Prior to founding Natural, Maarten was a Junior Partner and Investment Director at PureTerra Ventures, a water-focused VC firm which he helped build from the ground up. His responsibilities there included deal structuring, deal sourcing, portfolio management and fundraising, working out of their Shanghai office.

During his time at PureTerra he led the legal establishment of the fund in The Netherlands, including the negotiation of the first Advanced Tax Ruling with the Dutch tax authorities under new regulations in 2019. He led financing rounds into Ellona (smart pollution identification technology, co-investors including Airbus Ventures and Groupe ADP), SIGA (critical infrastructure cybersecurity, co-investors including Phoenix Contact Innovation Ventures and AWZ Ventures), and Transcend (automated water treatment engineering design, co-investors including HG Ventures and Aspen Capital).

Prior to joining PureTerra he worked as a Management Consultant assisting foreign SMEs in the water technology sector on market entry strategy in China.

Next to his work at Natural, Maarten serves as a Resident Mentor for global VC and accelerator firm 500 Global, where he advises start-ups in various sectors on topics including value proposition, growth strategy and fundraising. He holds an MSc in Economics from Tilburg University and has completed executive education at London Business School.

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