Keen Venture Partners gets boost from EIF to support European technology SMEs

• European Investment Fund (EIF) backs Keen Venture Partners with €30 million in launch of its second fund, which reaches first close at €120 million.
• Financing to support SMEs across the EU, in line with Keen’s first 2016 fund that was also supported by the EIF under the European Commission’s COSME programme.
• The financing is supported under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the European Commission’s Investment Plan for Europe.

Amsterdam-based Keen Venture Partners announced the first close of its second fund today, with backing from the European Investment Fund. The EIF participated with €30 million to this second fund, after having already supported Keen’s first fund in 2016. This second fund has a target size of €150 million and has now reached first close at €120 million. The EIF participation in the fund is backed by the European Commission under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.

Robert Verwaayen, General Partner of KEEN Venture Partners, said: “We are pleased with the backing of our existing investors and a number of high-profile new ones, demonstrating a high level of confidence in our ability to build a next generation venture capital fund.”

“Keen is a longstanding partner of the EIB Group in the Netherlands” said Alain Godard, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund. “We are happy to build on our relationship to make sure that Dutch companies will also benefit from this European financing opportunity.”

Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “I welcome the launch of this new fund which focuses especially on European technology companies in their early growth stage. With support from the EIF and the Investment Plan for Europe, these innovative companies will create jobs and contribute to Europe’s competitiveness in the technology sector. These investments will not only boost our recovery, but also advance the digital transition at the same time.”

The fund will support European technology companies in their early growth stage. Examples of sectors targeted include cloud computing, machine learning, software as a service (SaaS) and digital applications. Key targeted countries for the investments are the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Background information:

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. It provides first loss guarantees enabling the EIB Group to invest in riskier projects. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI have so far mobilised €546.5 billion in investment, benefitting over 1.4 million SMEs.