- Graduate Ventures has launched its second seed fund, totaling €125 million, with €100 million already committed.
- The fund size is 56% higher than the €80 million target announced in May 2026.
- Supporters include Peter Wennink, former CEO of ASML, and Frank Slootman, former CEO of Snowflake.
Graduate Ventures‘ pre-seed fund has received almost €10 million in donations from its alumni and entrepreneurs, and student teams help identify and present startups for investment. The Rotterdam-based firm launched its second seed fund of €125 million on October 6, 2026, with €100 million already committed.
The announcement names Frank Slootman, former CEO of Snowflake, Michiel Muller, founder of Picnic, Jonas Ruyter, co-founder of DataSnipper, and Peter Wennink, former CEO of ASML, as supporters of the new fund. Invest-NL and Oost NL are also taking part.
The Graduate Ventures funds focus on investments in artificial intelligence, deep tech, healthcare and climate. The firm has partnerships with eight universities and three university medical centres. On its website, it states that seed investments range from €500,000 to €3 million, while pre-seed investments do not exceed €100,000.
The fund has increased rapidly. When Graduate Ventures set a target of €80 million for its second seed fund in May 2026, the new total of €125 million was 56% higher and 2.5 times the size of the first seed fund, which was €50 million. The company raised €100 million in just 10 months.
Four co-founders and a focus on giving back
Graduate Ventures was founded in 2021 by alumni of Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Its four co-founders are Frans van Houten, former CEO of Royal Philips; Menno Antal, former managing partner at 3i; Sandro van Hellenberg Hubar, co-founder of Xindao; and Gert Jan van der Hoeven, founder of H2 Equity Partners. All of them currently hold positions on the board of the Graduate Ventures Foundation.
The model draws a comparison with the United States. Graduate Ventures aims to promote a Dutch culture of giving back, similar to how Stanford and MIT alumni support future entrepreneurs with funding and mentorship.
“It is great to see such a large group of successful entrepreneurs and alumni in the Netherlands coming together through the Graduate Ventures platform to help the next generation of entrepreneurs with venture capital and hands-on support from their networks,” says Van Houten, co-founder and chairman of Graduate Ventures.
Universities are the other half of the model.“Innovation often emerges from ecosystems surrounding academic centres. Graduate Ventures works closely with universities and medical centres in Rotterdam, Delft, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Wageningen, Twente and Leiden,” says Auke van den Hout, managing partner at Graduate Ventures.
He adds, “But capital alone is not enough. Founders also need support from people who have built companies themselves, who can think alongside them and open doors. That is why we connect startup founders with our extensive network from day one. The fact that we have already raised €100 million for our second fund in just ten months demonstrates the level of support for this approach — and the conviction that the Netherlands needs to build and retain more successful startups.”
Graduate Ventures has invested in more than 90 startups since 2021. Around 200 alumni with entrepreneurship experience provide expertise, connections, and access to markets. The firm is managed by 10 professionals and sees about 20 students join every year.
By May 2026, 62 startups had obtained pre-seed investments, and 18 of them, including Workwize, QuantWare and Eddy Grid, had secured seed investments amounting to several million euros.
Graduate Ventures also took part in the €152 million Series B on May 5, 2026. QuantWare, which began at TU Delft’s QuTech research institute, was founded by Alessandro Bruno and Matthijs Rijlaarsdam, a TU Delft graduate.
The gap the fund has to close
In its State of Dutch Tech 2026 report, it found that in 2025 there were 265 venture capital deals amounting to €2.64 billion, an 11.5% increase compared to 2024. Nevertheless, rounds with amounts below €15 million are becoming less frequent. The Dutch scaleup ratio was 21.6% in 2025, compared with 39.2% in Germany and 52.2% in the US.
The gap is even greater in AI: while 31.1% of AI startups in Europe reach scaleup status, only 21.2% in the Netherlands do, compared to 80.9% in the United States.
Graduate Ventures is by no means the only company involved in early-stage investing. Norrsken Evolve, a €62 million pre-seed fund, established a permanent office in Amsterdam in July 2026 and intends to invest about €3 million in five to eight Dutch startups, up to €500,000 per company. The Dutch seed investor Peak completed its fifth fund at €150 million in December 2022, providing investments ranging from €250,000 to €4 million. Ground State Ventures, a quantum-focused investor based in Amsterdam, closed an $88 million fund in April 2026 and has already made its first investments in Dutch university spinouts such as QuantWare.
What makes Graduate Ventures special is that it invests only in companies originating from Dutch universities. For its pre-seed fund, at least one founder must come from one of the partner institutions, and its seed fund is available only to Dutch university alumni.
A seed fund usually provides support up to the Series A stage, but difficulties arise when Dutch companies need €50 million financing rounds. The €125 million fund will show whether Graduate Ventures’ alumni network can help retain the best companies and secure future funding in the Netherlands.
