Amsterdam-based DFF Ventures (previously Dutch Founders Fund) has announced the launch of its third fund — DFF Ventures III, and has successfully secured €50M of its €60M target.

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The firm aims to support a diverse range of sectors, including Vertical AI, recommerce platforms, and marketplaces.

The first close of Fund III was reached quickly at €50M, with a hard close of €60M expected in Q1 next year.

DFF Ventures: Sector agnostic, but founder specific

Founded by a group of successful Dutch entrepreneurs behind companies such as WeTransfer, fonQ, Just Eat, and Treatwell, DFF Ventures has maintained a founder-first mindset throughout its investments.

The firm specialises in early-stage funding, providing investment amounts ranging from €250,000 to €2.5M, often before products have been launched.

In a strategic move to align with its international aspirations, the firm transitioned from the Dutch Founders Fund to DFF Ventures earlier this year.

“People were calling us DFF anyway,” says Laurens Groenendijk, founding partner. “The update reflects our international focus and clears up some confusion, since we don’t just invest in Dutch founders and we’re not tied to the Dutch government.”

Broadening the scope with Fund III

With the new fund, DFF Ventures is poised to make significant contributions to the startup ecosystem across Europe and beyond.

While the first two funds focused mainly on marketplaces, Fund III broadens the scope.

Vertical AI is seen as a promising approach, where startups focus on one industry. They start by offering tools for workflow, then slowly add services like financing and logistics. Eventually, these companies can become essential to entire industries.

Maarten Engelen, Partner, explains, “You go very deep into one industry. It starts with a workflow tool, an ‘operating system’ for that sector, and then you gradually expand, adding financing, logistics, and eventually transactional layers, such as a marketplace, on top. You’re trading market size for market share, but in doing so, you can become indispensable. The beauty is that you start as a tool, but you end up as the backbone of an entire industry.”

DFF Ventures has already built a portfolio of 40 startups across 14 countries.

In the Netherlands, names such as Shypple, Nostics and Alleo (formerly YourCampus) have become familiar, while internationally companies like Metycle, Cofrai, Getmobil, Northladder and Fleequid illustrate the focus on digitising the physical backbone of the economy.

Some are still at an early stage, while others are scaling and facing new challenges.

“These are exactly the kinds of companies that prove our thesis,” adds Patrick Kerssemakers. “They digitise the physical backbone of the economy—from logistics to recycling—and show that even in an AI-driven world, value can come from transforming the industries that keep everything moving.”

As with its earlier funds, DFF Ventures III is deliberately kept small and is backed exclusively by entrepreneurs and family offices. This provides a fast and hands-on model that matches the pace of the founders the fund supports.

“I honestly don’t know how €500M funds plan to return capital to their LPs,” says Groenendijk. “For simplicity, imagine you still own 10% at exit: you’d need a €5B outcome just to return the fund once. VC is a game of outliers, and while such outcomes are possible, they are the exception, not the rule. By keeping our fund lean, the model works better for our LPs, our founders, and us.