Keen Venture Partners publishes practical guide for defence tech founders navigating UK defence procurement

Founders demonstrate their products to British soldiers and believe they are close to a deal. In most cases, they are further away than they think. The UK Ministry of Defence is one of the largest procurement organisations in Europe, with roughly half of its annual budget going to equipment, support and infrastructure. Yet the system is going through its most substantial reorganisation in decades; the gap between the people who define requirements and the people who hold the budget remains significant; and neither group is the one that approves and signs contracts. The Public Accounts Committee described the old system as simply “broken”.

Amsterdam and London-based venture capital firm Keen Venture Partners today released “Selling to the UK MoD: A practical (but surely incomplete) guide for defence tech founders”, written with Robbie Hicks MBE of Blue 14 Consulting Services, a senior defence strategist and programme leader with a career shaped across the British Army, Defence Equipment & Support, and multinational operational environments. It follows the Dutch edition published in June 2026 and is the second in a larger series through which Keen intends to map the procurement system of every European NATO ministry of defence, with the next countries to be announced later this year. Together, these guides will form a systematic map of the roads that founders will go through to turn their ideas into real traction.

The 2026 Defence Investment Plan commits £298 billion to defence by 2029/30, raising spending to 2.7% of GDP by 2027/28 and 3.5% by 2035. In practice, the MoD remains a difficult customer, particularly for startups and new entrants.

The paper walks through how UK defence procurement is now organised: the new National Armaments Director Group, UK Defence Innovation, with its ringfenced £400 million annual budget and the new “Defence Unicorns” scheme; and the three routes to contract - the core equipment programme, rapid procurement, and experimentation. It also sets out what kills companies in this market: engaging too early, selling to soldiers instead of budget holders, misreading the Defence Lines of Development, discovering security requirements too late, and ignoring the primes, through whom around three-quarters of MoD spending with SMEs actually flows.

The paper also shows understanding for a ministry in the midst of a culture change. Like many Western nations after the Cold War, Britain’s army has been in near-continuous decline, a rational response to the “peace dividend” era that now looks increasingly misaligned given today’s threat environment. The reorganisation now underway is the system’s attempt to catch up.

“Marketing to soldiers and operators is not the same as marketing to budget holders. A soldier can confirm that your system works in the field. That is extremely valuable, but it does not move money.”

“Having helped drive Army modernisation over the past decade, I am encouraged by the opportunities ahead. The creation of the NAD-G and expansion of MSHQ provide a strong foundation for a more effective and lethal UK Defence. As priorities and acquisition pathways become clearer, success will favour companies that understand the system and where they can add value. This white paper aims to help industry engage more effectively with Defence and capitalise on those opportunities.”

  –  Robbie Hicks MBE, Blue 14 Consulting Services

“The MoD has been trying to attract new entrants for years. This reorganisation is its most serious attempt yet, but a spending figure is not a contract, and in a system, this size the money still tends to flow through familiar routes. We wrote this to help founders reach the budgets that have been committed, including the parts of the process that tend to slow them down.”

  –  Alexander Ribbink & Angad Singh, Keen Venture Partners

Keen notes that the paper reflects its own interpretation, not an official position, and that in a system reorganising this quickly it will contain mistakes. “We tried really hard to be precise and complete, but we surely missed or misunderstood some structures or links. Please shout, and help us improve.”

Availability. The full white paper is available on request via defence@keenventurepartners.com and via the link distributed alongside this release.