Little attention has been given to the economic activities of European private investors in the Western African trade. To partly fill this void in the literature, this chapter examines the private investment of the entrepreneurs and businessmen of the Dutch Republic in the 'Guinea of Cape Verde' between c.1590 and 1674. It analyses the entrepreneurs financing the insurances of ships and cargos for the Guinea of Cape Verde. The chapter also studies the Republic's businessmen operating in the long-distance circuits between the 'Guinea of Cape Verde', Europe and the Americas. In addition, it determines the commercial agents of the Republic's merchants and looks at their agency in the Guinea of Cape Verde's trade. This study is based on the collection of Notarial contracts of Amsterdam's Municipal Archive, the Dutch West India Company's archives and on German and Dutch travelling accounts.