Unleashing Bulgarian Deep Tech Startups: NATO’s Innovation Fund Opportunities

The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), a €1 billion multi-sovereign venture capital fund, recently held an information session in Sofia, Bulgaria to showcase opportunities for Bulgarian tech startups. The fund focuses on supporting innovation in emerging technologies such as AI, quantum technologies, and biotechnology, which align with NATO’s priorities. NIF’s commitment is to support startups from the Seed to Series B funding stages. The event highlighted the potential opportunities for the Bulgarian tech startup ecosystem to benefit from NIF’s funding. The Minister of Innovation and Growth in Bulgaria, Milena Stoycheva, emphasized that Bulgaria has great potential in the innovation scene. The NIF structure and operation were further explained by Senior Associate Benjamin Balmforth. NIF focuses on nine emerging and disruptive technologies, including AI, quantum technologies, energy and propulsion, and biotechnology. Tech companies from all 23 European NATO member countries are eligible to apply for funding. NIF’s sub-fund 1 provides direct investment into startups with rapid adoption potential, as well as indirect investments through other deep tech VCs. The fund will be present at deep tech conferences and will focus on European companies with international reach. The goal is to support startups from Seed to Series B funding to enhance the development and deployment of new technological products. NIF’s internal team, which is separate from NATO, includes Andrea Traversone as a Managing Partner and Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, who leads ecosystem building at NIF. The fund will work closely with the European Innovation Council (EIC) to identify emerging technologies and develop the innovation ecosystem in Europe.