Martin Coulter
LONDON (Reuters) – A coalition of NATO member states has confirmed the first wave of companies to receive funding as part of the group’s 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) innovation fund.
NATO announced the fund in the summer of 2022, months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pledging to invest in technologies to bolster defense capabilities. The fund is backed by 24 of NATO’s 32 member states, including Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance earlier this year.
The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) confirmed on Tuesday that it has made direct investments in four European technology companies that it said will contribute to solving defence, security and resilience challenges.
The group has allocated funding to Fractile, a London-based computer chip maker that aims to speed up the large-scale language models (LLMs) that power ChatGPT, and ARX Robotics, a German company that designs unmanned robots with a wide range of functions from heavy lifting to surveillance.
The other two startups are iCOMAT, a British manufacturer of lightweight materials for vehicles, and Space Forge, a Welsh company that uses the conditions of space, such as microgravity and the vacuum of space, to manufacture semiconductors in orbit.
“Enabling access to strategic technologies is key to ensuring a safe and prosperous future for the Alliance’s one billion citizens,” said Andrea Traverson, managing partner of the foundation.
The fund has also partnered with venture capital firms Alpine Space Ventures, OTB Ventures, Join Capital and V Squared Ventures to support further deep tech investments on the continent.
(This story has been corrected to say “Fractile” instead of “Fractile AI” in the fourth paragraph)
(Reporting by Martin Coulter and Bill Berkrott Editing by
