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December 9, 2025

NATO Innovation Fund forced to pay €52k to former partner

Founding partner Thorsten Claus earned almost €700k a year at the taxpayer-funded firm, court documents from August reveal

Anne Sraders and Freya Pratty

3 min read

The NATO Innovation Fund was forced to pay a founding partner €52,500 following a legal dispute over a partially-paid discretionary bonus, Dutch court filings from the summer show. 

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Anne Sraders

Anne Sraders is a senior reporter at Sifted, based in Berlin. She covers the VC industry and deeptech startups. She also writes Sifted's weekly VC newsletter Up Round. Follow her on X and LinkedIn

Freya Pratty

Freya Pratty is Sifted's associate editor. She covers UK tech and leads Sifted's investigations. Follow her on X , LinkedIn and Bluesky

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