INGEN HOUSZ

Rotterdam-based Xycle, a chemical recycling company, has secured financing through a combination of equity investment from a consortium of investors, including Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics, ING, Invest-NL (partly covered by InvestEU) and Vopak, and senior debt from Polestar Capital. Xycle will use this funding to build its first commercial-scale plant—a flagship recycling facility, strategically located in the Port of Rotterdam. The plant, expected to be fully operational by Q4 2026, will have the capacity to process 21,000 metric tons of plastic waste annually. Arnd Thomas, CEO of Xycle said: "Our innovative chemical recycling technology offers a credible and scalable route to keep difficult-to-recycle plastic waste away from incineration, landfill or our natural environment. Securing funding for the construction of our facility in the Port of Rotterdam marks an important step in developing and expanding our unique pyrolysis-based technology, which has been shown to deliver a best-in-class pyrolysis yield for cracker feedstock." Mark Weustink, Head of Sustainable Investments of ING said: “ING is pleased to have stepped in as investor in Xycle alongside the founders and our core clients Dow, Vopak and Invest-NL. Xycle fits very well with ING’s ambition to invest in companies that have an innovative technology and make a positive environmental impact. Dow and Vopak will bring relevant and invaluable expertise, knowledge, and access to networks to Xycle whilst the involvement of Invest-NL underscores the significance of Xycle’s activities for the Dutch economy and its circular ambitions.” INGEN HOUSZ (Matthijs Ingen-Housz, Berend Veenstra) advised ING.

Ayurvedic skincare brand indē wild raised $5M in a funding round led by Unilever Ventures. Existing investors SoGal Ventures and True Global Ventures also participated in the round. Founded in 2021 by Diipa Khosla, a global entrepreneur and media personality, alongside Oleg E.H. Büller, indē wild has rapidly built a devoted customer base. indē wild will deploy its newly secured capital to accelerate international expansion, focusing on its existing partnership with SEPHORA in the UK and its forthcoming launch in the US. Diipa Khosla says: "I still remember the early conversations with investors who told us we were “too niche” or “too small.” But we knew that the world was ready for a beauty brand that didn’t dilute its identity to go global- one that made Ayurveda aspirational, backed by science, and deeply rooted in culture." Oleg E.H. Büller emphasised the strategic value of the Unilever Ventures partnership: "Their expertise in clean beauty and deep understanding of consumer needs will allow indē wild to scale even faster in this rapidly evolving market." Rachel Harris, Partner at Unilever Ventures, added, "By blending Ayurveda with modern science, indē wild is redefining holistic beauty for today's consumers. We are thrilled to partner with Diipa and Oleg on this next phase of growth." INGEN HOUSZ (Quirijn van Veen, Joukje Baur) advised indē wild.

Moonwatt raises €8M to power the sodium-ion battery revolution for 24/7 dispatchable solar power. This seed round is co-led by daphni and LEA Partners, who invested alongside Founders Future, AFI Ventures, Kima Ventures and strategic business angels and customers. Amsterdam-based Moonwatt is building a solar-only energy storage system from the ground up using sodium-ion batteries. This fundamentally different approach makes storage more scalable, cost-competitive, and sustainable. Founded by Zukui Hu, Guillaume Mancini, and Valentin Rota, who met working at Tesla, Moonwatt's goal is to supercharge the solar revolution by making it the dominant dispatchable electricity source worldwide. Zukui Hu, CEO and co-founder of Moonwatt, said: “We started our product design from a blank sheet of paper, freeing ourselves from legacy features inherited from other segments of the battery industry, with the goal of designing a system from scratch that is fundamentally cheaper, safer and more reliable. Our vision is a product that can be deployed anywhere, and that can be scaled up multiple orders of magnitude without facing raw materials scarcity.” See link to TechCrunch article in Comments. INGEN HOUSZ (Matthijs Ingen-Housz, Joukje Baur) advised Moonwatt.

INGEN HOUSZ is recognized as the #1 VC law firm for the Benelux in PitchBook’s Global League Tables for 2024. In 2024 INGEN HOUSZ ranks 24th globally. The PitchBook tables credit INGEN HOUSZ with 90 venture capital and growth equity financings in the period January - December 2024 (see table below). These financings infused funding into emerging companies, reflecting our commitment to shaping the new economy. Quirijn van Veen Matthijs Ingen-Housz Joep Wolfhagen Meelf van Oosten Loes Mensink Joukje Baur Eeke van Vegchel - Kenninck Selene Snippe Daan Gieben Daan Smole Fee Njio Willemijn de Wit Berend Veenstra Frans Ruijs Nienke Peters

QuantWare raises €20M Series A to power the world's largest quantum computers with VIO. The round was co-led by Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund and InnovationQuarter, with participation from EIC IMPACT TRUST - EIC IMPACT FUND (Eastern Investment Centers), FORWARD.one, QDNL Participations, Graduate Entrepreneur Fund, and Job van der Voort (Remote). QuantWare was founded to accelerate the advent of the quantum computer. In order to achieve this mission, QuantWare develops #VIO, a technology that allows QuantWare's customers to create the world's largest quantum processors (QPUs). “Our mission is to make VIO the scaling standard, powering the first million-qubit quantum computers of tomorrow’s hyperscalers,” said CEO Matthijs Rijlaarsdam. “We are building the best team in the world to achieve this mission. Accelerating the path towards that moment is a very important thing to do, as systems of that size will change the world.” INGEN HOUSZ (Quirijn van Veen, Berend Veenstra) advised QuantWare (Matthijs Rijlaarsdam, Alessandro Bruno).

Amsterdam-based Fortaegis Technologies has annouced its previously undisclosed seed round of $10M, backed by Serendipity Capital. Founded in 2022, Fortaegis is focused on building more secure semiconductors. The startup is now emerging from stealth, aiming to capitalize on a surge of interest in safeguarding the chips that underpin artificial intelligence and other technology. Founder and chief executive Boudewijn Wijnands says that the basic idea behind the company’s technology relies on replacing public cryptographic keys, which can be stolen or exposed, with authentication based on the individual physical chips. Each chip has minute differences that give it a unique fingerprint. This approach could help develop microprocessors that make it harder to hack data centers that train AI models, autonomous vehicles, energy grids, secure communication lines and edge devices such as AI-enabled drones. Fortaegis is currently in talks with investors in the US, Europe and Japan to raise new funding to go toward building a specialized chip that includes security features such as physical “fingerprinting” and advanced software architecture. Picture: Boudewijn Wijnands speaking with Fortaegis Advisors Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (former Secretary General of NATO and Minister of State) and Frans Blom (former Exco. BCG Global). INGEN HOUSZ (Matthijs Ingen-Housz, Joep Wolfhagen, Berend Veenstra, Selene Snippe) advised Fortaegis Technologies (Boudewijn Wijnands).

EvidenceHunt, an AI-powered medical research platform, has closed a funding round of €1.2M, led by Keen Venture Partners, DFF Ventures (Dutch Founders Fund) and Slimmer AI. The consortium was joined by notable angel investors, including Jeroen Tas, Dinko Valerio, and James Shannon.   EvidenceHunt was founded by medical doctors, scientists, and data science experts to transform how medical evidence is gathered, analyzed, and applied - enabling faster, evidence-based decision-making. Today, it supports a growing global user base across diverse sectors, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies, healthcare providers and academic institutions. EvidenceHunt is using the funding to extend the platform’s capabilities, enabling teams and organizations to efficiently process medical information.    “As a medical doctor and PhD, I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to spend countless hours navigating PubMed, guidelines, and protocols. From day one, we built EvidenceHunt to mimic domain-specific logic and processes for evaluating and interpreting literature. But we aim to do more than just save time - we provide clear answers that users can trace back to credible sources. Unlike generic AI platforms, our goal with EvidenceHunt is not to be a black box; it’s designed to empower users with transparency and reliability, which are essential for adoption and for earning the trust of the medical community,” said Philippe Habets, MD PhD, CEO of EvidenceHunt.   “EvidenceHunt addresses a clear pain point for users across various segments worldwide. By integrating into institutional workflows and with institutional data, and applying the latest LLM technology in a powerful vertical-AI SaaS solution, EvidenceHunt taps into a large and growing market” stated JC Heyneke of Slimmer AI. INGEN HOUSZ (Quirijn van Veen, Joukje Baur) advised Keen Venture Partners, DFF Ventures (Dutch Founders Fund) and Slimmer AI.

Lemni has officially launched and at the same time announced its $3.5M pre-seed round, to build the way to set up Ai agents for your business. This round is led by Sequoia Capital, with participation of Designer Fund, Frank Slootman, Scott Belsky, Arthur Mensch, Koen Bok, Jorn van Dijk, Christian Reber, Niklas Jansen, Mario Götze, and others.   Julien Bek, Partner Sequoia Capital said: “Building great product experiences starts with strong founders—that’s why we're delighted to partner with Krijn and Alex on their journey.”   INGEN HOUSZ (Quirijn van Veen, Frans Ruijs) advised Lemni (Krijn Rijshouwer, Alex Buis).

Stacks, an AI-powered financial close platform for mid-to-large enterprises, has raised $10M.   In April last year, EQT Ventures led a previously undisclosed $3m pre-seed round for the Amsterdam-based startup. Six months later, Stacks closed a further $7m round led by General Catalyst, with participation from early-stage investor s16vc and angel backers.    Founded in 2024, Stacks focuses on automating companies’ book closing, an accounting process that takes place at the end of every month. Over the past year, Stacks has been working behind the scenes with customers like Juni, Volt.io, and Cleo. Now they are rolling out a global product starting in Europe.   Albert Malikov, Founder and CEO of Stacks: “We believe financial close should be continuous and as simple as one click. When repetitive tasks are automated, finance teams can channel their energy into high-value strategic initiatives—the kind that truly drive business growth.” Kaushik Subramanian, Partner at EQT Ventures: "Financial close is one of the most manual workflows in the 'Office of the CFO'—and it’s ripe for AI disruption. When we met Albert a year ago, it was just an idea. Now, Stacks is already delivering meaningful impact for finance teams globally."   INGEN HOUSZ (Quirijn van Veen, Daan Gieben, Frans Ruijs) advised Stacks.

Return has announced the closing of project Mufasa: one of the largest battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Europe, developed under its Lion Storage brand. Project Mufasa is the largest utility-scale battery storage project in the Netherlands to be fully funded through 100% project financing of over EUR 350 million.   The project is being backed by Macquarie Group as lead equity investor alongside listed infrastructure investor TINC - The INfrastructure Company and existing Return investors, including Hartenlust Group and Stecc Capital, as well as six banks.   “At Return, we’re not just building energy storage — we’re shaping the backbone of a cleaner, more resilient power system for Europe.” said Willem-Jan S., CEO of Return. “The demand for reliable, large-scale storage has never been greater, and we’re ready to deliver. For those looking to be part of the energy transition — whether as partners, customers, or investors — Return is where innovation meets impact.”   "Project Mufasa is a game-changer for battery storage in the Netherlands. As the first of its kind to secure full project financing, it proves that energy storage is not just viable—it's investable," says Arno Hendriks, co-founder of Lion Storage. "With cutting-edge technology and strong strategic partnerships, we're driving a smarter, more resilient energy future and setting the bar for what's next in Europe," says Jeroen Althoff, co-founder of Lion Storage. INGEN HOUSZ (Meelf van Oosten, Berend Veenstra) advised Hartenlust Group and Stecc Capital.