committed and experienced
We are a team of professionals with diverse backgrounds. We have in-house operational, technical and financial expertise to evaluate investment propositions and commit our resources to each of our portfolio companies. Our team is focused on identifying and creating growth opportunities where we believe we can make a real impact. We are open minded, curious and always focused on helping teams to grow their business, whilst keeping stakeholders’ interests in mind and without losing sight of our mission.
Let’s introduce ourselves
Lex Roukens | Partner
Lex brings over 30 years of experience and skill in business development, investments and corporate finance across various sectors including renewable energy and telecommunications. He fulfilled various senior management, management board and supervisory board positions and has lead teams in Asia, Sub Saharan Africa and Europe. Lex joined YARD ENERGY as CFO in 2015 and was appointed CEO in 2019.
Mirjam Terhorst | Partner
Mirjam brings 20 years of deal experience, across a variety of sectors. She has executed deals differing from energy transition ventures to mid-market buy-outs in traditional industries. She co-founded a private debt fund and held various senior management and executive roles in private equity. She started her career as an M&A associate in a law firm. Mirjam joined YARD in 2023 as a partner of YARD Fund Management.
Friso Bensdorp | Partner
Friso has over 23 years of experience in VC, PE and M&A in European, Asian and Australian environments. He started his career with a venture capital fund before joining Pon in 2003. Within Pon he ran the venture activities before joining the M&A team. In 2011 Friso moved to Singapore to build up Pon’s business in Asia through multiple acquisitions. He subsequently moved to Perth, Australia, to expand Pon’s business activities in that region. He also was the CFO of the Asiapac business unit. In 2016 Friso returned with his family to the Netherlands and joined Ponooc, a venture capital fund focused on investments in mobility and sustainable energy, as managing director
Frederik de Hosson | Partner
Frederik has extensive experience as investor and M&A professional, working in various roles in the Netherlands and the USA. In recent years he was involved in various (e-)mobility and energy investments, exits and equity raisings. Since 2021, Frederik is co-responsible for Ponooc, a venture capital fund aimed at early-stage investments in the mobility and sustainable energy domain. Frederik loves working in venture capital, where he gets to experience the thrill of a dynamic, high-paced setting while collaborating with visionary entrepreneurs on groundbreaking concepts that contribute to a better world.
Martin Oldenbeuving | Partner
Martin has over 25 years of experience in the (wind) energy sector. In 2004 he started his own corporate finance boutique with the focus on management, valuation and development. Renewable – and wind energy projects became the core of his career. He acquired a development portfolio of wind projects, and after successful divestment, he joined YARD ENERGY early 2013 as a shareholder.
Rui Li | Investment Manager
Rui brings a wide skill set from his experience as investor, consultant (McKinsey) and scaleup operator (International Bike Group). He joined Ponooc because he wanted to contribute to leaving the world a little bit better behind for his daughter. He gets a lot of energy from growth, whether that is growth of ventures or personal growth of the teams he works with. Rui holds a Masters in Industrial Design Engineering and an MBA from INSEAD.
Bastiaan van Wijk | Investment Manager
Bastiaan has over 12 years experience in the energy sector, and worked as a consultant and asset manager before starting as an investment manager in 2021. He has an engineering background and enjoys working at the intersection of technology and finance. At YARD ENERGY he is responsible for new investments as well as managing the portfolio.
Eline Peeters | Associate
Eline has a background in management and entrepreneurship in the Life Sciences and worked in a boutique Life Sciences consulting company for 3 years. Here she gained extensive experience in assessing investor readiness and acquiring (non-)dilutive financing for innovative early-stage companies. Eline joined Ponooc in 2021.
Rick van ‘t Ende | Investment Analyst
Rick joined YARD ENERGY in 2022 as Investment Analyst. In his first eight months he gained experience in sustainable debt financing at portfolio company DuurzaamInvesteren.nl after which he joined YARD Fund Management fulltime in 2023. Rick obtained his master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente, focused on both technology and business.
Julie Eeftink | Investment Analyst
Julie joined Ponooc as an Investment Analyst in 2022, after completing her 6-month internship as Junior Analyst. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and her master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Amsterdam. Julie gets excited about sustainable innovations and working with forward-thinking entrepreneurs.
Eddie Bos | Group Financial Controller
Eddie is Group Controller with over 20 years of experience in different financial environments. He studied Business Economics at the University of Tilburg. Eddie joined YARD ENERGY in August 2014 and is responsible for accounting, reporting and management of its financial systems.
Chung Ding | Financial Analyst & Controller
Chung joined YARD ENERGY in December 2014 as Controller. He is responsible for accounting, optimizing and automating financial processes, and financial modelling. Prior to joining YARD ENERGY, Chung worked in different financial and international environments in banking and consulting.