Ulrich Quay and Sander Verbrugge join the team as partners, while founding team partner Kelly Chen announces her departure.
Ulrich Quay, founder of carmaker BMW’s corporate VC arm, has joined the Nato Innovation Fund as partner.
Quay was most recently vice president of corporate investment management and joint ventures at BMW, following a 10-year stint as the founder and managing partner of BMW i Ventures, the investment unit of the auto company.
The Nato Innovation Fund also hired Sander Verbrugge, a Dutch PhD researcher in molecular biophysics, was previously partner at deep tech VC fund Innovation Industries. Prior to this, he was director at semiconductor manufacturing company NXP.
Kelly Chen, one of the original four founding partners of the Nato Innovation Fund, announced her departure on LinkedIn. She was previously partner at deep tech VC firm DCVC.
The team has retained Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky from the original partnership structure.
Established in 2022 and backed by 24 Nato allies, the Nato Innovation Fund is a standalone VC fund that invests in defence tech startups.
