国防与风险投资领域过去鲜有交集，但如今情况已大不相同。2026年第一季度，国防科技领域的风险投资交易额创下历史新高，全球各地也涌现出专门投资国防初创企业的新型风险投资公司。
Defense and venture capital used to rarely overlap, but that’s no longer the case. Defense tech VC dealmaking set a record in Q1 2026, and new VC firms have emerged around the world to invest solely in defense startups.
其中一家是成立两年的Protego Ventures，该公司自称是以色列首家且规模最大的专业国防科技风险投资机构。据TechCrunch独家获悉，在两位女性领导者利塔尔·莱谢姆（Lital Leshem）和李·莫泽（Lee Moser）的带领下，该公司刚刚完成了首支基金的最终募集，获得1.25亿美元的资本承诺。
One of these is two-year-old Protego Ventures, which presents itself as the first and largest dedicated defense tech VC in Israel. Led notably by two women, Lital Leshem and Lee Moser, it has just completed the final close of its debut fund with $125 million in capital commitments, TechCrunch learned exclusively.
据其官网介绍，该基金的规模使Protego能够为每家公司投资500万至5000万美元，重点关注那些“满足以色列及全球社会关键国防与安全需求”的初创企业。
This fund size is enabling Protego to invest between $5 million and $50 million per company, with a focus on startups “addressing the critical defense and security needs of Israel and the global community,” according to its website.
其中包括无人机制造商XTEND，这是其投资组合中的首家公司，已于本月初在纽约证券交易所上市。这也是Protego未达到1.5亿美元募资目标的原因：较小的基金规模能放大单笔重大成功对整体回报的影响。随着XTEND如今有望成为“基金回报支柱”——即单笔投资即可收回整个基金的成本——筹集更多资金只会稀释投资者群体中的收益。莱谢姆表示：“没人愿意分享这块蛋糕。”
These include the likes of drone maker XTEND, its first portfolio company, which went public on the NYSE earlier this month. That’s also why Protego stopped short of its $150 million target: a smaller fund magnifies the impact of a single big win on overall returns, and with XTEND now looking like a potential “fund maker” — a single investment capable of returning the whole fund — raising more capital would only dilute that upside among a larger pool of investors. “Nobody wants to share the pie,” Leshem said.
Ares Management是Protego最大的支持者之一。莱谢姆称，在2023年10月7日哈马斯袭击以色列后，这家投资公司建议莱谢姆和莫泽联手创办Protego，并坚信新技术将成为以色列应对新威胁、提升国防能力的关键。
Ares Management is one of Protego’s biggest backers. The investment firm suggested that Leshem and Moser join forces and start Protego in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, with the conviction that new technologies would be key to boosting Israel’s defense capabilities in the face of new threats, Leshem said.
莱谢姆表示，Ares作为有限合伙人投入了3000万美元，为Protego提供了立即开展投资所需的支持。除了XTEND，其投资组合还包括ASIO等初创公司，该公司致力于开发态势感知系统，并已与Anduril达成合作。
With a $30 million investment as a limited partner, Ares gave Protego the support it needed to start investing right away, Leshem said. Besides XTEND, its portfolio also includes startups such as ASIO, which develops situational awareness systems and has partnered with Anduril.
莱谢姆表示，国防界对该公司的反响非常热烈。“在军事领域，我们备受尊重。人们纷纷前来——甚至是在不公开的情况下——与我们交流、向我们学习、与我们共同训练，当然，也希望能获得我们的技术和创新。”尽管如此，对于内部人士而言，以色列市场更容易驾驭，Protego 的两位创始人也正在积极利用他们的人脉网络。
Leshem says the reception in defense circles has been strong. “On the military side, there is a lot of respect, and people are coming — even under the radar — to talk to us, to learn from us, to train with us, and for sure get our technology and innovation.”Still, the Israeli market is easier to navigate for insiders, and Protego’s two founders are leaning into their networks.
莫泽是一位经验丰富的风险投资人，他将继续担任综合性风投公司 AnD Ventures 的管理合伙人。至于莱谢姆，她曾联合创办过一家在 2025 年以 6.25 亿美元被收购的初创公司，她还将自己在军事和情报领域 11 年的经验带到了他们的经营理念中。
Moser, a seasoned venture capitalist, will remain a managing partner at the generalist VC firm AnD Ventures. As for Leshem, who co-founded a startup that was acquired for $625 million in 2025, she also brings 11 years of experience in the military and intelligence field to their approach.
“10 月 7 日之后，一切都变了，”莱谢姆告诉 TechCrunch。袭击发生当天，身为预备役军人的她正怀着孕被派往一线。“基本上直到进产房前，我一直都在那里。我亲眼见证并近距离观察到了战场与我过去十年所认知的有何不同。”Protego 不会长期独占这一领域。以色列当局也注意到了同样的转变，向 Adir Capital 和 Sling Capital 两家风投公司提供了约 3300 万美元的国家担保，用于投资军事和军民两用技术，其他基金也在为类似的投资筹集资金。
“Everything changed on October 7,” Leshem told TechCrunch. She was deployed, while pregnant, as a reservist on the day of the attacks. “And basically until the delivery room, I was there, witnessing and getting the first-row seat to how the battlefield acted differently from what I knew in the past decade.”Protego won’t have the field to itself for long. Israeli authorities have taken notice of the same shift, awarding VC firms Adir Capital and Sling Capital about $33 million in state guarantees to invest in military and dual-use technologies, with other funds also raising capital for similar bets. (Leshem said Protego was too far along in its own fundraising to take part in the government’s tender.)
（莱谢姆表示，Protego 在政府招标时其自身的融资进度已经太靠后，因此未能参与。）与此同时，Protego 已经在规划下一步行动：计划于 2027 年第一季度推出第二支基金。该基金将由以色列机构投资者和莱谢姆已经锁定的一家美国大型机构提供支持，投资范围将更广，涵盖美国处于早期成长阶段的国防科技公司。
Protego, meanwhile, is already planning its next move: a second fund in the first quarter of 2027, backed by Israeli institutional investors and one large U.S. commitment Leshem has already secured, with a broader scope that includes early-growth American defense-tech companies.