Amsterdam as a startup ecosystem packs an increasingly big punch. Over the last decade, the overall value of the startup ecosystem has been rising fast in Amsterdam.
There are multiple factors behind this rise. Located centrally, the Netherlands is home to business-friendly laws, strong infrastructure, and a well-educated workforce. Also, over 90 per cent of the Dutch population speaks English.
International graduates also get one year to find work or start a business post-graduation. For starting a business, the government already has an entrepreneur visa scheme that offers international entrepreneurs a 1-year visa to get their companies off the ground. Additionally, budding startups benefit from the city’s dozens of accelerator and incubator programs, including several focused on women founders and diverse entrepreneurial talent.
With such benefits and support from the ecosystem, the city is buzzing with an entrepreneurial spirit, innovative drive, and ambition of its stakeholders, and even the Covid-19 pandemic could not extinguish it.
So today, we have compiled a list of Amsterdam-based startups that hit the headlines in 2021.
3D Hubs acquired by Protolabs
Protolabs, a manufacturer of custom prototypes and on-demand production parts with manufacturing facilities, signed an agreement to acquire 3D Hubs for $280M (nearly €231M) in closing consideration and $50M (approx. €41.2M) subject to performance-based targets.
Protolabs is a technology-enabled company that claims to produce custom components in as fast as one day with automated 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and injection moulding processes.
3D Hubs is an online manufacturing platform that provides engineers with on-demand access to a global network of manufacturing partners. Users can upload their design, receive a quote, and start production. With this acquisition, the entire 3D Hubs’ team will join Protolabs.
“At 3D Hubs, our goal is to empower companies to create revolutionary products through supply chain efficiency and reliability. We are confident that partnering with Protolabs will help us advance that mission,” says Bram de Zwart, co-founder and CEO at 3D Hubs.
Just Eat Takeaway raises €1.1B: Key takeaways
Food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway raised €1.1B through an offering of convertible bonds. The company said that it placed €1.1B of convertible bonds, consisting of two tranches (“Tranche A” and “Tranche B”). With an aggregate principal amount of €600M, Tranche A – upsized from €500M – is due August 2025. Whereas, Tranche B, with an aggregate principal amount of €500 M, is due February 2028.
The proceeds will be used by the company for “general corporate purposes as well as to provide the company with the financial flexibility to act on strategic opportunities which may arise.”
Just Eat Takeaway claims to be one of the largest online food delivery marketplaces outside China. It is focused on connecting consumers and restaurants through its platforms. The company mainly collaborates with delivery restaurants. The platform also provides its proprietary ‘restaurant delivery services’ to restaurants that do not deliver themselves.
Recently, the company published its H1 2021 results, reporting revenue growth of 52 per cent (63 per cent excluding Grubhub) to €2.6B. Just Eat Takeaway also acquired Grubhub and Bistro.sk business in Slovakia from Ringier Axel Springer Media.
Fintech unicorn Mollie’s new CEO
Payment services provider, Mollie, appointed a new CEO, Shane Happach. Prior to joining Mollie, Happach worked for Worldpay, where he was EVP and Head of Global eCommerce.
Happach succeeds Gaston Aussems, who was Mollie’s CEO between 2013 and mid-2020. He started on April 1, 2021, and has been formally appointed by Mollie’s Supervisory Board. His appointment has been confirmed by the Dutch Central Bank.
Shane Happach has prior experience of more than 10 years with Worldpay – a payment processing company, first as Chief Commercial Officer of its e-commerce division and more recently as EVP and Head of Global eCommerce. Besides, he was also a member of the executive team at Worldpay for its London IPO and its acquisition by both Vantiv and FIS.
Founded in 2004 by Adriaan Mol, Mollie is a payments platform that offers a process for integrating payments into a site or app. It is a technology-based company processing payments for more than 50,000 clients with local payment methods such as Mastercard, VISA, Amex, PayPal, iDEAL, Bancontact, Bitcoin, SEPA Direct Debit, Cartes Bancaires, ESP, Giropay, SOFORT Banking, and more.
Crisp raises Series B round
Crisp, an online-only supermarket, raised €30M in its Series B round of funding. The round was led by European investor Target Global, joined by Keen Venture Partners. Some of Europe’s top entrepreneurs also participated including founders of Adyen and Just Eat Takeaway.com, as well as Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted.
The raised capital will enable Crisp to enlarge its 100 per cent electric vehicle fleet, expand its thoughtful assortment, and strengthen its network with high-quality, smaller producers for its customer base.
The startup was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneurs Tom Peeters, Michiel Roodenburg, and Eric Klaassen, to help people eat better. It is an app-only supermarket for ultra-fresh food. The company’s service delivers groceries 7 days a week, and orders placed before 10 PM are delivered the next day. The marketplace stocks more than 2000 products from more than 650 farmers, growers, and makers and runs on proprietary software to enable zero inventory and negative working capital.
Tellow’s parent company raises funding; appoints new CEO
Tellow’s parent company Ageras raised $73M (nearly €60.2M) in growth capital from New York-based technology fund Lugard Road Capital. The company says this capital will be deployed to accelerate the group’s international growth, product development, and to continue its buy-and-build strategy.
Founded in 2012, Ageras Group is a B2B technology company that connects SMEs and microbusinesses in Scandinavia, Western Europe and the US with professional service providers such as accountants and bookkeepers.
Investcorp, a leading global private equity firm, acquired the majority of Ageras in 2017. Since then, the company has expanded its ecosystem actively through acquiring Danish accounting software firm Billy, servicing small and medium-sized companies, and by developing Meneto, a fully automated bookkeeping tool for micro-companies.
The company is active in six countries in Europe including the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia, and the US. For the Dutch market, the round will be used to further develop the accounting app Tellow and become the market leader. In order to execute this mission, Tellow appointed Thomas Vles as its new CEO.
Thomas Vles has founded and managed several companies, including Poopy Cat and Wedoido. Last year, he was active as director of the Dutch Startup Association. Vles took over from Roel Smelt. According to the company, he will use the funding to evolve the software and build a one-stop-shop where small businesses and the self-employed can arrange all their financial affairs.
Fastned charges itself with €150M through accelerated bookbuild offering
Fastned, a fast-charging network for electric vehicles company, raised €150M through an accelerated bookbuild offering of 1,875,000 New Securities, which was announced on 25 February 2021.
The company is using the proceeds to fund part of its CapEx plan that consists of expanding the capacity of its existing stations, building its committed pipeline of 164 charging stations, accelerating the development of its potential pipeline, and fund CapEx for significant upcoming government-related tenders, including in France and Germany, as well as for general corporate purposes.
Founded in 2012 by Michiel Langezaal and Bart Lubbers, Fastned aims to accelerate the transition to electric mobility by giving freedom to electric drivers. It specialises in developing and operating a fast-charging infrastructure where drivers can charge their electric vehicle with up to 300 km of range in 15 minutes before continuing their journey.
Currently, the company owns and operates a network of electric vehicle charging stations in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK, and Belgium – the majority of its stations are located at Dutch highway rest areas. So far, it has built 129 fast-charging stations.
Just Eat Takeaway expands offices in Amsterdam
Online food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway expanded its offices in Amsterdam. The company had said it will move to the location, in the centre of Piet heinkade, by the end of this year.
According to the company, the aim to move to this particular location was to offer not only a great place to work for its employees, but to also attract top-class talent for further growth. The new building will provide 14,500 sqm of space over eight floors and has a terrace overlooking the IJ river.
Just Eat Takeaway.com moved from Utrecht to Amsterdam prior to its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at Euronext Amsterdam in 2016. In addition to Amsterdam, the company has 26 offices worldwide, one of which in Enschede. It also has offices in Canada, Australia, Norway, Bulgaria, among others.
The company has more than 8,000 employees globally, of which more than 1,000 can be housed in the new Amsterdam office. Together, they help restaurants to grow and thereby create the best experience for consumers.
TomTom resumes share buyback program
TomTom, the location technology specialist, announced the resumption of its share buyback program to repurchase ordinary TomTom shares. The original program was to repurchase shares for an amount up to €50M. However, due to the rise of the pandemic in March 2020, the company had to withdraw its decision. This was because there was uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic’s economic impact, which could not have been assessed at that time.
“Until the program’s suspension, a total of 2.35 million shares were repurchased for an aggregate consideration of €16.6M leaving a remaining amount for the repurchase of €33.4M,” mentions the company in a press release.
TomTom said it will use the shares to cover the commitments of its long-term employee incentive plans.
Founded in 1991 by Corinne Vigreux and Peter Frans Pauwels, TomTom is a digital mapping and routing company that focuses on car navigation. They aim to gain a competitive advantage through superior products, a leading brand, and a flexible production structure.
The company claims to deliver better maps through a combination of its high-quality map database that is continuously kept up to date through input from its fleet of surveying vehicles and a large community of users. It regularly processes close to 2 billion map changes per month, which helps it maintain the freshest maps.
Felyx’s €24M deal: Everything you need to know
Felyx, an electric scooter company that forayed into the last mile mobility sector in 2016, raised €24M in its series A investment round. The round was led by De Hoge Dennen Capital, the investment vehicle for the De Rijcke family, and current major shareholder and entrepreneur Anne-Marie Rakhorst.
The funding was to help Felyc further fuel its expansion within Europe and launch its services in new regions, Germany and France, to further its Benelux expansion project. The company also mentioned considering expansion in France and Germany as it believes both these regions have notable potential.
Felyx was founded by Quinten Selhorst and Maarten Poot. The company offers its e-scooters via its app, available for both Android and iOS users. One can use the app to sign up, locate and reserve, and activate the nearest e-scooter by the company. The rides provided by the company cost €0.30 per minute and run entirely on green energy since they are charged using renewable energy.
Tripling its revenue in 2020, Otrium raised €102.3M
Fashion e-commerce startup Otrium raised $120M (approx €102.27M) in a Series C round of funding. The company has announced its launch in the US and aims at reducing unsold fashion in the future.
The round was co-led by BOND and Index Ventures. It also saw participation from existing investor Eight Roads Ventures. The raised capital will enable Otrium to accelerate its US expansion, develop its technology platform, and increase headcounts.
Founded by Max Klijnstra and Milan Daniels in 2015, Otrium is a technology platform via which fashion brands can sell their leftover stocks at a discount. The company’s full-service marketplace allows fashion brands to open an online outlet with minimal effort and all the advantages. Through their platform, fashion houses can sell both outlet collections and previous collections while retaining full control over pricing, merchandising, and visibility of their excess inventory.
Hiber – a ‘NewSpace’ startup, raised €26M
Hiber, a satellite and communications startup, raised €26M in EU funding and private investment to expand the world’s first global IoT (Internet of Things) satellite network. The funding has been awarded to Hiber by the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), the EU’s innovation agency, from their €278M Innovation Fund.
The EIC co-invested with an innovation credit provided by the Dutch government and existing shareholders. Other investors in the round included Finch Capital, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, and Hartenlust Group.
The capital was to help Hiber further expand its satellite network and grow its customer base.
The company was founded in 2016 by Coen Janssen, Erik Wienk, Ernst Peter Hovinga, Laurens Groenendijk, and Maarten Engelen. Hiber’s in-house-developed satellite constellation aims to bring IoT solutions to areas where there’s never been affordable cellular access or wifi. In simple terms, the company will ensure the possibility to track and monitor machines and devices for a wide range of IoT solutions in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places.
MessageBird acquires 24sessions and Hull
Cloud communication unicorn MessageBird, announced the acquisition of two startups in its mission to transform the way businesses interact with their customers. The company acquired 24sessions – a video-first customer engagement platform, and Customer Data Platform (CDP) Hull.io – a startup that gathers all customer data in one place.
MessageBird was founded in 2011 by Adriaan Mol and Robert Vis. The company-owned services include SMS, voice, email, OTT, social, live chat, and push. Vis said, “The addition of 24sessions’ video platform gives us one of the world’s most comprehensive and powerful omnichannel offerings and is consistent with our having end-to-end control of the stack in order to create magical experiences for our customers.”
The Hull team joined the MessageBird CDP team to create an in-depth analytics layer between its extensive channel offering and the workflow solutions it provides to customers.
With these acquisitions, a total of 45 staff joined from 24sessions, while Hull brought in 14. The combined deals bring MessageBird’s total headcount to almost 500 people across its nine hubs globally.
Fixico raises funds for further expansion
Fixico, a digital car repair management platform, raised €5M extension to its Series A round funding, closing at €12M. The round was led by Autotech Ventures along with existing investor Finch Capital, and Madrid-based Mundi Ventures.
The funds were raised to accelerate Fixico’s product development, strengthen its core markets’ footprint and help expand its services across Europe.
Fixico offers a digital platform that handles car damage repairs for drivers, insurers, and fleet owners and enables smart ‘matchmaking’ between types of car damage and body repair shops. The company’s repair allocation process allows customers to identify the most suitable body repair shop for the job while taking critical factors such as availability, expertise, and price into consideration.
According to the company, its services are currently operational in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, and South Africa. It operates a network of 2,500 repair shops.
Messagebird’s flight path to raising largest Series C in Europe
Cloud communication unicorn MessageBird, announced two key developments. Firstly, it acquired US-based SparkPost, a predictive email intelligence platform, for $600M (approx €497M). And secondly, the company extended its Series C and raised $1B (approx €828.3M).
SparkPost was founded by George Schlossnagle and Theo Schlossnagle in 2008. It is an email sending and deliverability platform that helps senders reliably reach the inbox with solutions to help them plan, execute, and optimise their email programs.
MessageBird currently allows businesses to communicate with their customers on the channels they use every day. Currently, the channels include Live-chat, Video, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google Business Messages, Apple Business Chat, Voice, Messenger, WeChat, RCS, Line, and Telegram. And with the acquisition of SparkPost, email was added to MessageBird’s suite – which it believes is the largest business communication channel by volume.
The extended $1B Series C round was led by Eurazeo, Tiger Global, Owl Rock, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. All existing investors also participated in the round.
BUX raises €66.5M; CEO hands over the reins to COO
Neo-broker BUX raised $80M (approx €66.47M) in a fresh round of funding. Besides the funding, the company also announced that its founder and CEO Nick Bortot stepped down and the company’s COO Yorick Naeff was appointed as the new CEO. According to the company, Bortot will remain involved with BUX as a member of the non-executive board.
The round was led by Prosus Ventures and Tencent, with participation from additional new investors ABN Amro Ventures, Citius, Optiver, and Endeit Capital. In addition, existing investors including HV Capital and Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures also participated in the round.
BUX said it will use the investment as an additional impetus to expand its commission-free investment app BUX Zero.
BUX is a neo broker and has been making it easy and affordable for Europeans to do more with their money since 2014. The company was founded by Egbert Pronk, Joost van de Wijgerd, Nick Bortot, and Robbert Bos.
With over 500,000 customers, BUX currently offers three apps to explore the financial markets, including BUX Zero, its flagship platform that makes commission-free trading possible, allowing users to invest in the brands and companies they care about. BUX Zero is currently available in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, and Belgium.
Dott raised funds to expand its micro-mobility services
Micro-mobility company Dott raised $85M (approx €70.47M) in its Series B round of funding. The round was led by Sofina, a Belgium-based investment company listed on Euronext Brussels, and a supportive partner of entrepreneurs and families managing growing companies.
In addition, new and existing investors also participated in this round including EQT Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Estari (as co-lead), Expon Capital, Felix Capital, FJ Labs, Invest-NL, McRock Capital, Quadia, and various angel investors.
The funds were raised to enable Dott to launch new micro-mobility vehicles in European cities, starting with e-bikes. The company also expanded its services to new cities and countries such as Spain and the UK.
Founded in October 2018 by Henri Moissinac and Maxim Romain, Dott is a European micro-mobility operator with a mission to free cities with clean rides for everyone. Currently, the platform operates over 30,000 e-scooters in cities including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland. In July 2020, Dott won two of the biggest micro-mobility tenders in the world, ranking first both in Paris and in Lyon.
Lumicks raised funds to develop single-molecule analysis technologies for cancer research
Lumicks is a next-generation life science tools company that develops single-molecule analysis technologies for cancer research and cancer immunotherapy. The company raised $93M (approx €77.6M) in its Series D round of funding.
The round was led by new investors Farallon Capital Management and Lauxera Capital Partners. In addition, investors Softbank Vision Fund 2, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Parian Global Management, Pura Vida Investments, and Irving Investors also participated in this round. Existing investor Gilde Healthcare and select members of the Lumicks management team also contributed to this round.
Lumicks was founded in 2014 as an academic spin-off from the research group of Prof. Gijs Wuite, Prof. Erwin Peterman, and Prof. Iddo Heller at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Founded by Andrea Candelli and Olivier Heyning, Lumicks is a life science tools company that develops equipment for Dynamic Single-Molecule and Cell Avidity analysis, two rapidly emerging areas in biology research and immuno-oncology.
The product portfolio of the company includes C-Trap, an integrated system with optical tweezers, confocal microscope, and microfluidic system to analyse protein folding, DNA repair, DNA organisation, Protein polymer, and filaments, etc.
A majority of the raised capital was to be used to accelerate growth initiatives, including the expansion of both research and development, and commercial activities for the z-Movi Cell Avidity Analyzer.
StuDocu raises Series B funding from Partech
Edtech scale-up StuDocu (locally known as StudeerSnel), an online platform where students can share knowledge, raised $50M (approx €41.1M) in its Series B round of funding from Paris-based VC firm Partech. The raised capital helped the company to boost its growth as well as increase its workforce.
The edtech platform was founded in 2013 by four friends, Marnix Broer, Jacques Huppes, Lucas van den Houten, and Sander Kuijk’s dorm rooms in Delft, Netherlands. As students themselves, they figured that collecting all useful study resources from their study friends could be done way more efficiently. And this is how the idea of StuDocu was born – an online platform where students can share their study materials – lecture notes, summaries and practice materials – to exchange knowledge with fellow students.
Orderchamp raises €16.6M
Orderchamp raised $20M (
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