San Francisco, CA, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NightDragon, the global venture capital and advisory firm investing in cybersecurity, defense, and AI companies, today announced it has joined the NATO DIANA Capital Network (NDCN), the trusted capital arm of NATO’s Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). NightDragon is part of the network's first cohort of investor members, which formally launches on September 21.
Membership was granted following a rigorous review process, during which NightDragon was screened against NATO's due diligence standards for private investment funds. The NDCN is a curated community of sovereign, sovereign-backed, and private investors from across the Alliance's 32 member nations, brought together to deploy capital into the dual-use technologies most critical to transatlantic security.
“As the pace of dual-use innovation accelerates, capital and defense priorities need to move in the same direction, and collaboration needs to increase across borders. That’s exactly what the NATO DIANA Capital Network is built to do,” said Dave DeWalt, Founder and CEO of NightDragon. “Joining this network gives us a formal position inside NATO’s innovation ecosystem, and it reinforces the thesis we’ve been building toward: that the most important technology decisions in national security increasingly get made at the intersection of government, industry, and private capital. We’re proud to stand alongside this group of trusted investors, and we look forward to putting this access to work for our portfolio, our investors and for the Alliance.”
For NightDragon, NDCN membership provides:
- Sourcing and Pipeline Access - A differentiated sourcing channel into DIANA-validated companies - technologies that have already been selected against defined NATO defense and security challenges and tested across the Alliance, as well as regular demo days and Summits for access to innovation.
- Market Insights - Improved visibility into NATO and Allied defense priorities and demand signals, helping inform where emerging technologies are most likely to see adoption and what innovation categories are gaining traction.
- Portfolio Support Capabilities - A pathway to support portfolio companies as they engage with military end users, procurement experts, and more than 200 test centers across NATO member countries.
- Expanded Network Access - Access to a screened, Alliance-aligned network of co-investors for relationship-building and potential syndication.
"The strength of the NATO DIANA Capital Network comes from the caliber and diversity of the investors in it, including sovereign funds, institutional investors, and venture firms from across the Alliance, all screened to the same trusted-capital standard. Bringing NightDragon into that network adds deep expertise in cybersecurity and national security technology, exactly the kind of specialist perspective that helps our portfolio companies find the right capital at the right stage,” said Ryan Benitez, Chief Commercial Officer at NATO DIANA.
The 24 peers in the cohort announced September 21 include:
- Alpine Space Ventures
- Archangel
- Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
- Bpifrance
- DTCP
- EDT Ventures
- Expeditions Fund
- Expansion Ventures
- Inflection
- Investinor
- Lockheed Martin
- MD One Ventures
- METU70 Ventures
- National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF)
- NATO Innovation Fund (NIF)
- NightDragon
- OTB Ventures
- Tech Horizons
- Project A
- SecFund Netherlands
- Sunfish Partners
- Twin Track VC
- Vsquared VC
- WatchKeeper Ventures
About NightDragon
NightDragon is a global investment and advisory firm focused on growth and late-stage investments in cybersecurity, defense, and AI. Its platform and vast industry network provide unparalleled threat insights, deal flow, market leverage and operating expertise to drive portfolio company growth and increase shareholder value. Founded by Dave DeWalt, the NightDragon team has more than 25 years of operational and market expertise leading technology companies such as Documentum, EMC, Siebel Systems (Oracle), McAfee, Mandiant, Avast and FireEye. Read more about NightDragon at www.nightdragon.com.
About the NDCN
The NATO DIANA Capital Network (NDCN) is a curated, NATO-screened community of trusted investors committed to backing the dual-use and deep-technology companies emerging from the DIANA programme.
Members are sovereign and sovereign-backed funds, leading venture capital firms, family offices, and institutional investors drawn from across the 32 NATO Allied nations.
The NDCN provides its members with structured access to DIANA’s screened company pipeline, direct connections to fellow Alliance investors, invitations to closed convenings with NATO leadership and end-users, and a zero-fee model from DIANA itself.
About NATO DIANA
NATO DIANA finds and accelerates cutting-edge technologies to deliver battle-winning defence and security solutions for the Alliance, while fostering deep-tech innovation.
As a cornerstone of NATO’s innovation and technology strategy, DIANA brings together world-class talent and the latest advancements to maintain the Alliance’s technological edge. Leveraging a network of leading accelerator sites, test centres, expert mentors, and Allied expertise across 32 countries, DIANA empowers innovators working at the intersection of defence readiness, commercial potential, and technological breakthrough.
