With high-level innovation and extremely developed entrepreneurship, it is no surprise that the startup ecosystem in the Benelux region – The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg is thriving.
The region’s business ecosystem has been improving drastically in terms of both growth and capital investment. In the last few years, startups in the Benelux region have seen increased attention from VCs.
Based on European Startups data, Benelux startups have recorded €6.2B in VC investment so far in 2021, compared to €2.7B in 2020 and €1.9B in 2019. According to XEurope, the region’s startups have access to 35 incubators, 97 accelerators, 406 VC funds, and 635 business angels. The Benelux region is touted to provide a healthy environment for businesses to flourish.
In this regard, we have listed the fintech startups in the Benelux region that have raised over $10M this year as sourced from Dealroom.
Recharge.com
Founder/s: Dirk Ueberbach and Robin Weesie
Funding raised in 2021: €39.82M
HQ: Amsterdam
Recharge.com offers the opportunity to digitally buy or send prepaid credit to spend with their favourite brands. The startup makes digital top-up fast, safe and simple for consumers around the world. At present, the Recharge platform serves over 3M customers with sales of over $500M growing at 50 per cent year-on-year. It expects to reach over $1B within the next two years.
In March, the company raised €10M in a debt funding round from London-based Kreos Capital. A few days back, Recharge.com raised $35M (approx €29.82M) in its Series B round of funding led by new investor SmartFin.
Ohpen
Founder/s: Chris Zadeh, Bas Wouwenaar, Erik Drijkoningen, and Ilco van Bolhuis
Funding raised in 2021: €30M
HQ: Amsterdam
Ohpen is a cloud-based core-banking engine. Built by former retail bankers, Ohpen aims to free banks from their legacy systems and processes.
The startup powers savings, investment, mortgage, loan, and pension products for clients including Aegon, Knab, Robeco, Nationale-Nederlanden, BCM Global, CMIS, Volksbank, and LeasePlan Bank.
A few days back, the Amsterdam-based company raised €30M in its growth capital from Deutsche Bank in the Netherlands.
Bunq
Founder/s: Ali Niknam
Funding raised in 2021: €193M
HQ: Amsterdam
bunq is an independent bank that offers mobile banking with no branch visits, no queues, no paperwork. Users can share bank accounts with whomever they want and pay with worldwide Maestro and Mastercards wherever they go.
After several years of self-funding, bunq has raised €193M in a funding round led by Pollen Street Capital, at a valuation of €1.6B in July. As a part of the deal, the company also acquired Capitalflow Group, a privately held Irish lending company. bunq is currently available in 30 European markets.
SurePay
Founder/s: David-Jan Janse and Marcel Rienties
Funding raised in 2021: €12.2M
HQ: Utrecht
SurePay makes online payments more personal and safer. The company provides IBAN-Name Check to all major Dutch banks and a Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service in the UK.
SurePay’s CoP service aims to significantly reduce the number of payments made in error, prevent fraudulent transfers, and provide users with peace of mind when making a credit transfer online.
Currently, over 30 banks and more than 150 corporates use the startup’s service. A couple of weeks back, SurePay raised €12.2M in funding led by Connected Capital and Iris Capital.
Mollie
Founder/s: Adrian Mol
Funding raised in 2021: €672M
HQ: Amsterdam
Mollie is a payments platform that offers an easy-to-implement process for integrating payments into a site or app. The company is on a mission to make online payment simple for merchants by taking away the complexity. With a simple and clear payments-API, Mollie offers multiple payment methods uniformly. In June, the Dutch company secured $800M (approx €672M) in a Series C funding led by Blackstone Growth (BXG).
Orderchamp
Founder/s: Joost Brugmans, Max Verduyn, Menno Wolvers, Ruud Stelder, and Dennis Cuijpers
Funding raised in 2021: €16.6M
HQ: Amsterdam
Orderchamp is a marketplace that brings independent retailers and brands together to provide wholesale service for local communities. The Amsterdam-based scaleup offers an assortment of more than 200,000 products from over 1,800 different European brands. In May, the company raised $20M (approx €16.6M) funding in a Series A round led by Prime Ventures.
BUX
Founder/s: Egbert Pronk, Joost van de Wijgerd, Nick Bortot, and Robbert Bos.
Funding raised in 2021: €66.5M
HQ: Amsterdam
BUX is a neo broker that makes commission-free investing accessible, intuitive, and affordable for both first-time and existing investors. It currently offers three apps to explore the financial markets – BUX Zero, BUX Crypto, and BUX X. In April, Europe’s largest neobroker raised $80M (approx €66.47M) in a funding round led by Prosus Ventures and Tencent.
Customs4Trade
Founder/s: Ilse Vermeersch, Pieter Haesaert
Funding raised in 2021: €17M
HQ: Antwerpen
Customs4trade is a pioneer in digital-first customs management. The Belgian startup developed a SaaS solution – CAS (Customs Accounting System) to simplify customs and trade.
CAS is a collaborative hub, designed to manage regional and worldwide customs and trade compliance quickly and accurately, within one single platform.
By automating all import and export processes, C4T clients eliminate customs duty and administration costs and gain strategic visibility into their customs operations. In June, the company secured €17Min Series C funding led by 83North.
Qover
Founder/s: Jean-Charles Velge and Quentin Colmant
Funding raised in 2021: €20.7M
HQ: Brussels
Qover is an insurtech startup that builds API-first insurance solutions. The company offers multiple types of insurance for rent guarantee, travel, rider liability, accident, and more. Users can access their dashboard, manage portfolios, and monitor statistics.
Currently, the startup is operating in sectors including the gig economy, soft mobility, travel, and PropTech. In April, the Belgian company secured $25M (approx €20.7M) in its Series B round of funding led by Prime Ventures and backed by Cathay Innovation.
FRISS
Founder/s: Jeroen Morrenhof and Christian van Leeuwen
Funding raised in 2021: €54.82M
HQ: Utrecht
FRISS offers real-time end-to-end P&C insurance fraud analytics solutions that cover the complete policy lifecycle – from automated underwriting risk assessment to fraud detection during claims and comprehensive case management.
The startup detects fraud, mitigates risk, and supports digital transformation through AI-powered detection solutions. Currently, the company serves insurers in over 40 countries and is on track to deliver over $2B in fraud savings to insurers in 2021 alone.
In July, the Dutch company raised $65M (approx €54.82M) in its Series B round of funding led by Accel-KKR.
Capex
Founder/s: Octavian Patrascu
Funding raised in 2021: €18M
HQ: Brussels
Capex is a multi-licensed global broker whose main goal is to make online trading more accessible and rewarding for people worldwide. The Belgian company is an official trading partner of Juventus and provides services across Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, Latin America, and South-East Asia.
With a robust offering of over 2100 CFD trading instruments, the broker is preparing to expand the offering by including Direct Market Access instruments, DeFi, and blockchain-based services. In June, the company secured $21M (approx €18M) from Growth Box.
BOTS
Founder/s: Michiel Stokman, Colin Groos, and Stefan Bijen
Funding raised in 2021: €13M
HQ: Haarlem
Based out of Haarlem, BOTS makes automated investing accessible to everyone. The app offers access to these investment bots, which makes high-quality automatic trading algorithms available to everyone. The platform allows users to find out what they have invested, discover the latest bots, and manage their finances.
A couple of weeks back, the Dutch company raised €13M in its Series A round of funding from Amsterdam-based venture capital firm Airbridge Equity Partners (AEP) and a group of informal investors.
Fintech Files Powered by AWS
In the new section Fintech Files, in collaboration with AWS, we are keeping tabs (pun intended) on the thriving fintech industry in the Benelux. Want to learn more about the benefits of the cloud, or talk to one of their experts? Visit AWS Startup Loft to register for the latest events, get free 1:1 support from AWS experts and discover more resources. Build and scale your (fintech) startup with $1,000 in AWS Activate credits, free tools, technical support and training to quickly get started with AWS. Learn more about AWS Startup Loft.
