Venture Capital, National Security, and the Future of Technology | Alex van Someren

Episode notes

Alex van Someren has spent his career at the frontier of technology, venture capital, and national security . From joining Acorn Computers as a teenager, the company that seeded ARM Holdings, to co-founding cryptography firm nCipher , becoming a partner at Amadeus Capital Partners , and later serving as the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security , his career offers unique insight into how capital and innovation shape geopolitics. In this episode, Alex explains how the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSIF) mirrors DARPA-backed venture in the US, why government must learn to take risk to access frontier technology, and the realities of venture capital returns. He discusses the hype and risks around artificial intelligence , the disruptive potential of quantum computing , the fragility of semiconductor supply chains , and the ESG debate around nuclear energy and small modular reactors . For investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, this conversation maps the crucial intersection of capital, technology, and defence in a changing global order.

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