Thorsten Claus
Founding Partner, NATO Innovation Fund · Founder, Thinkstorm Ventures
Thorsten Claus is a defense-tech investor and systems thinker with two decades of venture capital experience across Silicon Valley and Europe. He advises Balnord on fund-of-funds strategy, defense tech deal flow, and the European dual-use investment ecosystem.
Thorsten was a founding team member of the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) — the €1bn vehicle backed by 24 NATO allies to invest in deep tech and defense startups, where he led fund-of-funds investment activities. Before NIF, he built a two-decade career in Silicon Valley venture capital: as a Director at Northgate Capital focusing on direct investments in IT infrastructure, enterprise software, and mobile; as Principal at Next World Capital, an expansion-stage VC firm specializing in big data, cybersecurity, and enterprise software; and earlier as Senior Investment Manager at T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom with over $1bn AUM. He holds an MSc in Information Technologies from Technische Universität Darmstadt and was awarded the Deutsche Telekom International Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2005. He now operates through Thinkstorm Ventures, focused on defense, resilience, and critical infrastructure investing.