The fund is expected to close by year end with LPs including Wageningen University, TU Delft, University of Twente and Eindhoven University of Technology.

A new venture fund backed by four Dutch universities is expected to raise €65m ($70m) by the end of 2020 to nurture domestic businesses including spinouts.
The vehicle, dubbed Shift III, is aligned to Wageningen University and Research and TU Delft as well as the universities of Twente and Eindhoven.
The Dutch government will also participate through its research institute TNO and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, as will provincial governments, financial services firm Rabobank and unnamed private sector funds.
Certain portfolio companies of Shift III’s precursors have also invested, including insect-based animal feed supplier Protix.
Shift III is described as long-term investment fund with ticket sizes generally ranging from $270,000 to $5.4m.
It aims to inject capital across multiple stages, sustaining the recipient through various phases of development, but investing earlier than funds that require solid proofs of turnover.
Shift’s earlier portfolio companies have included meat-free food protein supplier Meatless, wind energy business Ampyx Power and vertical farming technology producer 30Mhz.
The firm’s first two vehicles were managed by NBI Investors, with limited partners including Rabobank, Wageningen University and TU Delft, as well as health insurer Menzis and conservation charity World Wildlife Fund.
Sebastiaan Berendse, director of value creation at Wageningen University and Research, said: “This fund helps us increase our impact because it enables us to develop more, and faster scaling, spinoffs.
” This is because Shift III does more than just provide capital; the fund also provides support and expertise where needed. For example, by linking the best partners to the spinoff, so that its available potential can be achieved.”