European Investment Fund opens Amsterdam office for the Benelux

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is opening an office representation for the Benelux in Amsterdam as part of its new strategy to be closer to the markets and enhance its impact.

Yesterday, the European Investment Fund (EIF) announced the opening of a new office for the Benelux region at the tenth anniversary of the EIB Group office in Amsterdam, where it will be located. 

The EIF Amsterdam office, spearheaded by the fund’s veteran Peter Coveliers, strives to increase its footprint in the Netherlands by building closer cooperation with the public and private sectors. 

The EIF aims to strengthen its position in local markets as part of its new strategy. This will increase local entrepreneurs’ and intermediaries’ awareness of the EIF’s capabilities and facilitate access to financing.

EIF: support SMEs across Europe

EIF Deputy Chief Executive Roger Havenith says, “The European Investment Fund’s mission is to support European SMEs wherever possible. To do that in the best possible way, we need to be close to the market.”

He furthermore states that EIF has worked with many partners in the Netherlands, including the government, national promotional institutions, financial intermediaries, banks, guarantors, and venture capital funds. 

Havenith: “We need to keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the Netherlands and regularly discuss how we can be helpful and make an impact. Being present on the ground allows us to receive feedback and engage with our counterparts to make things happen rather than operating remotely from Luxembourg.”

The EIF seeks to promote EU objectives and support SME and startup entrepreneurship, growth, innovation, research and development, green and digital transitions, and employment. 

Fund-of-fund

European Investment Fund is not an investment fund but a fund-of-fund that allocates capital to intermediaries  – investors and creditors who make the actual investments.

It does so through investing in VC funds, such as the Dutch Future Fund II in conjunction with Invest-NL, or through partners like banks (Rabobank, Triodos, Aegon) and credit facilitators like Qredits. 

Hence, opening a Benelux office in Amsterdam, according to Havenith, is “a logical next step to serve our intermediaries, such as local banks and the local VC sector, and thus ultimately SMEs, even better.”

In recent years, the EIF has thus strengthened the Dutch economy by making €5.6 billion available through 164 local intermediaries and supporting over €29 billion in investments through over 35,000 companies.

KPIs

What are the KPIs for the EIF with their newly founded Benelux office? Havenith doesn’t want to boast clear targets upfront because EIF operates in a demand-driven manner. 

“But we see huge potential in the Netherlands to do even more. This is true on the debt side, but even more so on the equity side because, let’s face it, the Netherlands is quite a mature ecosystem compared to other European countries. It’s far from perfect yet, but we’ll follow where the market evolution takes us, as well as the political priorities.”

Havenith mentions priorities in areas ranging from AI to microchips, life sciences and space technology, but also agritech, food tech, deep tech and the new economy. 

“All kinds of things, really. It’s a very wide range,” Havenith concludes, “I’m sure I left out some here. There are also amazing universities in the area, and ensuring the transition from research to commercialisation is important, too.”