Round One Ventures student fund gets 400k from BOM and Brabant educational institutions
The Brabant Development Agency (BOM), Eindhoven University of Technology and Tilburg University (on behalf of Starterslift Investments fund) announced yesterday that they are investing 400,000 euros in the Round One Ventures student fund that funds student start-ups in the province of North Brabant.
The investment was announced during the first joint alumni event of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Tilburg University on Monday evening, April 3. Over 400 entrepreneurial alumni attended the announcement by Wim van de Donk (rector magnificus and chairman of the Executive Board of Tilburg University), Frank Baaijens (rector magnificus of Eindhoven University of Technology) and Marc Jansen (Head of Capital for the Brabant Development Agency).
Investment
The Brabant Development Agency is investing €200,000 and TU/e €100,000, with a further contribution of €100,000 from the Starterslift Investments fund of which Tilburg University, Avans University of Applied Sciences and Breda University of Applied Sciences are shareholders. This creates a broad platform for cooperation for the entire province of North Brabant as well as both academic and higher education. These parties are investing because they support the importance of student start-ups in the region and want to set an example for others to follow.
The investment marks an important milestone for the student fund, which until now has attracted mostly private investors. The fund aims to bring in 2.5 million euros, money that they will invest in early-stage student start-ups. “We are extremely proud that the universities, where we ourselves started our studies, believe in our mission,” said Round One founder and chairman Jur van Bergen. “Our goal in establishing the fund is to bring innovation, conceived in the classrooms, to reality. We are doing this by helping young entrepreneurs with funding, networking and mentoring.”
Entrepreneurship
For educational institutions, valorization, or creating impact by harnessing knowledge for societal issues, is a third statutory task in addition to education and research. The North Brabant region is a region with unprecedented potential for knowledge, innovations and commercial opportunities. And a region where many emerging start-ups are coming up with solutions to the challenges facing our society today. During the event, the alumni, educational institutions, the BOM and Round One gave a joint boost to promising new entrepreneurship by students.
First ‘Start-up Night’ of TU/e and Tilburg University
Alumni can make a great contribution with their knowledge, experience and network to ambitious students shaping the economy of the future with start-ups. Precisely for these reasons, on Monday, April 3 both universities brought together entrepreneurial alumni networks. The evening allowed room for knowledge sharing, discussion and the opportunity to network. Connecting, sharing knowledge and experiences, networking and supporting the new generation of entrepreneurs – these were the ingredients of the evening. Eindhoven University of Technology was the venue for this first edition; in 2024 the event will be held at Tilburg University.
About Round One Ventures
Round One was founded by a group of student entrepreneurs from Eindhoven, Tilburg and ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The fund distinguishes itself by investing early in young (student) start-ups with the aim of supporting students in their first steps as entrepreneurs. The day-to-day management of the fund is in the hands of a group of students who volunteer their time alongside their studies to improve the entrepreneurial climate for this group.