FSR x henQ | International Venture Capital Tour 2026

Note: this event will be held in English

Most recruitment events for students involve the same kind of made-up cases to present to a fake customer or pretend investment committee.

The International Venture Capital Tour is different:

Ten students will spend a day in Rotterdam with all three henQ partners and the founding CEO of Freeday.ai. You will work together to assess the company and founder, much like you would if you were already part of the henQ investment team.

Six students continue to round two: a fully paid two-day trip to Paris, where you will again work with all three henQ partners and, this time, the founding CPO of Malou.io. We take the perspective of a board member, to try and help Malou solve an urgent challenge they are currently facing.

As such, you will get a glimpse of what it’s really like to work in venture capital, and whether henQ is the fund for you.

Win a year of free tuition

Do you have an average grade of 8.25 or higher? Then applying also enters you into the henQ Scholarship draw.

Among all eligible applicants, a winner will be selected at random. henQ will cover their tuition fee for the 2026–2027 academic year.

You don't need an 8.25 average to apply for the International Venture Capital Tour.

Most Likely to Become VC Partner

After two rounds together, the henQ team will pick the participant they think is most likely to become a VC partner one day.

Last year’s winner ended up signing a full-time contract with henQ. She joins after graduating in 2027. (This was not part of the prize)

Round 1: Freeday.ai, Rotterdam

• Date: November 24

• Location: Freeday.ai HQ, Rotterdam

You will spend the day with Freeday’s founding CEO and the henQ partners.

Freeday builds AI agents that automate repetitive work in customer service, finance and HR. Its agents already handle more than 1 million interactions per month for companies like TUI, citizenM and Bitvavo.

Your job for the day is to assess Freeday as an investment: understand the company, form an opinion on the founding team and decide what you would want to know before investing.

There is no fictional case and no pretend investment committee. You will be discussing a real company with the people actually building and investing in it.

Round 2: Malou.io, Paris

• Date: January 13–14

• Location: Malou, Paris

• Travel and accommodation: fully paid by henQ

Six students from Round 1 continue to Paris for two days with Malou’s founding CPO and, again, the henQ partners.

Malou automates marketing for more than 3,500 restaurants, with customers from Paris to New York.

This time, instead of deciding whether to invest, you work as if you are already on their board: Malou will give you an urgent problem the company is actually dealing with, and you will try to help solve it together.

henQ pays for the trip from Rotterdam, accommodation and the full program.

About henQ

henQ invests in B2B technology startups across Europe. They typically invest €1M–€10M per company, and make only a small number of new investments each year.

VC websites are full of fancy one-liners, but a large part of the job is fairly simple: find exceptional founders with fast-growing revenue, in markets most other funds somehow don’t like. Then help as much as you can after investing, without getting in the way of a great founding team.

Event Details:

• Round 1: November 24, Rotterdam

• Round 2: January 13–14, Paris

• Participants: 10 students in Round 1; 6 continue to Round 2

• Who can apply: third-year Bachelor's students and Master's students

• Selection: based on your CV

• Application deadline: November 16, 23;59, 2026

Interested? Apply for the FSR × henQ International Venture Capital Tour.