Dutch Government Fund Invest-NL Appoints New Director to Lead Capital Strategy

2026-02-24 community

Amsterdam, Tuesday, 24 February 2026.
Jorine Zandhuis takes charge of Relations & Product Development at Invest-NL, tasked with mobilizing both public and private capital for Netherlands’ climate and innovation transitions.

Strategic Leadership Appointment Strengthens Investment Operations

Invest-NL announced on February 23, 2026, that Jorine Zandhuis has been appointed as Director of Relations & Product Development, marking a significant strengthening of the Dutch government investment institution’s leadership team [1]. The newly created division will be responsible for bringing together public and private capital from Europe, The Hague, and institutional investors such as pension funds, insurers, and banks [1]. This appointment comes as the Netherlands and Europe face what the organization describes as a double challenge: accelerating toward a climate-neutral and circular economy while simultaneously strengthening earning capacity, innovative power, and resilience [1].

Extensive Experience in Innovation Finance

Zandhuis brings over fifteen years of experience at the intersection of innovation, venture capital, and public financing to her new role [1]. Since joining Invest-NL in 2019, she has held various positions within the organization, most recently serving as team lead Europe from 2023 to present, where she focused on building European partnerships and mobilizing EU funding for Dutch transition challenges [1]. Prior to her tenure at Invest-NL, she held leadership positions at deeptech investment platform Propel(x) in San Francisco and played a key role in the technological and operational development of a deeptech startup [1]. Her academic credentials include a Master of Science in Biomolecular Sciences from VU Amsterdam, which she completed with honors [1].

Building European Investment Partnerships

The appointment reflects Invest-NL’s growing emphasis on European collaboration and partnership development. Zandhuis has already established strong relationships with key European institutions, including the European Commission, European Investment Bank (EIB), European Investment Fund (EIF), and fellow National Promotional Institutions through the European Association of Long-Term Investors (ELTI) [5][6]. This network building has proven particularly valuable, as demonstrated by Invest-NL’s recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to strengthen cooperation on knowledge sharing, EU program collaboration, and impact measurement [7][8]. The Italian partnership represents the second such agreement for Invest-NL, following a similar MoU signed with France’s Bpifrance in 2024 [7].

Mission-Critical Role in Capital Mobilization

The Relations & Product Development division under Zandhuis’s leadership will develop funds, guarantees, and other financial instruments designed to mitigate risks, create scale, and make projects investable with appropriate impact-risk-return profiles [1][5]. As Zandhuis expressed on LinkedIn, the Netherlands and Europe face significant investment challenges that require strong partnerships and efficient financial structures to catalyze the required capital [3]. Her department will be responsible for relationship management with European, government, and institutional partners to ensure maximum capital mobilization for a more innovative, sustainable, and resilient Netherlands [5][6]. This strategic focus on blending public and private capital aims to scale innovation faster, strengthen European value chains, and increase collective impact across the region [4].

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Invest-NL leadership appointment