/ News / Dutch startups raise €265 million in 2016 – a mighty year for medtech

Dutch startups raise €265 million in 2016 – a mighty year for medtech

UPDATE – In 2016 Dutch startups altogether raised at least 264.7 million euro in funding – more than 180 million euro less as compared to last year. A lack of real outliers and skews this year results in a notable drop in funds, unfortunately. But even though the total numbers aren’t too impressive, investments in medtech companies excel.

At StartupJuncture we make a big effort to report and collect all funding news about Dutch startups, in order to provide insights into the Dutch investment climate. The result is one of the most complete lists of startup deals closed in The Netherlands in 2016. Have a look at our previous reports of 2014 and 2015.

The data we published are for everyone to use. In this report, we’ve analyzed the data and spotted some trends. Anyone can use the full list for their own analysis however. If you do, please let us know, we’d love to see the results.

In 2015 we counted a little more than 150 deals. This year we saw nearly the same amout. We noted a big difference in the average deal size, being 1.80 million euro in 2016, as compared to 2.82 million euro in 2015. The median investment this year was 600.000 euro, again slightly lower than last year: 650.000 euro.

Top 5 deals of 2016

Medtech startups are well represented in 2016’s top 5 of funding rounds. Rank 1, 4 and 5 are for  G-Therapeutics (implants), Nightbalance (sleep apnea) and BlueBee (DNA analytics). Vicentra (6) and Gadeta (7) are just behind. Bynder (marketing software) and GitLab (coding platform) got silver and bronze.

Top 5 Dutch funding deals in 2016
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Implant-company G-Therapeutics tops the list. Technically speaking this is a company from Switzerland (a spin-off from Swiss university Swiss École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), but the startup has strong ties with the Netherlands.

G-Therapeutics is led by Dutch CEO Sjaak Deckers, whom successfully sold medtech company Sapiens earlier in his career. And the  product is developed at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.

You can find more information about our criteria for being a ‘Dutch startup’ in the notes section of this article.

Explaining 2016

For the second consecutive year, the total amount of funding was lower as compared to the previous year. In 2014 Dutch startups raised 500 million euro. In 2015 this was 430 million euro, and this year we see the totals drop to ‘just’ 263 million euro.

StartupJuncture believes the decline can be paralleled with the overall declining trust of investors in startups. This is a world wide trend: investors seem to be looking ‘beyond the startup hype’. The funding climate for startups in The Netherlands is no exception to this.

We must however also note that this year’s results weren’t skewed by big rounds – like those present in previous years. In 2014 the list was heavily skewed due to investments in Adyen (200 million euro) and Takeaway (74 million euro). In 2015 we had outliers like Catawiki (75 million euro) and Adyen (undisclosed) again. We might see some of those rounds again next year or in 2018.

If we don’t include the above mentioned skews, we can conclude that the investments were roughly 225 million euro (2014), 305 million euro (2015) and 263 million euro (2016). So even without the outliers, 2016 shows a huge drop as compared to last year. The total amount was however up as compared to 2014.

A mighty year for medtech

Last year we noticed more medtech startups closing deals. We counted 15 deals this year, 10 more than last year. Next to the three companies in the top 5, we saw companies like Gadeta, Mint Solutions, Cytosmart, Noviosense and Optics11 successfully raise funding.

This requires an explanation, as the overall medtech hype is long gone. So why do these startups thrive in The Netherlands in 2016? It’s hard to tell. Is it the nurturing climate for medtech companies? Great regulations and access to knowledge that attract foreign startups (like Mint)? Or was Philips’ move to medtech (Philips Healthcare) an important sign to the sector?

Other trends in The Netherlands

Investments in fintech were strong this year, just as they are worldwide. In The Netherlands, we noted deals for companies like notable Q2. Bux, InvoiceFinance, and Surence.

As always, SaaS and e-commerce is doing great with notable investments in startups like Bynder, Tiqets and Crobox. It’s also great to see that coding platform startups like GitLab, Wercker and Magnetic.io get more attention.

There’s a worldwide interest in the topics of curation and content, so startups within this section are on the rise as well. In The Netherlands we saw funding for Crowdynews, Dot.World, Revue and Instant. We could also say Bynder could fit in this list.

Full list of Dutch startup deals in 2016

Without much further ado: here are the 2016 startup deals ranked in one table. The list is based on our previous quarterly overviews, but updated.

Name Amount (€) Type By Who Link Investment from country: Quarter
G-Therapeutics 26,000,000 series A VC LSP, INKEF Capital, Gimv en Wellington Partners StartupJuncture LSP? NL, BE, DE Q2
Bynder 22,000,000 series A VC Insight Venture Partners StartupJuncture US Q3
Gitlab 17,800,000 series B VC’s August Capital, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator StartupJuncture US Q3
Nightbalance 12,500,000 series B VC’s INKEF Capital, Gilde Healthcare Partners, Thuja Capital, Health Innovation Fund, Van Herk Ventures StartupJuncture NL Q3
Bluebee 10,000,000 series A VC Capricorn ICT Arkiv, Korys and Biover II StartupJuncture BE Q1
Vicentra 10,000,000 series B VC’s LSP, INKEF Vicentra EU + NL Q1
Gadeta 7,000,000 series A VC Medicxi Ventures, Baxalta Ventures, Utrecht Holdings Gadeta (pdf) US + UK + NL Q1
3D Hubs 6,340,000 series B VC’s EQT Ventures, Balderton Capital StartupJuncture EU, UK Q3
Bux 6,100,000 venture/series B VC Holtzbrinck Ventures StartupJuncture DE Q1
Insided 6,000,000 series A VC Ventech, Fortino Capital, HenQ Invest StartupJuncture FR + BE + NL Q1
EclecticIQ 5,500,000 series A VC + corp INKEF Capital + KPN Ventures StartupJuncture NL Q2
Robot Robots Company 5,000,000 venture gov + VC’s InnovationQuarter + Rabobank, others StartupJuncture NL Q1
SO WIFI undisclosed private equity VC 5square StartupJuncture NL Q2
Mint Solutions 5,000,000 series B VC’s + regional dev fund BOM Capital, LSP, Seventure StartupJuncture NL + FR Q3
SecurityMatters “more than 5M” venture VC’s Emerald Technology Ventures, KPN Ventures, e.a. Silicon Canals SU + DE + NL Q3
Name Amount (€) Type By Who Link Investment from country: Quarter
Roamler 4,500,000 series A VC Endeit Capital StartupJuncture NL Q2
Wercker 4,100,000 series A VC’s Inkef, Notion StartupJuncture NL + EN Q1
Crowdynews 3,700,000 series A VC Inkef StartupJuncture NL Q1
Tiqets 3,650,000 series A VC Capital Mills StartupJuncture NL Q1
InvoiceFinance 3,400,000 seed VC + angel Peak Capital + Kalo Bagijn StartupJuncture NL Q2
Fastned 3,070,000 crowdfunders via Nxchange Fastned Q2
Helloprint 3,000,000 series A angels Gert Jan Munneke, board StartupJuncture NL Q3
CloudSuite undisclosed VC 5square StartupJuncture NL Q4
MDLinking 2,500,000 seed angels Alec Behrens e.a. FinSMEs Q2
GetSocial 2,300,000 venture VC’s Astor Participaties, Enabling Technology Fund, Slingshot Capital, Novamedia StartupJuncture NL Q1
iWelcome undisclosed series B gov + VC’s PPM Oost, Newion Investments, Filsa Capital StartupJuncture NL Q1
Vandebron 2,000,000 Akef StartupJuncture NL Q1
Sendcloud 2,000,000 series A VC + gov TIIN Capital + BOM StartupJuncture NL Q1
Peerby 2,000,000 equity crowdfunding crowdfunders OnePlanetCrowd OnePlanetCrowd NL Q1
Peerby 2,000,000 convertible notes crowdfunders OnePlanetCrowd OnePlanetCrowd NL Q2
Fixico 2,000,000 series A VC Orange Growth + others StartupJuncture NL, UK Q2
ParkBee 1,800,000 venture regional dev + informals InnovationQuarter StartupJuncture NL Q4
Convious 1,800,000 seed undisclosed undisclosed Dealroom Q4
Hotelchamp 1,750,000 seed VC + informals + own money Investion Venture Capital, Thomas Joosten, Marc Albert, Nalden, Kristian Valk, Kasper Middelkoop + others StartupJuncture NL Q3
Connecterra 1,600,000 seed VC’s + accelerator + angel MENA Ventures (MVI), DeNA, Breed Reply, Elias Tabet UAE, JP, UK Q2
The Ocean Cleanup 1,500,000 gov + corporate + angel ministries I&M, EZ + Boskalis + philanthropist StartupJuncture NL Q2
CytoSMART undisclosed VC + gov Holland Venture, BOM StartupJuncture NL Q2
The Next Ad 1,500,000 venture VC Newion Investments StartupJuncture NL Q3
Impraise 1,400,000 seed VC HenQ, Palm Drive, China Growth Capital StartupJuncture NL, US, CN Q2
SciSports 1,350,000 series A angels undisclosed StartupJuncture Q1
Zerocopter 1,300,000 seed undisclosed Investion StartupJuncture NL Q3
AirFi 1,300,000 venture VC Mainport Innovation Fund II Silicon Canals NL Q3
Simplicate “more than 1 million” gov NOM StartupJuncture NL Q1
Hamwells 1,200,000 seed angels + suppliers undisclosed TechCrunch NL Q4
WakaWaka 1,140,690 convertible notes crowdfunders OnePlanetCrowd OnePlanetCrowd NL Q4
Crobox 1,100,000 series A VC + angels Keadyn, Ventech StartupJuncture NL + FR Q3
Name Amount (€) Type By Who Link Investment from country: Quarter
Mall-Connect 1,000,000 series A VC Newion Investments StartupJuncture NL Q1
Newest Industry undisclosed equity corporate Aegon StartupJuncture NL Q1
WePrevent undisclosed venture VC VOC Capital Partners StartupJuncture NL Q1
TheNextCloset 1,000,000 seed publisher Wayne Parker Kent StartupJuncture NL Q1
Bidroom 1,000,000 informal investors undisclosed StartupJuncture Q2
Surence 1,000,000 seed undisclosed undisclosed Dealroom Q2
Sposea 1,000,000 series A undisclosed undisclosed Dealroom Q2
Musoni System undisclosed private equity Goodwell Index.co NL Q2
Autheos undisclosed VC + angel Holland Venture + Guy Bradley StartupJuncture NL + US Q2
L1nda 1,000,000 seed VC’s Newion Investments + DHG StartupJuncture NL Q2
Geophy undisclosed series A VC INKEF Capital INKEF (pdf) NL Q2
Energyworx 1,000,000 series A VC HenQ StartupJuncture NL Q3
TradeCloud undisclosed venture regional dev, informal investor InnovationQuarter + Paul van Keep StartupJuncture NL Q3
Noviosense undisclosed series A VC+gov NovioTech, Fraunhofer Venture, Topfonds Gelderland, Healthinnovations StartupJuncture NL + DE Q4
Surfly 1,000,000 venture strategic ReadyTech StartupJuncture US Q4
ULU 1,000,000 venture regional dev BOM e52 NL Q4
KimKim 910,000 seed VC’s NFX Guild + others StartupJuncture US Q1
OneFit 850,000 venture VC + angel Peak Capital + Roelof Borggreve StartupJuncture NL Q3
Bitwala 800,000 seed VC High-Tech Gründerfonds + Digital Currency Group Dealroom DE + US Q2
Optics11 undisclosed seed VC Value Creation Capital StartupJuncture NL Q2
Channable 750,000 seed VC Peak Capital StartupJuncture NL Q4
Pneusmart 745,000 seed angels FinSMEs NL + IT Q2
Plugify 745,000 convertible notes crowdfunders OnePlanetCrowd OnePlanetCrowd NL Q3
Kien 725,000 seed angel undisclosed Kien Q4
ViriCiti 700,000 series A VC’s Mainport Innovation Fund II, Breesaap Green Link StartupJuncture NL Q3
Part-up 650,000 seed angels undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q2
Camptoo 650,000 convertible notes crowdfunders OnePlanetCrowd Camptoo NL Q4
Bleeve 600,000 seed Stichting DOEN e.a. StartupJuncture NL Q2
Otrium 600,000 seed VC Keadyn + others StartupJuncture NL Q2
Media Distillery 600,000 seed VC + CEO Peak Capital + Vortex Capital Partners + Roland Sars StartupJuncture NL Q2
Story Terrace 590,000 seed angels Rafael Ortiz, Ryan Petersen, Marek Gumienny, Gustavo Alberelli StartupJuncture US + UK Q4
PlotProjects 585,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q2
Bambi Belt 514,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q4
Name Amount (€) Type By Who Link Investment from country: Quarter
Crunchr undisclosed seed corporate Randstad Innovation Fund StartupJuncture NL Q1
OPNT 500,000 seed VC Cottonwood StartupJuncture US Q1
Gaiku 500,000 seed angel undisclosed Gaiku Q4
Toxys undisclosed series A VC Zeeuws Investment Fund, InnovationQuarter StartupJuncture NL Q1
RISKID undisclosed venture VC’s InvestinFuture, InnovationQuarter StartupJuncture NL Q1
PolarSteps 500,000 seed VC + corporate Silver Point Ventures + TMG StartupJuncture NL Q1
Eccentrade 500,000 seed undisclosed Index.co Q1
WeCity 500,000 seed undisclosed Index.co Q1
OpenClaims 500,000 seed undisclosed Dealroom Q1
ParkFlyRent undisclosed VC + buy in Dasym + Jochem de Boer StartupJuncture NL Q2
Dot.World 500,000 seed angels undisclosed Computable NL Q2
Jellow 500,000 seed gov + angels NOM StartupJuncture NL Q2
Magnetic.io 500,000 seed VC Volta Ventures StartupJuncture BE Q2
Lone Rooftop 500,000 seed VC + co-founder Mamadoo Ventures + Reinoud Elhort StartupJuncture NL Q2
Mopinion undisclosed seed VC’s led by Capital Mills Mopinion NL Q3
Symbid 490,000 convertible loan Fundwijzer Q2
Quicargo 450,000 seed strategic Hebo Investments + private investors StartupJuncture NL Q3
ProctorExam 500 – 85k seed angels + crowdfunding Leapfunder StartupJuncture NL Q1
SocialAudience undisclosed seed VC Axivate Capital StartupJuncture NL Q2
Qwiksense 400,000 venture foundation, strategic DOEN foundation e.a. StartupJuncture NL Q3
VRee undisclosed seed acc + regional dev Lumo + BOM StartupJuncture NL Q4
Pillow’s Willow “tons” seed acc + angel Lumo StartupJuncture NL Q4
Nimbles 400,000 seed angels undisclosed + The Next Women Q4
Only Once 352,720 equity crowdfunders Symbid Symbid Q2
Goboony 350,000 seed angels Ronald Zwartkruis e.a. StartupJuncture NL Q1
Nofoodwasted 350,000 seed angels undisclosed Q1
byFlow 350,000 seed angels undisclosed NL Q1+Q2
Wonderflow undisclosed seed angels several Dutch entrepreneurs FinSMEs NL Q4
TIQ 310,000 seed angels undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q4
Yubu 300,000 seed corporate + angel Kickstart Venlo Vectrix NL Q2
Cohere 300,000 seed VC + corporate + angel undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q2
Adjuvo Motion 300,000 convertible loan UNIIQ StartupJuncture NL Q3
WOLK Company 300,000 convertible loan UNIIQ StartupJuncture NL Q3
Andrupos 300,000 convertible loan UNIIQ StartupJuncture NL Q4
VarmX 300,000 convertible loan UNIIQ StartupJuncture NL Q4
Revue 300,000 seed angels + VC’s Nalden, Robert Gaal, Koen Bok, Hampus Jakobsson, Woodwing Ventures and Digital Leaders Ventures. TechCrunch NL, SE, LU Q4
Swipeguide 300,000 seed angel undisclosed Swipeguide Q4
Instant 275,000 pre-seed crowdfunders undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q4
Speedcomfort 272,000 convertible notes crowdfunders OnePlanetCrowd OnePlanetCrowd NL Q2
Bardoggy undisclosed seed angel Nick Stals StartupJuncture NL Q2
BimBimBikes 250,000 seed angels investors from The Herd StartupJuncture NL Q3
Dashtag 250,000 seed angel + crowdfunders Leapfunder StartupJuncture NL Q3
Tabster 227,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q2
Briter at least 200.000 seed informal investor undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q4
SolarMonkey 200,000 seed gov + angel InnovationQuarter StartupJuncture NL Q1
Iristrace 200,000 venture VC Bbooster Ventures Dealroom ES Q2
ABOSS 200,000 seed VC Keadyn StartupJuncture NL Q3
Yearn 200,000 convertible notes crowdfunders/angels undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q1
Yearn 200,000 convertible notes crowdfunders/angels undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q4
Flex-Appeal 185,000 seed angels undisclosed StartupJuncture Q1
Clocktimizer 180,000 equity crowdfunders Symbid Symbid Q2
Fitmo 170,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Seedrs StartupJuncture Q4
Thermosmart 165,420 equity crowdfunders Symbid Symbid NL Q4
Leapfunder 160,000 equity crowdfunding crowdfunders Leapfunder Index.co NL Q1
Superbuddy 157,500 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q2
Watermelon 150,000 seed undisclosed StartupJuncture Q1
Confocal undisclosed seed uni UvA Holdings BV StartupJuncture NL Q1
Senfal undisclosed seed corporate Anode Energie StartupJuncture NL Q2
JOHAN 150,000 equity crowdfunders Symbid RTLZ Q2
Kindow 150,000 equity crowdfunders Symbid Symbid NL Q4
CrowdyHouse 138,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q1
24sessions 133,333 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q1
ProGauntlet 133,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q1
Clevergig 120,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q3
Gallerease 120,000 (2 tranches) seed informal investors undisclosed Q1 & Q2
Pikaplant 118,000 equity crowdfunders Symbid Symbid Q2
Watcher Enterprises (KiGo) 110,320 equity crowdfunders Symbid Symbid Q3
ATO Gear / Arion 109,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q1
Grwo 100,000 seed corporate Microsoft StartupJuncture US Q2
PickThisUp undisclosed seed angels undisclosed StartupJuncture NL Q2
Sjipit 60,000 equity crowdfunders Symbid NU.nl NL Q4
Cabture 50,000 equity crowdfunding crowdfunders Symbid StartupJuncture NL Q1
Daalder 50,000 convertible notes crowdfunders Leapfunder Leapfunder NL Q2

Important notes

As always: a little more information about how this funding report came into being.

The goal of this list is to give an overview of (serious) investments in Dutch startups. We do not include pre-sales crowdfunding (like on Kickstarter) but focus on convertible notes or equity crowdfunding.

We typically also don’t count grants and subsidies, as well as loans or debt financing. We do not mention funding deals below 50.000 euro. Majority stakes or takeovers aren’t included in this list either.

StartupJuncture included closed crowdfunding campaigns, and left those whom have reached their goal amount but are still raising out. For instance, startups like Solarus, Perfect XL, Cabture and Chordify are still going strong in overfunding.

When an investment size was undisclosed, our team made an educated guess. In several cases of undisclosed funding the exact amount is known by the editorial team. Out of respect for founders and investors we choose not to publish those numbers. They do however add up in the total amount of funding.

Dutch startup

To count in our list, a startup should have a Dutch connection: either the company must be based in The Netherlands or have Dutch founders.

For the definition of a startup: this is always arbitrary. The complete table should be helpful for anyone who defines the term ‘startup’ differently.

Sources

We tried to use all available public data sources. We relied on communication directly to the StartupJuncture team, information from incubators and accelerators, our network, other media, information from crowdfunding platforms (Symbid, Leapfunder and OnePlanetCrowd) and from Dealroom, Index.co, Crunchbase and Angellist.

Of course, we are aware of the possibility that we might have missed something. This funding report however gives a good impression of the state of startup funding in The Netherlands and is best used as an indication. If you believe a deal is missing, send us the details at team (@) startupjuncture.com.

Image: Wikemedia, creative commons

  1. hugo de haan, vision dynamics science and entrepreneurship says:

    I like to see and contribute to a netherlands in european context ranking based on sales growth of phd level spinoffs-startups with the objective to create visibility and help them grow.

  2. Coos Santing says:

    Again a great overview Lorenz and StartupJuncture team! I’ve one question you probably considered: why is Coolblue not included in the overview? This could be the outlier of 2016? You could see this as a venture round (round D) as Dealroom did? Thank you in advance, Coos

    • Lorenz van Gool says:

      Hi Coos,
      We didn’t include Coolblue because they are way past the stage of startup. In previous years Adyen & Catawiki were still in the grey area between startup/scale-up. Coolblue clearly is a solid business (not to mention they were founded in 1999). The difference with our report and automated lists like Dealroom is that they focus on all investments, we just focus on startups.
      Hope that helps!

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