Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky

Patrick manages NIF's activities in building capacity and ecosystem and is responsible for Central and Eastern Europe.

Working in our regional offices in London and Warsaw, he closely collaborates with startups, other VC funds, NATO DIANA, as well as industry and government partners to ensure the execution of NIF's mission to support entrepreneurship in advanced technologies and promote innovation in regions with too much talent and too little venture capital. Previously, Patrick was a founder and partner at Beast Ventures, where he focused on early-stage deep tech in Europe and invested in startups involved in food security, health, artificial intelligence, data, autonomous systems, and biotechnology. Before 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 holds a bachelor's degree in modern languages from the University of Oxford, a master's degree in U.S. foreign policy from the University of London, and a master's degree in management sciences from the 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 technology startups with governments – and a co-founder of MIT Alumni Angels U.K.