Two years after securing $1 billion in commitments from over 20 countries, the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) enters a new chapter marked by the arrival of two new partners and the departure of their penultimate founding team partners.
In the context of increasing military spending across NATO members, investment in double-use technologies has skyrocketed since the initiative was first announced in 2021.
This vibrant interest should have given the NIF the benefits of a First Me Bar, but the fund was hampered by management challenges and a series of well-known departures. After the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague reaffirmed its importance last June, NIF is now emerging with a nearly entirely new investment team. It consists of three partners.
NIF originally had four partners and one managing partner, but those familiar with NIF say this flat three-partner model will be a structure in the near future, suggesting that new adoption is not expected. These two appointments were previously rumored, but the identity of the new partner was not confirmed.
The two partners are new hires. These are Ulrich Quay and Sander Verbrugge, based in Amsterdam. A German citizen, Quay, recently took charge of corporate investment as BMW's vice president, previously founded and led the corporate venture fund BMW I Ventures. Verbrugge, a Dutch Dr. at Molecular Biophysics, was previously a partner at Deep Tech VC Fund Innovation Industries. The third partner is London-based VC Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, who is now the last member of the original investment team. Along with new recruits, the fund has announced the departure of founding team partner Kelly Chen. Kelly Chen confirmed with TechCrunch that it was her decision and that she would resign to build a new venture. Another founding team partner, Chris O'Connor, set out on a similar plan earlier this year.
Chen currently sits on the boards of several NIF-backed startups, but once employment at the NIF ends, the board's responsibilities will be transferred.
Some observers hope the fund will roll out its capital faster, but she said the NIF is “going on track to meet up.” [its] Invest your goals this year. NIF has made 19 investments since its establishment. Seven funds such as OTB ventures and 12 to startups such as Space Forge and Tekever create dual-used drones.
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Still, adding new partners with industrial and scientific backgrounds, no matter how impressive it is, may not satisfy those who wish the fund could invest in Ukraine or pure defense, in contrast to double use, depending on the Russian war economy. But it also follows the broader NIF paper, “Ensuring Deep High-Tech Founders can address the challenges of defense, security and resilience.”
However, the NIF has stepped up its efforts on the defense. The team is deeply involved in developing NATO's rapid recruitment action plan, with the aim of accelerating the adoption and integration of new technology products for defense. NIF is building a mission platform group with strategic recruitment, including John Ridge, who was hired as Chief Recruitment Officer in 2024 to help portfolio startups navigate military procurement.
As for the new partner, it was adopted again as something similar to “building a boy band” through the process previously described by VC Michael Jackson. This was identified by the NIF board, approved by the LPS, and approved by the LPS rather than teaming up based on sharing history or chemistry.
This may be inevitable for organizations that now count 24 countries as limited partners, but it was often pointed out as one of the reasons why the previous teams didn't gel. This time, all three partners met through the recruitment process and spent time together ever since, “ensure a smooth transition and place the team for long-term success,” Kontesi said.
In a statement shared solely with TechCrunch by NIF, Professor Fiona Murray, the vice-chairman of the NIF, he compared the organization with startups. “We are proud of what we have achieved, but as well as effective teams learning, experimenting and improving, we are more widely aware of the need to speed up processes, expand startup platform support, double the ecosystem construction, and build sectors and capital stacks.”
Murray expressed pride in bringing together qualified teams that can effectively, creatively and quickly collaborate. “They will be able to move faster and more decisively to promote the Alliance's technological agenda and support the best founders across European ecosystems,” she previously wrote in a joint statement with NIF Chairman Klaus Hommels.
While Hommels' other activities as an investor have prompted questions about possible conflicts of interest, it appears that his role has not changed during the NIF's recent LP meeting in Venice. The NIF appears to be set to learn more from its reorganization and help NATO become more resilient. “In this next phase, the NIF vice-chairman will refocus on the opportunities for DSR, highlighting the construction companies that can promote industrial scale and truly support the ecosystem across Europe.”