VentureRock – Impact Venture Builder and ecosystem of entrepreneurs, investors and startup experts, is launching a $300M Fund-of-Funds in Abu Dhabi – supported by The Private Investment Group, to encourage and grow the market-leaders that will shape the world of tomorrow DeepTech, CleanTech, HealthTech and Smart City technology.
From this new Fund-of-Funds, VentureRock will invest in early-stage startups that leverage technology, science and innovation to build sustainable, impact-driven solutions and unlock new-age business models for Retail, Real-Estate, Logistics, FinTech and Agriculture. This will be done through Venturerock’s Special Purpose Investment Company (SPIC) structure, that implements the legal and operational processes needed to safeguard the ventures’ success.
Founded in 2018 in Amsterdam, VentureRock is now active in Dubai, parallel to two more hubs in Amsterdam and Singapore.
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With the VentureRock Dubai Hub, the firm is bringing not only capital but also technology, talent and knowledge around early-stage startup investing and venture building to the UAE region. The hub is also running its own venture building studio – comprised of the Founders Lab and Builders Lab, and will become the launching pad for Venturerock portfolio companies to expand operations to the Middle East.
All hubs are set in an identical structure – VentureRock SPICs, and follow the same formula to venture building – VentureRock OS®. “90% of all early-stage startups fail in the first 3 years. This is a normal we wanted to change by changing how venture capital works in early-stage investing. The VentureRock OS® is how we organize not only capital but also strategists, problem solvers and industry specific knowledge around our portfolio ventures,” says Xander van der Heijden, General Partner at VentureRock.
The novel venture building system digitizes the investment supply-chain, from cap table to KPI reporting and legal agreements, to de-risk and unlock the free flow of capital throughout ventures’ lifecycle risks through real-time audited data. Further Venturerock OS® pioneers a 72-step methodology to systematically guide ventures from early-stage startups to fully compliant scale-ups.
“In the past 12 months, we’ve successfully launched 10 companies within SPIC I, which is focused on changing the way we finance, invest and exchange value. This portfolio has been designed for revolutionary impact – to build a global financial infrastructure that embeds trust and payments at a protocol level. An infrastructure that provides the building blocks for the next economy by powering products, services and business models with financial services at the core,” further explains van der Heijden.
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In the long-term, the impact-focused venture builder is on a mission to create a Single Digital Capital Market and launch a secondary marketplace running on a global shared liquidity infrastructure, stimulating cross-border investments and lowering the threshold for retail investors.
Supporting VentureRock with their capital raise and strategic partnerships with both the public and private sectors has been The Private Investment Group, a Dubai based company that works with funds and families in the GCC but also throughout Europe, the US and Asia.
Founder and CEO of The Private Investment Group Alastair Lidel said “What VentureRock has built is the next generation of ecosystems. A system that allows the incredible depth of knowledge they have to be coupled with some of the most innovative minds in the world. Working in partnership with Xander and the VentureRock team has always been exciting and a privilege and we are delighted to have supported them in this venture and look forward to continuing this impressive journey.”
Director of Business Development at The Private Investment Group Obediah Ayton added “I am excited to see Venturerock demonstrate the way venture capital funds are now being deployed post covid here in the UAE. The portfolio companies within Venturerock are some of the most exciting and innovative we have seen and I have no doubt they will be a welcome asset to both the public and private sector in the Middle East.”
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