Bridging the gap: enabling Dutch SMEs to realise their international ambitions

Yet, for many SMEs, international expansion comes with financing challenges. Entering new markets, building production facilities or scaling operations abroad often requires capital, longer tenors or higher risk tolerance than commercial banks alone can provide. This is where Invest International plays a crucial role. By offering tailored financing and working alongside commercial banks, Invest International helps bridge financing gaps and make projects bankable enabling Dutch SMEs to realise their international ambitions.

Eric Thissen, Senior Relationships Manager at ING Bank:

“For international SME transactions, Invest International brings the kind of complementary value that helps us move from potential to possible. Their additionality, sector knowledge and ESG expertise fit seamlessly with ING’s role as a commercial bank. By sharing risks and combining capabilities, we can support entrepreneurs like Den Ouden Groep in taking strategic steps abroad.”

Invest International’s approach is deliberately complementary to the market. Rather than replacing commercial finance, it strengthens it through risk-sharing, mobilising capital and structuring expertise. In practice, this creates a two-way benefit: banks can serve their clients with greater confidence, SMEs gain access to finance that fits their growth plans. The result is a growth of internationally active Dutch companies and a broader, more competitive Dutch export base. Dutch commercial banks are key partners in this process, as they serve as the house banks of the Dutch SMEs. They bring deep client relationships, local market knowledge and financial structuring capabilities that are essential to support entrepreneurs abroad. By collaborating closely with banks, Invest International helps unlock transactions that might otherwise be considered too complex or too risky, particularly in emerging markets or in innovative sectors.

Koen Hamers, Manager SMEs and MidCorps at Invest International:

“By working hand in hand with banks, we strengthen the earning capacity of Dutch companies and the resilience of the Dutch economy. Together, we ensure that promising SMEs can take the next step internationally, with financing solutions that match their ambitions and the realities of doing business abroad.”

A good example of Invest International’s collaboration with commercial banks is the financing provided to Den Ouden Groep at the end of 2025. In December, Invest International signed a €2 million loan agreement to support Den Ouden’s investment, together with De Heus, in an organic fertiliser plant in Vietnam. The facility, with a production capacity of 70,000 tonnes a year, will supply fertiliser for high-value crops such as coffee and durian across Southeast Asia. The project combines Dutch expertise in circular agriculture with growing regional demand for sustainable inputs, contributing both to local food systems and to Dutch export strength. Working alongside commercial banking partners, Invest International helped structure a financing package that made this international expansion possible.