The fund is expected to close by year end with LPs including Wageningen University, TU Delft, University of Twente and Eindhoven University of Technology.
A new venture fund backed by four Dutch universities is expected to raise €65m ($70m) by the end of 2020 to nurture domestic businesses including spinouts.
The vehicle, dubbed Shift III, is aligned to Wageningen University and Research and TU Delft as well as the universities of Twente and Eindhoven.
The Dutch government will also participate through its research institute TNO and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, as will provincial governments, financial services firm Rabobank and unnamed private sector funds.
Certain portfolio companies of Shift III’s precursors have also invested, including insect-based animal feed supplier Protix.
Shift III is described as long-term investment fund with ticket sizes generally ranging from $270,000 to $5.4m.
It aims to inject capital across multiple stages, sustaining the recipient through various phases of development, but investing earlier than funds that require solid proofs of turnover.
Shift’s earlier portfolio companies have…
