TL;DR: VCs in the Netherlands Investing Into Women News, November 2026
VCs in the Netherlands investing into women news, November, 2026 comes down to one hard number for you as a founder: women are 38% of Dutch entrepreneurs but receive less than 2% of venture capital. This guide by Violetta Bonenkamp (Mean CEO, CADChain co-founder) shows you who funds women and how to raise. It can save you months of pitching the wrong investors.
- The money leaks at the equity stage. Women get 13.7% of total business funding through loans, grants and subsidies. Their share drops to under 2% when investors buy ownership. Visible Investments quotes 3%.
- These funds write checks to women.
- Borski Fund raised €21M from ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank. Women must hold 30% of founder shares, with an exception for male FemTech teams.
- Auxxo closed Fund II at €33.3M and requires a woman founder with at least 20% of founder shares.
- CapitalT has no diversity mandate, yet 84% of its portfolio has diverse founders.
- Visible Investments and Joanna Invests also back women founders.
- Raise in this order. Take grants first, such as WBSO and Innovatiekrediet. Check your cap table against fund rules. Build a list of 30 to 50 investors that mixes women-focused and generalist funds. Get warm intros through Women in VC NL. Count term sheets, not coffee meetings.
- Avoid common mistakes. Don't pitch only to small women-focused funds. Don't lead with the 21% diversity statistic or underprice your round. Protect your IP before due diligence.
Women-focused Dutch funds also back hard science, from lung imaging to medical electrospinning. A deeptech idea can get funded here.
To see how these numbers have held steady all year, compare this edition with the Dutch VC funding map for women from June. Then read why founders should pitch with proof, not mission before booking their first investor meeting this week.
Check out other fresh startup news and trends that you might like:
VCs in the Netherlands investing into women news for November 2026 comes down to one uncomfortable number: Dutch women make up 38% of entrepreneurs, yet they receive LESS THAN 2% of venture capital. I am Violetta Bonenkamp, known in the startup world as Mean CEO. I co-founded the deeptech company CADChain, I run the women-first startup game Fe/male Switch, and I have raised money, applied for grants and sat through accelerator programs such as Yes!Delft, Brightlands and TU/e Launch. I read the funding numbers the way a founder reads her bank balance. They show what happened. Promises and pledges do not appear in them.
This article is for entrepreneurs, startup founders, freelancers and business owners who want a clear picture of who actually writes checks to women in the Netherlands, what the rules of those funds look like, and how to raise without wasting six months on the wrong investors. You will get the latest statistics, a list of Dutch and European funds, a step-by-step fundraising guide, the most common mistakes and my own unfiltered take. Let’s break it down.
What does the November 2026 data say about Dutch venture capital for women?
The short answer: the numbers have barely moved. The figures reported in August, September and November 2026 all repeat the same ratio. If you want to track the trend yourself, compare the August 2026 report on Dutch VCs investing in women with the September 2026 startup edition on Dutch VC funding for women. Same percentages, new headlines.
Here are the statistics every founder in the Netherlands should know by heart:
- 38% of Dutch entrepreneurs are women.
- 13.7% of total business funding goes to women entrepreneurs.
- Less than 2% of venture capital goes to women-led companies, according to the figures used in recent Dutch reporting.
- 3% is the share quoted by investor Arthur Kramer of Visible Investments, a fund that invests exclusively in female entrepreneurs. Different datasets, same message: a tiny slice.
- 21%: gender-balanced teams are reported to be 21% more likely to outperform relevant benchmarks, a statistic often cited in investor discussions.
- €21 million: the size of the Borski Fund, the first Dutch venture capital fund aimed at female entrepreneurship.
- €33.3 million: the final close of Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund II, more than 75% larger than its previous fund.
- 84% of CapitalT’s portfolio companies have at least one woman, BIPOC or LGBTQ+ founder.
- 170 professionals belong to Women in VC NL, from analysts to managing partners.
Where exactly does the money leak out?
Look closely at the gap between 13.7% and under 2%. That difference tells you where the funnel breaks. Women in the Netherlands do get some bank loans, subsidies, microcredit and grants. The collapse happens at the EQUITY stage, when a founder asks a venture capitalist to buy a share of her company. That is the moment where networks, pattern matching and the gender of the person across the table start to matter most.
So when someone tells you “women founders just need to apply for more funding,” show them this ratio. Women apply and get debt and grants. They lose access when the ticket turns into ownership, board seats and follow-on rounds. My reading as a founder: the problem sits inside investor decision-making, and founders can only partly fix it from the outside.
Why do Dutch women founders still receive so little venture capital?
Simone Brummelhuis, founder of The Next Women and initiator of the Borski Fund, said it plainly when the fund launched: “The majority of venture capital investors are men, who often tend to invest in like-minded people. There are women who wouldn’t even approach these parties, so a lot of women often don’t receive the venture capital they deserve.” You can read the full statement in the ABN AMRO announcement on investing in female entrepreneurship through the Borski Fund.
Daphne de Kluis, then CEO of Commercial Banking at ABN AMRO, added: “We see that, in reality, female entrepreneurs have less access to capital. Out of all start- and scale-up financing, only a few per cent goes to female entrepreneurs.” That quote is several years old. The percentage in 2026 still fits in the same sentence. Here is why I find that shocking: an entire generation of startups has been founded, funded and exited since then, and the share stayed put.
I treat this as a systems problem, because women founders already show up motivated and capable. The barriers sit in access: to networks, to warm introductions, to IP and legal knowledge, and to safe places where you can practise pitching and fail without burning real money. From my own experience scaling CADChain from about 4 people to around 25 FTEs in 2021 and 2022, I can tell you that the warm intro beat the cold email every single time. When the people who make intros mostly know other men, the math does the rest.
Four structural reasons the gap persists
- Partner composition. Investment committees in Dutch VC firms remain male-dominated, which shapes which founders feel “familiar.”
- Network-driven deal flow. Most VC deals start with a referral. Women founders sit further from those referral chains.
- Small specialist funds. Most women-focused funds listed on RevenueBase report 1 to 10 employees. Small teams mean small portfolios and limited follow-on money.
- Sector bias. Areas where women founders cluster, such as women’s health and education technology, are often labelled “niche” by generalist investors, even when the addressable market covers half the population.
Which Dutch VCs and investors back women founders in 2026?
Below is a working list of funds and investor groups to research. I combined data from the RevenueBase list of women-led venture capital companies in the Netherlands, the RevenueBase directory of female founders venture capital firms in the Netherlands and the EU-Startups overview of European funding vehicles dedicated to women founders. Always check each fund’s current thesis before you pitch.
Dutch funds with a women or diversity focus
- Borski Fund (Amsterdam). The first Dutch VC fund aimed at female entrepreneurship, launched in 2019 with a speech by Klaas Knot, then president of De Nederlandsche Bank. It raised €21 million, with ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank each committing €5 million. Founding partners are Simone Brummelhuis (The Next Women) and Laura Rooseboom (StartGreen Capital). Rule: at least 30% of founder shares must be held by one or more women at the time of investment. Exception: male teams building FemTech that reduces the gender health gap, with a commitment to team diversity. Track portfolio updates on the Borski Fund news page with portfolio deals.
- Visible Investments. Invests exclusively in female entrepreneurs. Founder Arthur Kramer explains the thesis in his LinkedIn post on why only 3% of Dutch venture capital goes to women.
- CapitalT (Amsterdam). A women-led VC firm that uses measures to reduce bias in its investment process. It has no diversity mandate, yet 84% of its portfolio companies have at least one woman, BIPOC or LGBTQ+ founder.
- Joanna Invests (Amsterdam). Its stated mission: “We invest in women who change the world.”
- Aruma Ventures (The Hague). An angel fund backing early-stage startups.
- Bluebottle Ventures (Amsterdam). A small Amsterdam team listed among women-linked VC firms.
- Tablomonto Venture Capital (Amsterdam). Listed among Dutch VC firms connected to female founders.
- Forward Venture Capital (The Hague) and Keadyn (Rotterdam). Early-stage investors that appear on women-led VC lists. Keadyn offers operational help via a network of functional experts.
- Female Ventures and Fundright. Additional names frequently mentioned in Dutch female founder coverage.
European funds Dutch founders should also target
- Auxxo (Berlin). Invests in European pre-Seed and Seed startups, sector-agnostic, with at least one woman founder holding a minimum of 20% of founder shares. Fund II closed at €33.3 million.
- Fund F (Vienna). Featured among the European vehicles dedicated to women founders.
Communities that open doors to these investors
Women in VC NL is an Amsterdam-based nonprofit community of 170 women working in Dutch venture capital. In 2026 they ran a boardroom dynamics session hosted by De Roos and a curated International Women’s Day event called Give to Gain on 13 March, built around the idea that “nobody leaves without a GIVE and a GAIN.” Follow the Women in VC NL community page on LinkedIn for event announcements. The Angel Initiative, Code-V Vrouwelijk Ondernemerschap and The Next Women are other names that appear around these networks.
Which sectors do Dutch investors watch for women-led startups?
Dutch investors pay the most attention to sectors where women founders are increasingly visible. Funds that focus on female-led businesses tend to back:
- Women’s health and FemTech (technology for female health conditions, fertility, menopause and the gender health gap)
- Health and medtech, such as Borski portfolio company Thirona, which raised €7.5 million for precision medicine, and Prolira, whose DeltaScan Brain State Monitor obtained FDA clearance
- Climate tech and green investments
- Foodtech
- Education technology
- Fintech infrastructure and financial services
- Applied AI and software
- Science-based ventures coming out of Dutch universities and research centres, such as IME Medical Electrospinning, which secured €3 million from Borski Fund, Lumana Invest, TIIN Capital and Rabobank
- Future-of-work tools and social-impact technology
Notice something about that portfolio list? Medical electrospinning, lung imaging software, brain monitoring. These are hard science companies. Women-focused funds in the Netherlands back deeptech, and founders who assume they must pitch a “female-friendly consumer app” to get attention are leaving money on the table. As a deeptech founder myself, I love seeing that.
How do you raise from Dutch VCs as a female founder? A step-by-step guide
Here is the process I would follow today if I started a new venture in the Netherlands. It reflects what worked for CADChain and what I teach inside Fe/male Switch, where founders practise these steps as quests before they face real investors.
- Check your cap table against fund rules. A cap table (capitalization table) shows who owns which percentage of your company. Borski requires women to hold at least 30% of founder shares. Auxxo requires at least one woman founder with 20% or more. Fix this BEFORE you pitch, because changing ownership mid-process looks messy.
- Build a target list of 30 to 50 investors. Mix women-focused funds, generalist Dutch VCs whose sector and stage fit you, angel networks and European funds. Most women-focused funds have teams of 1 to 10 people, so precision beats volume.
- Score each investor on fit. Use four criteria: stage (pre-Seed, Seed, Series A), sector, ticket size and follow-on capacity. A fund that can only write your first check leaves you stranded at the next round.
- Get warm introductions. Attend Women in VC NL events, The Next Women gatherings and accelerator demo days. Ask portfolio founders of your target funds for an intro. One portfolio founder’s referral often carries more weight than ten LinkedIn messages.
- Prepare a lean data room. A data room is a shared folder investors use for due diligence. Include your pitch deck (the startup funding presentation), financial model, cap table, IP documentation, customer evidence and key contracts. Investors in deeptech will ask about IP ownership early, so get your IP hygiene in order.
- Run the process in a tight window. Book first meetings within three to four weeks so conversations overlap. Parallel talks create urgency and give you negotiating power.
- Measure progress by signed term sheets. A term sheet is the non-binding document listing the main conditions of an investment. Count term sheets, money received in your bank account and follow-on rounds. Ignore compliments, coffee meetings and “keep us posted.”
Three founder examples that show how fund rules play out
- The 25% co-founder. Anna runs a healthtech startup in Eindhoven with a male co-founder who holds 75%. She qualifies for Auxxo (20% threshold) but falls short of Borski (30% threshold). If her company shifts toward FemTech, the picture changes.
- The male FemTech team. Two male engineers build a device for endometriosis diagnostics. Borski can still invest, because the product reduces the gender health gap, provided they commit to improving gender diversity in the team.
- The solo founder in climate tech. Sophie owns 100% of her pre-Seed carbon accounting startup. She fits every women-focused fund on paper, so her real filter becomes stage and ticket size. She should also pitch generalist climate investors, because CapitalT-style funds prove that strong founders get funded without a diversity label.
What are the most common mistakes women founders make when pitching Dutch VCs?
I have watched hundreds of founders pitch, both in real life and in our startup game. These mistakes repeat over and over.
- Leading with the diversity statistic. The 21% outperformance figure is a signal, never a guarantee. Investors fund markets, customers and margins. Lead with traction.
- Ignoring the cap table rules. Founders discover the 30% Borski threshold after the first meeting. Read eligibility criteria before you send a deck.
- Raising equity before grants. Giving away 15% for money you could have received as a subsidy is an expensive habit.
- Treating events as fundraising. Panels and networking evenings feel productive. Count how many led to a second meeting.
- Underpricing the round out of politeness. Women founders often ask for less money than they need, which shortens runway and forces a weak follow-on round.
- Skipping IP protection. In deeptech and design-heavy startups, unclear IP ownership kills deals in due diligence. I built CADChain partly because I saw how often engineers lose control of their files.
- Forgetting follow-on capacity. Ask every investor: “Do you reserve capital for follow-on rounds, and how much?” Small funds may not.
Is the “gender-balanced teams outperform” statistic a reason to invest?
The research often cited in investor discussions says gender-balanced teams are 21% more likely to outperform relevant benchmarks. Arthur Kramer goes further and writes that “female entrepreneurs deliver more long-term value than men. You couldn’t make a simpler business case.” Microfinance offers a similar story: the Grameen Bank model of Professor Muhammad Yunus focused on women because they used microloans effectively.
I agree with the direction and I disagree with how founders use it. Team composition cannot replace a credible market, customer demand, pricing logic, technical feasibility or disciplined cash management. Use the statistic in your conversation with limited partners and policymakers. In your own pitch, spend the minutes on revenue, retention and why your team wins. On top of that, a smart investor will ask you what YOUR numbers say, and the honest answer should come from your customers.
What would actually change the numbers? Violetta Bonenkamp’s take
Here is my provocative take, and I stand by it: the Netherlands will NOT reach 50% female representation in tech by 2030 unless something radical happens in the next twelve months. The share of VC going to women barely moves. Female-focused funds are tiny. Most support programs still sell inspiration when founders need tools. I explain more of this in the November 2026 analysis of female founders in the Netherlands.
My operating principle is simple: “Women do not need more inspiration; they need infrastructure.” Infrastructure means step-by-step playbooks, cap table templates, IP and legal hygiene, AI agents that handle research and drafting, and warm access to people who sign checks. This is why I built Fe/male Switch as a no-code startup game. Players practise pitching, negotiation and fundraising decisions inside a simulated startup village with real consequences, before they burn real capital. As I like to say, “Education must be experiential and slightly uncomfortable.”
Five changes I would push for in the Dutch ecosystem
- Publish deal data, not pledges. Every Dutch VC that signs a diversity charter should publish yearly figures on the share of capital going to women-led teams.
- Bigger women-focused funds with follow-on reserves. The banks proved they can commit €5 million each. Scale that tenfold and include Series A money.
- More women as partners with carry. Brummelhuis’s quote holds: investors fund people who look like them. Change who decides, and the portfolio follows.
- Grant-to-equity bridges. Women get 13.7% of business funding and under 2% of VC. Link public grant programs to co-investment so grant winners arrive at VCs with a warm path.
- Treat no-code and AI as the first engineering team. My rule: “Default to no-code until you hit a hard wall.” Founders who validate with cheap tools raise later, at better valuations, with more evidence.
Also, a word on parallel entrepreneurship. I run several linked ventures at the same time because knowledge, contacts and tools carry over between them. For a woman founder facing a small investor pool, building assets that serve more than one venture is a practical way to stretch every relationship and every euro.
FAQ: VCs in the Netherlands investing into women in 2026
What percentage of venture capital goes to women in the Netherlands?
Recent reporting puts it at less than 2%, while some investors quote around 3%. Women make up 38% of Dutch entrepreneurs and receive 13.7% of total business funding.
What is the Borski Fund?
The Borski Fund is the first Dutch venture capital fund focused on female entrepreneurship. It raised €21 million, backed by ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank, and invests in companies where women hold at least 30% of founder shares. It invests in areas such as women’s health, climate tech and future-society technology.
Can male founders get money from women-focused Dutch funds?
Sometimes. Borski can invest in male teams working on FemTech that reduces the gender health gap, as long as they commit to improving team diversity. CapitalT has no diversity mandate at all.
Should women founders pitch generalist VCs too?
Yes. Women-focused funds are small and cannot fund every strong company. Pitch generalist Dutch and European funds whose sector, stage and ticket size match your startup.
Where can I meet women investors in the Netherlands?
Start with Women in VC NL events in Amsterdam, The Next Women network, angel groups such as The Angel Initiative, and accelerator demo days at programs like Yes!Delft and Brightlands.
What should you do next?
The November 2026 picture is clear. Women run 38% of Dutch businesses and receive under 2% of venture capital. A handful of small, determined funds such as Borski, Visible Investments, CapitalT and Joanna Invests are filling part of the gap, and European players like Auxxo are growing fast. The equity stage remains where women founders lose the most ground, so that is where your preparation has to be sharpest.
Next steps for this week:
- Check your cap table against the 30% Borski and 20% Auxxo thresholds.
- List every grant and subsidy you qualify for before you give away shares.
- Build a target list of 30 to 50 investors, mixing women-focused and generalist funds.
- Book one community event where investors from your list will attend.
- Start a fundraising tracker that counts term sheets and money received, nothing else.
I will keep tracking these numbers every month, because founders deserve facts over feel-good headlines. If the percentage moves, you will read it here first. Until then, play the fundraising game like a strategist: collect information, assets and relationships faster than everyone else, and make investors compete for your term sheet.
People Also Ask:
How much venture capital goes to women?
Startups with all-female founding teams typically receive around 2% of global venture capital dollars. Mixed-gender teams do better and often land between 10% and 15% of funding in Europe and the US. That share has barely moved over the past decade, even as more investors publicly commit to closing the gap.
What are women's rights like in the Netherlands?
The Netherlands ranks among the more gender-equal countries in Europe. Women gained the right to vote in 1919, and the law protects equal treatment. Abortion and paid parental leave are also legally established. Gaps remain. The gender pay gap sits at roughly 12 to 13%, many women work part-time, and women are underrepresented in senior roles. A 2022 law requires listed companies to fill at least one-third of their supervisory board seats with women.
What to invest in as a woman?
Women can invest in the same assets as anyone else, including low-cost index funds and ETFs, pension contributions, bonds, real estate, and individual stocks. Women tend to live longer, earn less on average, and take more career breaks, so starting early and investing consistently matters. Some women also join angel networks or funds that back female founders, which combines financial returns with support for women-led businesses.
What are the top 5 venture capital firms?
Rankings change by year and by measure. Firms commonly listed at the top include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Benchmark. Insight Partners, Index Ventures, and General Catalyst also appear frequently on lists of leading firms.
Are VCs in the Netherlands investing in women-led startups?
Yes, though progress is slow. Dutch startups with all-female founding teams still receive a small fraction of total venture funding. Some VCs have responded by adopting gender-conscious investment policies, adding more women to their investment teams, and backing funds dedicated to female founders. Analysts at ION Analytics have pointed out that European VCs have often talked about funding women more than they have actually done it.
What female-led investment networks exist in the Netherlands?
Maastricht University has reported that female-led venture capital and angel networks have started to emerge in the Netherlands. These groups bring women together to pool capital, review deals, and back ventures with female founders. Communities like Girls into VC host events featuring women who shape the Dutch and global VC scene. European female angel networks also fund women-led companies across several countries.
What is How Women Invest?
How Women Invest is a venture fund that backs female-led startups. Its Fund III focuses on Series A and Series B rounds, the stage where many women founders struggle to raise follow-on capital. Investors in the Netherlands, including individual angels, have put money into the fund as a direct way to back women-led companies.
How many women-led venture capital firms are in the Netherlands?
Data provider RevenueBase lists around 30 women-led venture capital companies based in the Netherlands. That number is small compared with the total number of VC firms in the country. It reflects the wider shortage of women in investment roles across Europe.
What is gender-lens investing?
Gender-lens investing means taking gender into account when making investment choices. This can involve funding companies founded or led by women, backing products that serve women, or supporting companies with fair workplace policies. Limited partners (LPs) can push this approach forward by asking VC funds about their gender policies and by putting money into women-led funds.
What is WomenINvestEU?
WomenINvestEU is a programme supported by the European Commission for women investors, including angels and venture capitalists. It offers training, case studies, and peer learning to help women build skills and confidence in gender-conscious investing. The goal is to increase both the number of women writing checks and the amount of capital reaching female founders.
FAQ on Dutch VC Funding for Women Founders in 2026
What share of Dutch VC partners are women, and why should founders care?
Only about 6% of Dutch VC partners are women, and just 16% of firms invest in teams with a female founder. Partners sign off on deals, so prioritise funds where women hold partner roles with carry. Ask who sits on the investment committee before you send your deck. Read the March 2026 analysis of Dutch VC partner diversity
Do women founders face a funding penalty after a failed startup?
Yes. Research cited in this series shows women founders raise 53.3% less capital than men after a failed startup and 24.6% less after a successful one. Repeat founders should document lessons learned, quantify past traction and line up strong references before raising again. See April 2026 data on the serial founder funding gap
Should Dutch women founders approach US venture capital firms?
Often, yes, especially at Seed and Series A, when Dutch tickets run thin. Some US VCs have LP mandates that include gender equity, which makes Dutch women-led startups attractive targets. Prepare US-style metrics, ask a lawyer early about a possible Delaware flip, and use your existing investors for warm introductions. Explore cross-border VC trends for women founders
What is Code-V and how does it shape Dutch funding for women?
Code-V (Vrouwelijk Ondernemerschap) is the Dutch movement behind the widely cited 38%, 13.7% and under-2% figures. It pushes for national action on the funding gap. Founders can join its network, contribute to its research and use its data in grant applications and policy conversations. Read how Code-V is pushing the Dutch funding agenda
How underfunded are Black women and founders of colour?
Black women founders received just 0.34% of total VC funding in 2021, a much deeper gap than women overall face. Founders of colour in the Netherlands should prioritise funds with intersectional track records, such as CapitalT. Ask for portfolio diversity data before committing time to a fund. Review May 2026 insights on intersectional funding gaps
What evidence convinces Dutch investors at the pre-seed stage?
Investors value hard evidence over a polished mission story:
- paying pilots
- signed letters of intent
- cohort retention data
- awarded grants such as WBSO or MIT Haalbaarheid
Dutch investors increasingly expect founders to "pitch with proof, not just mission." Back every slide with at least one metric from real customers.
How can women become venture capital investors themselves?
Women in VC NL connects 170 professionals, from analysts to managing partners. Aspiring investors can start as angels through groups like The Angel Initiative, join scout programs at Dutch funds, or co-invest through syndicates. Each route builds the track record that leads to partner roles. Join the Women in VC NL community
Which European women-focused funds beyond Auxxo should Dutch founders target?
Fund F in Vienna and January Ventures back women-led startups, and the Female Ventures Amsterdam ecosystem connects founders with backers. Compare each fund's stage focus, ticket size and ownership threshold. Then pitch the two or three that match your round, which widens your pool beyond small Dutch funds. Browse 10 European funding vehicles for women founders
How can founders tell if a VC's diversity pledge is genuine?
Ask for the share of capital, not the number of deals, invested in women-led teams over the past three years, plus follow-on rates. CapitalT shows that measurable results are possible without a mandate. Speak privately with two portfolio founders and check whether women hold board seats.
Where can women founders find guidance beyond fundraising?
Fundraising is only one piece. Women founders also need frameworks for pricing, hiring, legal, IP and marketing. Use a structured playbook to sequence non-dilutive funding, validation and growth. Then practise investor conversations in a simulated environment like Fe/male Switch, where mistakes cost nothing. Get the Female Entrepreneur Playbook
