Five key points from the strategy

The Netherlands has long needed a strong public investment institution that brings entrepreneurs, financiers, and governments together to address the major challenges of our time. 

Together with Invest International, we are therefore continuing to build a fully fledged National Promotional Institution, with greater capacity and influence, including at the European level.

This concretely means that we are working towards one powerful organisation with a greater investment capacity, better access to European capital, and a single clear gateway for entrepreneurs and partners. This will enable us to undertake larger, more complex, and more risky investments that currently struggle to get off the ground. 

The tasks of today go beyond just the societal transitions around energy, circular economy, agrifood, and healthcare. In addition to sustainability, the future earning capacity and resilience of the Netherlands are also under pressure.  

That is why Invest-NL is broadening its focus to include innovative technology, economic, physical, and digital security, and investments in the national interest. We are increasingly focusing on innovative technologies such as biotechnology and AI, and on issues related to resilience, such as critical raw materials and energy independence.  

We are also exploring topics like social impact, biodiversity, and water, always asking where our efforts can truly make a difference. This allows us to better align with the current challenges facing the Netherlands and the direction being set in Europe. 

Many entrepreneurs and projects encounter bottlenecks in financing: the perceived risks are too high, the payback period is too long, or the investment is simply too complex. Besides investing itself, Invest-NL therefore places an even greater focus on improving access to finance. 

Together with partners, we identify the most important bottlenecks and work on practical solutions such as better agreements, new financing instruments, and suitable financing structures.  

We work closely with ministries and other public parties to better align government policy and market financing. As a connector between policy and the market we ensure that good plans do not remain on the drawing board but are actually implemented and get off the ground. 

There is a lot of European and institutional capital available, but it still does not sufficiently reach the major societal challenges. Concrete projects and companies often encounter structural bottlenecks, such as lack of scale and ways to reduce risks. Public-private financing structures can help to resolve these bottlenecks and get capital moving.

Invest-NL therefore places extra emphasis on mobilising capital from European institutions, governments, and institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurers. We take an active role as a bridge between governments and private financiers, developing solutions that reduce risks and make investments in the Netherlands scalable.

An example is the Dutch Impact Growth Fund, a fund-of-funds that we are launching this year. With this, we help Dutch pension funds to invest in scale-ups and impact funds. Through this leverage effect, we can achieve much more together than with our own capital alone.

Entrepreneurs and projects have different financing needs at each stage, from initial growth to large-scale deployment. Invest-NL expands its financing offer therefore. We not only help startups and scale-ups to grow, but also support mature companies with capital-intensive, riskier, or complex projects. Think of industrial sustainability or important energy and infrastructure projects. Additionally, we take a more active role in investments in the national interest, for example where maintaining or developing critical sectors is important for the resilience of the Netherlands.  

Our range extends from direct investments to funds, loans, and – where necessary – financing under softer conditions to enable investments with significant societal importance. We always do this in addition to what the market already offers. This is how we build an organization that supports entrepreneurs, projects, and funds at all stages.