Matt Spence
Managing Director
Matt Spence is a Managing Director and Head of Defense Technology and Emerging Technology in the Technology Group at Lazard, advising defense, space, and dual-use technology companies on M&A, IPOs, and private capital raises.
Recent experience includes: the ~$1B sale of Nozomi Networks to Mitsubishi; the sale of GoTenna to Forterra; Elroy Air’s ~$1B SPAC merger with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp VII (closing late 2026); serving as active bookrunner on Voyager’s IPO; and private capital raises for Jet Zero($175M), Uniphore ($250M, closing late 2026), Advanced Navigation ($150M), and Q-CTRL (closing late 2026).
Prior to joining Lazard, Matt was a Managing Director and Global Head of Venture Capital Banking at Barclays, where he built and led the firm’s defense-tech and dual-use technology investment banking franchise and led the global team covering venture-backed emerging growth companies. He created the Barclays Defense Technology Forum, convening the CEOs and lead investors of the sector’s most important companies. Earlier, Matt was a Managing Director at Guggenheim Partners, where he executed M&A, IPO, and private placement transactions in cybersecurity and defense technology and served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Chairman. Before that, Matt was a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he evaluated more than 400 startup investments and advised over 50 portfolio company CEOs.
Before entering the private sector, Matt spent seven years in senior national security roles in the U.S. government. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy, he was the principal advisor to three Secretaries of Defense, negotiated the second-largest weapons sale in U.S. history, and received the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service. At the White House, he served on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Economic Affairs, and as Senior Advisor to two National Security Advisors. Trained as a lawyer, Matt served as a law clerk for Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Matt is a co-founder and board member of the Truman National Security Project, a board member of The American Ditchley Foundation, and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has taught at Yale, Stanford, and Arizona State Universities, has testified before Congress, and has published extensively on national security and defense, including in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
A Marshall Scholar and Truman Scholar, Matt holds a Doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a B.A. and M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford University.
Matt lives in Sausalito with his wife Audrey, their son Finn, and their two dogs.
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