Sep 7, 2026 · 12 min · 7 segments
Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 28 – Robin Hempel, Start and Scale Up Banker at Rabobank. Robin Hempel discusses how startups can combine different forms of…
Robin HempelGuestPaulHostAnd are banks then, uh, would you say, are they competing against other forms of, uh, well, investments or, or fundings that, uh, startups can get, for example, venture capitals or, or angel investors? Would you, uh, would you say there's-- you guys are competing, or would you say it's really just like different options and, uh, based on what works best for the entrepreneur this is, uh-
So of course, a bank is a little bit more traditional and a little b-bit more risk, uh, uh, averse than a, than a venture capital should be.
Because in the end of the day, a bank only gets their interest back and hopefully at some point a loan, where we don't really profit from growth of a company because we don't have shares.
So if you look at the, the funding panel of, uh, the funding a, a company, uh, raises at some point, it's logical for them to first start with equity.
But at some point, if there is, uh, a, a proven market or you have your customers already in place, you don't have to be yet, uh, cash flow positive, but still there might be a way for us to find some as well.
That's more mostly the, let's say, the later stage startups or maybe even, uh, uh, companies that are scaling quite hard.
But even in the beginning, uh, as a bank, we have some, uh, some products we can also offer.
So if a company is validating, we also have, uh, a product which we basically just donate twenty-five thousand euros to a company with a great idea.
So for companies who have zero, uh, yeah, commercial, uh, revenues, they can also apply for, uh, for a loan at, uh, at Rabobank.
That's something that was, uh, introduced last year at Upstream Festival or-
... around that time, right
That's the twenty-five K that, uh, that a company can ask for if they're still in a validating phase.
So, so, so that means that they don't have any, any customers yet at all, right?
Yeah.
And the first one is actually for, more for the, the, the R&D for a company, or at least if you have something that makes impact and you still need to find your, uh, at least...
Okay, you have an idea of a product, but to fine-tune it, you can ask for, for a contribution.
And are banks then, uh, would you say, are they competing against other forms of, uh, well, investments or, or fundings that, uh, startups can get, for example, venture capitals or, or angel investors? Would you, uh, would you say there's-- you guys are competing, or would you say it's really just like different options and, uh, based on what works best for the entrepreneur this is, uh-
So of course, a bank is a little bit more traditional and a little b-bit more risk, uh, uh, averse than a, than a venture capital should be.
Because in the end of the day, a bank only gets their interest back and hopefully at some point a loan, where we don't really profit from growth of a company because we don't have shares.
So if you look at the, the funding panel of, uh, the funding a, a company, uh, raises at some point, it's logical for them to first start with equity.
But at some point, if there is, uh, a, a proven market or you have your customers already in place, you don't have to be yet, uh, cash flow positive, but still there might be a way for us to find some as well.
That's more mostly the, let's say, the later stage startups or maybe even, uh, uh, companies that are scaling quite hard.
But even in the beginning, uh, as a bank, we have some, uh, some products we can also offer.
So if a company is validating, we also have, uh, a product which we basically just donate twenty-five thousand euros to a company with a great idea.
So for companies who have zero, uh, yeah, commercial, uh, revenues, they can also apply for, uh, for a loan at, uh, at Rabobank.
That's something that was, uh, introduced last year at Upstream Festival or-
... around that time, right
That's the twenty-five K that, uh, that a company can ask for if they're still in a validating phase.
So, so, so that means that they don't have any, any customers yet at all, right?
Yeah.
And the first one is actually for, more for the, the, the R&D for a company, or at least if you have something that makes impact and you still need to find your, uh, at least...
Okay, you have an idea of a product, but to fine-tune it, you can ask for, for a contribution.
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