Webinar
Future of Defense Systems
Join Alumni Ventures for an in-depth webinar hosted by Laura Rippy and Drew Wandzilak as they explore the rapidly evolving world of next-generation defense technologies.
In this session, you’ll learn how venture-backed startups are driving innovation across national security, from autonomous systems to cutting-edge surveillance and AI-enabled decision-making tools. Laura and Drew will share their perspectives on what makes a defense-tech investment compelling, how strategic partnerships are formed, and the role of venture capital in maintaining U.S. technological leadership. This conversation will highlight key trends shaping the future of defense and showcase examples of high-potential companies in this space.
Whether you’re a current investor or interested in how VC is fueling innovation at the intersection of national security and advanced tech, this is a discussion you won’t want to miss. Reserve your spot today to gain timely insight into the future of defense systems.
Why Attend?
- HomeLearn how venture capital is enabling critical innovation across defense and national security sectors
- HomeUnderstand the unique investment criteria and opportunities in the defense-tech space
- HomeHear directly from Laura Rippy and Drew Wandzilak about how AV sources and evaluates these high-impact deals
Alumni Ventures is America’s largest venture capital firm for individual investors.
About your presenters
Laura brings operational perspective as a CEO, Chairman, and executive in technology startups in addition to investing experience. As Managing Partner at Ripplecreek Partners’ technology practice and General Partner at FA Technology Ventures, she worked various tech sectors: mobile, consumer, internet, SaaS, cloud-based, marketing, and enterprise software across many economic cycles. She also served as CEO at Handango, creating the first marketplace of mobile apps. At Microsoft, she co-founded two businesses as an intra-preneur in an elite swat team spun out of Bill Gates’ office. Laura holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and AB in Government from Dartmouth (’89).
Overview:
Drew Wandzilak invests in breakthrough technologies that matter to the real world—systems that generate power, move hardware, secure nations, or decode biology. He focuses on companies operating in high-heat, high-speed, high-stakes environments where technical performance is existential and strategic value is measured in megawatts, meters per second, or mission success. Across aerospace, energy, and defense, Drew backs founders who don’t just pitch vision—they bend atoms, trajectories, and supply chains to make it real.
Funds actively worked on:
Yard Ventures
Green D Ventures
U.S. Strategic Tech Fund
Investment Areas of Focus:
His investment lens prioritizes platforms over point solutions, scale advantages rooted in physics or manufacturing, and mission alignment with long-term public interest. That includes nuclear reactors that deploy like data centers, orbital vehicles that reshape access to space, hypersonic systems built for rapid iteration, and genetic tools that bring diagnostics to the edge. These aren’t just technical moonshots—they’re foundational bets on how the next century will be powered, protected, and personalized.
Drew led Alumni Ventures’ investment in Impulse Space, which is building the in-space logistics layer for a high-frequency orbital economy. He backed Aalo Atomics, a small modular reactor company designing standardized, factory-built nuclear power for grid-scale deployment. He also invested in Astro Mechanica, which is reinventing hypersonic aerospace testing for the modern battlefield, and Acorn Genetics, which is miniaturizing genomics to enable low-cost, distributed DNA testing anywhere.
These companies reflect Drew’s broader strategy: to invest in enduring platforms that serve strategic industries and unlock decades of downstream innovation. He believes the next great venture outcomes will come not just from apps or algorithms, but from reengineering the physical world—and the infrastructure that underpins it.
LEARN HOW TO INVEST IN COMPANIES IN THIS SECTOR WITH ALUMNI VENTURES: