Graduate Ventures

Graduate Ventures is a Netherlands-based venture capital firm founded in 2021 and headquartered in Rotterdam, backed by a network of over 200 successful alumni entrepreneurs including the founders of Booking.com, Picnic, and former Philips CEO Frans van Houten. The firm has raised €58M+ across its pre-seed and seed funds and has made over 75 investments in technology-driven startups spanning Deep Tech, Health Tech, Climate Tech, and Digital Tech. Pre-seed tickets of up to €75K are available to startups with at least one founder from TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam, or Erasmus MC, deployed primarily via SAFE instruments; seed tickets range from €500K to €2M for Netherlands-headquartered startups, predominantly through equity. In March 2026, Graduate Ventures expanded to Wageningen University & Research, adding agrifood and agricultural innovation to its scope. The pre-seed fund operates as a non-profit, evergreen vehicle funded by alumni donations, with all returns reinvested into future founders. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis by submitting a pitch deck through the firm's website.