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Market research: Part of the solution for 40 years

The research is divided into investments by private equity firms, divestments (usually sales) and new funds raised from investors. Sometimes multiple investments are made per company. For example, in venture capital it is very common to invest in a syndicate. Follow-up investments occur in private equity. Hence the distinction between companies and investments in some tables.

Information about the response and method of data collection can be found under methodology.

Underlying databases and older publications can be found in the archive section.

Private equity and venture capital: part of the solution for 40 years

The Dutch Association of Private Equity Companies (NVP) celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and has released new figures on investments, sales and fundraising of private equity and venture capital in the Netherlands. This is the 24th year in a row that we have done this in collaboration with PwC Corporate Finance.

40 years of professional risk capital in the Netherlands
Since the founding of the NVP in 1984, more than 102 billion euros in risk capital has been invested by private equity and venture capital in Dutch companies to grow, professionalize and innovate. Now, 40 years later, approximately 750,000 people work at a Dutch company with a private equity company as a shareholder.

Whether it concerns young, fast-growing startups in venture capital or mature growth companies in private equity, the members of the NVP are ready to make companies future-proof for the next 40 years.

With EUR 6.8 billion in total investments in 632 Dutch companies, a new milestone was reached in the Netherlands in 2023: for the first time since 1984, a total of more than EUR 100 billion in risk capital has been invested in Dutch companies by private equity and venture capital.

Venture Capital & Growth Capital in 2023
In 2023, 407 Dutch startups received 1.1 billion euros in venture capital from home and abroad. Although this is less than the 1.8 billion euros from the peak year of 2021, it is more than the 1 billion euros from 2022, making it the second highest year ever. The number of investments decreased slightly from the 420 in 2022, but is still the second highest number. However, at 114 companies, sales were the lowest since 2018, when 89 companies were sold. At 3.2 billion euros, the highest amount ever in new funds was raised from investors by Dutch VCs. This is mainly due to large fundraisings in the life sciences (Forbion 1.35 billion euros and Gilde Healthcare with 740 million) and the newly set up NATO Innovation Fund that makes investments in safety-related startups from Amsterdam. A total of 288 million euros was the highest amount raised from pension funds since 2016. What is striking here is the strong increase in Dutch pension funds that have invested in Dutch VC funds. In the past, it was mainly foreign pension funds that invested in Dutch VC.

102 Dutch scaleups received 1 billion euros in growth capital. This is less than the 1.7 billion from 2022 or the 2.6 billion from 2021. Here the number of sales was 54 higher than the 43 in 2022, at a level of 2019 and earlier. 216 million in new growth capital became available from investors.

In both VC and growth capital, we see no particular increase in the number of bankruptcies of portfolio companies.

Notable Investments by VCs:

• BioGeneration Ventures / EQT Life Sciences / Forbion - VectorY Therapeutics
• BOM Brabant Ventures / Invest-NL / Rabo Ventures - Protix
• Gilde Healthcare / East NL - Tagworks
• Innovation Industries - Axelera AI
• Invest-NL - SMART Photonics
• ABN AMRO / Invest-NL / PDENH - Fairphone

Annemarie Jorritsma, chairman of NVP, notes: “An unprecedented amount of new capital has been raised by Dutch VC funds. It is very positive that institutional investors are also increasingly seeing that you can make an impact and return in VC. It's great that the Dutch life sciences VC sector is able to raise so much money for innovations. But we're not there yet. In deep tech, the untapped potential is still very large. Especially when we look at sectors such as quantum, climate tech, AI, photonics and security. These are sectors where the social return is high in these highly uncertain times. Our members are ready to invest in this. It is now time for pension funds, for example, to contribute to this. Security and especially defense is a bit more difficult. Investors have long excluded that sector. It is therefore very good that NATO has set up its own fund to stimulate the market, and it is also great that it is located in Amsterdam.”

Private Equity Buyouts in 2023
In 2023, 119 Dutch companies will have received a buyout from a domestic or foreign private equity firm

rtij. The total amount of these buyouts amounted to EUR 4.6 billion, which is a lot lower than the EUR 9.4 billion in 2022, but more than the EUR 4.4 billion from 2021. This is because in 2023, unlike previous there were no mega buyouts for years. As in the previous 40 years, the majority of private equity transactions took place in SMEs. About 70% of the buyouts involve less than 25 million euros in equity.

There were 54 sales in 2023, which is relatively quiet but more than in 2020 and 2022, when 40 and 45 sales took place, respectively. No bankruptcies were observed in the data. A record amount of 5.4 billion euros in new funds was raised from investors, mainly thanks to Waterland, which raised 4 billion euros with two funds.

Some notable investments were:

• CVC Capital Partners – TMF (refinancing)
• 3i Group - Action (refinancing)
• Rivean Capital - CED Group
• Waterland Private Equity Investments - Van Vulpen
• NPM Capital - HQ Pack
• Avedon Capital Partners - Detron
• Egeria Capital Management - Sonic Equipment

Tjarda Molenaar, director of NVP: “Private equity is a support and refuge for ambitious entrepreneurs in SMEs and makes growth, innovation and sustainability possible that would otherwise not have been possible. Since the NVP was founded 40 years ago, more than 100 billion has been invested in Dutch companies. That is something to be proud of. We must ensure a good investment climate, so that the next 100 billion euros are also invested in the Netherlands.”

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