FORWARD.one partner, Riemer Smink | Image credit: FORWARD.one
Amstelveen, Netherlands-based venture capital firm FORWARD.one has announced the launch of its second fund – three years after the start of its first fund. The firm says its second fund target size is €100M, and that a large part of it has now been pledged by high net worth entrepreneurs, most of whom were already involved in the first fund.
With the new fund, FORWARD.one plans to invest in startups that have developed the technologies of the future with the use of innovative high-tech hardware.
Recently, the winners of the 2021 Future Hamburg Award were announced.
The firm’s first fund invested in companies that operate in the fields of robotics, quantum computing, sensoring, virtual and augmented reality, biomanufacturing and audio technology. The VC fund also reported that “several of these companies have the potential to conquer large international markets or unlock new ones.”
About FORWARD.one
Since its foundation in 2017, FORWARD.one has reviewed more than a thousand companies, and its team claims to have learned about the opportunity offered by high tech in the Netherlands.
The FORWARD.one team comprises entrepreneurs with a technical background and professionals with a wide spectrum of knowledge. They mostly look to work with innovative inventors and rebellious entrepreneurs who wish to make the world better with their new technologies and products.
As for the pipeline for fund II, it consists of companies with promising technologies developed by universities in the Netherlands and research institutes such as TNO and ESA.
Here’s what the VC firm looks for in a startup
- Prototype ready product: If you have a proven technology, the firm can help you take it from prototype to the first version of the product that ships to clients
- Understanding of your market: “Show us that you understand the market you are entering. Who are the main players? What are the market’s dynamics? Does this market have unmet needs? How can your product meet unmet needs in this market?”
- Complete founding team: The founder’s team should have engineering, technology, communications, marketing, and people skills.
- A clear business plan: Describe how your product or solution fulfils an unmet demand. Include a product description, market research, competitor analysis, management structure and a marketing strategy
“Next technological wave”
According to FORWARD.one, innovative power and technology are of a high level in the Netherlands. And technical universities and other institutes play an important role in this respect.
“Our country has a strong track record of high-tech companies. Over the past three years, the FORWARD.one team has become convinced that the next technological wave will be supported by physical high-tech and that the Netherlands can play a key role in this. Yet it is precisely in this area that there is a significant lack of funding for young, promising companies.”
With this new fund, the firm aims to make some of them a success. Additionally, RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) will also provide a loan of €6M under the Seed Capital scheme, as it did in the first fund.
With this second fund, FORWARD.one will invest in different growth phases of a company, including funding round from between €250K to €20M.
FORWARD.one’s current portfolio companies include MAYHT – a company that develops loudspeaker technology with which loudspeakers can be produced many times more compact and powerful; ROCSYS – a charging automation company; DAB – an expert in separation technology of oil-based fermentation; and Eave (formerly EarTex) – a startup developing the next generation of hearing protection and communication technology, among others.
