The first round of enterprises to get cash from the group’s one billion euro ($1.1 billion) innovation fund has been confirmed by a coalition of NATO members.
Months after Russia invaded Ukraine, in the summer of 2022, the alliance revealed the fund and pledged to invest in defense-enhancing technologies. Of the 32 nations that make up NATO, 24 of them—including Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance earlier this year—support the fund.
NATO Innovation Fund Invests in European Startups to Enhance Defense and Security
The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) announced on Tuesday that it has made direct investments in four European technology startups, with the intention of addressing defense, security, and resilience concerns.
The body has given financing to Germany’s ARX Robotics, which creates unmanned robots that can perform tasks like heavy lifting and surveillance, and to Fractile AI, a London-based computer chipmaker that aims to speed up large language models (LLMs) like those that power ChatGPT.
The other two businesses were Space Forge, a Welsh business that uses space conditions, such as microgravity and vacuum, to create semiconductors in orbit, and British firm iCOMAT, which produces lighter materials for automobiles.
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NATO Innovation Fund Partners with Venture Capital Firms to Boost Deep Tech Investments in Europe
According to Andrea Traversone, managing partner of the fund, “securing a safe and prosperous future for the alliance’s one billion citizens” requires enabling access to crucial technology.
In order to encourage additional deep tech investment on the continent, the fund has also teamed with venture capital firms Alpine Space Ventures, OTB Ventures, Join Capital, and Vsquared Ventures.
