A special investment fund for young technology companies is being developed. This is done by ASML and Philips, who do this together with the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), research institute TNO, pension fund PME and government fund Invest-NL. The fund contains at least 100 million euros.
The fund participants do not want to say how much each company contributes to the fund.
The new fund will be called DeepTechXL Fund I, as it will focus on complex technologies, including photonics (sharing information into chips using light) and artificial intelligence (using Google to learn from every search query).
In addition to access to capital, the start-ups are guided by technology companies from Brabant and can use their network, knowledge, technologies and licenses.
“The uniqueness of DeepTechXL is that intensive use can be made of the knowledge and experience of companies and knowledge institutes within Brainport,” says ASML CEO Peter Wennink in an explanation of the initiative. “This allows us to make the necessary combination of knowledge, talent and money available to start-ups and scale-ups in deep tech in the Netherlands.”
Deep-tech companies look for technological solutions to complex technical challenges. The companies also want to help start-ups to acquire first customers, enter new markets or expand production where necessary.