Dutch pension funds PMT and PME invest €150M in third fund of Innovation Industries: Know more

Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek (PMT) and Pensioenfonds van de Metalektro (PME), announced on Tuesday, February 7, that both have invested €75M each in the third fund of Innovation Industries. 

The announcement comes as Innovation Industries, a Dutch deep tech venture capital firm, launches a third fund to provide capital to Deep Tech companies. 

PMT says that “hundreds of millions of euros will be invested in Dutch fast-growing technology companies that offer solutions to the major challenges of our time.”

Fund to raise upto €400M

In the first financing round, Innovation Industries raised €200M from the pension funds PMT and PME, Rabo Investments, the Brabant Development Agency (BOM), TNO, and private investors. 

The fund aims to raise €300M to €400M.

With the new fund, the Dutch VC is looking for about 15 deep tech startups and scale-ups focused on applying advanced technologies to solve complex societal bottlenecks in healthcare, agriculture, energy, and manufacturing.

Previously, Innovation Industries raised €275M with two similar funds. 

Since 2017, Innovation Industries has built a portfolio of 25 Dutch companies, which include Smart Photonics, Effect Photonics, Nearfield Instruments, Onera, Axelera AI, and Solynta.

PME: Manages pension rights of 620K participants

The Pension Fund of the Metal and Technological Industry (PME) manages the pension rights of approximately 620,000 participants. 

The sector includes 1,450 large and medium-sized companies, from shipyards to semiconductor manufacturers. The assets amount to more than €50B.

PME is the fifth-largest fund in the Netherlands and has invested €100M in the first two Innovation Industries funds. 

Marcel Andringa, executive director of PME, says, “Innovative startups and scale-ups are essential for the competitiveness of the Netherlands, the energy transition, and a circular net-zero economy. Availability and access to venture capital in all phases of life, from startup to scale-up, is extremely important for new technologies to come to fruition. In addition, these companies are fully in line with our sector.”

PMT: Largest market pension fund

Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek (PMT) is the largest market pension fund in the Netherlands. 

The fund works for approximately 34,000 companies where nearly 420,000 employees are currently building up a pension, claims the company. The assets amount to more than €75B. 

Hartwig Liersch, Chief Investment Officer of PMT, says, “PMT wants to contribute to sustainable employment and prosperity by driving innovation. We realize that with this impact investment. Good for our sector and for our participants.”

Victor van Will, Portfolio Manager MN, says, “It is important that homegrown institutional investors invest in the future of Dutch business. This way we keep knowledge and employment here while participants have the prospect of a good return. We hope that more pension investors will follow the example of PMT and PME because at the moment they are still the exception.”