The municipality of Rotterdam announced on Wednesday, May 24, that it is making €2.6M available to the UNIIQ proof-of-concept fund.
Hans Dreijklufft, fund manager at UNIIQ, and Robert Tans, task manager for innovation at the Municipality of Rotterdam, shared the funding news during the Upstream Festival held in Rotterdam.
The Upstream Festival is an annual event that connects international startups and scale-ups that are driving the transition to a digital, carbon-neutral, circular, and inclusive new economy.
To support innovative companies
This financial injection aims to support promising and innovative companies actively contributing to the development of smart energy solutions and building a future-proof economy.
UNIIQ will distribute the allocated funding.
In addition to Rotterdam’s contribution, South Holland, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, and the HEID Foundation have also pledged their support with a total of €10M being made available to innovative startups in the Rotterdam region over the next few years.
The Municipality of Rotterdam said it committed to this investment in 2020, and this week, the investment has gone into action.
Designed as a revolving investment, a substantial portion of the returns generated by this initiative will be reinvested back into the municipality.
Alderman Robert Simons (for Economy) says, “Together with other governments, we can give startups a big boost in starting and growing their business thanks to these investments. That is good for prosperity, employment, and innovation in Rotterdam and the surrounding area.”
Provide seed capital
UNIIQ plans on helping promising businesses that contribute to the transition of South Holland in their early stages.
The UNIIQ fund offers entrepreneurs seed capital to realise plans and bridge the riskiest phase from concept to promising company.
UNIIQ provides financing to innovative and academic startups within the RIS3 (Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation) sectors, mainly in Cleantech, Life Sciences & Health, Safety & Security, Horticulture, Smart Industry, and Crossovers in South Holland.
Besides financing, UNIIQ also offers intensive guidance to ensure products reach the market faster. The financing per application is € 350,000 and is available as a subordinated loan.
Rotterdam houses a growing and thriving community of nearly 1,700 active startups in Smart Logistics, Life Sciences, Deeptech, Megatronics, and Cleantech.
The municipality of Rotterdam contributes to the Early Phase Financing Fund powered by UNIIQ, creating a flywheel effect.
UNIIQ
The UNIIQ fund is managed by a team of investment professionals from which the partners are represented – Innovation Quarter, Leiden University, Erasmus MC, and TU Delft.
In 2021, Erasmus University became a member of the fund.
Since 2021, Early Phase Financing (VFF) have been invested with UNIIQ, and an application for VFF is in line with the proven UNIIQ investment process.
UNIIQ is made possible in part by the European Union.
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