A two-day closed-door forum run by Invest Europe in Amsterdam, where venture LPs and GPs meet through roundtables, EIF data sessions and an invitation-only LP/GP dinner, with entry free for all LPs.
Invest Europe Venture Capital Forum (VCF) is an annual closed-door conference for limited partners (LPs) and general partners (GPs) active in European venture capital, run by the trade body Invest Europe. The 2026 edition, called "The Path Forward", takes place on 14 to 15 October 2026 at Felix Meritis, Amsterdam. Attendance is restricted to pre-qualified institutional investors, GPs and LP fund-of-funds; service providers are admitted mainly as sponsors.
14 to 15 October 2026. Felix Meritis, Amsterdam, at Keizersgracht 324, 1016 Amsterdam, Netherlands, a building the venue page describes as founded in 1777 and under 2 km from Amsterdam Central Station. Day 1 runs from a 10:00 Single Family Office roundtable to a 22:00 dinner. Day 2 runs from 08:00 breakfasts to a 17:00 close, with meeting pods open afterwards. The LP/GP dinner on 14 October is held away from the conference venue, at Fabrique des Lumières, Pazzanistraat 37, 1014 DB Amsterdam.
Invest Europe, the European private equity and venture capital association, with offices in Brussels (Avenue Louise 81) and London (78 Pall Mall). Events enquiries go to events@investeurope.eu. Joanna Spiette is listed as Head of Events (interim) on the organiser's events page. The Invest Europe Chair, Sander Slootweg (Managing Partner and co-founder of Forbion), opens and closes the programme on 15 October.
The 2026 event flyer, an organiser document, gives a delegate profile of 180+ attendees from 30+ countries and an LP to GP ratio of 1:2 (organiser figures; the flyer does not say which edition they describe, so treat them as indicative of 2026). By seniority it reports 47% founders and partners, 27% C-suite and managing directors, 19% investment professionals and 7% investor relations and business development. 180+ is therefore the best published figure; an earlier database figure of 500 has no source on the official site or elsewhere. LP types named on the "For LPs" page are government organisations, public and private pension funds, insurers, corporate investors, family offices, foundations, endowments and fund-of-funds. The organiser says the 2026 delegate list will be downloadable from the networking platform in the weeks before the event.
Published roster of 38 speakers on the official speakers page, as of 10 October 2026:
The agenda also names a six-member Programme Task Force: Janke Dittmer (Gilde Healthcare), Anne Glover (Amadeus Capital Partners), Christine Hockley (British Business Bank), Nityen Lal (ICOS Capital), Fidel Manolopoulos (Federated Hermes Private Equity) and Stephen Nundy (Alaric Advisors). Christine Hockley and Stephen Nundy do not appear on the speakers page.
The 2025 edition ran on 8 to 9 October 2025 in Amsterdam, with its LP/GP reception and dinner at the Stedelijk Museum (Invest Europe post on X). For 14 to 15 October 2026 the dinner moves to Fabrique des Lumières, and the organiser says the Single Family Office Roundtable, a success in 2025 by its own account, returns on 14 October. The 2026 agenda adds sector roundtables on defence and dual use, cybersecurity, SpaceTech, deeptech, industrial biotech by fermentation and life sciences, a keynote of EIF performance data, and a closing conversation with the Argenx chair on building a European champion.
The official programme runs on 14 to 15 October 2026 under the title "The Path Forward".
Day 1, 14 October, at Felix Meritis unless stated:
Day 2, 15 October:
Closed-door, in person. Formats on the agenda are keynotes, moderated panels, invitation-only sector roundtables, a Single Family Office roundtable, an LP-only breakfast under the Chatham House Rule, a GP-only breakfast for CEO and managing partner delegates, a drinks reception, a networking lunch and an LP/GP rotating networking dinner. Bookable meeting pods and a delegate networking platform support one-to-one meetings. Roundtables and the dinner are by invitation, open to LP delegates and Invest Europe member GPs.
Side formats sit inside the two days and are invitation-only: the Single Family Office Roundtable (14 October, from 10:00), the sector roundtables (14 October, 15:00 to 17:00), the LP/GP rotating networking dinner at Fabrique des Lumières (14 October, 20:00 to 22:00), and the LP-only and GP-only breakfasts (15 October, 08:00). No separate satellite events outside these two days are listed on the official site.
Registration page prices for 14 to 15 October 2026: member LPs (institutional investors, fund-of-funds, secondary funds, gatekeepers) €0; non-member LPs apply to attend on a complimentary basis, also €0; all general partners €1,482, excluding 21% Dutch VAT. Service providers: the organiser says it actively limits registration and gives priority to sponsors of the event; no service-provider price is published.
Speaking opportunities are available exclusively to Invest Europe members, according to the official FAQ. Topic and speaker suggestions for future editions are welcome through a form on the site or by writing to events@investeurope.eu. No open call for papers with a deadline is published.
Sponsorship packages are tailored to each partner's business development and branding aims, and the official sponsors page asks interested firms to use a sponsorship enquiry form; the organiser also lists an events sponsorship enquiries address under Contact. No price list or tier names are published. There is no exhibition floor on the programme. Because the organiser limits service-provider registration and gives priority to sponsors, sponsorship is the practical route for an advisory or legal firm.
Published sponsor roster, as of 10 October 2026:
Venture capital GPs and institutional LPs. The speaker roster is mostly VC fund managers (Gilde Healthcare, Amadeus Capital Partners, Earlybird, Highland Europe, Sofinnova Partners and others), with public and institutional allocators (EIF, EBRD, KfW Capital, British Business Bank, Wilshire, MN, Adams Street Partners, StepStone). The official page of past LP attendees lists more than 80 names, including EIF, EIB, APG, Bpifrance Investissement, Hamilton Lane, HarbourVest and Novo Holdings; it is an indication of past attendance, not a 2026 list. Service providers are limited to sponsors.
Not publicly disclosed. The official event site publishes no press accreditation procedure. Invest Europe lists a communications address, media@investeurope.eu, for media enquiries. Its Communication Director, Eric Drosin, moderates a panel on 15 October.
None found in the sourced material for the 2025 or 2026 editions beyond event listings and a short mention in Invest Europe's own Annual Report 2025, which says the forum was held in Amsterdam in October and gives no attendance figure. No official media partner is listed on the event site.
Nothing independent to rate. The only coverage found is organiser material (the event site, flyer, social posts and annual report) and third-party event listings that repeat organiser dates and venue. Listings that quote prices or attendance should be checked against the registration page and flyer.
Service providers without a sponsorship budget, because registration for them is limited and sponsors get priority. Private equity buyout, infrastructure and credit managers with no venture interest, because the programme is venture only. Non-members hoping to speak, because speaking is reserved for Invest Europe members. GPs expecting an LP-heavy room: the organiser flyer reports an LP to GP ratio of 1:2.
It is the venture-specific autumn gathering in Invest Europe's own events series. The organiser lists the Investors' Forum in Geneva (17 to 18 March 2027) and the CFO Forum in Málaga (27 to 28 May 2027) as its other flagship conferences, so the VCF is the only one of the three aimed at venture. Of the three, only the VCF runs in October.
Yes, in the past. Editions were held in Stockholm at Münchenbryggeriet on 20 October 2016 and on 24 to 25 October 2017 (SVCA event pages). The 2025 and 2026 editions are in Amsterdam, which also hosted the event on 11 to 12 October 2012 under the EVCA name. The earlier database value for the creation year (2005) could not be confirmed.
The official site, agenda and flyer are in English, and no other language is announced.
Not publicly disclosed. The official site describes an in-person closed-door event, and mentions no livestream, hybrid option or replay. Registered delegates get a networking platform, downloadable as an app, that goes live on 16 September 2026.
Substitution by a colleague from the same firm is possible up to 72 hours before the event. Cancellations are accepted only in writing, received by 15 September 2026, and are credited minus a 20% administration charge. After 15 September 2026, which has passed, the full fee is due. A registration is personal and cannot be shared or transferred across several participants.
Not publicly disclosed. No accessibility statement was found on the official event site, and the venue page describes the building as a three-year renovation of an eighteenth-century society hall without mention of step-free access. Contact events@investeurope.eu before registering.
Felix Meritis is at Keizersgracht 324, 1016 Amsterdam, less than 2 km from Amsterdam Central Station (venue page). The organiser lists hotels within walking distance: Pulitzer Amsterdam (6 minutes), Hotel 717 (10), Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky (13), Tivoli Doelen (14), Sofitel Legend The Grand (15) and Radisson Blu City Center (15), plus Apollo Hotel Amsterdam by a 15-minute ride. The 14 October dinner is a separate trip to Fabrique des Lumières, Pazzanistraat 37.
Because the room is built around allocators. LP registration is €0 for members and non-members alike, the sector roundtables give LPs priority access, and the LP-only breakfast is closed to everyone else. GPs pay €1,482 excluding VAT, and the organiser flyer reports twice as many GPs as LPs, so the GP ticket is paying for access to a scarce audience rather than a crowded one.
Because three of the event's own sponsors and its organiser overlap with the programme. Stifel, the lead sponsor, supplies the Conference Chair, Greg Revenu, who also moderates two sessions. Forbion, a co-sponsor, supplies Sander Slootweg, who chairs Invest Europe and closes the conference with the Argenx chair. Van Campen Liem, the other co-sponsor, has a partner on the liquidity panel. Sponsorship is also the main route for service providers into the room, so the stage reflects who paid as well as who was invited.
Because the figures are the organiser's own and do not agree across sources. The flyer reports 180+ attendees, 30+ countries and a 1:2 LP to GP ratio without naming an edition, while an earlier database record said 500, a number the official site, the flyer and third-party listings do not support. The only older counts found are expectations of over 250 for the Stockholm editions in 2016 and 2017. No audited attendance figure has been published.
Official site: https://vcf.investeurope.eu/ (registration at /registration/, agenda at /agenda/, FAQ at /faq/). Organiser: https://www.investeurope.eu/events/. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/invest-europe/. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjDJ1BGSnp3io_sFXD4PxOA. X: @InvestEuropeEU, hashtag #InvestEuropeVCF. Contacts: events@investeurope.eu (events and programme) and media@investeurope.eu (press); the organiser's CEO is Eric de Montgolfier and its Head of Events (interim) is Joanna Spiette.