sander verbrugge

T3 · host / generalist

Partner at the NATO Innovation Fund, a multi-sovereign venture fund backed by 24 NATO allies investing in defense, security, and resilience technologies. Previously at Innovation Industries. Leads investments in dual-use deep tech and works with the fund's mission platform group connecting portfolio companies to MoD demand signals.

4 calls·4 names·100% bull·last heard 5 months ago·Scaling Europe
track record

no scored calls yet — needs a stated position or a categorical verdict, with a matured window vs SPY

top calls

highest conviction · one per company
1sthigh conviction
$UPLIFT-360Uplift 360position

NIF-backed Uplift 360 recycles defense-grade fiber composites for resilience and circular supply chains

Uplift 360's low-energy recycling of glass fiber from end-of-life defense materials and wind turbine blades creates a resilience play by recovering up to 100% virgin-quality material, reducing strategic dependencies with partnerships and prime contracts already in place.

2ndhigh conviction
$NATO-INNOVATION-FUNDNATO Innovation Fundposition

NATO Innovation Fund partner sees DSR ecosystem maturing with 4x VC growth in 5 years

The defense, security and resilience venture ecosystem in Europe has grown 4x over five years, with late-stage rounds proving technology validation and revenue generation, enabling the fund to draw in broader capital stacks including debt and private equity.

3rdhigh conviction
$ARXARX Roboticsposition

NIF portfolio company ARX deploys autonomous land vehicles in Ukraine with MoD contracts

ARX's robotics-based autonomous land vehicles have achieved product-market fit with functioning portfolios, live deployment in Ukraine, and initial MoD contracts, positioning them for near-term fundraising and scale in the sensor-to-actuator defense chain.

4 total
$UPLIFT-360
Uplift 360
HIGHsander verbrugge·Scaling Europe·5 months ago· position
NIF-backed Uplift 360 recycles defense-grade fiber composites for resilience and circular supply chains
Uplift 360's low-energy recycling of glass fiber from end-of-life defense materials and wind turbine blades creates a resilience play by recovering up to 100% virgin-quality material, reducing strategic dependencies with partnerships and prime contracts already in place.
"This is actually a recycling uh company... what they're able to do is to they use fiberbased materials and quite defense has quite a lot of them at the end of life... they can rec…"
18:12
$NATO-INNOVATION-FUND
NATO Innovation Fund
HIGHsander verbrugge·Scaling Europe·5 months ago· position
NATO Innovation Fund partner sees DSR ecosystem maturing with 4x VC growth in 5 years
The defense, security and resilience venture ecosystem in Europe has grown 4x over five years, with late-stage rounds proving technology validation and revenue generation, enabling the fund to draw in broader capital stacks including debt and private equity.
"We recently reported... the DSR ecosystem has significantly grown from a venture capital investment perspective over 25... compared to over the last 5 years, it has even grown 4x.…"
1:03
$IQM
IQM Quantum Computers
IQM highlighted as quantum leader driving Finland's rise in European defense tech funding
IQM's large funding round exemplifies the maturing European defense tech ecosystem where early deep-tech companies are now reaching mega-round scale, signaling commercial validation for quantum computing in defense applications.
"here you can think about IQM in the quantum space but definitely also in the drone space we've seen multi uh multiple rounds above hundreds of millions"
6:06
$ARX
ARX Robotics
HIGHsander verbrugge·Scaling Europe·5 months ago· position
NIF portfolio company ARX deploys autonomous land vehicles in Ukraine with MoD contracts
ARX's robotics-based autonomous land vehicles have achieved product-market fit with functioning portfolios, live deployment in Ukraine, and initial MoD contracts, positioning them for near-term fundraising and scale in the sensor-to-actuator defense chain.
"ARXs is doing really well. They have a robotics based solutions, autonomous or semi-autonomous solution that is a land-based unmanned vehicle... they are getting good first contra…"
19:24