What happens in the startup scene in The Netherlands right now? Find out in another Dutch startup news update!
News & Updates
Sprout Challenger 50 2017
The Sprout Challenger Night is an award of the Dutch business media outlet Sprout. It’s 2017 edition is almost there. Last week the challengers were announced. Some prominent names on the list are: Ace & Tate, EclecticIQ, Elastic, HackerOne and ProQR. December 7 the 50 companies on the list will know whether they can call themselves the Challenger of 2017. Apart from the announcement of the winner the program consists out of a variety of inspiring speakers talking about innovation and entrepreneurship. Duncan Stutterheim from ID&T and Robert Vis from Messagebird will shared their stories on stage.
Let it Grow Entrepreneurs announces class of 2017
Let it Grow, the incubation program dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in innovating in the floriculture (flowers and plants) industry has selected its class of 2017. The 8 finalists recently started the five month program, which culminates in presenting a working product in front of investors and customers during the Let It Grow Festival.
6 Finalists accelerator program Present Your Startup 2017 announced
Another accelerator announced their finalists: the Haarlem based Present Your Startup. Contenders are: Nijsje, Maester, Stagefinder, Fiftyco, Besized, Tinkr.
Funding
Biotech startup Amylon Therapeutics raises $300K for treatment for ‘Katwijkse Disease’
Leiden-based Amylon Therapeutics has raised €300.000 from proof-of-concept fund UNIIQ for the development of a cure to cerebral bleeding that causes paralysis, dementia and in some cases to dead.
Cyber Security Startup EclecticIQ raises 14M Series-B round led by Keen Venture Partners
Amsterdam-based startup EclecticIQ has raised 14 million in a Series B round led by Keen Venture Partners. The capital raised will be used to accelerate the expansion of its workforce. The startup states that the focus will be on expanding its portfolio of technologies and capabilities of its Fusion Center offering.
Monday Read
Here is an interesting interview with Jochem Wijnands of TRVL. Wijnands founded TRVL in 2010 as the first iPad newsstand magazine. In 2013 it pivoted TRVL into PRSS. In 2014 PRSS was acquired by Apple. As a part of the deal the whole team of TVRL moved to Cupertino where it help built Apple News. Back in the Netherlands, Wijnands went back to the drawing board to built TRVL. “TRVL was still just a magazine on iPad when I came back from my time at Apple. Being a digital publisher isn’t great, it is simply not enough. The only way to monetise is ads and content marketing. You won’t please your readers that way”, says Wijnands in this interview. Wijnands: “I was looking for ways to add value for our readers, instead of using them to create a marginal business. So I pivoted TRVL to a peer-to-peer travel booking platform. It’s lifting the veil on the secrets of the travel industry.”