NATO launches €1B deeptech fund and introduces the investment team

Twenty-three participating NATO Allies have selected the investment team to manage the new €1 billion NATO Innovation Fund focused on dual-use deeptech sector. The senior management team will be led by Andrea Traversone as Managing Partner, together with Kelly Chen, Thorsten Claus, Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, and Chris O’Connor.

• The NATO Innovation Fund is the world’s first multi-sovereign venture capital fund. It will invest €1 billion in startups developing technologies that can be used both for defense and security purposes, as well as for civil use.

“In venture capital, the Senior Management Team are the brains behind investment decisions. I am confident that the NATO Innovation Fund’s Founding Team has the experience, drive and capability necessary to deliver the NIF’s mission,”

David van Weel, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, comments.

• The team consists of Andrea Traversone, former managing partner at Amadeus Capital, Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, former partner at Beast Ventures, Kelly Chen, former partner at Data Collective VC, Thorsten Claus, former managing partner at Thinkstorm Ventures, and Chris O’Connor, former partner and COO at Harpoon Ventures.
• The investment committee will be overseen by a board of directors which is led by Klaus Hommels, a chairman at Lakestar.
• The fund will be officially headquartered in the Netherlands, but plans to open regional offices in London and Warsaw.

Earlier, AIN.Capital told how the NATO Innovation Fund would operate, which countries participated, and what benefits could it have on the region’s development and security.