Startups saddle up for successful second Capital Tour XXL

On a late September day so sunny and warm it felt like the middle of summer, the second edition of the Capital Tour XXL rode through town on Tuesday September 27th. At this event which was part of Amsterdam Capital Week, more than a hundred founders got on their bikes to meet with investors who opened their doors all over Amsterdam.

Riveting Pitch Training

The kick-off took place at Vondel CS, (the former Vertigo and Filmmuseum) in the middle of the Vondelpark. Main sponsor ING ensured all participating founders were easy to spot with bright orange lineyards. Before the participants got on their bikes, presenter and pitch coach David Beckett helped them on their way with a riveting pitch training. This inspiring pep talk from the Tony Robbins of startups got everyone in the room prepared to talk any Angel or VC into getting their checkbooks out.

“The government has money and wants to give it to the right people!”

HRH Prince Constantijn officially opened the event, representing the Dutch StartupDelta which he leads as a special envoy. The prince explained how this partnership initiative has the intentions of creating the best possible conditions for the Dutch ecosystem. He also jokingly assured his audience that there is funding available out there for the right startups: “Everyone complains about the government, especially startups who know everything, but the government has money and wants to give it to the right people”.

Sightseeing Startups meeting VC’s

The rest of the day founders were sightseeing around town to see how money flows through the Silicon Canals of Amsterdam. Divided into ten different groups with up to ten startups in each group, all of them visited three different investors. These participating investors ranged from local investors and innovation funds to big international VC’s like Cottonwood Technology. Of course there was time to take in some of the sights along the way, as seen in this group photo on the Magere Brug. In this picture we have, among others, founders from Malaria-preventing startup Momala,  3D scanner startup Th3rd, art collectors platform Vpatina, search engine Get1,2.com laptop design shop Uncover and taxi wifi startup Cabture. At the end of the day there was time for drinks and networking, at The Pool, along with an open pitch podium. Here confident founders could put David Beckett’s tips and tricks into practice, probably after drinking a bit of Dutch courage into themselves first.

photos by Xander Mouthaan, provided by Capital Tour XXL