NATO’s $1.1B innovation fund invests in AI, robots and space tech

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• The NATO Innovation Fund, backed by 24 of NATO’s 32 member states, invested directly in four European tech companies it said would help address challenges in defense, security, and resilience.
• The companies are London-based computer chipmaker Fractile, Germany’s ARX Robotics, British manufacturer iCOMAT, which makes lighter materials for vehicles, and Welsh company Space Forge, which harnesses the conditions of space to build semiconductors in-orbit.
• NATO unveiled the innovation fund shortly after the start of Russia’s Ukraine invasion in 2022.

A consortium of NATO allies has confirmed the first tranche of companies awarded funding as part of the group’s $1.1 billion innovation fund.

The alliance unveiled the fund in the summer of 2022, months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, promising to invest in technologies that would enhance its defenses. The fund is backed by 24 of NATO’s 32 member states, including Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance earlier this year.

On Tuesday, the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) confirmed it had directly invested in four European tech companies, which it said would help address challenges in defense, security, and resilience.

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The $1.1 billion NATO Innovation Fund announced the first round of technology companies in which it invested, which focuses on AI, robotics and computers. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)

The body has allocated funding to Fractile, a London-based computer chipmaker aiming to make large language models (LLMs) like those that power ChatGPT run faster, as well as Germany’s ARX Robotics, which designs unmanned robots with functions ranging from heavy-lifting to surveillance.

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The other two startups were British manufacturer iCOMAT, which makes lighter materials for vehicles, and Space Forge, a Welsh company that harnesses the conditions of space – such as microgravity and vacuum conditions – to build semiconductors in-orbit.

“Enabling access to strategic technologies is key to securing a safe and prosperous future for the alliance’s one billion citizens,” said Andrea Traversone, the fund’s managing partner.

The fund has also partnered with venture capital firms Alpine Space Ventures, OTB Ventures, Join Capital and Vsquared Ventures to support further investment in deep tech on the continent.