PYM ambassador Annegien is Founder & Lead Angel of the Catalyst Impact Investment Club, which focuses on Regenerative Tech companies: start-ups with the potential to heal and repair our planet and society. Annegien recently received the Golden Aurora Award for Female Business Angel Europe 2024–2025.

How and when did your impact journey begin?

As a child. At the age of eight, I was already collecting signatures to save seals or to protest against apartheid in South Africa. I learned at home that if you believe in something, you have to take action yourself. And we were raised with honesty: if you have more, you share. So I have been donating my whole life. A sense of justice, but also a strong sense of responsibility, was instilled in me from an early age! 

But you also had a (successful) traditional career?

I always wanted to be an archaeologist, but at 18 I decided that the typical archaeology path wasn’t for me. So I went on to study business economics and business administration and indeed started my rather ‘traditional’ career at Fortis. After a sabbatical (the bank created this for me, to give archaeology a place in my life again) – I tried to start a fintech accelerator at the bank and to launch green funds at a high level, but it was too early. After years at Fortis, then PWC and Dutch/American IR, I decided to focus on entrepreneurship and investing. I believe you can wear multiple hats. Last year I participated in the World Catamaran Sailing Championships. At 59! And by now, I have probably done more fieldwork in my life than most archaeologists: fourteen projects, including a month in Jordan. 

What is the Catalyst Impact Investment Club?

Fifteen years ago, I started investing in tech start-ups. The first company came my way by chance, I trusted the founders. I saw that tech is mainly in SaaS and B2B, and that we have an exceptionally rich impact landscape in the Netherlands. Internationally, it’s much smaller. I wanted to contribute by scouting and mentoring. That’s how it started. We invest on a deal-by-deal basis with about sixty people from twelve countries. It’s growing very organically, but we are also becoming more professional: we just added two people to daily management, and have set up a more streamlined process, including something similar to an Investment Committee. I take best practices from VC, angel, and private equity to develop a new form of venture investment.

What are examples of your investments?

• TOBE – a cost-effective solution for the phenomenon of disappearing bees through innovative mite control and a beekeeping platform.
• Luminify (Ukraine) – psychological training that significantly reduces PTSD.
• OKIPA – a non-toxic alternative to Roundup.

OKIPA is a great example: Roundup kills 50% of living soil and remains active for months. OKIPA is just as effective, non-toxic, and after 48 hours is even converted into nutrients. But vested interests and EU regulations make market access difficult. That’s why we strategically guide these companies so they can scale up.

What are your investment principles?

My model for the Catalyst Club is an octopus: eight arms, nine brains, three hearts. Fully connected. Others are now starting to copy that model, and I love it: open innovation! We are regenerative investors: we invest for 3–5 years, then exit and reinvest that money in new companies. We want to democratize venture capital, because you never renew the system if only the same people invest. That’s why I set contributions much lower than many other investment clubs. If you invest in innovation, you invest in the world 3–5 years from now. At the moment, ICT men aged 50+ are determining that future. That needs to change. That’s why we actively work to give more women and young people the opportunity to invest in venture.

What is the added value of PYM for you?

PYM is a place where you can learn about new concepts and new ways of doing things. For example, I loved learning at PYM about steward ownership and how applicable this can be. But even if some concepts are not immediately applicable, they inspire you to think from different models and principles. At PYM, you feel even more that we are much less stuck than we think. There are relatively many pioneers at PYM, which is great fun!

You have a clear holistic vision, how does this manifest today?

An ecosystem doesn’t work in silos; so why should we? Three years ago, I realized I wanted to focus on healing the world before it’s too late. So now I’m working on large nature projects in the Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, and in the Sinai. With new financial constructions such as debt-for-nature swaps (which, funnily enough, I was already researching thirty years ago!) I help parties who are deeply involved from a strategic perspective: nature is protected if it is livable for the people who can protect it. I keep realizing how everything is connected, in my own life and the path I’m on, but also in the world. In the Amazon, for example, there are air and water flows that directly change the climate in other parts of the world. So if we help in Brazil, we help the whole world. 

How do you view the future?

We keep talking about the energy transition, but we are just as much in a spiritual transition. I consciously look for people who can help with ‘healing and repairing’, and I hope this means we will start thinking more in terms of use rather than ownership.

What would you recommend to other impact investors?

Impact investors are sometimes stricter than the pope, focus on improvement, not perfection. If you improve something by 50%, that also has enormous impact. And I also think it’s important to always make room for change. I have had regular resets in my life, which have always given me new openings, so I could continue to develop. Behavioral change is very difficult, but we are all capable of it!