Christian Schmidt is Chief Strategy Officer at HENSOLDT, a leading European technology company in the defence and security sector, where he leads Corporate Strategy, M&A and Startup Investment activities across the defence technology ecosystem. Since joining HENSOLDT in 2018 he has led the company’s growth through a number of strategic initiatives and M&A transactions and has also led HENSOLDT’S IPO in 2020. He has driven HENSOLDT’s venture investments in disruptive defence tech startups such as 21strategies, Quantum Systems and Project Q. Christian is passionate about connecting founders, investors and industry incumbents to accelerate innovation in European defence.