Innovation in Europe has never been short on talent, research, or ambition. Yet, time and again, we see high-potential startups struggle to secure the private investment needed to translate their groundbreaking research into market-ready solutions. This is the challenge that Ventures.eu is tackling head-on—bridging the funding gap by identifying and supporting the most promising EU-backed startups, ensuring they scale successfully and deliver real impact.
At the heart of this effort is Thijs Povel, Founder of Dealflow.eu and Ventures.eu, who brings over 15 years of experience in venture capital and private equity. Through Dealflow.eu, he has built a data-driven ecosystem that connects deeptech startups with investors and corporates, accelerating commercialisation at a critical stage. Ventures.eu takes this mission further by actively investing in the highest-potential startups emerging from this pipeline.
Beyond his work at Ventures.eu, Thijs and Dealflow.eu play a key role in the Innovation Radar Bridge project—an EU-funded project initiative designed to strengthen connections between EU-funded innovators, investors, and policymakers across Europe. As one of the three partners leading this project alongside EU-Startups and Dealroom.co, Dealflow.eu is helping to shape a more integrated European innovation ecosystem. While this interview will focus on Ventures.eu and its approach to investing in deeptech startups, it’s important to understand how this work aligns with broader efforts to bridge the commercialisation gap for EU-funded innovation.
For investors, policymakers, and startups alike, this discussion offers insights into the challenges of commercialising deeptech innovations and how to overcome them. We’ll explore Ventures.eu’s data-driven investment strategies, the role of corporate partnerships, and what it takes to bring more EU-funded breakthroughs to market. Thijs shares key lessons and experiences that can help shape investment decisions, policy frameworks, and startup growth strategies.
So Thijs, welcome—thank you for joining us! What inspired you to complement Dealflow.eu with the creation of Ventures.eu? How did your previous experiences shape the vision for this new venture fund?
From day one, the intention was to complement Dealflow.eu with a VC fund. When the European Commission supports a project like Dealflow.eu, it is required to become self-sufficient before the end of its project.
As Dealflow.eu identifies, supports and introduces some of the most promising deeptech startups in Europe to investors and corporates, it made sense to complement these activities with the creation of a VC fund—similar to other successful support organisations such as Plug and Play which also works with the EU Commission, organises corporate days and then invests in the most promising startups they meet through these activities.
In our work for the Commission, we indeed have been seeing a major gap—with many high-potential EU-funded innovations struggling to secure private investment to scale commercially even though they have secured significant customer demand.
Ventures.eu was created to bridge that gap. Our experience of working with the founders and supporting their go-to-market efforts gives us a unique advantage in selecting the best European innovators and ensuring that their products successfully scale up, which is also very important for the European Commission, to see more of its EU-funded projects reach the market.
Could you explain how your data-driven approach to sourcing and vetting startups gives you an edge over other venture capital funds? What role does the extensive network from Dealflow.eu play in this?
Thanks to our data engine, which provides real-time and AI-enriched information about thousands of startups, investors, and corporations, we are able to source and support the most promising new innovations.
Leveraging our network of corporates and helping them establish business deals with these startups allows us to invest in the startups when they need it most—when they are ready to scale up their production as they have found product market fit. This gives Ventures.eu a unique opportunity to invest at the right time while the company is still early with little revenue and a lot of upside potential.
One of your goals is to accelerate the market uptake of groundbreaking EU-funded innovations. What are the key barriers you see to translating EU-funded research into market-ready products?
One major challenge is the “commercialisation gap”—many research-driven startups have world-class technology but lack the go-to-market expertise and funding to scale. At Ventures.eu, we provide hands-on support to help startups refine their go-to-market strategies, connect with corporate partners and clients, and secure investments to accelerate their transition from lab to market.
What key factors do you look for when assessing the potential of a startup? How do you balance the scalability of an innovation with its sustainability and societal impact?
We assess three key pillars: the team, the technology, and the potential market.
Scaling up a startup is not an easy endeavour and requires real perseverance and grit. We spend a lot of time with our founders and our investment journey will last longer than most marriages, making it extremely important to choose the right team.
The technology needs to be truly disruptive and address a real need in a large enough market to support the startup growth.
At Dealflow.eu, we are very well aligned with the strategic goals of the European Commission, favouring companies that solve pressing global challenges—whether in healthcare, climate, or advanced manufacturing. After all, most of the startups that we meet have received European grants. By definition, these startups have a beneficial impact for society and in terms of sustainability.
We believe that the most transformative businesses are those that not only scale but also create a meaningful, positive impact in society.
Your emphasis on hands-on support for portfolio companies is intriguing. Could you provide an example of a specific case where this approach has helped an innovation overcome a market uptake barrier?
A great example is NextSense, a Dutch startup in the renewable energy sector. Through Dealflow.eu, we introduced them to key investors during our ‘Renewable Energy E-Pitching Event’, which was instrumental in their successful €11.5 million Series A funding round, co-led by Pensioenfonds ABP. This case highlights how our ecosystem-driven approach accelerates the market uptake of groundbreaking innovations—by not only providing capital but also actively facilitating strategic partnerships that unlock growth opportunities.
Another success story is Circularise, a blockchain platform enabling end-to-end traceability and secure data exchange in industrial supply chains. Their digital product passports empower companies to transition toward a circular economy, but they needed the right investors to scale. Through Dealflow.eu, we supported them by preparing key materials, introducing them to strategic investors, and featuring them in our e-pitching event. As a result, they secured crucial funding in December 2024, further driving the adoption of sustainable supply chain solutions.
The pace of innovation in deeptech and AI is speeding up with each year—how do you identify breakthrough trends early on, and what strategies do you have to ensure they gain traction in the market?
Thanks to our work with early stage deeptech startups and innovative corporates, we are operating at the forefront of innovation. We are constantly introduced to the newest technologies while also in touch with the potential customers. Every month we host at least one in-person corporate matchmaking event, where we bring together a specific corporate with the most promising innovators that this corporate selects in our platform, enabling corporates to continue to innovate and the startups to gain significant traction.
What role do regulatory frameworks play in the successful uptake of these innovations? How do you help startups navigate any European regulations that may hinder their commercialisation?
Regulatory compliance can make or break a deeptech startup, especially in sectors like healthtech, fintech, or AI. We proactively guide our startups through regulatory hurdles by leveraging our network of legal experts and industry advisors. Additionally, our experience working with EU institutions helps us anticipate regulatory shifts, ensuring our portfolio companies stay ahead of compliance requirements while maintaining their competitive edge.
Looking ahead, to the next big challenges and opportunities you foresee for Ventures.eu—are there any emerging sectors or technologies you’re particularly excited to explore in 2025 and beyond?
We see AI-powered automation, robotics, quantum computing applications, and next-generation climate tech as key areas of opportunity. Additionally, with Europe’s push for strategic autonomy, we anticipate increased investment in semiconductor innovation and cybersecurity. At Ventures.eu, we are focused on identifying the startups that will drive these shifts and ensuring they have the right support to scale globally.
