Ronald Kemmeren

Ronald Kemmeren is a Dutch private-equity investor with over a decade of hands-on experience backing technology and software companies across Europe. He holds a BSc in Business Administration from Tilburg University and an MSc in Finance & Investments from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. He began his investing career as an Associate in Private Equity at Dasym Investment Strategies before joining HPE Growth.

At HPE Growth (also known as HPE Growth Capital), the Amsterdam-based growth-equity firm, Kemmeren spent roughly seven years, rising to Principal / Vice President. There he evaluated and executed growth investments and supported portfolio companies as they scaled, serving as a board observer for companies including Tiqets and Uberall, and working with names such as Sendcloud, WeTransfer, and Airborne. In 2019 he was named Young Private Equity Manager of the Year by the Dutch M&A Community, and in 2022 he was recognized as a "Rising Star of Private Equity" by Dow Jones / Private Equity News.

He also gained operator experience: he joined portfolio company Tiqets, the Amsterdam travel-technology (attractions ticketing) firm, as VP Corporate Development & Strategy, helping steer the company through the COVID-19 pandemic. He later served as Investment Director at DELTA Equity Partners, focused on technology and healthcare buy-and-build strategies.

In 2024, Kemmeren co-founded Smile Sail, an evergreen private equity / growth firm chaired and sponsored by Belgian entrepreneur Urbain Vandeurzen and the Vandeurzen family (linked to Smile Invest). He is a Partner and Investment Committee Member. In April 2025 the firm announced it had closed its "Smile Software & AI" fund at €260 million, beating a €250 million target in under nine months, backed largely by existing Smile Invest investors and prominent Benelux family offices.

• Invests in profitable, scaling B2B software and IT-services companies in Europe — not early/seed startups; the focus is growth equity and buy-and-build.
• Sector emphasis on AI-driven software, big data, and transformational B2B solutions, spanning Technology, Healthcare, and Business Services.
• Check sizes of €10–35 million, extending up to €50 million for strategic buy-and-build platforms; Smile Sail's stated range is €5–50M of equity.
• Geographic focus on Europe with a strong Benelux tilt, reflecting the firm's family-office LP base and Belgian/Dutch roots.
• Smile Sail positions itself as bringing "deep software & IT expertise" to help companies "scale," pairing capital with hands-on operational and international-expansion support — a thesis consistent with Kemmeren's own operator stint at Tiqets.