Dutch bank ING’s ventures arm halts new investments

ING Ventures, the investment arm of Dutch bank ING, has pared back new investments and has seen the co-leaders leave the unit. It is the latest in a string of companies that have recently cut back or sold their corporate venturing units.

A spokesperson confirmed that ING would focus on managing the existing portfolio of 30 startups and would not be seeking new investment opportunities.

Frederic Hofmann, co-head of the unit, recently joined Royal Park Partners as a senior advisor, while Jan Willem Nieuwenhuize, the other co-head, has moved to ING Wholesale Banking as business development lead in the capital markets and advisory business. However, some of the core team remain at the CVC to manage the existing portfolio.

Founded in 2017, ING Ventures is an evergreen fund with more than €350m fund. It employed, at it’s height, some 10 investment professionals. The unit invested €1.5bn in the Benelux region and globally. One of its early investments was in Kabbage, the small business lending platform that was acquired by American Express in 2020. Some of its investments were in the fintech startups created in ING Labs, the bank’s incubator. A number of these, including names like Katana and Scoperty, were later shut down.

ING’s move to stop making new investments comes at a time when several large corporations have rethought their commitment to corporate venturing operations. Last year, ABN Amro, another Dutch bank, transferred its corporate venture arm to VC firm Motive Partners. Last week, US airline JetBlue sold its JetBlue Ventures CVC arm to Sky Leasing.

The moves to cut back on corporate venturing come at a time when many of the parent corporations are facing difficult trading conditions following three years of a slowdown in new stock market listings, which has made it hard for investors to make returns from their startup portfolios.