In a recent development, The Borski Fund has raised €21 million to invest in female-led scaleups. The Borski Fund is the first Dutch venture capital fund which aims to stimulate female entrepreneurship in The Netherlands. The three leading Dutch banks, ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank have jointly committed to the fund and have invested €5 million each.
International and national data has shown that female-led scaleups have difficulty raising growth capital. The Borski Fund aims to change this and sees an opportunity in this challenge. With this new fund, the fund aims to invest in ventures, which seek growth capital, for example to kick-start innovation in HR and Femtech. 15-20 companies will be able to seek funding in the next five years.
The Borski Fund is an initiative by The Next Women, a network for female entrepreneurship, and StartGreen Capital, the largest fund manager in the field of sustainability in the Netherlands.
Simone Brummelhuis (founder of The Next Women and initiator and fund director of the Borski Fund):
“Venture capital investors are mostly men, who are often inclined to invest into like-minded peers. As a result, female entrepreneurs sometimes even refrain from seeking funding from these parties, and therefore often do not raise the venture capital that they deserve.”
This new source of funding is used to stimulate the power of female entrepreneurs and gender-diverse teams, and to financially aid them in their growth. “The ambition to open a venture fund under the umbrella of The Next Women has always been a point of action. We have seen for a long time that there is plenty of interest and sufficient deal flow in the field. I am excited to be taking this step forward with the Borski Fund, together with Laura Rooseboom from StartGreen Capital.”
Daphne de Kluis, CEO Commercial Banking at ABN AMRO:
In practice, we see that female entrepreneurs have more difficulty accessing capital. Only a few percent of all start-up and scale-up financing goes to female entrepreneurs. We are happy to contribute to the Borski Fund and are convinced that the fund will make a positive contribution to female entrepreneurship in The Netherlands.
Annemein Kolk, director of Wholesale Business at ING in The Netherlands:
“Female entrepreneurs deserve to receive more attention from investors and banks. Research shows that although women generally receive less capital than male entrepreneurs, they are still able to generate more than twice as much turnover on invested capital. By giving these entrepreneurs more access to financial instruments through the Borski Fund, we may potentially be mobilising currently unused potential.”
Jan van Nieuwenhuizen, director of Wholesale Banking at Rabobank:
It is a great step forward that three major Dutch banks have jointly committed to the Borski Fund. In addition to a strong business case that will yield solid returns, the fund will boost female entrepreneurship in The Netherlands. There are certainly opportunities here that are currently not being sufficiently exploited.”
In addition to the three major banks, Van Lanschot, family offices and a large number of informal investors are also investing. These informal investors will also be involved in the companies that the Borski Fund will invest in. The fund has the ambition to attract more investors in the coming years.
Main image credits: The Borski Fund
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