Harrie Vollaard reported his exit from Rabo Frontier Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the Netherlands-based corporate bank, Rabobank.
After 25 years at Rabobank including five years at the venture arm as a managing director, Vollaard is taking a new position as strategy and new business manager at cooperative enterprise, Royal Agrifirm Group.
At Royal Agrifirm Vollaard will focus on protein transition, food security, and sustainable food practices.
During his time at Rabobank, Vollaard’s investments included Wayflyer, the ecommerce financing platform valued at $1.6bn, and the US-based agricultural fintech startup, ProducePay which raised $43m in a series C funding round in 2021.
Founded in 1895, Rabobank focuses on food and agribusiness internationally and is the second largest bank in the Netherlands. Rabo Frontier Ventures has 12 active startups within its portfolio and nine successful exits, including Aidence, the AI radiology company which was acquired by diagnostics imaging corporation, RadNet.
The Royal Agrifirm Group is a cooperative enterprise that allows more than 10,000 Dutch farmers and horticulturalists to gain combined purchasing power. In 2018, it signed an agreement to acquire the US-based mycotoxins supplier, Special Nutrients for an undisclosed sum.
“Thanks to the variety of roles and the bank always being at the forefront of innovation, I found it always an interesting and exciting environment. I have seen and experienced the whole history of innovation and transformation within the bank,” said Vollard via LinkedIn, “I have been able to learn a lot and I am grateful to the bank for that, also for the possibilities that have been offered as well as the trust that has been given to me”