Jason Zins is the Founder and Managing Partner of Nomi Capital. Nomi Capital invests across defense, aerospace, manufacturing, space, energy, and national security technologies. Jason shares how his team evaluates defense startups, why they focus on later-stage companies, and what separates durable businesses from hype-driven investments. We discuss the current state of defense venture capital, manufacturing bottlenecks, the evolution of military technology, defense software, hypersonics, space infrastructure, and why Jason believes defense remains underinvested despite growing attention from investors. Jason on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-zins-5317aa3a/ Jason on X: https://x.com/Jason_Zins Steve on X: https://x.com/StevenSimoni Steve on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/ Follow the show! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3F1sc8yzQIF9WcdHQ3w7kf Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drone-ultimatum/id1770994541 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://thedroneultimatum.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://x.com/DroneUltimatum ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-drone-ultimatum/ Our website: https://www.thedroneultimatum.com/

How Investors Evaluate Defense Startups | Jason Zins, Nomi Capital

The Drone Ultimatum

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Drone Ultimatum

## Participants

- **Steve Simoni** (Allen Control Systems)
- **Jason Zins** (Nomi Capital)
- **Jason Zins** (Nomi Capital)

## Transcript

I don't believe that defense tech is in a bubble, so let's talk about that. I think it's actually not, I think it's underinvested. I think it's very buzzy to say it's in a bubble. Yeah. If something is overvalued, it doesn't mean it's in a bubble. I think maybe what people get a little scared of in defense investing is that, will the growth rate sustain? You got a, you know, a $50 million contract, but like, what exactly is that? Is this prototyping? Is this testing? Because like, if you don't get to scaled production, it doesn't matter. Jason Zins is the founder and managing partner of Nomi Capital,

a venture firm investing in growth stage defense and dual-use technology companies across AI, autonomy, advanced manufacturing, space, and energy. We've known that we need to embrace AI. We've known that our supply chains are broken. We've known that we have a low magazine depth. But if you're not at conflict, it's very hard to convince the government, lawmakers, you know, to put the money up and to contract, right? Yeah.

The unit economics have really changed the battlefield driven by technology. On top of all of that, you know, you take a step back and think about the legacy contractors, right? These are like anti-capitalist business models, right? Cost plus contracting is terrible. It doesn't exist anywhere else. And so... Nomi Capital. Yeah. What's the name from?

How do we... What do we got? It's really not a good story. Whatever. I was... I was... Originally had... It's the name of a restaurant that I was eating at. Oh, yeah? In New York? It sounded cool. It's actually in Chicago. It's in Chicago. Sounded cool. Spelled a little bit differently. I couldn't think of a name. I'm not a creative person. Do you know me? Do you know Chicago well? Are you from there? Not super well. I spend a little bit of time there. I was going to say it. There is some... There's some Japanese and some Jewish etymology to the name, I think, too. Okay. So I don't know. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Bushudo code. Yeah. Hey, Jack, pull up. Alinea Group. L-I-A-L-I-N-E-A. This is a Chicago restaurant. You might have eaten at some of these. E-L-I-N-E-A. N-E-A. Alinea. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know these guys? For sure. So this... Speaking of Chicago, what are some of the restaurants? I mean, restaurants are your thing. Yeah, yeah. So... Oh, yeah. Yeah, some of these are some of their spots. Yeah, the aviary... Alinea is like the famous one, the main one. Uh-huh. But these are all... I think most of these are Chicago.

Michelin star... Three Michelin stars. Yeah. Damn. Oh, wow. That looks interesting. What is that? I've actually never eaten there, but story I bring it up. This is a tech story. So the founder of this had a company called Talk, which is like a reservation platform. It create...

How Investors Evaluate Defense Startups | Jason Zins, Nomi Capital

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

How Investors Evaluate Defense Startups | Jason Zins, Nomi Capital

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.