ALRT - Leader of UK's NATO accelerator program joins company right before launch of own accelerator program

Defence Holdings (ALRT) has announced that Hattie Mellor has joined the company to become their general manager. This is a big step towards future NATO partnerships and the company's accelerator program as the company expands it's connections.

**Who exactly is Hattie?** \- She was the head of partnerships at Janus Allies, the company chosen by the UK government to represent the country for NATO's DIANA scheme.

**What is NATO DIANA?** \- NATO's accelerator program for discovering and selecting defence technologies for adaptation into the defence systems of NATO countries.

**What did she do in this job?** \- Organised and connected defence companies with stakeholders and member states.

Essentially, Hattie's job was getting to know everyone in the defence industry, representatives from nation's defence departments and people interested in funding it all. In terms of people experienced with sovereign defence tech accelerator programs, there aren't many out there with better qualifications.

What makes this all the more interesting is that DH is set to launch their own accelerator program next week, wherein 10 start-ups will receive the backing and mentorship of DH's experienced board in return for stakes in the companies. This hiring, right before the program is set to launch, shows DH either expects or knows the program will be a large part of their business foundations going forward.

This accelerator program is additionally interesting as it forms the basis of DH's partnership with Oracle - wherein Oracle offers priority access to the program to it's own defence partners - so the companies being brought in may have pre-existing connections to Oracle. DH explicity states that they had heavy interest in the scheme, and that they've had to hand-pick the ones they saw as the best opportunities. We also know DH have already connected with the UK government as they were invited to a private discussion on a sovereign AI defence fund a few months back

In regards to other aspects of the company; the trial contract with the UK MoD is set to end in the next month, and if the trial was successful, we could see a full implementation and large contract secured for the service. While not guranteed, historical cases of trial defence tech contracts have resulted in renewal contracts worth 20-30x the trial value (as they are often 5 year terms rather than 3 months). This could result in a contract worth millions if the trial succeeds, though there is no gurantee in this.

The company's current share price of around 0.8p with a market cap around £20M is, as it has been since the company started last year, difficult to evaluate as the company didn't start generating revenue until this quarter - so it's been based on cash, connections and potential. Once a scope of revenue / profit is available, the stock could see a swift change. It's again hard to say what sort of premium the stock would receieve relative to it's revenue / profit as it's the sole (AFAIK) UK-listed AI defence company; it's likely the AI/defence relation will help it, but it being UK-listed is no-doubt a hinderance on it's ability to move and attract hype.

TLDR; AI defence start-up with government connections / contracts is launching an accelerator program after hiring someone who ran accelerator programs for NATO.