Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux) have a steady flow of strong entrepreneurs and a few good VCs. Some of the biggest operating in the region includes GIMV, a large fund with Karl Naegler, one of their general partners a former colleague of mine sitting on the advisory board of The Founders Club. More recently Amsterdam was the birthplace of Startupbootcamp, which has quickly become the largest accelerator across Europe with locations sprouting up everywhere. We are organizing an event at their London location June 13. I have personally been to the Netherlands over 50 times on business and Belgium a number of times. I do find the Dutch challenging to negotiate with and a wise and successful enterprise salesman once told me his strategy to sell to the Dutch. He suggested that you just show them your costs and ask them what they are willing to pay so that you have some kind of margin to stay in business. Once you have made them want your product that’s the way to close them quickly and not get into a competitive auction and price / feature comparison that will go on for ages. He was talking about a big sale to KPN, their incumbent telecom operator. I dealt with all the telecom operators in the region and would agree with this assessment. Also good for the quick win and grow through Europe with KPN as a reference customer. The other thing I learned when running The Founders Club is that a lot of French and German entrepreneurs (mainly French) become Belgium residents or make sure that the holding company that owns the shares in the company they founded is domiciled in Belgium. In order to qualify as a Belgium resident they need to live there for 6 months and a day and that can be done by renting an apartment. I did notice French entrepreneurs “moving to Belgium” prior to their exits.
Compared to the primary European markets Benelux has smaller populations: Belgium at 11.4m, Netherlands at 16.8m, and Luxembourg at 531k. Interestingly, many European VCs are headquartered in Luxembourg for tax reasons. I think the guys from Mangrove actually do live there; they did well with their investment in Skype.
You will find below the League Table for Most Active VCs in Belgium. VentureSource results for a minimum of $3m in Belgium in 2010 to 2011. I prepared this information to go into my book and we decided to cut Europe from the book a while ago as the book was way too long. So this information is very, very outdated. More info at www.bvassociation.org
If you want to come to Europe this summer there is no better place to be in June than Stockholm and London. Join us!
Stockholm – The Future of Raising Angel & Venture Capital Funding – June 3
http://stockholmvcbible.eventbrite.com
Stockholm – The Future of Angel & Venture Capital Investing – June 4
http://futurevcstockholm.eventbrite.com
London – The Future of Angel & Venture Capital Investing – June 9
http://futureVC.eventbrite.com
London – The Future of Raising Angel & Venture Capital Funding – June 11
http://londonvcbible.eventbrite.com
League Table for Most Active VCs in Belgium
1 | Gimv NV | Antwerp, Belgium | Column1 | US$ 2,116 | 4 |
2 | LRM | Hasselt, Belgium | Government | US$ 601 | 4 |
3 | Capricorn Venture Partners NV | Leuven, Belgium | Venture Capital | US$ 135 | 3 |
4 | Credit Agricole Private Equity | Paris, France | US$ 4,456 | 2 | |
5 | Hummingbird Ventures | Antwerp, Belgium | Venture Capital | US$ 49 | 2 |
6 | Vesalius BioCapital Partners Sarl | Luxembourg, Luxembourg | Venture Capital | 2 | |
7 | BAMS Angels Fund | Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium | Inactive VC | 1 | |
8 | Belgacom SA | Brussels, Belgium | 1 | ||
9 | European Commission Grant | Sweden | Government | 1 | |
10 | Forbion Capital Partners | Naarden, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 240 | 1 |
11 | Hunza Management SARL | Luxemburg, Luxembourg | Venture Capital | 1 | |
12 | Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. | New Brunswick, NJ | Corp Development | 1 | |
13 | KBC Private Equity | Brussels, Belgium | US$ 541 | 1 | |
14 | Life Sciences Partners BV | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 601 | 1 |
15 | MP Healthcare Venture Management | Boston, MA | Venture Capital | 1 | |
16 | Partech International | San Francisco, CA | Venture Capital | US$ 800 | 1 |
17 | PMV | Brussels, Belgium | 1 | ||
18 | Robert Bosch Venture Capital | Stuttgart, Germany | Corporate Venture Capital | 1 | |
19 | Societe Regionale d’Investissement de Wa | Liege, Belgium | Venture Capital | US$ 1,120 | 1 |
20 | Sofinnova Partners | Paris, France | US$ 1,328 | 1 | |
21 | VIB | Gent, Belgium | 1 |
Netherlands has a few impressive VCs on the life sciences front, such as Forbion, Gilde Healthcare Partners and Life Science Partners BV. GIMV is very much at home in NL. I also like the guys from Van den Ende & Deitmers, the investment firm of Endemol (they once traveled up to Stockholm for one of my events there in June of 2009). Prime Technology Ventures is good for IT and has a strong position in the market. The Netherlands is a decent location to launch a tech startup as the country is relatively inexpensive, centrally located with a charming standard of living. A bit of angel funding can go a long way.
You will find below the League Table for Most Active VCs in the Netherlands. Same search as always, at least $3m invested in the Netherlands in 2010 – 2011. I prepared this information to go into my book and we decided to cut Europe from the book a while ago as the book was way too long. So this information is very, very outdated. More info at www.nvp.nl.
League Table for Most Active VCs in the Netherlands
1 | Aescap Venture | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 125 | 3 |
2 | Erasmus MC Biomedical Fund | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Venture Capital | 3 | |
3 | Life Sciences Partners BV | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 601 | 3 |
4 | BioGeneration Ventures | Naarden, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 24 | 2 |
5 | Credit Agricole Private Equity | Paris, France | US$ 4,456 | 2 | |
6 | De Hoge Dennen Capital PE BV | Laren, Netherlands | 2 | ||
7 | Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs | The Hague, Netherlands | Government | 2 | |
8 | Forbion Capital Partners | Naarden, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 240 | 2 |
9 | Gimv NV | Antwerp, Belgium | US$ 2,116 | 2 | |
10 | Prime Technology Ventures N.V. | Amstelveen, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 361 | 2 |
11 | Prime Ventures | Santa Monica, CA | Other | 2 | |
12 | 3TS Capital Partners | Prague, Czech Republic | US$ 272 | 1 | |
13 | Abbott Laboratories | Abbott Park, IL | Corp Development | 1 | |
14 | Accel Partners | Palo Alto, CA | Venture Capital | US$ 6,000 | 1 |
15 | Aglaia Biomedical Ventures | Netherlands | Venture Capital | 1 | |
16 | Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd. | Cambridge, United Kingdom | Venture Capital | US$ 844 | 1 |
17 | Antea Participaties | The Hague, Netherlands | US$ 19 | 1 | |
18 | Applied Ventures | Santa Clara, CA | Corporate Venture Capital | US$ 50 | 1 |
19 | Aster Capital SAS | Paris, France | Venture Capital | US$ 163 | 1 |
20 | Baekeland Fonds | Gent , Belgium | Venture Capital | 1 | |
21 | Bank Leumi Israel B.M. | Tel Aviv, Israel | Venture Capital | US$ 14 | 1 |
22 | Bay City Capital | San Francisco, CA | Venture Capital | US$ 1,550 | 1 |
23 | BB Biotech Ventures | Schaffhausen, Switzerland | Venture Capital | US$ 396 | 1 |
24 | Biox Biosciences | Netherlands | Corporation | 1 | |
25 | Capricorn Venture Partners NV | Leuven, Belgium | Venture Capital | US$ 135 | 1 |
26 | Fairbanks Investment Fund | *, WA | 1 | ||
27 | Gemma Frisius Fund | Leuven, Belgium | Venture Capital | US$ 22 | 1 |
28 | Gilde Healthcare Partners | Utrecht, Netherlands | Venture Capital | US$ 361 | 1 |
29 | Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | New York, NY | Investment Bank | US$ 3,750 | 1 |
30 | Idinvest Partners | Paris, France | Venture Capital | US$ 3,366 | 1 |
31 | ING Capital | New York, NY | Investment Bank | 1 | |
32 | Intel Capital | Santa Clara, CA | Corporate Venture Capital | US$ 1,449 | 1 |
33 | Inventages Venture Capital | Commugny, Switzerland | Venture Capital | US$ 1,200 | 1 |
34 | Lupus Ventures | Netherlands | Venture Capital | 1 | |
35 | Navitas Capital | Berkeley, CA | Venture Capital | 1 | |
36 | NoorderHuys Participaties | Joure, Netherlands | 1 | ||
37 | Novartis Venture Fund | Basel, Switzerland | Corporate Venture Capital | US$ 650 | 1 |
38 | OrbiMed Advisors LLC | New York, NY | Venture Capital | US$ 6,000 | 1 |
39 | Paul Capital Partners | San Francisco, CA | 1 | ||
40 | Pentair Inc. | Minneapolis, MN | Corporation | 1 | |
41 | Pfizer Inc. | New York, NY | Corp Development | 1 | |
42 | PPM Oost | Arnhem, Netherlands | Government | US$ 64 | 1 |
43 | Private Plus Fund | Nijehaske, Netherlands | Venture Capital | 1 | |
44 | Rabo Ventures | Netherlands | Venture Capital | 1 | |
45 | Sanders Morris Harris | Houston, TX | Investment Bank | US$ 300 | 1 |
46 | SET Venture Partners | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Venture Capital | 1 | |
47 | Seventure Partners SA | Paris, France | Venture Capital | US$ 601 | 1 |
48 | Shire | Corporation | 1 | ||
49 | Signet Healthcare Partners | New York, NY | 1 | ||
50 | Sofinnova Partners | Paris, France | US$ 1,328 | 1 |
Again, if you want to come to Europe this summer there is no better place to be in June than Stockholm and London. Join us!
Stockholm – The Future of Raising Angel & Venture Capital Funding – June 3
http://stockholmvcbible.eventbrite.com
Stockholm – The Future of Angel & Venture Capital Investing – June 4
http://futurevcstockholm.eventbrite.com
London – The Future of Angel & Venture Capital Investing – June 9
http://futureVC.eventbrite.com
London – The Future of Raising Angel & Venture Capital Funding – June 11
http://londonvcbible.eventbrite.com
You can view and buy my book on Amazon here.
Download a free chapter from the book on M&A here.
Twitter: @RomansVentures