Skip to content

May 15, 2023

5 minutes

Annual Report 2022: Working together for impact

Today, Invest-NL, the Dutch national financing and development institution, has published its annual report and financial statements for 2022. Since its inception in 2020, Invest-NL has been focused on financing and accelerating major societal transitions in the Netherlands - such as the transition to a carbon-neutral and circular economy, to affordable and accessible healthcare, and Deep Tech - and on increasing the amount of risk capital for innovative SMEs.

Invest-NL increasingly manifests itself as an investor and advisor

Today, Invest-NL, the Dutch national financing and development institution, has published its annual report and financial statements for 2022. Since its inception in 2020, Invest-NL has been focused on financing and accelerating major societal transitions in the Netherlands - such as the transition to a carbon-neutral and circular economy, to affordable and accessible healthcare, and Deep Tech - and on increasing the amount of risk capital for innovative SMEs.

As an impact investor, Invest-NL has realized as much as € 160 million in new investments over the past year. By the end of 2022, we have committed a total of € 617 million in 65 investments in companies and funds. With this, we have mobilized € 2 billion in private investments. In 2022, the first broadening of the scope of Invest-NL took place with the establishment of the Deep Tech fund.

Whether it's the construction of Avantium's PEF bottle factory in Groningen, the groundbreaking flow batteries of Elestor in Arnhem, the mechanical plastic recycling factory of Umincorp in Rotterdam, or the building integrated solar panels of Exasun being made in The Hague. As Invest-NL, we invest where the market cannot, not yet, or not entirely provide financing. In every case, Invest-NL has played a crucial role in bringing about investments in these potential future gems of the Dutch economy.

Our vision is clear: to make the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative. Through our investment and development power, we can accelerate the major transitions together with partners. We do this not only by deploying our capital, but also by using our knowledge and networks. By developing new markets, improving investment propositions, and designing new financing instruments and models. In this way, we make what seems unfinanceable, financeable. This also makes it more attractive for other parties to invest.

The business development activities led to 2 newly developed products, 5 realized proposition guidances, and 16 market studies conducted in 2022. As a result, financing bottlenecks have been resolved, the market opportunities of innovations by companies have been increased, and projects have independently obtained financing.

Impact is our goal, return is the means. In the companies we invest in, more than € 260 million is invested in R&D, and more than 5,260 people have found a future-oriented workplace. These investments in people and research and development also show a potentially very significant CO2saving. Invest-NL has a target to invest 65-70% of total share capital in line with the EU Green Taxonomy.

The investment portfolio is still under construction. From the start, it was expected that Invest-NL would generate a negative result for a number of years before the investment portfolio could realize substantial positive returns. Partly due to the challenging investment climate, we had to make an additional provision for a few investments or carry out a revaluation last year. The consolidated net result of Invest-NL for the financial year 2022 is negative € 48.5 million after taxes.

The organization has grown to 93.8 FTE by the end of 2022 in its third year of existence. Strong growth for a young organization, with a lot of attention being paid to recruitment and selection in the tight labor market. In addition, investments are made in talent development, and employees are involved in, for example, the policy on diversity and inclusivity. In 2023, the board of Invest- NL will be expanded to a three-member board model.

With the ambition to contribute maximally to the realization of societal transitions, Invest-NL is open to a broader deployment of its mandate and additional roles suitable for a national financing and development institution. Invest-NL sees many opportunities to accelerate sustainable innovations through blended finance together with the National Growth Fund and the Climate Fund. With the geopolitical developments, the realization has grown that the Netherlands needs to be more aware of its strategic autonomy and economic safety. Invest-NL is keen and ready to play a role as financier and developer in these kinds of strategic national interests. In addition, we will further intensify our activities around mobilizing capital from Europe and capital from institutional parties.

(this page was translated by AI)

Read more news articles

View more