What Noaber does

Noaber Foundation (Stichting Noaber Foundation) is a Dutch ANBI-recognised family foundation established in 2000 by Paul and Mineke Baan, funded with proceeds from the IPO of the Baan Company software business. The foundation pursues systemic change in Dutch healthcare through a hybrid model that combines venture philanthropy (donations funding programmatic work) with impact investments in early-stage health technology companies. Noaber operates four thematic programs — Population Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health and Resilience, and Social Health — and initiates co-creation projects with governments, municipalities, healthcare providers, knowledge institutions, insurers, and communities rather than accepting unsolicited applications.

On the investment side, Noaber Ventures deploys pre-seed and seed capital into digital health startups primarily based in the Benelux, Nordics, DACH, and UK regions. The foundation does not develop proprietary technology; its portfolio companies build the products. Disclosed portfolio products include the mira digital eye-screening platform by Mirantus Health (which raised a €5.5M seed round in November 2025 to expand into Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), the Meela therapist-patient matching platform, the Alba Health gut microbiome test, the Sweetch AI-powered personalised health coach, the Momo Medical BedSense sensor for nursing homes, and Voeding Leeft's lifestyle programs for chronic conditions (reaching ~7,000 patients with three programs included in Dutch basic insurance). Noaber also co-founded the NextGen Ventures fund with Stichting Triade (affiliated with UMCG) and Achmea to invest in medical information technology.

As a public-benefit foundation, Noaber generates no commercial revenue; its operating model is funded by family foundation capital. Its two financial streams are (1) venture philanthropy grants supporting programmatic work, validation, and ecosystem building, and (2) impact investments into startups where financial returns are secondary to measurable health-system outcomes. The foundation is governed by an external board chaired by former Dutch Prime Minister Prof. Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, with second-generation Baan family members now in substantive leadership roles following a transition completed around 2019–2023. Co-investment partners include Invest-NL, PFZW, and Rabobank (in Stichting GelijkGezond), Mayo Clinic and Achmea (in NextGen Ventures), and Nationale Nederlanden (in the Mental Health and Resilience program).

Name

Noaber

Legal name

Stichting Noaber Foundation

Website

https://noaber.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Noaber Foundation is a Dutch family foundation that drives systemic change in healthcare through four programs and pre-seed/seed impact investments in early-stage digital health startups across the Benelux, Nordics, DACH, and UK regions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Philanthropy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

Keywords

• Venture philanthropy
• Impact investing
• Healthcare programs
• Family foundation
• Digital health investment

Headquarters

HQ city

Lunteren

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Philanthropy (Donations): Noaber provides donations to support programs and projects that contribute to systemic change in healthcare. This is described as 'venture philanthropy' where the goal is serving society through funding innovative initiatives.
2. Impact Investments: Noaber invests in companies that generate both financial returns and positive social impact. These impact investments are instruments to help realize their mission of improving health. The focus is on young companies in non-institutionalized fields where market preconditions are not yet fully in place.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Noaber Foundation is a Dutch family foundation that pursues systemic change in healthcare through two activities: (1) running four interconnected programs — Population Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health and Resilience, and Social Health — that create preconditions for sustainable innovation via validation, protocol adaptation, reimbursement changes, and mindset shifts; and (2) making impact investments (venture philanthropy) in early-stage (pre-seed to seed) digital health startups based in Benelux, Nordics, DACH and the UK. The foundation combines philanthropic donations with equity-style impact investments through vehicles such as NexGen Ventures.

Product overview

Noaber is a family foundation (not a product company) that pursues systemic change in healthcare through two main activities: (1) Programs - interconnected projects focused on Population Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health and Resilience, and Social Health; (2) Impact investments in healthcare technology companies. Noaber does not develop its own products but invests in portfolio companies including Mira (AI eye screening), Meela (mental health matching), Alba Health (microbiome testing), Sweetch (AI health coaching), and Momo Medical (BedSense sensors).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Population Health Program Noaber's Population Health program drives systemic initiatives to keep people healthy longer and address the root causes of unhealthy lifestyles across Dutch society, targeting prevention rather than cure.
• Lifestyle Program Noaber's Lifestyle program supports evidence-based lifestyle interventions for chronic conditions, partnering with organizations such as Voeding Leeft (reaching approximately 7,000 people with Type 2 diabetes, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, IBD and cancer recovery programs, with three programs included in basic insurance plans).
• Mental Health and Resilience Program Noaber's Mental Health and Resilience program works to strengthen mental health of Dutch citizens through partnerships with organizations such as Nationale Nederlanden and Join Us, addressing issues including youth loneliness (13% of youth 15-25 very lonely, 32% somewhat lonely).
• Social Health Program Noaber's Social Health program addresses health inequalities and the social determinants of health, including supporting Stichting GelijkGezond (which targets people with low incomes facing interconnected debt, health, housing and unemployment issues) and publishing policy plans and whitepapers on social health.
• Noaber Ventures Impact Investments Noaber's impact investment arm provides early-stage (pre-seed to seed) capital to digital health startups in Benelux, Nordics, DACH and UK regions, focusing on companies developing solutions for healthy and active living, screening/diagnostics, smart disease management, and healthcare system impact. Portfolio includes Meela, Mirantus Health, Voeding Leeft, Sweetch, Alba Health, Momo Medical, Buurtdokters, and Join Us.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reaching approximately 7,000 people with lifestyle programs through Voeding Leeft
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Mayo ClinicflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerNoaber established collaboration with Mayo Clinic in Florida around 2015 as one of the first forms of structural cooperation with other parties.
• NexGen VenturescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNexGen Ventures is an investment fund created partly on Noaber's initiative, together with Stichting Triade (affiliated with UMCG) and Achmea. The fund invests in companies developing innovations in medical (information) technology.
• Nationale NederlandencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNoaber works closely with Nationale Nederlanden on the Mental Health and Resilience program, collaborating on initiatives to strengthen mental health and resilience in the Netherlands.
• SweetchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNoaber supports the development of a scalable digital intervention in collaboration with Sweetch, their investment company. In the Netherlands, Sweetch works with Voeding Leeft, one of Noaber's Lifestyle program projects.
• JOGG (Jongeren op Gezond Gewicht)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst is affiliated with JOGG, in which 212 municipalities and 38 organizations work together for healthy youth. This partnership is described as a 'golden match' for scaling up.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• BonVenture: Munich-based social impact investor backing purpose-driven SMEs in DACH. Comparable hybrid model combining venture philanthropy roots with equity investments, though broader than health.
• Wellcome Trust: UK charitable foundation (GBP ~30B) funding health research and mental health programs globally. Comparable in combining large-scale grantmaking with venture-style investments (Wellcome Leap, Wellcome Sanger) targeting health-system transformation.
• LSP (Life Sciences Partners): Amsterdam-based life sciences and healthtech VC with €2B+ AUM. Competes for Dutch and European healthtech seed deals, especially medical-technology crossover investments Noaber backs.
• Invest-NL: Dutch national impact investor (~€1.7B committed) backing sustainability and healthcare innovations. Already co-invests with Noaber in GelijkGezond; competes on overlapping seed-stage impact mandates.
• Gilde Healthcare: Dutch/Belgian healthcare-dedicated venture and growth investor with €1.5B+ AUM. Directly competes for the same Benelux/DACH digital health seed-stage deals Noaber targets, but as a pure commercial fund.
• Novo Nordisk Foundation: Danish enterprise foundation (€1,000B+ AUM) funding health, biotech and sustainability via grants, impact investments and operating companies. Most direct European analog: combines venture philanthropy with strategic equity, focused on systemic health outcomes over decades.

Regional players

• INKEF Capital: Dutch VC backed by ABP pension fund investing in Dutch tech and healthtech at growth stage. Comparable institutional-backed Dutch health exposure, though focused on later-stage cheques than Noaber's seed orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Ashoka: Global social-entrepreneurship foundation supporting health-system innovators via fellowships and venture support. Comparable systems-change orientation but operates at individual-changemaker level rather than co-investing at seed stage.
• La Caixa Foundation: Spanish foundation (€6B+ AUM) funding biomedical research, global health and social programs through grants and impact-aligned vehicles. Comparable multi-decade systemic-health orientation at Iberian scale.
• Bertelsmann Stiftung: Large German family-linked foundation (€1B+ AUM) running health, education and social programs with structural policy reform ambition. Comparable multi-program model, but at much larger scale and broader thematic scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/noaber-foundation
• Xx.com/NoaberImpact

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments19 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Noaber