With the coronavirus disrupting our daily lives, it is hard to look forward and see what the future holds. That is, however, one of the core-activities of investors and VC’s. How are they approaching new investments in these unprecedented times? We spoke with three Amsterdam-based VCs including Peak Capital, Newion Investment and ASIF Ventures, to find out how they are faring.
Peak: ‘Always looking for companies’

The good news is, investors are still looking for good companies to invest their money in. None of the VCs we spoke to say they keep their wallets in their pockets. “We are always looking for companies that offer painkillers, not vitamins. Startups that offer a solution for a problem, and solve people’s pain. Those companies are less affected than the nice-to-haves,” says Johan van Mil, partner at Amsterdam-based VC Peak Capital. Just this week, Peak announced a €2.5 million investment round for German SaaS platform GraphCMS. Despite making it seem like it’s business as usual, some things are definitely different. Van Mil says: “I only saw the German team once. The rest was done through video calls. We invest in young companies, so our investments are also based on who the founder are.” With measures to prevent the virus from spreading, van Mil now has to make these judgement calls based on video calls.”