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Van Lanschot Kempen
Van Lanschot Kempen is the product of successive mergers that joined a 300-year-old Dutch merchant bank with a specialist securities and investment...
Van Lanschot Kempen
Van Lanschot Kempen is the product of successive mergers that joined a 300-year-old Dutch merchant bank with a specialist securities and investment management house. The modern entity focuses on three pillars: private banking, asset management, and merchant banking. Within the asset management pillar, the firm runs a dedicated fund-of-funds program for venture capital, pooling commitments from its private banking clients and institutional mandates and allocating them to external VC managers. The parent company is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. The fund-of-funds strategy spans multiple venture stages and geographies, with a primary emphasis on European venture capital managers. The firm builds portfolios of fund commitments rather than direct positions, providing underlying exposure to hundreds of portfolio companies through manager selection. Sector exposure includes enterprise software, fintech, digital health, and climate tech, reflecting the allocation patterns of its selected managers. The platform seeks to blend established, top-quartile European VC firms with emerging managers in strategies that offer differentiated access. Van Lanschot Kempen manages the venture capital commitments alongside a broader asset management business that includes fixed income, equities, real assets, and sustainable strategies. The firm does not publicly break out the venture fund-of-funds AUM from the total asset management figure. The merchant banking arm provides complementary services in M&A, equity capital markets, and debt advisory, though these remain structurally separate from the fund investment activities. The firm maintains its primary operational base in Amsterdam, with additional European offices serving its private banking network. The structural differentiator is the institution's longevity and the way its venture fund-of-funds offering sits inside a listed, regulated financial group. This architecture gives the VC platform access to a captive retail and institutional distribution network—the private bank's client base—which few standalone fund-of-funds managers can replicate. The model also subjects the selection and monitoring process to the governance and compliance framework of a publicly traded bank, a feature that institutional allocators often weigh against the independence of boutique fund-of-funds shops.
General information
Firm type
Generic
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Netherlands
City
Amsterdam
Corporate office
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Does Van Lanschot Kempen invest directly in startups or only through funds?
The venture capital program operates as a fund-of-funds, making commitments to external venture capital managers rather than investing directly in startups. This means the firm selects VC fund managers, underwrites their strategies, and blends them into diversified portfolios for clients. The underlying portfolio companies are held through the selected funds, not on Van Lanschot Kempen's balance sheet.
What types of clients participate in the venture capital fund-of-funds program?
The program draws capital primarily from the firm's private banking clients—high-net-worth individuals and families—as well as from institutional mandates. The private bank acts as the distribution channel, giving the VC platform access to a steady capital base that is unusual among independent European fund-of-funds managers.
What is Van Lanschot Kempen's approach to manager selection for the VC program?
The firm emphasizes primary commitments to European venture capital managers, blending established funds with targeted exposure to emerging managers. The selection process includes quantitative track-record analysis, qualitative assessment of partnership dynamics, and reference checks across the venture ecosystem. The objective is to build portfolios that capture top-quartile performance while maintaining diversification across vintage years, sectors, and geographies.
How is the venture capital fund-of-funds activity separated from the merchant banking business?
The fund-of-funds investment program sits within the asset management pillar, while the merchant banking unit operates as a separate division providing M&A advisory, capital markets, and debt advisory services. These activities are structurally and operationally segregated, with information barriers in place to manage conflicts of interest.
Does Van Lanschot Kempen disclose the specific venture capital funds it commits to?
The firm does not systematically disclose its underlying fund commitments or portfolio holdings to the public. Limited transparency is typical of private fund-of-funds structures, though institutional investors and prospective clients typically receive detailed breakdowns during due diligence and through regular portfolio reporting.
What is the minimum commitment size for private-banking clients to access the VC fund-of-funds?
Van Lanschot Kempen does not publicly disclose a standard minimum commitment amount for its venture capital program. Participation thresholds are typically set according to local regulatory suitability frameworks and the client's overall wealth profile, with the private banking relationship determining access to the product.
Is Van Lanschot Kempen's VC fund-of-funds focused only on Europe?
The platform is predominantly European in its manager selection, reflecting the firm's home-market expertise and the deep venture ecosystems in the Netherlands, DACH region, Nordics, and broader continental Europe. The firm may selectively include global strategies, but the core allocation is to European VC.
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