NATO has picked the investment team that will oversee the management of its €1 billion deep tech venture fund, set for launch this week in Vilnius at the alliance’s annual summit.
The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) is slated to be the world’s first multi-sovereign venture capital fund and will back startups developing deep tech for defence and security applications.
The fund will invest €1 billion euros over a 15-year period into early-stage companies and other VC funds developing emerging and disruptive technologies — to be used in military and defence applications. These include artificial intelligence; big-data processing; quantum technologies; autonomy; biotechnology and human enhancement; novel materials; energy; propulsion and space.
The senior management team will be led by Andrea Traversone, former managing partner at UK-based Amadeus Capital. Working alongside Traversome are prominent US and UK-based VCs Kelly Chen, Thorsten Claus, Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, and Chris O’Connor.
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The investment committee will be overseen by a board of directors led by Klaus Hommels, a chairman at Swiss VC Lakestar.
The fund will be based in the Netherlands. Amsterdam seems to be the preferred location for NIF’s headquarters, although no final decision has been made.
The Dutch government welcomed the establishment of the fund in the Netherlands, which is expected to “increase the possibility for innovative Dutch startups to gain access to capital.”
“In this way, we are strengthening what our country is good at, namely working on solutions for the future,” Micky Adriaansens, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, said.
NATO also plans to set up regional offices for the fund also plans to set up regional offices in London and Warsaw. Participating NATO member states in the fund are all from Europe (counting Türkiye).
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