Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and Invest-NL launch new €250M Deep Tech Fund

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The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK), which is committed to providing entrepreneurs room to innovate and grow, and Amsterdam-based investment company Invest-NL, announced on Thursday the launch of a new fund christened Deep Tech Fund (DTF).

The fund will invest €250M in total, of which €175M will be contributed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the rest by Invest-NL.

DTF will back knowledge-intensive startups and scale-ups to strengthen the technological knowledge and international competitive position of the Netherlands.

Wouter Bos, CEO of Invest-NL, says, “The opportunities in the Netherlands for industries that require a long horizon, with high investments, and high returns once it succeeds, are still limited. That is often due to a lack of financing. We are confident that the DTF will contribute in a positive way to making capital available to these companies so that they can continue to grow and thus contribute to the Netherlands of tomorrow.”

Invest-NL is a private company financed with public funds. Its goal is to make the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative. The government (Ministry of Finance) is the company’s shareholder, but Invest-NL decides which companies it will or will not finance.

Investment fund for innovative startups and scale-ups

According to a statement from Invest-NL, DTF wants to invest in companies with innovative, complex technology. It will back startups and scale-ups in sectors such as photonics, quantum technology, nanotech, and high tech to strengthen Netherlands’ technological knowledge.

Innovative companies, that are both knowledge and capital intensive, often find it difficult to raise funding as these technologies are new and have not yet proven themselves leading to high risks.

Economic Affairs and Climate minister Micky Adriaansens says, “It is important to support innovative technology in the Netherlands at an early stage. This helps to keep our economy globally competitive and to ensure the preservation of our prosperity and security. Knowledge-intensive startups and scale-ups need sufficient capital to be able to grow and scale up further. With funding, the Deep Tech Fund helps these companies to further develop their promising, complex technologies.”

The Deep Tech Fund operates as a co-investment fund and is incorporated as an independent part of Invest-NL. It has a specialised focus on deep tech, has independent fund management and an independent Investment Committee (IC), which provides binding advice.

CEO of Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), Brigit Van Dijk van de Reijt, says that the DTF was created in close cooperation with the Regional Development Companies (ROMs), which are currently one of the largest investors in deep tech.

The IC of the DTF is made up of Frits van Hout, Hans Büthker, Aruna Subramanian, Eline Vrijland, and Steven Tan. Frits van Hout says, “Innovative technology can make an important contribution to solving social issues and guaranteeing economic growth and high-quality employment for the future. Based on this, we will assess investment propositions and in this way enable suitable companies and sectors to grow rapidly.”

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Vishal Singh

Vishal Singh is a News Reporter and Social Media Marketing Lead at Silicon Canals. He covers developments in the European startup ecosystem and oversees the publication's social media presence. Before joining Silicon Canals, Vishal gained experience at the Indian digital media outlet Inc42, contributing to its growth with insightful content. Despite being a college dropout, his passion for writing has driven his career in journalism.

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