What happens in the startup scene in The Netherlands right now? Find out in another Dutch startup news update!
News & Updates
The Netherlands lists 430 fintech companies
The number of fintech companies in the Netherlands keeps increasing. According to Holland Fintech there are currently 430 fintech companies active in the Netherlands. In 2017 alone 100 new fintech startups were added to the list. “The growth of fintechs is a positive development for the Netherlands as it strengthens our country’s name and enhances our position as a digital innovation hub”, says Don Ginsel, CEO of Holland FinTech.
Poopy Cat: a Dutch kicktarter drama in the making
Poopy Cat launched a Kickstarter campaign on the 18th of April, 2016, grossing 787 pledgers and 49.397 euro in funding. However, the promised product was never shipped to a number of international backers, due to what it turned out to be high international shipping costs. In the meantime Poopy Cat was soled to Pets Place. Now, with a new owner, backers are aiming to take legal action. “I feel like I was duped. ” In the mean time Poopy Cat’s founder Thomas Vles has responded to the turmoil.
Mobile phones recycling startup ‘Closing the Loop’ wins 2018 Circular Award
Founded by Joost Kluijver Closing the Loop has already recycled 2 million telephones. The jury applauds the solid business case of the company. Kluijver collects telephones from Africa and recycles them in Belgium (in Dutch).
‘Incumbent’ bank ABN AMRO takes on fintech’s like TransferWise with Franx
The dutch bank ABN AMRO is putting a lot of effort in it’s quest to become a financial tech company itself. It’s launching one fintech startup after another. The latest one is Franx, after New10 and Prospery. Franx enables customer to pay with one bankaccount in 26 different currencies. Target customers are SME with up to 250 million in annual turnover. The newly launched corporate startup is competing with TransferWise and its ilk (in Dutch).
Survival Tips for CES 2019
Now that CES is over it’s time to start pondering about next year. Here are some survival tips from Olisto (previously called Triggi) founder Frank Meeuwsen.
Funding
Fintech startup Dutch Finance Lab raises €30 million upon launch
Dutch Finance Lab, a fintech startup, has a few weeks after its start raised a staggering 30 million euro. The round is led by Pieter Schoen, the co-founder of the recently acquired energy company NLE. The remaining part is financed by a bank. The largest part of the 30 million euro will be used as credit lines for Dutch Finance Lab’s (DFL) clients. A smaller part of the capital will be put to use to fuel the growth of the startup through acquisitions.
Recruitment startup Harver tops Series A with another $4.2 million in extra funding
Harver, a recruitment startup has raised an additional 4.2 million USD as part of a Series A round led by Insight Venture Partners. June last year the New York City based VC firm invested 8.1 million USD in Harver. Harver plans to use the capital raised to expand its teams in Amsterdam and New York City. The startups list of client names include household names like Netflix, booking.com, Zappos, OpenTable, Xeros and Casper.
Generation Z employee startup Flex-appeal raises €600K
Flex-appeal, the Rotterdam-based startup for part-time employees in the retail and hospitality industry has raised 600.000 euro from two informal investors. The capital raised will be used to double the size of the team of the startup to 16 people and add new features to the Flex-appeal app.
Monday Read
The regular reader of this blog knows that I am skeptical about ICO’s. My mantra is invest in real startups that are trying to solve real problems with real products. Here is, however, a visualisation of what’s happening in the ICO market. “The ICO market exploded to over $1BN issued last month.” (full disclosure, author is partner at Node1).
Photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash