The Netherlands economy is projected to grow by 2.7% in 2021 and 3.7% in 2022. The country has moved from fifth to third position for best startup ecosystems in Europe as shown in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 by Startup Genome. The country is home to a vibrant and collaborative startup ecosystem. The Dutch are early adopters of technology and innovation, making the Netherlands an attractive destination for key technologies. There is a surge in the number of opportunities and funding deals for startups in the country.
The Dutch government plays an important role by providing foreign startups with the tools and information they need to open a company in the country. Initiatives like the Netherlands Point of Entry and Techleap.nl connect international entrepreneurs to capital, markets and talent in the Dutch startup ecosystem. Another initiative introduced by the government is the Dutch Startup Visa, which grants residence permit for people from outside the European Union (EU), who are looking to start an innovative business. Besides the government’s efforts, numerous venture capitalists and angel investors are focusing and investing in tech companies and are strengthening the ecosystem. We have also compiled a list of active angel investors who are spreading Netherlands tech renaissance.
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Top Startups in Netherlands
1. Zivver
Zivver is a secure communication specialist with a mission to help organizations safeguard their sensitive data, while ensuring regulatory compliance and preventing human error data leaks. Zivver optimizes safe communication and productivity by adding a security and privacy layer on top of existing email systems, such as Outlook and Gmail.
Industry: Cyber Security, Information Technology.
Founders: Alwin Schoemaker, Jeroen Diederix, Rick Goud, Vincent van Donselaar.
Total Funding: $32.2M
Founded Date: 2015
2. Project Cece
Project Cece is an online marketplace for fair and sustainable fashion. It offers more than 15,000 products from over 100 different web-shops with sustainability at its core. It aims to have a positive impact on the fashion industry by making fair and sustainable clothing easy to find.
Industry: E-Commerce.
Founders: Marcella Wijngaarden, Melissa Wijngaarden, Noor Veenhoven.
Total Funding: $144K
Founded Date: 2019
3. Connecterra
Connecterra is an agri-tech startup using AI to optimize the diary farming industry. Connecterra is building an Artificial Intelligence that will grow food sustainably to feed future generations. It uses machine learning to turn raw data into insight-driven efficiencies for the benefit of people, companies, and the natural habitats in which they operate.
Industry: Agri-Tech, Artificial Intelligence.
Founders: Saad Ansari, Yasir Khokar.
Total Funding: $18.3M
Founded Date: 2014
4. Wonderkind
Wonderkind has created an innovative Talent Attraction Technology that reaches both active and passive job seekers on media channels they use daily, like social media, websites, and apps. This helps corporates and staffing agencies to create and execute the perfect recruitment marketing campaign and attract high-quality and happy talent.
Industry: Advertising.
Founders: Lars Wetemans, Laurent Scholten.
Total Funding: $2.3M
Founded Date: 2016
5. Polarsteps
Polarsteps is helping millions of travelers across the globe to plan, track and relive their travels in a smart and beautiful way. Crafted by a team of avid explorers with a passion for clever technology and design, it’s all-in-one travel app features a travel planner, a personalized digital map and a travel book.
Industry: Travel
Founders: Job Harmsen, Koen Droste, Maximiliano Neustadt, Niek Bokkers.
Total Funding: $5.3M
Founded Date: 2015
6. Growth Tribe
Growth Tribe is a digital learning partner for both individuals & organizations, specializing in data science, growth, innovation and customer experience. They have built a reputation for fast-paced, impactful & enjoyable learning, offering training & coaching in Data Science, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Growth & Marketing, Innovation, UX Design & Product Management.
Industry: Ed-Tech.
Founders: David Arnoux, Kees van Nunen, Peter van Sabben.
Total Funding: $5.7M
Founded Date: 2015
7. Dott
Dott offers dock-less, shared electrical scooters, and bikes as alternatives for short-distance travel. The company is a micro-mobility European start-up, gathering the most experienced team in mobility and tech in Europe. Dott is headquartered in Amsterdam and is gathering the most experienced team in mobility and tech in Europe.
Industry: Mobility, Ride Sharing.
Founders: Henri Moissinac, Maxim Romain.
Total Funding: $140.8M
Founded Date: 2018
8. Kambr
Kambr was founded in 2019, with the aim to help airlines around the world in their pursuit to optimize commercial processes and lift revenues. It’s mission is to help airlines navigate the challenges of digital transformation by lifting their revenues through analyst-built, operator-designed products.
Industry: Aerospace, Software.
Founders: Chris Anthony, Jason Kelly, Martin Kaduc.
Total Funding: $7M
Founded Date: 2019
9. Meatable
Meatable is a food production company that produces real and guilt-free meat. They are revolutionizing the meat industry’s impact on climate change and animal welfare. At the same time they increase food security, without compromising the culinary experience of eating tasty, real meat. They aim to satisfy the world’s appetite for meat without harming people, animals, and the planet.
Industry: Food and Beverage.
Founders: Daan Luining, Krijn De Nood, Mark Kotter.
Total Funding: $62.9M
Founded Date: 2018
10. Finom
Finom combines digital business account benefits with multiple services to provide financial solutions for entrepreneurs, self-employed, and freelancers. It pulls together accounting, financial management, and banking functions for early-stage businesses and SMEs into one mobile-first product.
Industry: Fin-Tech.
Founders: Iakov Novikov, Konstantin Stiskin.
Total Funding: $19.1M
Founded Date: 2019
11. The Protein Brewery
The Protein Brewery is a high-tech company that specializes in developing and making animal-free- based protein in a sustainable way. It is commercializing innovative protein production using fermentation. Protein Brewery was founded by Wim de Laat in 2019 and is based in Breda, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands.
Industry: Biotechnology, Life Science.
Founders: Wim de Laat
Total Funding: $25.6M
Founded Date: 2019
12. Dyme
Dyme combines financial data with the latest machine learning technologies to offer its users a state-of-the-art solution for subscription management. With the Dyme application, users gain insight into their recurring expenses, listing all subscriptions in one clear overview. Dyme lets users manage, cancel, and switch their subscriptions, with a single click.
Industry: Banking, Finance.
Founders: David Knap, David Schogt, Joran ledema, Wouter Florijn.
Total Funding: $3.1M
Founded Date: 2019
13. Lepaya
Lepaya is an Amsterdam based rapidly growing company, with global reach. We are a team of experienced tech-founders, commercial growth drivers and L&D professionals. It is a training company that provides high impact training at the career points of professionals. Their training programs are flexible, easy to access and non time consuming.
Industry: Education.
Founders: Peter Kuperus, Rene Janssen.
Total Funding: $7.5M
Founded Date: 2018
14. OrderChamp
Orderchamp is a marketplace that brings independent retailers and brands together to provide wholesale service for local communities. It aims to enable creators and shop owners from around the world to find the right sales channels and discover unique products.
Industry: E-Commerce, Marketplace.
Founders: Dennis Cuijpers, Joost Brugmans, Max Verduyn, Menno Wolvers.
Total Funding: $23.6M
Founded Date: 2019
15. Otrium
Otrium is the fashion outlet marketplace with hundreds of designer stores all in one app. It gives brands an online outlet channel and digital tools to smartly connect dynamically-priced end-of-season collections with fashion-lovers. Otrium works with an ambitious team to continuously improve its product, vision, and customer relations.
Industry: E-Commerce.
Founders: Max Klijnstra, Milan Daniels.
Total Funding: $152.8M
Founded Date: 2015
16. Lumicks
Lumicks was founded in 2014 by Andrea Candelli and Olivier Heyning. It delivers state-of-the-art technologies for the study of biology and cancer at the single-molecule and single-cell levels. It aims to build the unfinished bridge between structure and function at the molecular and cellular levels.
Industry: Biotechnology.
Founders: Andrea Candelli, Oliver Heyning.
Total Funding: $93.3M
Founded Date: 2014
17. BUX
BUX is Europe’s fastest-growing neo-broker and has been making it easy and affordable for Europeans to do more with their money since 2014. BUX’s flagship platform, BUX Zero, is making commission-free investing accessible, intuitive, and affordable for both first time and existing investors allowing them to invest in a large suite of shares or ETFs they care about.
Industry: Finance.
Founders: Egbert Pronk, Joost van de Wijgerd, Nick Bortot.
Total Funding: $115.8M
Founded Date: 2014
18. Leyden Labs
The Leyden Labs’ energetic team of world-renowned biotechnology veterans and fresh talent is dedicated to thinking differently to free humanity from the burden of respiratory viruses. Leyden Labs aims to help people live their lives to the fullest. Its platform targets commonalities of viral families to protect humanity from known and future viruses.
Industry: Biotechnology.
Founders: Koenraad Wiedhaup, Jaap Goudsmith, Ronald Brus.
Total Funding: $46.3M
Founded Date: 2020
19. Lightyear
Lightyear is a Netherlands-based solar electric car company that develops an ultra-energy-efficient automotive platform. The Dutch company is working on Lightyear One, a long range solar electric vehicle designed to be grid-independent and to drive anywhere.
Industry: Solar Energy, Electric Vehicle.
Founders: Arjo van der Ham, Koen van Ham, Lex Hoefsloot.
Total Funding: $103.7M
Founded Date: 2016
20. VectorY
Founded in August 2020, and based in the Amsterdam Science Park, VectorY is a fully integrated gene therapy company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics such as vectorized antibodies for both CNS and somatic disorders, with a special focus on muscle diseases. By combining state-of-the-art technologies and novel and scientific concepts, VectorY’s mission is to bring innovative therapies to patients worldwide.
Industry: Healthcare.
Founders: Carlo Incerti
Total Funding: $35.8M
Founded Date: 2020
21. Onward
Onward was founded in 2018 by Tom Peeters, Micheil Roodenburg and Eric Klaasen. It is a med-tech company that aims to create innovative therapies to restore movement, independence, and health in people with spinal cord injuries. Onward is headquartered in Amsterdam.
Industry: Healthcare.
Founders: Tom Peeters, Micheil Roodenburg, Eric Klaasen.
Total Funding: $32M
Founded Date: 2018
22. Quin
Quin is a health tech company that provides an Artificial Intelligence digital platform offering comprehensive personalized medical insight to consumers and general practitioners, from symptoms and medical complaints to diagnosis and indication of the medical condition.
Industry: Artificial Intelligence.
Founders: Bart Malenstein.
Total Funding: $28.9M
Founded Date: 2014
23. Felyx
Felyx offers shared electric scooters (mopeds) as a new and disrupting urban mobility concept. The company will expand to Brussels in the summer of 2019, adding more than 600 e-scooters to its fleet. Traffic congestion and relentless pressure on public transit are a fact of life for urban citizens. Felyx believes e-scooter sharing to be the best urban transportation method, as it is the fastest, most convenient and sustainable ride around town.
Industry: Transportation.
Founders: Maarten Poot, Quinten Selhorst.
Total Funding: $32.5M
Founded Date: 2016
24. Nearfield Instruments
Nearfield Instruments brings together the most creative minds in science and technology to develop, produce and market revolutionary high throughput scanning probe microscopy systems, enabling atom-scale resolution 3D metrology at industry-level throughput. It develops and markets High-Throughput Scanning Probe Metrology systems for advanced integrated circuits manufacturing process control.
Industry: Electronics.
Founders: Hamed Sadeghian, Roland van Vliet.
Total Funding: $57.92M
Founded Date: 2016
25. Founda
Founda enables healthcare to collaborate and innovate by offering a platform that exchanges data between healthcare IT systems and external applications. It offers scalable infrastructure, and reusable, standardised integrations with healthcare IT systems. Hospitals, medical practices, labs and others use their platform to collaborate and get easy access to the latest healthcare applications.
Industry: Healthcare, Software.
Founders: Jan Joost Kalff.
Total Funding: $15M
Founded Date: 2019