In 2016, Luxembourg launched the Digital Tech Fund (DTF), a €20m seed fund supporting tech startups and managed by Expon Capital. Six years on, the fund has invested in 13 startups, representing 124 FTE employees just in Luxembourg.
“The DTF has really contributed to the development of the ecosystem. It’s an ecosystem that really evolved over the last six years,” director of digital technologies and startups at the ministry of economy Michele Gallo said at the DTF Family Day at the Strassen/Bertrange offices of Proximus, on 29 November.
The joint public-private partnership fund received contributions from the government, Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), the University of Luxembourg, Proximus, Post Group, SES and BIL, among others. The goal was to invest in the most promising early stage startups in Luxembourg, active in cybersecurity, fintech, big data, digital health, media and next-generation communication networks, digital learning, the internet of things, telecommunications & satellite services.
“We invested to overcome the gap in digital innovation,” Post Group Luxembourg secretary general Romain Lanners, adding: “For us it was also about open innovation which is important, especially for big corporates to have links with the dynamic startups.”
The event was a chance for Expon Capital to showcase the success stories of the companies that benefited from the first “two vintages” of the DTF to LPs and key players in the ecosystem. Ten of the 13 beneficiary companies pitched to guests at the offices of Proximus in Strassen. These included Salonkee, Hydrosat, Passbolt, Go Nuggets, Nexten.io, Wizata, Coinhouse, Next Gate Tech, Accelex Technology Luxembourg and Cascade. For the majority, the DTF was the first VC finance they received and bolstered their position when it came to securing further funding.
Robert Van Kerkhoff, of BNP Paribas Security Services, shared his insights into working with young startups from his experience of working with Next Gate Tech. “Trust was important as was adapting to each other. It is not like we tried to change the fintech or the fintech changed us. We started small and that’s the way to build trust,” he said.
After the family day, Lily Wang, principal at Expon Capital said: “It was good to see happy clients. We are proud to see our startups land large companies like BNP Paribas.”
