Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky

Patrick leads capacity and ecosystem building at the NIF and is responsible for our Central and Eastern Europe coverage. Based between our regional offices in London and Warsaw, he works closely with startups, other VC funds, NATO’s DIANA, as well as industry and government partners, to ensure that the NIF delivers on its mission to boost deep tech entrepreneurship and foster innovation in regions where there is too much talent and too little venture capital.

Previously, Patrick was a founder and partner at Beast Ventures, where he focused on seed stage deep tech in Europe and invested in startups in food security, health, AI, data, autonomous systems and biotech. Prior to that, Patrick worked in foreign policy and spent several years in the corporate intelligence and security industry where he supported international companies operating in Central and Eastern Europe. Patrick has a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford, a MSc in US Foreign Policy from the University of London and a MS in Management Science from MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also the founder of Capital Acceleration for Sovereign Technology and Resilience (CASTAR) – a group focused on connecting dual use startups with government – and is a cofounder of MIT Alumni Angels U.K.