Asian contacts may help Prince pocket millions in start-up deal
A Dutch company will pay the disgraced prince for access to his Pitch@Palace network.
The Duke of York has a lucrative agreement with a company that wants to reignite his global network, with a particular focus on the Middle East, Japan, China and Southeast Asia.
Prince Andrew’s work with the Dutch company Startupbootcamp (SBC) has seen the duke using contacts made from his Pitch@Palace initiative to help organise a conference in Japan, The Times understands.
The three-day “Future World” conference was held in Tokyo in November, with hundreds of entrepreneurs invited to meet with investors.
Andrew, 64, will be paid for each deal SBC strikes with individual territories, meaning he could stand to earn millions of pounds from the partnership.
A spokesman for the company said it met Buckingham Palace officials last summer to discuss a deal which would financially reward Andrew for his Pitch@Palace network. Weeks later, the King cut off all funding to the duke.
SBC said: “Key leaders from SBC together with some of their strategic partners, including international investment firm Waterberg-Stirling, met with senior Buckingham Palace officials last summer to seek approval before moving ahead with discussions and agreeing commercial terms.”
A palace source said: “While we wouldn’t comment on any private meetings or presentations, Buckingham Palace officials have neither reviewed nor approved the details of any financial arrangements between the duke or his advisers and any third party.”
The fact that the King cut funding to his brother so soon after the deal was agreed is understood to be a coincidence.
SBC describes itself as “one of the largest emerging technology investors in the world” with a total portfolio of €5.6 billion ($9.2bn).
A spokesman for the company said: “Leaders from SBC are in discussions to take over the former Pitch@Palace Global network. SBC have been exploring [its] former territories as they seek to access its international network built up since 2014.”
Kauan Von Novack, the chief executive of SBC, said: “We see immense value in the network built up by Pitch@Palace as we pursue our strategic ambition to empower 100,000 entrepreneurs over the next 10 years to leverage technology to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Andrew’s dealings with SBC, first reported in The Sun, offer an insight into how he continues to fund his lifestyle at Royal Lodge in Windsor without financial assistance from the King.
Andrew stepped down from royal duties in November 2019 after a BBC Newsnight interview about his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He ceased to receive any public money and his state-funded security was subsequently stopped by the Home Office.
In September last year, the King stopped all private funding too. Andrew reassured the palace that he had found “legitimate” funds to maintain his lifestyle. The annual bill for his security detail and other living costs is estimated to be about £4 million ($7.9m).
Yang Tengbo was banned from entering the UK on national security grounds. However, in seeking to overturn the ban in court, it emerged in December that Andrew had authorised the Chinese businessman to operate on his behalf in China.
Tengbo was also a partner in the duke’s Pitch@Palace enterprise in China, having founded the local branch of the scheme.
The Times
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