Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, a pension fund for Dutch civil servants, and Canada’s Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System have jointly backed INKEF Capital, which intends to invest in technology start-ups in both countries.
A 15 year program, INKEF (Investing in the Knowledge Economy of the Future) will invest €200m ($246.9m) and offer mentoring of entrepreneurs in Canada and the Netherlands in the next five years.
The backers of INKEF Capital said its investment strategy fitted with both the long-term characteristics of the pension funds’ liabilities. They said the collaboration between pension funds in programs for direct investment was a "promising new strategic option, both in this asset class as in others".