What did you think of F&A Next yourself?
‘We exceeded ourselves. There was an amazing response from both investors and startups. The visitors were impressed by the quality programme and the atmosphere. I’m thrilled to bits.’
What specific results has the event brought?
‘I would love to tell you but I can’t be more specific than: investor A has made follow-up appointments with seven startups. It will take months before an actual deal is reached; that takes time. These are serious businesses and it’s about investments of between 500,000 and five million.’
What next?
‘Three of the organizers, Rabobank, Wageningen UR and StartLife, have already committed to continuing to invest energy in this. There will be more events and we want to structure this movement. Around 13 October there will be an event during Dutch Agrofood Week, probably on the Wageningen campus again. That will be a different kind of event: an event like this is something you should only do once a year.’