About Us

Experience You Can Count On

After 25 years investing, building, managing, acquiring, and selling businesses, we decided to share our knowledge and experience with other entrepreneurs, business owners and executives of emerging growth and middle market companies and assist them in preparing for sell side executive management exits, mergers & acquisitions.

Based in Austin, TX and Los Angeles, CA, Zeeland Ventures offers you full access to a professional team that will help you to increase the value of your business and prepare for a successful merger & acquisition.

Zeeland Ventures also offers seed funding of target companies with vetted founders and management teams. Our current investment portfolio includes products from a variety of business sectors, including but not limited to life & health sciences.

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Principal

Zeeland Ventures' team is led by Rene van de Zande who has notable achievements as an entrepreneur and businessman. He has extensive experience in guiding companies engaged in international trade, particularly in the medical device industry.

Rene founded Emergo Group in 1997 and under his leadership as CEO and President turned Emergo into the largest leading global medtech regulatory affairs firm in the world, with offices in over 25 countries. He led Emergo acquisitions of service firms in the Netherlands, UK, Japan and Brazil. In 2017, Rene navigated Emergo 's own successful acquisition by UL and as Emergo by UL’s General Manager championed the integration in the two years that followed. Rene also acted as UL Life & Health Sciences Division Managing Director for New Ventures & Innovations where he supported other acquisitions for UL until his retirement from UL in 2019.

Rene currently holds several Partner and Board positions in life and health sciences companies. As an active participant in Austin’s international business community, Rene serves as Chair of the Texas Camino Real District Export Council and is a member of Austin Chamber’s Global Gateway Advisory Board.

Rene is also a Board Member of The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business Center for Global Business.

He is a minority owner of the Austin Bold FC, a professional soccer team which competes in the USL Championship (Second Division).

René earned his Doctorandus and M.A. in Contemporary History at Radboud University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands and his post-graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS)