The interest in new funds and alternatives is obvious from the enthusiasm for a new fund that invests in start-ups in artificial intelligence. 35 investors, including family offices and also the co-founders of BinckBank and Litebit, have together pledged millions to the Curiosity Venture Capital fund launched today.
The fund focuses on early-stage investments in AI software companies in the Benelux, Nordic and Baltic regions to capture the untapped growth potential in these markets. The fund says it is aiming for an average net return (IRR) of no less than 24 percent per year, over a period of 8 to 10 years.
According to Herman Kienhuis (pictured right), co-founder of the fund, the Baltic States, Benelux and Scandinavia in particular are the fastest growing regions in the global technology sector, which means there is enormous growth potential in these regions. “However, the amount of venture capital investment in early-stage start-ups has been stuck at the same level for years,” he told Fondsnieuws (Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication). Kienhuis founded the fund with Maurice Beckand Verwee (photo left).
“In the Netherlands, the amount invested in early stage investment has been around 200 million euros for years; in 2021, it will be only 4 percent of total venture capital investments. That while the market demand is constantly increasing,” said Kienhuis.
Kienhuis explains that Curiosity focuses on B2B artificial intelligence companies in the initial development phase. According to him, the northern European and Scandinavian regions where the fund focuses on already have thousands of such companies. “We see this as the new wave. It is comparable to the arrival of the internet, mobile technology and cloud computing. In five years’ time, everything will be artificial intelligence,” said Kienhuis.
“We believe that we in Europe should develop more of our own artificial intelligence. The EU is in the process of drawing up rules on the transparency, explainability and risk mitigation of AI software. And doing bias-testing, a check to make sure algorithms are not making decisions based on unwanted bias.”
The fund
The company Deeploy, the fund’s first investment, develops software for implementing machine-learning models - algorithms that are capable of solving problems independently. Deeploy makes software with which those models are made transparent and explainable. With the announcement of the investment in the Dutch “explainable AI” startup Deeploy, the fund officially launches this week.
The goal: raise 50 million to invest in 20 software companies. The fund has now raised commitments from more than 35 investors, mostly entrepreneurs and family offices, including co-founders of BinckBank, Scoupy, Litebit and SecurityMatters.
“If your investment universe is limited to AI software start-ups in just the Netherlands, you probably can’t invest 50 million responsibly. Hence the choice for Belgium, Luxembourg, Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Together with the Netherlands, they are the fastest growing technology hubs in Europe with a lot of entrepreneurial and internationally oriented talent,” said Kienhuis.
“We want to spread our early stage investments over 20 promising companies. In the Netherlands alone, there may not (currently) be 20 AI-related software companies that meet our criteria, so we are targeting a larger pool of start-up companies in other countries,” said Kienhuis.
Data from Dealroom.co shows that these regions together now have 2173 AI-related start-ups, employing a total of 86,000 people. Four years ago, according to Dealroom.co, that was only 24,000 people.
Net return of 24 percent a year
The fund applies the rule of thumb that one third of the financed companies do not survive. Kienhuis said he is not afraid of the current momentum in the economic cycle, where technology companies can be hit with profits far into the future; “This technological development will continue without being influenced by economic cycles.”
Most non-American venture capital funds do not focus on the early phase, Kienhuis argued. “Often, investors already want to see a substantial turnover before money is allocated to companies. To increase the chances of success, Curiosity is therefore seeking cooperation with existing investment funds that do focus on the early phase.”