9/16/2026
GOVERNMENT AS PARTNER
Playbook of HV and SPRIND for Deep Tech Founders
Technological sovereignty is a top priority. Europe is no longer just writing strategy papers. It's writing checks and signing contracts. Never before have European governments deployed this much equity into deep tech startups. For founders building the technologies the continent depends on, this is the moment to stop treating government as a grant opportunity and start treating it as a strategic partner. HV and SPRIND have built a playbook to help founders do exactly that.
Europe is home for a new kind of company
Europe is producing a generation of companies in sectors like fusion energy, critical minerals, semiconductors, robotics, defense, and space – businesses built to be not just commercially successful, but strategically essential to the continent. Call them what they are: European primes. Their success will be measured in sovereign capability as much as in venture returns. What has changed in 2026 is geopolitics. As alliances loosen, trade turns into a negotiating chip, and export controls cut deeper into the technology stack, European governments have finally shifted gears. The new reality: rearmament budgets, resilience mandates, and domestic content requirements for critical infrastructure. For deep tech founders, this is a generational opportunity. And a new operating challenge. The state no longer shows up in just one role. Today, it is three at once.
AS INVESTOR: absorbing scientific risk that private capital won't yet underwrite, and bridging Europe's late-stage funding gap with equity, debt, and guarantees.
AS CUSTOMER: where founders need to actively create and shape public demand long before the tender is published, and a single procurement contract creates a demand signal no investor can manufacture.
AS RULEMAKER: since regulations are actually shaped years after legislation passes through technical committees and implementing acts that only a handful of people ever influence.
Getting any one of these right helps. Getting all three right is what separates the companies that scale and stay in Europe from those that get acquired or leave.
Learn from Best Practices at Europe's deep tech frontier
After years of working with European pioneers, we documented what works, what fails, and the lessons you only learn by doing. That is why we built this playbook. It is a practical guide for companies that want to succeed in doing business with governments. Inside, founders will find:
- Which sovereign investors to approach, when, and on what terms;
- How procurement actually works – and why the game starts years before the tender is published;
- Where the rules that matter get written, and how to get a seat at the table;
- Insights from SPRIND and HV portfolio companies who got it right.
The window is open. But the game has rules – and they are different from anything taught at a standard VC pitch prep.
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HV x SPRIND Playbook
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