Backing founders from “day zero”, Dutch VC Volve Capital closes Fund I at €9 million

After twelve months of fundraising, Amsterdam-based Volve Capital has announced today the final close of its first fund at €9 million, dedicated to investing in early-stage startups across the Benelux and DACH regions.

Fund I is supported by approximately 30 Dutch entrepreneurs as limited partners, including Henk Jan Beltman (Tony’s Chocolonely), Roelof Bijlsma (former founder of Conclusion), Heleen Dura van Oord (Peak Capital), and Mathieu Zwinkels (former Waterland), who also serve on Volve Capital’s advisory board. Additional financial backing was provided through the RVO Seed Capital programme.

“Founders need the right partner from the very beginning. Going from zero to one is the hardest step – I’ve lived it. We want to be that partner; offering capital and, more importantly, support,” says co-founder Joost Bijlsma.

Early-stage activity across the Benelux and DACH regions in 2025 shows a steady flow of new funds and pre-Seed/Seed rounds.

In Germany, Donnerstag.ai raised €4.3 million to scale its accounts-receivable automation platform, while Steuerboard secured €725k to further develop its workflow SaaS for tax advisers.

On the fund side, Germany also saw the launch of Smart Infrastructure Ventures’ SIVentures II, a €30 million vehicle targeting pre-Seed and Seed B2B software startups, and May Ventures, which entered the market with over €30 million to invest in AI-focused early-stage companies.

Within this landscape, Volve Capital’s €9 million first fund adds additional capacity at the earliest stage, particularly for pre-product and pre-revenue teams across Benelux and DACH.

Its founder-led approach complements the larger institutional funds emerging in the same period, strengthening the lower end of the early-stage funding spectrum and providing an alternative for founders seeking committed partners at “day zero.”

“There’s plenty of funding available in the ecosystem once founders start to show traction, but at day zero it’s still often hard to find – especially when looking for investors willing to take the lead in these early rounds. That’s exactly where we step in. And yes – we actually do lead pre-product and pre-revenue deals,” Maurits Hovius adds.

Founded in 2022 by Dutch entrepreneurs Joost Bijlsma and Maurits Hovius, Volve Capital was built on a simple insight: early-stage founders need investors who actually understand what “day zero” feels like. Having experienced the process of building companies from scratch, both as founders and as investors, Bijlsma and Hovius created Volve Capital to be the partner they once needed.

Volve Capital aims to help founders level up in tech, data, GTM, marketing, ops, and finance – giving them the momentum they need, right from the start.

The fund focuses on pre-Seed stage companies, with initial investments ranging from €150k to €500k and follow-on capacity of up to €1 million per company. The VC plans to make approximately 12 to 15 investments in total, seven of which have already been completed in the startups Eddygrid, NOX Energy, Stippl, Conservio, Whisper, Twindo and Supplied.

After completing all 12 to 15 investments, Volve Capital aims to continue its mission with the launch of a second fund.

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