• Royal Air Force Veteran Nicola Sinclair combines experience in the armed forces with investment expertise in defence and security to help connect early-stage founders with decision makers
• Investments to focus on science-led startups in the UK, EU, Nordics and Balkans

The NATO Innovation Fund, alongside Allocator One, is backing Twin Track Ventures, a deep tech fund, which invests and supports pre-seed and seed startups that serve both commercial, and defence and security customers.

At the helm of Twin Track Ventures, Nicola Sinclair brings 20 years of experience in national security, venture capital investing and science-led startups. Prior to launching Twin Track Ventures, Nicola served in the UK’s Armed Forces, where she led the Royal Air Force’s venture capital arm.

The fund invests in deep tech startups from across NATO – and specifically the UK, EU, Nordics and Balkans – with a focus on compute, communications, sensors and supply chain resilience: from energy to manufacturing and materials. It is targeting investment sizes ranging from £150K to £500K.

Recent research published by Twin Track Ventures found that while founders are building at the pace of conflict and VCs are helping beat the “Valley of Death” by supporting startups to address some of NATO nations’ most pressing needs, startups still face barriers to gaining government contracts – from needing to win them country-by-country to being unable to convert small contracts to larger ones.

With Nicola’s extensive experience in defence, security and deep tech, Twin Track Ventures is well-positioned to help connect early-stage founders with decision makers in defence and security, enabling them to penetrate this high-trust market.