The Netherlands is one of the most interesting countries in Europe and it has a startup ecosystem to match. The country consistently puts out a number of top startups and Dutch startups are beginning to command higher price tags, and therefore startup funding. Dutch startups received 2.3 Billion Euros in funding in 2021 and in Q2 of 2022 alone they raised 1.27 Billion Euros, highlighting a noticeable increase.
In the Netherlands, entrepreneurs are supported by the Dutch government through multiple schemes. For example, there is the innovation credit scheme. Businesses working on innovations in technology or medicine can apply for a loan. There is also the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), which small to medium businesses looking to invest in developing countries or upcoming markets, can apply for the DGGF. Further support is available for the self-employed in the Netherlands.
The upwards trajectory of the ecosystem in the Netherlands is driven by the growing VC presence in the country, with more than 400 active VCs targeting Dutch startups. Additionally, startups are getting the early-stage support that they need to grow, through the country's more than 100 different startup accelerators and incubators.
1. Aiosyn
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Nijmegen, Gelderland, The Netherlands
Size: 1-10
Founders: David Tellez, Jeroen van der Laak, Patrick de Boer, and Wouter Bulten
The first of the top startups to watch in The Netherlands in 2023 is the artificial intelligence startup company Aiosyn. This Dutch startup works to bring artificial intelligence technology with empowered pathologists in healthcare to its customers. Aiosyn develops software solutions to make clinical decision-making more efficient and easier. With a team of medical professionals, scientists, engineers, and more, this startup is combining AI with pathologists to improve healthcare for the future.
This Dutch startup's current total funding amount sits at $2.1M. This funding was raised across just two funding rounds, with support from three different investors. The most recent funding round took place in December of 2022 and was led by Health Innovations, Oost NL, and LUMO Labs.
2. LeydenJar Technologies
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Leiden, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 11-50
Founders: Christian Rood and Gabriel de Scheemaker
The second on the list of the top startups to follow in 2023 is LeydenJar Technologies. It is a cleantech startup from The Netherlands. The company works to improve the energy density of Li-ion battery cells, by using pure silicon anodes. This makes the batteries extremely powerful, and small, and also makes them charge fast. LeydenJar Technologies powered batteries can be used in a variety of applications, such as laptops and phones, smart watches, power tools, and even electric vehicles.
To date, the Dutch startup LeydenJar Technologies has raised €63.2M of total funding (or $67,882,172). LeydenJar Technologies has been supported by 12 investors and the most recent funding round took place on the 12th of December, 2022.
3. TestGorilla
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 51-100
Founders: Otto Verhage, and Wouter Durville
TestGorilla is a Dutch startup helping the human resources sector, by providing a screening service that employers can use during the hiring process. The company also offers assessments for recruiters and HR managers. TestGorilla's service can help to cut out any bias when hiring, so the best candidate gets the job without any prejudice. It makes the whole hiring process easier, quicker, and less stressful. The Dutch startup believes that its solution is better than using CVs.
This top startup has managed to raise $80M in total funding amount. The company with some huge customers has also managed to raise $70M in one funding round with help from investors.
4. Breeze
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Delft, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 1-10
Founders: Marsha Goei, Marco van der Woude, Thomas van der Pas, Daan Alkemade, Thomas Oomens, Philip van den Heuvel, and Joris van Doorninck
The matchmaking company Breeze is another of The Netherlands' top startups that should be watched in 2023. It operates in the dating, apps, and hospitality sectors. Breeze has created an offline dating app where dates can be organised at scale. The business spotted a gap in the marketing of matchmaking when it realised users of traditional dating apps would spend hours swiping and chatting before ever going on a date. The Dutch startup believes this format is addictive so wanted to reinvent the dating app. The aim of the app is to use technology to enhance not replace humanity. Breeze encourages users to meet in person, and the business is open with its users, explaining that it only gets turnover when a user gets value from the platform (a date).
Breeze has raised €1.6M (or $1,717,816) of total funding having been launched in 2019. It raised EUR €1.3 Million in its latest funding round.
5. New Amsterdam Pharma
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Naarden, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 11-50
Founders: Dr. John Kastelein
New Amsterdam Pharma is a clinical-stage company from The Netherlands, founded in 2019. This Dutch startup is working in the biotechnology and life science sectors. It is focused on researching and developing transformative therapies for cardio-metabolic diseases. New Amsterdam Pharma or otherwise known as just New Amsterdam, has the aim to develop safe, convenient, oral medications for patients with metabolic diseases. New Amsterdam Pharma is passionate to help and change the way patients have treatment.
This top startup has raised a very impressive amount of $429.4M in total funding. The company's most recent funding round took place on the 23rd of November, 2022. So far, New Amsterdam Pharma has been supported by 22 investors to help bring its total funding amount to what it is today.
6. Axelera AI
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands
Size: 51-100
Founders: Evangelos Eleftheriou, and Fabrizio Del Maffeo
The next top startup on our list to follow in 2023 is Axelera AI. As the company's name might suggest, the business works in the artificial intelligence and machine learning industries. This Dutch startup makes artificial intelligence chips, that can create AI hardware and software platforms. These platforms are for edge computing, accelerating computer vision. The company wants to do this without being overly expensive that it becomes inaccessible, whilst making it easy to use.
Axelera AI has currently got a total funding amount of $45.7M. The Dutch startup has 6 investors, one of which includes the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. This company's last funding round took place on the 25th of October, 2022.
7. Renoon
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 1-10
Founders: Iris Krami, Nicolò Tresoldi, and Gabriele Trapani
Renoon is the next top startup on our list to follow in 2023. This Dutch startup calls itself the 'tool for sustainability impact measurement and communication'. Renoon works in the fashion, search engine, shopping, and sustainability industries. The company provides its users with an app not to buy clothes through, but to check their favourite brands' sustainability credentials. It allows customers to find all of the available information on fashion brands and search for exactly what they value most. This gives the power to the consumer, as they can decide what is most important sustainability-wise when they shop and it encourages shoppers to buy with the environment in mind, and support more sustainable businesses.
So far, the total funding amount for Renoon currently sits at $610.8K. The sustainable tech startup from the Netherlands had its most recent funding round take place on the 3rd of November, 2021.
8. Deribit
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Ermelo, Gelderland, The Netherlands
Size: 11-50
Founders: John Jansen, Marius Jansen, and Sebastian Smyczýnski
Deribit is another top startup from The Netherlands and is working in the Bitcoin and financial services sectors. This Dutch startup is helping its customers to reach their trading goals, by providing them with the most flexible instruments that are available in the market. Customers trade at Deribit because it has superior system architecture, that provides top-level performance, and there is multilevel security.
The last funding type venture was an unknown series. However, the company has received four investments.
9. TerraPay
Year Founded: 2014
HQ: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 11-50
Founders: Ambar Sur
TerraPay is another financial services company working in financial technology. This Dutch startup helps its customers to move their money across the globe, with ease. TerraPay is a mobile-first payments service. It allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to send money instantly, to a mobile number. The company offers an inclusive and far-reaching network, that has real-time payments beyond boundaries.
The Dutch startup has raised $37.7M of total funding, in three funding rounds. This has been done with the help of four investors, two are lead investors. The most recent funding round took place on the 22nd of February 2021, supported by one investor. Before that, one funding round took place on the 3rd of March 2020 with three investors, and the first took place on the 5th of July 2019, with help from one investor.
10. Framer
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 51-100
Founders: Jorn Van Dijk, Koen Bok
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Framer is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2013 and is currently based in Amsterdam. The company has created a platform where creatives can deploy interactive prototypes from their mockups. This helps developers to launch high quality websites in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
Framer has proven the strength of its business model to investors, evidenced by the fact it has raised $33 Million from ten investors. It should also be noted that the startup acquired Popmotion for an undisclosed fee in January 2019.
11. Circularise
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: The Hague, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
Size: 11-50
Founders: Mesbah Sabur and Jordi de Vos
Circularise is another top Dutstch startup and it is working in the environmental consulting and information technology industries, to provide end-to-end supply chain traceability. The company offers its customers a software platform that they can use to exchange data securely with end-to-end traceability. The service is designed for industrial supply chains, so they can manage data across supply chains efficiently. Circularise was founded with the aim to open up the visibility of information about complex supply chains. This enables plastic manufacturers, brands, and OEMs to trace back the raw materials they have, from the source. This tracing can look at the parts, all the way to the end products.
€12.5M of total funding has been raised so far by the Dutch startup company. One funding round took place on the 17th of November, 2022 to get to the total funding amount.
12. Crisp
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 251-500
Founders: Eric Klaassen, Michiel Roodenburg, Tom Peeters
Crisp is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in the city of Amsterdam. The company operates an app-only supermarket that allows customers to conveniently browse the items they want and have them delivered to their front door. This saves them time from wandering around the supermarket. Their business model operates using zero inventory.
The business has sucessfully raised a large amount of startup funding since being founded. In total, Crisp has raised a total of 121 Million Euros from a group of five investors. The startup also completed its first acquisition in October 2022.
13. Charly Cares
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 251-500
Founders: Charly Van Der Straten, Xander Koenen
Charly Cares is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Amsterdam. The company has created an app to help parents with childcare. Through their app, parents are able to digitally find and book a babysitter at short notice. This makes it much easier for parents to make sure their child is looked after whilst they're away for important reasons.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the last being a Seed Funding Round that took place in January 2017, where it raised 400,000 Euros. In total, the business has raised a total of $584,100 from an unknown number of investors.
14. Medal
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Naarden, The Netherlands
Size: 51-100
Founders: Iggy Harmsen, Joshua Lipson, Patrick Rietbroek, Pim De Witte, Zaid Alnasser
Medal is a startup in the Netherlands that was founded in 2015 and is based in Naarden. The company operates in the gaming market and has created a platform that allows gamers to interact online by sharing their clips and personal highlights with other players. This leads to more opportunities for people to play together.
Medal has secured a large amount of funding since being founded. In total, the startup has raised a total of $72.5 Million from twelve investors. The last funding round was a December 2021 Series C round from OMERS Ventures.
15. Surfshark
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 251-500
Founders: Vytautas Kaziukonis
Surfshark is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company offers a variety og privacy and security solutions to consumers such as VPNs and more. This helps people to browse the internet safely, which is important as cyber security threats become more advanced and people's digital footprints increase.
Since being founded, Surfshark has not publicly sought any outside startup funding. However, you may see the company advertising its solutions through a variety of different YouTubers where it is experiencing a lot of success through influencer marketing.
16. Tiqets
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 51-100
Founders: Christiaan Solcer, Kasper Middelklopp, Luuc Elzinga, Maarten Raiijmakers, Marjin Speelman, Robert Westers
Tiqets is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2013 and is currently based in Amsterdam. The company has created an online platform that makes it easy for customers to buy tickets for a variety of different museums and attractions. Mobile tickets make it more convenient as tickets are less likely to be lost and can be instantly scanned for entry.
Since being founded, the business has raised a large amount of startup funding. In total, the business has raised $105.5 Million from a total of four investors. This figure is likely to continue to grow as the business aims to further scale its operations.
17. Yandex.Taxi
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Schiphol, The Netherlands
Size: 251-500
Founders: Arkady Yurievich Volozh
Yandex Taxi is a startup in the Netherlands that was founded in 2018 and is based in Schiphol. The company provides an online platform through an app for ordering a taxi journey. The company is one of the strongest startups in the country and has been consistently growing since it was established.
The business completed an acquisition in July 2019 for Vezet Group at a cost of $204 Million. Since being founded, the business has raised a figure of $325 Million from a pair of investors.
18. TheyDo
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 11-50
Founders: Charles Beaumont, Jochem Van Der Veel, Martin Palarmarz
TheyDo is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Amsterdam. They have created a platform to help businesses to improve their workflow management, implementation, customer experience and more. The end result is a platform that helps businesses to improve their customer retention and brand loyalty.
TheyDo has been successful in raising startup funding. In total, the startup has raised a figure of 14 Million Euros. This was achieved with the help of eighteen investors. Their last round was a Series A that took place in December 2022, when it raised 12 Million Euros from sixteen investors.
19. PoroUS
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 251-500
Founders: Bart Hendriks
PoroUS is a startup in the Netherlands that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Amsterdam. The company aims to help patients to get better and more timely diagnoses for osteoporosis. This is achieved through the company's 3D ultrasound technology combined with spectral signal processing.
The Dutch startup has been through a pair of funding rounds since it was founded, with both rounds raising an undisclosed amount. One of these rounds was a grant whilst the other was supported by NLC.
20. Strat7
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Size: 251-500
Founders: Michael Fisher
Strat7 is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Amsterdam. The company runs an insight consulting operation. They help businesses to make better decisions backed up by data and expert opinion to help improve efficiency and the bottom line. This also makes companies more adaptable to change, which is a constant in a modern business environment.
There has been no public information relating to funding for Strat7, however it should be noted that the startup completed the acquisition of Jigsaw Research for an undisclosed amount in August 2022.
21. Eye Security
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: The Hague, The Netherlands
Size: 51-100
Founders: Piet Kerkhofs, Vincent van de Ven, Job Kuijpers.
Eye Security is a Dutch startup that was founded in 2020 and is based in the Hague.The company operates in the insurance and cybersecurity markets, they provide a comprehensive solution for all of the associated risks an SME would face. For example, customers get 24/7 protection and cyber insurance in one place.
Eye Security has seen sucess with investors in its short time, with the startup raising 21.5 Million Euros from a pair of investors. The most recent funding round was a Series A where it raised 17 Million Euros from Bessemer Venture Partners in November 2022.
FAQs
How Many Startups Are There in The Netherlands?
There is currently more than 4000 startups in the Netherlands.
What is the Average Investment in Dutch Startups?
Getting exact figures for the whole of the Netherlands is difficult however, Amsterdam's average Seed Round is worth $492,000 and its average Series A is $3.6 Million.
What Startup Industries Are The Strongest in The Netherlands?
The strongest startup sectors in the Netherlands are FinTech, Life Sciences and AgTech.
