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InvestLink
InvestLink was formed by Bert Van Loco, Hans Van Erum, and Frank Staut, the trio behind cybersecurity firm SecureLink.
InvestLink
InvestLink was formed by Bert Van Loco, Hans Van Erum, and Frank Staut, the trio behind cybersecurity firm SecureLink. The firm operates from Schoten, Belgium, with real estate holdings in Antwerp and a venture portfolio concentrated on early-stage enterprise technology. Frank Staut later took the CTO role at Palmki (Perfect-ID), a digital identity company, extending the group's footprint in authentication infrastructure. InvestLink's strategy spans direct venture bets and commercial real estate. Its most visible venture position is Rombit, a Belgian industrial IoT and worker-safety platform that secured co-investment from Vic Swerts (founder of Soudal) and Christophe De Decker of the Van Hool family. Michel Akkermans, the fintech investor behind Clear2Pay and Fintrx, exited Rombit as InvestLink entered, marking a generational handoff in the cap table. On the real estate side, InvestLink controls commercial properties in Schoten and Antwerp, including Melkerij Schoten, Melkerij Nachtegalenpark, and mixed-use site Het Zomerhuis. Van Loco maintains an active presence in the Belgian family-office community through Forum Familia, an association linking family businesses and private capital groups across Flanders. The firm's Belgian-domiciled holding entities — Paraiso Invest, Monte Invest, and Liberi — suggest a multi-vehicle structure for segregating asset classes and co-investor pools. InvestLink's architecture is notable for being neither a pure family office nor a blind-pool fund. It functions as an investment company where founding operators deploy personal capital into deals they understand from the inside — cybersecurity, industrial digitization — while inviting aligned industrialist families (Swerts, Van Hool) into specific transactions rather than commingled vehicles.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Belgium
City
Schoten
Corporate office
Schoten, Belgium
Additional offices
Antwerp, Belgium
Principals
Bert Van Loco
Founder
Hans Van Erum
Founder
Frank Staut
Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at InvestLink?
Bert Van Loco and Hans Van Erum, the co-founders of SecureLink, lead InvestLink's investment activity. Frank Staut, the third SecureLink co-founder, remains connected to the group as CTO of Palmki. The three appear to operate without a formal CIO structure common in institutionalized family offices.
How does InvestLink source its venture deals?
InvestLink sources primarily through the founders' networks in European cybersecurity and enterprise software. The SecureLink exit connected them to operators and serial entrepreneurs across Belgium. Forum Familia, the Belgian family-business association where Van Loco is active, provides an additional pipeline to industrialist families and their deal flow.
Is InvestLink a single family office or a broader investment firm?
InvestLink is structured as an investment company, not a single family office. While the founders deploy personal capital, they also co-invest alongside external industrial families — Vic Swerts of Soudal and Christophe De Decker of Van Hool participated in the Rombit round. The firm uses multiple holding entities (Paraiso Invest, Monte Invest, Liberi) to separate asset classes and likely different co-investor groups.
What does InvestLink's real estate portfolio look like?
InvestLink holds at least three commercial properties in Belgium: Melkerij Schoten (Schoten), Melkerij Nachtegalenpark (Antwerp), and Het Zomerhuis, a mixed-use site. These are held outside the venture portfolio, reflecting a dual-pillar strategy that pairs growth equity with hard-asset income.
Which sectors does InvestLink explicitly avoid?
The disclosed record shows no exposure to consumer internet, biotech, or traditional energy. The founders' SecureLink background and the Rombit investment suggest a focus on enterprise software, cybersecurity, and industrial digitization — areas where they have operator expertise rather than generalist appetite.
What is Frank Staut's current role relative to InvestLink?
Frank Staut is a co-founder of InvestLink but now serves as CTO of Palmki (Perfect-ID), a digital identity firm. His operating role at Palmki runs parallel to the InvestLink structure, keeping the SecureLink alumni connected to authentication and identity infrastructure while the investment company pursues its own portfolio.
How is InvestLink related to SecureLink?
InvestLink's three founders — Bert Van Loco, Hans Van Erum, and Frank Staut — were the co-founders of SecureLink, a Belgian cybersecurity company. InvestLink is not a corporate venture arm of SecureLink; it is the founders' separate investment vehicle, created after they exited the operating business.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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