We are an early-stage venture capital fund from Amsterdam, investing all over EMEA
We are a small group of ex-founders and operators who invest with a no-bullshit, full-commitment approach.
Team
Laurens Groenendijk
Founding Partner
Laurens Groenendijk
You can say that Laurens knows his way around the Dutch startup ecosystem. Having previously founded Just-Eat, Treatwell, Miinto and nano-satellite challenger Hiber, he knows his fair share of building and scaling businesses. As one of the co-founders and managing partners of the Dutch Founders Fund, Laurens is largely concerned with helping our portfolio companies in what he does best: growing marketplaces, driving sales and advising on e-commerce. He likes founders who dream and do big. Those who can scale with lightning speed and those who are not afraid to fail. On the weekends, you can find Laurens on the hockey field or playing padel.
Patrick Kerssemakers
Founding Partner
Patrick Kerssemakers
Patrick is one of the co-founders and managing partner of the Dutch Founders Fund. Being a pioneer in online retailing as one of the early founders of Fonq, Patrick brings in over 20 years of operational- and practical experience in e-commerce, online marketplaces and strategic partnerships. Patrick has a strong customer-focus and knows a great deal of growing both teams and businesses. He likes founders with creative business models and those who dare to step out of their comfort zone - much like himself. He is the chairman of the LOEY foundation, an organization that stimulates online entrepreneurship in the Netherlands.
Hidde Hoogcarspel
Founding Partner
Hidde Hoogcarspel
Hidde is one of the founders and managing partners of the Dutch Founders Fund. He is an experienced finance professional with a strong interest in combining data with creativity. Before starting the Dutch founders Fund, Hidde was one of the founders of the Spacebuzz Foundation, an organization that introduces outer space to every child on earth. He is also one of the founders of SchoolKassa, a platform that makes parental contributions more transparent. Hidde likes to transform businesses to make them future proof. What does that mean you ask? Becoming tech-enabled and data-driven. He is passionate about building ecosystems in which people can learn from each other - much like our fund. How do you define success? Success is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: combining different skill sets to form an unbeatable team or product.
Federico Maroli
Investor
Federico Maroli
Federico is our Italian Investment Manager. Although he's been in the Netherlands for more than 10 years, he still struggles to order a beer in Dutch but we still consider him a core member of the DFF team. Fede was an early employee at Secfi and a Venture Partner at Profounders before joining DFF in 2022. He's a big Juventus fan and because of that, he has a soft spot for sport related businesses but loves almost all verticals equally
Mart de Haar
Partner
Mart de Haar
As one of the Partners at DFF, you will see Mart being involved in many of our deals. He’s been on both sides of the table—investing in more mature companies at NPM Capital and building an early-stage venture himself. What he likes more? Ask him during one of the intro calls - bonus points if you can talk PropTech or Whisky.
Bas Rieter
Investor
Bas Rieter
As one of our investors, you can catch Bas in London, Amsterdam, or Berlin—80% of the time talking to founders, 20% of the time scouring for new restaurants, but ideally - both at once. Will talk vertical SaaS or marketplaces with you and give unsolicited advice on where to go for drinks and dinner. Bas is also driving Polara, our AI pre-seed vehicle
Maarten Plomp
Investor
Maarten Plomp
Maarten is part of our investment team ,supporting on deal sourcing and assessment. He is also involved in portfolio management, making sure all of our companies have their finance, ops and reporting in order.
In-house venture partners
Bas Beerens
Venture Partner & Co-founder | Branding
Bas is the founder of WeTransfer, one of the biggest file-transfering services in the world. As Venture Partner, Bas advises our portfolio on a broad range of topics. He blends his creative background with entrepreneurial grit: having scaled his company from ideation to a world-leading file transfer service, Bas knows exactly what questions to ask and on what metrics to measure. With a customer-centric approach and an entire pallet of creative skills, Bas looks beyond spreadsheets to enable hyper growth.
Remco van Zanten
Venture Partner & Co-founder | Strategy & Scale
As our Venture Partner, Remco supports our fund and portfolio companies on a broad range of topics. Bringing in over fifteen years of board-room and strategy experience, Remco advices C-level executives on how to enable hyper growth. With prior roles at BCG, Booking, Zalando and now currently at Vinted, Remco blends corporate diligence with entrepreneurial grit. His expertise ranges from digital transformation to strategic marketing and from finance to people management. Remco holds a MSc in Corporate Finance from the University of Groningen and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Illinois.
Ela Osterberger
Venture Partner | Data
As our data expert, Ela helps our portfolio companies to become fully data-driven. Ela was named as one of the most influential people in Data and Analytics in 2022. As Director of Data Science at Deliveroo - one of the UK's most valuable startups - she managed one of Europe's largest Data Science teams. Prior to Deliveroo she ran the audience data team at the Guardian. Outside of work, Ela enjoys baking (and eating) cakes, encouraging her kids to speak Austrian slang, and DIY.
Tom Koenderman
Venture Partner | Ops & Tech
As one of our technical venture partners Tom helps our portfolio companies on a broad range of topics. Although he has a background in biology and economics, Tom knows his way around pretty much any business- and development process. Tom likes to dive into complex business models and advanced hardware to make them future proof. He is a big fan of companies that challenge unconventional sectors - preferably with high entry barriers. Tom is the founder of Cloud Garden and Wall Flore, smart climate solutions that provide vertical gardens and air purifiers.
Sjoerd Nikkelen
Venture Partner | Recommerce
Meet Sjoerd, our Venture Partner who spearheads investments beyond Europe, especially in the MENA region. With a track record of managing marketplaces across Latin America, MENA, and Asia (think OLX, dubizzle, Property24, and Autotrader), he’s our go-to expert for (electronics) re-commerce. Sjoerd is also the co-founder and co-CEO of a refurbished phone financing marketplace in Africa. Plus, he’s the driving force behind our Cape Town office
Maarten Engelen
Venture Partner | Product & Tech
As our technical venture partner, Maarten supports our investments on product development and infra. He is the co-founder of both Treatwell and Hiber, and has over a decade of experience leading product and engineering teams. Since 2011, he has worked across diverse markets, from fast-growing B2C/B2B marketplaces to Industrial IoT hardware and software solutions powered by satellite connectivity.