Stefan Roebel transformed from 12 years in the German military and a decade scaling Amazon operations to co-founding Europe's largest autonomous military vehicle production facility in just 3 years.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Stefan reveals how ARX Robotics (ARX) went from a university research project to life-saving robots supporting Ukrainian troops in under 3 years. From a tired Thursday dinner where "nothing existed" to raising €40M+ and building combat-proven systems, this is the raw story of Europe's race to build its defense future before it's too late—and how ARX could become Europe's next defencetech unicorn.

Want to get hired in ARX? https://tally.so/r/3qqAYd

Want to invest in ARX? https://tally.so/r/mZA6Ga

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:57) Personal Background & Joining ARX as 4th Co-founder

(07:49) Project A Venture Studio Program

(12:40) The First Prototype

(19:37) Pivot to Modular Approach & ARX Framework

(25:45) Customer Acquisition Strategy

(31:27) Seed Round: €9 Million & NATO Innovation Fund

(39:54) Launching Mithra OS

(42:19) Series A: How we raised €31 Million

(46:24) Vision: Becoming a European Defence Prime

(50:35) Advice for Defence Tech Founders

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Takeaways:

1) Venture studios beat accelerators for hardware companies

"A venture studio is a level two accelerator. They assign a founder associate, shared resources like hiring, legal contacts - they have all the tools a classical VC has plus operational background." This mindset was exactly what ARX needed for complex hardware development.

2) Build your first prototype to fundraise, not to sell

"Investors got super excited because they saw a physical product after a decade of SaaS presentations." Hardware founders need something tangible to overcome investor skepticism.

3) Pitch deck hell is inevitable - embrace the chaos

"We had 40 iterations of the first pitch deck.

There are 500 different opinions on pitch decks, especially for hardware. Don't fight the feedback loop - use each iteration to find investors who actually understand your market and hardware.

4) Win credibility through real competitions, not demos

"We won the visitors award at Estonian autonomy trials. That was the first time we got exposure to other robotics companies." Public trials validate your tech against established competitors.

5) Pivot from single-use to modular approach

"We found most robots are single-use. But the change of situation is so rapid you need a new solution every five minutes." Undefined markets require maximum flexibility.

6) Start with R&D contracts, scale to procurement later

"We used smaller R&D programs to finance development of 1-10 robots. The procurement is still a tanker - we're the speedboats getting money to figure out new processes." Use innovation programs as stepping stones to larger contracts.

7) Hire military experience locally for each country expansion"My military English is bad. We're replicating what we did in Germany by hiring local teams with military experience to understand customer needs and adapt our system." Defence is hyper-local - you need native military speakers.

8) Series A requires proof, not just vision"Series A is proof of concept done, show us traction, pipeline, forward-looking revenue. It's more data-driven, unromantic. They need conviction the money scales an already working machine." Move from founder-market fit to product-market fit evidence.

9) Speed of iteration determines battlefield winners"Fast iteration cycles will be the difference maker. The current speed of change is mission critical to battlefield success. Whoever iterates fastest wins."

10) Pick investors who understand B2G

]We had investors with SaaS mindset asking about recurring revenues. Find investors who've lived your customer's world, not just scaled software companies.

Mitch Hunter-Scullion is the CEO and founder of Asteroid Mining Corporation (AMC), Europe's first asteroid mining company with operations across three continents and partnership with Japanese lab that built HAYABUSA (actual asteroid missions).

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Mitch shares his journey from a 21-year-old university student writing a dissertation on asteroid mining to building a space robotics company with operations across three continents. From registering the company name on a whim to appearing on BBC World News, from failed crowdfunding campaigns to million-pound investment rounds, Mitch explains how he transformed an "impossible dream" into reality. He discusses developing climbing robots for both terrestrial industrial applications and future space missions, navigating cultural differences between UK and Japanese space ecosystems, and how persistence through skepticism led to collaborations with Tohoku University and the Japanese space industry.

Want to get hired in AMC? https://tally.so/r/wbX6Go

Want to invest in AMC? https://tally.so/r/npXk1b

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:05) From University to Company

(07:00) Credibility Crisis: When Everyone Thinks You're Mad

(11:09) BBC World Breakthrough

(14:24) The Crowdfunding Disaster: Why It Failed

(18:40) Extreme Bootstrap: Living on £500 for Years

(22:51) Japan Partnership: Random Beer to Tohoku University

(33:22) Product Pivot: Satellites to Climbing Robots Strategy

(39:00) First Million: The Institutional Investment Reality

(47:48) Near-Term vs Ultimate Mission: Balancing Revenue & Vision

(58:23) Fire Round Questions

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Takeaways:

1) Say yes to every conversation, especially early on"If someone wants to talk, you always talk... Random emails and coffee meetings led to Mitch's biggest partnerships and investment opportunities.

2) One major media appearance can instantly establish credibility "When I first went on BBC News, people were like, okay, so I actually see something's real here." Early founders desperately need credibility - prioritize getting one big media hit over many small ones.

3) Crowdfunding teaches you what real business looks like"Projects are projects, but business is business. Business is about creating a product and being able to generate profits." Failed crowdfunding forced Mitch to understand the difference between cool projects and viable businesses.

4) Extreme frugality can extend your runway for years"I didn't have any more than £500 in my bank account... overnight buses from Glasgow to London."

5) Academic partnerships are the easiest way into new markets"Academic partnerships are a really good way for startups to get their foot into a new market." Universities provide low-risk entry, cultural guidance, and credibility in foreign countries.

6) Build sustainable revenue before attempting your moonshot"Slow and steady wins the race... we don't approve of the get to asteroids or go bust model." Terrestrial customers fund your space dreams and provide resilience against failures.

7) Design once, sell twice: space tech for Earth applications"We always knew there were going to be industrial applications... synergistic development opportunities." Every space technology should have an Earth market - maritime, nuclear, mining industries pay well and prove your tech.

8) Investors care more about timelines than technical perfection." Investors really wanted to see timelines... The quicker you can have something that you can demo, the better." Show progress and momentum over perfect engineering - demos beat specifications.

9) Prepare financially and mentally for inevitable space failures"Space is incredibly difficult... when things go wrong, you need to be resilient." Unlike software, space has catastrophic single-point failures - build multiple revenue streams and mental toughness before attempting orbital missions.

Adel Haddoud is the CEO and co-founder of Infinite Orbits, a space servicing startup that has raised €12 million in Series A funding.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Adel shares his journey from aerospace engineer and serial entrepreneur to building the world's first commercial nanosatellite in geostationary orbit. From surviving month-to-month during the pandemic to landing contracts with major players like Intelsat and the US Air Force, Adel explains how persistence and customer focus helped them achieve what many called impossible - repairing and servicing satellites in space.

Want to get hired in Infinite Orbits? https://tally.so/r/w2gzAe

Want to invest in Infinite Orbits? https://tally.so/r/3xLEDd

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:06) From Investor to Founder to CEO

(08:31) Finding First Customer

(22:06) Surviving the Early Years: Month-to-Month Funding

(29:37) Winning EIC Accelerator

(36:37) Building Step-by-Step: Product Evolution Strategy

(42:23) Fundraising Reality: Why We Are Always Raising

(47:12) Hiring for Personality Over Process

(50:11) Going Global While Staying European

(51:37) Fire Round: Rejections, Competition & Founder Advice

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Takeaways:

1) Follow customers, not personal preferences

"We are quite commercially driven. So we follow where our customers are." Infinite Orbits moved from Singapore to Europe because that's where their technology suppliers, talent, and major customers were located, not for personal convenience.

2) Adapt your product to what customers actually want

"We adapted to what customer wanted... They convinced us that it's good to go step by step." Instead of trying to do full satellite life extension immediately, they built simpler stepping-stone products that customers were willing to pay for and risk.

3) Persistence beats perfection in early sales

"A lot of people say, yeah, this is great, but this is so difficult." Adel's team kept explaining their vision-based rendezvous technology until people understood its potential, despite initial skepticism.

4) Never allow yourself to think you might fail

"I never thought we will not make it... Once you do, then it goes downhill. It's like a domino effect."

5)Target the biggest market, not the easiest one

"90 billion dollar was worth of assets in GEO orbit and less than 10 billion dollar worth of assets in LEO... it made sense to do servicing to something that costs 300 million euros."

6) EIC Accelerator is a game-changer for European startups

"That literally took us from one league to another league... That puts you on stage, really, that attracts investors." Winning EIC with only 4-6% success rate provided credibility and matching investment that unlocked their Series A.

7) Hire for personality and natural motivation first

"We are hiring for the personality most of the time... If a person is not naturally motivated by space and by our technology and by being part of the team, we don't hire them." Cultural fit and genuine passion matter more than perfect credentials.

8) "Never take NO for an answer" in fundraising

"The natural answer for a VC is like, oh, I'm not sure. Let's wait... So you just need to keep pushing and understand why you're pushing." Treat fundraising like sales - analyze why investors say no and work to convert them.

9) Every space startup should stop pretending being great

"Do not pretend. Get the truth from customers. Don't lie to yourself... Only a customer tells you if it's great or not." Adel's core philosophy: customer validation is the only truth that matters, not internal assumptions.

10) Collaboration beats going alone in European space

"Space is too big too difficult for everybody... if you're smart enough to collaborate, then you're open enough to collaborate." Their willingness to partner with companies across 17 European countries helped them win grants and build supply chains.