Ninepointfive Ventures

Who they are

Ninepointfive Ventures is an Antwerp-based VC firm — founded in 2019 as Europe's first fund structured solely around corporate co-investment, backing industrial and energy-transition startups from pre-seed to maturity alongside partners like Beiersdorf, Telenet, and Agfa.

Person

Ninepointfive launched in 2019 out of Antwerp with a structurally distinct thesis: Europe's first VC firm built entirely around co-investing alongside corporate partners rather than deploying purely financial capital. The partners — including Elisa Vlerick, Pieter Van de Velde, and Bart Houben — have held the fund together since founding, a long-tenure collective in an industry that turns over fast. Elisa Vlerick has spoken at IMD Geneva on corporate venturing and financing models, and the firm appears regularly on podcasts including the EU CVC series and PwC Belgium's corporate venture track. The firm runs two distinct vehicles: Fund One, targeting Europe's industrial digitization value chain, and the Tidal Fund, focused on energy transition in maritime, ports, and offshore sectors. The through-line is structured partnership — every investment is designed to pair a startup with a corporate that brings more than money. Possibly — the Vlerick name suggests ties to Vlerick Business School, a respected Belgian management institution, which may have shaped the firm's academic and corporate-network roots.

Company

Ninepointfive operates two active funds from Antwerp: Fund One, accelerating digitization of Europe's industrial value chain, and the Tidal Fund, targeting energy transition across maritime, ports, and offshore sectors. Its defining structural feature — co-investing alongside named corporates including Beiersdorf, Telenet, and Agfa — differentiates it from standard financial VCs and is the model it has actively promoted through speaking engagements and podcast appearances. The firm has been active since 2019 and continues to expand its corporate partner base. No new fund close or major portfolio exit has been announced in the available claims.

Market

Ninepointfive sits at the intersection of corporate venture capital and independent VC in Europe — a segment that has grown as large industrials seek structured exposure to startups without building in-house CVC teams. Its focus on industrial digitization and energy transition puts it in a European market shaped by decarbonization mandates and manufacturing modernization pressure. Competitors would include both pure-play European deep-tech VCs and in-house CVC arms of industrials — Ninepointfive's co-investment model is a direct answer to the limitations of both.

Network

The firm's named partners include Elisa Vlerick, Pieter Van de Velde, and Bart Houben, who collectively represent the public face of Ninepointfive across podcasts, panels, and conference appearances. Corporate co-investors Beiersdorf, Telenet, and Agfa are the firm's closest institutional relationships — they co-invest deal-by-deal alongside the fund. No portfolio founder or LP names surface in the available claims.

How they likely show up

  • Long tenure at a self-founded firm since 2019 → the partners think in fund cycles and multi-year corporate relationships, not quick flips.
  • Firm built entirely around corporate co-investment → every deal is structured to serve two masters (financial return AND strategic fit for the corporate), meaning they likely move slower and vet harder than purely financial VCs.
  • Active podcast and conference presence (IMD Geneva, EU CVC, PwC Belgium) → comfortable explaining their model publicly; they probably enjoy defending the structural thesis, not just the portfolio.
  • Two thematically distinct funds (industrial digitization vs. maritime energy transition) → they segment their thesis tightly and will likely expect counterparts to know which fund is the relevant one.
  • Corporate partners include Beiersdorf, Telenet, and Agfa — a consumer goods multinational, a telco, and an imaging/industrial tech firm → the portfolio spans sectors, but the common thread is European industrial incumbents seeking digital or green transformation.

Conversation tips

  • → Know which fund is relevant to your context before the meeting — Fund One (industrial digitization) and the Tidal Fund (maritime/energy transition) are distinct vehicles with different corporate partners and deal profiles.
  • → Reference the co-investment model specifically — ask how the corporate partner relationship works in practice at deal level; this is their differentiating thesis and they've spoken about it extensively.
  • → If you've listened to the EU CVC podcast episode with Pieter and Bart, say so — they recorded it to explain their model, and acknowledging it signals you did more than skim a website.
  • → Bring a view on the European industrial or energy transition landscape — generic startup-pitch framing won't land; this team thinks in corporate strategic fit, not just TAM slides.

Toolbox

Openers

  • Open on the Tidal Fund — a dedicated vehicle for energy transition in maritime, ports, and offshore is a narrow and specific bet; asking what drove that sectoral focus signals you've read past the homepage.
  • Reference the EU CVC podcast episode where Pieter Van de Velde and Bart Houben discussed blending structures for innovation — it's their clearest public articulation of the co-investment model and a strong anchor for a substantive first exchange.
  • Ask about the Beiersdorf/Telenet/Agfa partner mix — three very different corporates (consumer goods, telco, industrial imaging) co-investing in the same fund is an unusual combination, and there's likely a story about how that tension gets managed at deal level.

Discovery questions

  1. When a corporate partner's strategic priorities shift mid-fund cycle, how does that affect deal selection or portfolio support — does the corporate co-investor have any governance rights over specific investments?
  2. Fund One targets industrial digitization broadly — how do you define the boundaries of that thesis, and has the focus shifted since 2019 as European manufacturers have accelerated their own digital programs?
  3. The Tidal Fund focuses on maritime and offshore energy transition — what's the corporate partner profile there, and is that a separate LP base from Fund One or the same corporates investing across both vehicles?

Avoid

Don't frame a conversation around pure financial returns or IRR benchmarks — their entire model is built on the premise that corporate strategic value is an explicit part of the investment thesis, and leading with fund performance metrics misses the point of how they think.

Make it yours

Tailor these openers to what you sell

These openers are generic. Sign in and tell Brief what you sell — it rewrites the hooks and questions around your pitch.

Sources

Brief on your next meeting?

Type any name. Get a structured pre-meeting brief in seconds.

Try Brief →

Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources on June 22, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.

Automatically generated by AI from public sources. May be inaccurate or out of date. Remove or correct this profile →