"Israel Needs to Invest in Greater Independent Manufacturing Capabilities and Self-Reliance, Given Recent Global Escalations”: Sequoia Capital Global Partner, Shaun Maguire, at First International Defense-Tech Summit

Sequoia Capital Global Partner, Shaun Maguire, spoke at the first International Defense-Tech Summit today (Wednesday). The summit, led by the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) Directorate of Defense, Research & Development (DDR&D) in collaboration with the Yuval Ne'eman workshop for Science, Technology & Security at Tel Aviv University, brought together senior officials from the DDR&D, IDF, defense industries, academia, entrepreneurship, startups, and venture capital funds.

Mr. Maguire discussed Israel's technological resilience in light of the challenges posed by various boycott measures:

“I can envision Israel in the near future with greater independent manufacturing capabilities. Israel needs to invest in this direction towards manufacturing independence and self-reliance, given recent global escalations.

“It doesn't surprise me that Gulf states, led by the UAE, are adopting Israeli technologies. Israel has much to offer, which is why it also succeeded in securing four agreements under the Abraham Accords.

“I've been to many countries, and the main lesson for me is that there are very centralized countries and others that are much less so. In Israel, the approach is to let everyone compete with each other and see what happens. Undoubtedly, startups that receive government support or provide technological services to the state are more successful. I'm more optimistic about Israel than ever before.

“Until recently, Defense-Tech was a dirty word, and people didn't want others to know about their connections with defense companies and capabilities that could also be military. However, today, Defense-Tech has become the hottest field even for venture capital funds, largely thanks to the war in Ukraine and also the war in Israel, which has normalized this field.

“Dual-use technologies – for both civilian and military purposes – are becoming a much hotter field than before because every startup can later channel it into the security sector, even if it begins producing a completely non-military product. In World War II, the prominent companies that gained momentum started with civilian products, like refrigerators. The same is true today with drone technologies.

“Looking to the future, I expect we'll see enormous sensors for various uses, and Israel can lead this field. Israel is also powerful in the quantum field. I don't think Israel missed the AI train, and the race is still ongoing. On the contrary, Israel is among the leaders in the field, and Israeli companies are among the most successful companies in the sector. Therefore, I'm optimistic about Israel in this field.

“My private philosophy is that once you have a product or a startup, you need to think about one aspect from your very first days: 'How do I stay alive?' You need to make a distinction: if you're in hardware, seek advice from hardware experts, not from software people, since it's an entirely different field. The main goal is to survive by maintaining a steady revenue base.”