EIF IN THE
NETHERLANDS
Investing in the future of Dutch SMEs
Small and medium-size enterprises are the heart of the Dutch economy.
Representing 99% of all businesses and more than two thirds of the workforce, the Netherlands' 1,504,000 SMEs are responsible for driving innovation as well as spurring on growth, and their daily routine is what ensures the competitiveness of the Dutch economy. But to do that, they often need finance.
At the same time, as the smallest actors in the economy, they are often the hardest hit when the economy encounters turbulence, which is why it is so crucial for them to have financial options in order to maintain and eventually grow their businesses.
At the EIF, our mission is to improve access to finance for small businesses across the EU. In the Netherlands, we have been supporting SMEs using a broad range of instruments, including many tailored to the needs of the Dutch market and designed with the Dutch government and local authorities.
As a result, we've been able to support more than 38,000 Dutch businesses, ranging from companies specialising in semiconductors, e-commerce, and blockchain-based technology for the energy grid, making sure they have the financial fuel they need to pursue their ambitions.
Our intention is to continue to extend this type of support to the Dutch market, making access to finance easier as we collectively move towards a greener, digital and more inclusive Europe.
Success stories
The Colour Kitchen
Success stories
The Colour Kitchen
“We pride ourselves in being a place where you can be who you are, where you can discover your talents and ultimately bring out the best in yourself,” says Christine de Mes, Director of The Colour Kitchen Foundation, a chain of restaurants and in-house catering that employs people from vulnerable groups of society.
“We have 4 restaurants and 19 in-house catering locations across the Netherlands, all of which employ people that have difficulties in finding or keeping jobs. We train them in the food industry until they are capable of finding a stable income to sustain themselves,” Christine explains. “Whether they are immigrants, ex-prisoners, people from troubled homes or with autism, that doesn’t matter to us,” she adds, “Anyone who needs it can get a chance with us.”
Ultimately, the goal is to bring out the best in people. “We need to move beyond social diversity and acknowledge our students’ different talents and encourage them to reach their full potential,” says Christine.
Sector Social enterprise
Purpose Scaling-up, opening new restaurants, hiring staff
FlexiDAO
“I think, more than anything, it’s the acceleration of the energy transition towards greener energy— that’s what drives us,” says Joan Collell, co-founder and COO of FlexiDAO, a company that specialises in developing software for the energy sector. “Essentially, our software uses blockchain technology to bring more transparency to the energy grid. Lots of consumers think that buying green energy certificates is good, but, with limited transparency, there are no direct links between your actions and the production of green energy,” explains Joan.
Active in the B2B space, FlexiDAO sells its software to energy suppliers like EDP and Total, helping them to offer a reliable CSR service to their clients, who in turn can track the matching of their consumption to the production of green energy. “Our software doesn't replace current energy certification systems. We simply add a transparency layer of information so that consumers can make more environmentally impactful decisions.”
Sector Energy
Purpose Product development, international growth, sales
Qualinx
“Our aim is quite simple: Low power, low cost, small size, always on,” says Tom Trill, CEO of Qualinx, a Delft-based semiconductor company specialising in tracking and connectivity solutions. Underlining the strategic importance of the company’s work, Tom sees what the company is working on as a real game-changer: “This is essential technology for the European semi-conductor industry. We’ve broken a physics barrier that was established for over 40 years, and we have an IP position that’s very unique.”
As he explains, “There’s global concern about the security of any asset, especially as it moves. Most tracking efforts of these assets are satellite-based, but there are lots of breakpoints in the connectivity. To achieve universal connectivity, you need a multi-chip solution. We offer a single-chip solution that is universally applicable. And we can deliver that in smaller size than any one of the others and at a lower power envelope and cost. Price, power, performance—all three metrics deliver equal value.”
Sector Semi-conductors
Purpose Product development
Trunkrs
“The thing about ecommerce is that, even if you live in a small village, the internet offers everything at your fingertips. It’s awesome,” says Jan Wijn, CEO of Trunkrs, a logistics company based in Nieuwegein. “We had two main ideas,” Jan explains. “We wanted to be consumer-centric, and we wanted to be sustainable.” From his long experience working in logistics, Jan argues that logistics companies are typically not sensitive enough to the needs of their clients.
“We designed our IT system ourselves with the end-consumer in mind, making it as convenient as possible. We built it all in such a way that the consumer is in control.” At the same time, Trunkrs pursues a very sustainable business model, and everything starts with the innovative software platform that provides detailed insights of the full delivery chain to all actors and unlocks optimal dynamic planning of parcel deliveries. “First of all, we’re asset-light: we don’t own assets—no vans, no buildings. We work with courier services and delivery services. They use our IT system and our app. It makes everything much more efficient.”
Sector Logistics
Purpose Product development, growth
Yumeko
“We want to guarantee that the products our customers sleep under are made in a sustainable manner, without causing damage to people, animals or the environment,” says Rob van den Dool, co-founder and CEO of Yumeko, a social enterprise based in Amsterdam that uses ecological and fair-trade materials such as cotton, wool, linen and tencel to make bedding. “The materials used to produce duvets, sheets and pillows are potentially toxic and difficult to grow,” says Rob. “Farmers often have to indebt themselves heavily to purchase expensive pesticides and fertilizers to care for their crops.”
Rob is committed to promoting a more sustainable and ecological form of agriculture which is at the same time socially responsible and has partnered with fair-trade cooperatives and producers. “Our Fairtrade certificate guarantees that we pay fair prices to cotton farmers and the professionals who make our products. We actually pay our Indian organic cotton farmers over 30% more than what they would earn otherwise. They receive a pension and health insurance and work normal working hours, and women are treated the same in the cotton cooperatives as men,” he explains.
Sector Retail, manufacturing
Purpose Scale-up
Key figures
Figures as of December 2024
Over
of EIF financing
Transactions with financial intermediaries
Equity investments since inception
Guarantees support since inception
made available for
Dutch businesses
Mandates in focus
The EIF continues to deploy capital in the Netherlands under a wide range of strategic programmes and mandates. Below are brief summaries of our main initiatives in the Netherlands.
InvestEU
The InvestEU programme provides the EU with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It is helping to mobilise private investments for the EU's policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. The InvestEU Programme brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments previously available to support investment in the EU, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.
RCR
The EIB’s Risk Capital Resources (RCR) is the core pillar of the EIF’s equity activity. It has enabled us to pursue our equity strategy in the venture capital and growth segments for more than 25 years. In 2024, RCR accounted for about 24% of our equity activity, committing €1.7bn to financial intermediaries.
EFSI
The European Fund for Strategic Investments formed part of the EU's Investment Plan for Europe, launched by the European Commission in 2015. EFSI addressed market gaps in financing - whether in infrastructure, research, energy efficiency or risk finance for SMEs – and mobilised private investment into these areas. Through EFSI the EIF deployed €10.5bn in resources of the European Commission, the EIB and the EIF to improve access to finance for SMEs and small midcaps.
REPowerEU
The EU launched REPowerEU in 2022 to reduce dependence on fossil-fuel imports and accelerate the green transition. To support the plan, in October 2022, the EIB Group developed a package of measures focussing on renewable energy, energy efficiency, electricity networks and on deepening its engagement in green innovation and breakthrough technologies. Under REPowerEU, the EIF will invest €4.5bn by 2027 through EIF equity products.
EGF
The European Guarantee Fund was created by the EIB Group with contributions from the Netherlands and other Member States to protect companies struggling in the crisis caused by COVID-19. With almost €25bn in guarantees, the EGF allowed the EIB and EIF to swiftly offer companies, mostly SMEs and mid-caps, access to loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, capital and other financial instruments. The EGF forms part of the package of recovery measures put in place by the EU, with the objective of providing a total of €540bn to support the hardest hit sectors of the European economy.
DVI
The Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI) is a €202.5m fund-of-funds initiative of the EIF and Oost NL, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), launched in 2013 to boost equity investments into innovative and/or high-tech early and development stage enterprises in the Netherlands. DVI II is a €200m Venture and Growth Capital fund-of-funds initiative, launched in 2016, and aimed at investing in fast growing and innovative companies. The fund-of-funds targeted companies in sectors like ICT, clean-tech, med-tech, renewable energy and life sciences, through primary investments in Dutch oriented Venture Capital funds.
EAF Netherlands
The European Angels Fund Netherlands is a €45m initiative funded by the Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), a fund-of-funds initiative advised by the EIF. EAF Netherlands was established in 2015 as a compartment under the regulated European Angels Fund umbrella structure focusing on investment activity in The Netherlands. It aims to provide equity to Business Angels and other non-institutional investors to finance innovative companies in the form of co-investments.
ETCI
The European Tech Champions Initiative was launched in February 2023 with EIB Group resources alongside contributions from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and hopefully soon, also other EU Member States. Managed by the EIF, this is the first of its kind growth stage fund-of-funds in Europe, with and endowment of €3.75bn of capital to tackle the European scale-up gap.
DFF
The Dutch Future Fund (DFF) is an initiative launched by the EIF in close collaboration with the Dutch national promotional institution, Invest-NL, to offer fresh funding to innovative Dutch SMEs.
Both parties agreed to commit €150m, making €300m available to invest in venture and growth capital funds that have a strong commitment to innovative SMEs in the Netherlands. DFF aimed to support the Dutch economy and contribute to preparing it for the future by focussing on areas such as digital innovation, artificial intelligence, life sciences and key enabling technologies; as well as thematic objectives such as energy transition, sustainability and the circular economy, all of which are priorities for The Netherlands and the EIB Group. DFF I committed more than €845m to approximately 20 investment funds, which in turn are expected to invest at least €1.1bn in Dutch startups and scaleups. On the back of this success, a successor initiative, DFF II, was launched in late 2023, allocating a minimum of €200m in capital to Dutch venture capital funds. DFF II specifically aims to enhance the investment environment for Dutch startups and scaleups in sectors such as the energy transition, deep tech, the circular economy and agrifood.
DACI
Launched through the cooperation between Invest-NL, the Government of the Netherlands, and the EIF, the Dutch Alternative Credit Instrument (DACI) is a fund-of-funds investing in both selective and diversified debt funds, and thus providing access to alternative sources of financing for Dutch SMEs.
The initial commitment is up to €200m, comprising a contribution by Invest-NL and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of €50m each, which is matched by EIF resources. By working with non-bank financiers, DACI seeks to bring further diversity to and strengthen the resilience of the SME financing landscape in the Netherlands, providing growth financing and working capital to Dutch businesses.
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