The Dutch ecosystem is setting new highs in many aspects. There are many companies that are edging to become unicorns and many have made acquisitions for their growth. While it is common to see startups raising investments as funding paves way for the growth of companies and is a driving factor.
Many startups secure funding after being in operation for a few years but a handful of them have raised big numbers at the very first funding round as these have made huge impression in the business space. Here, we have curated a list of five such Amsterdam startups that have raised big numbers as the first round.
Bynder
Founders: Chris Hall
Total Funding: €20.2 million
Valuation: $89 million to $133 million
Founded Year: 2013
Why its hot: Branding automation company Bynder develops marketing software enabling marketers easily create, find and use their content. It is a spin-out from Label A. Marketing agencies can collaborate even from remote locations with the help of the online portal to work on any kind of content. Bynder is known as a trusted and secure host for intellectual property. It was named the Deloitte Fast Rising Star in 2015 and acquired Webdam, a digital asset management software of Shutterstock.
Messagebird
Founders: Adriaan Mol, Robert Vis
Total Funding: €54.7 million
Valuation: $240 million to $360 million
Founded Year: 2011
Why its hot: Amsterdam-based cloud communications provider MessageBird offers voice, SMS and chat solutions enabling developers and enterprises to communicate virtually with customers anywhere in the world. This company services more than 15,000 customers from fast-growing startups including Uber and enterprises including SAP and Lufthansa Airlines. Earlier this year, MessageBird announced a strategic partnership with SparkPost to extend the available communication channels for businesses.
Creative Group
Founders: Robin Weesie, Dirk Ueberbach
Why its hot: Creative Group formerly known as SMSCity was started as a way to send free SMSes from a website. After the acquisition by MessageBird, Creative Group focuses on digital top-up for prepaid phones as well as services and making the same safe, fast and simple for users across the world. The solution is based on its proprietary tech platform and is highly scalable. It lets brands easily tap into large markets and explore new customer segments. Creative Group’s Rapido.com and Recharge.com are quite popular and it aims to reach €200 million of sales volume by the end of 2019.
Mollie
Founders: Adriaan Mol
Total Funding: €25 million
Valuation: €100 million to €150 million
Founded Year: 2004
Why its hot: Dutch online payment service startup Mollie offers affordable, reliable and simple online payments for companies of any size. Its cloud-based platform serves more than 65,000 businesses in Europe. It processes more than €5 billion payment volume on an annual basis and the number is growing at a rapid pace. Mollie handles many fintech services from overdraft fees to payment processes that are still stressful and confusing.
Dott
Founders: Henri Moissinac, Maxim Romain
Total Funding: €50 million
Valuation: €120 million to €180 million
Founded Year: 2018
Why its hot: Dott is a micro-mobility company offering dockless and shared electric scooters and bikes for people on the lookout for convenient alternatives for short-distance commutes. It operates with the objective to increase the lifetime of its e-scooters from six months to a year, reduce operational costs and provide ultimate UX. The mission of Dott is to make micro-mobility safer, more durable and comfortable for users. Also, the mobility startup is bullish about expanding into new cities across Europe in 2019.
WeTransfer
Founders: Bas Beerens, Rinke Visser, Ronald Hans
Total Funding: €22.7 million
Valuation: $100 million to $150 million
Founded Year: 2009
Why its hot: WeTransfer was launched as a result of Beerens’s frustration to find an easy way to share large files easily. The company works with huge brands like Google, Samsung, Netflix and Squarespace and delivers full-screen advertisements on its billboard. The WeTransfer platform helps nearly 40 million users each month to send over one billion files. The platform lets sharing files up to 2GB freely and up to 20GB on subscribing to the paid service.
Bitfury
Founders: Valery Vavilov
Total Funding: $1.0 billion
Valuation: €155 million
Founded year: 2011
Why its hot: Amsterdam-based Bitfury is a full-service bitcoin and blockchain company. It is a leading security and infrastructure provider for Bitcoin Blockchain. Bitfury is involved in the designing and production of innovative hardware, which keeps blockchains and cryptocurrencies secure. This Dutch blockchain startup is the brain behind blockchain projects including Crystal Blockchain, LightningPeach and Exonum.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
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