to the civil response during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Trimbel, who invested efforts in a poison-based ventilation project. “Covid was a good test to mobilize society during the threat,” she said. For him, this threat has now changed, but it is very true.
But even now, Trimbel takes care of areas other than protection technology, as well as coinvest. She spoke enthusiastically about the beginning of the Walk15 portfolio and its next “Labrador Walk”, an external growth with dogs to encourage people to take more steps to be more active – literally.
However, as she wrote in a recent LinkedIn post, “no other investment return will matter if Ukraine does not receive enough support from the Allies and Europe will be further occupied.” As her name and personality suggest, she will not stand in her efforts to prevent this result.
