Another week with lots of buzz going on in the Dutch startup scene. The highlights of last week and what’s coming up.
Funding
SaaStock, the European conference in Dublin, raised an undisclosed funding round from several European investors and founders. The first conference last September was such a success and exactly what was missing in the industry. Among the investors are the Dutch venture Woodwing Ventures.
Maritime data-analytics startup We4Sea raised 400.000 euro, which will help them realise their mission to cut out the emission of 1 million tons of CO2 in the next 3 years.
Financial Times owner and investment fund Nikkei and Dutch fund INKEF Capital invested in Blendle, the Dutch ‘iTunes for News’. Both parties strongly believe in the innovation possibilities in journalism.
News & Updates
TNO Bedrijven has transformed into First Dutch Innovations, a partnership of 24 companies and startups in energy, life science, testing and certifications. TNO Bedrijven sold the majority of their stock to First Dutch, the investment fund of Peter Goedvolk, at the end of last year. Gina van der Werf is now CEO and on a mission to create a platform where knowledge and entrepreneurship come together.
Events
The Fujitsu World Tour comes to the Netherlands. On June 17 at In Style in Maarssen start-ups picked by Fujitsu can present their idea of collaborating with the brand during the Labs Battle. Get in touch if you’re in e-health, e-climate and e-fintec.
Handelsroute.nl released their new upcoming Summer Missions.
The first mission is heading to booming Miami, visiting Miami eMerge from 10-14 June. Handelsroute.nl will help you meet the right people, straight from their base at the Holland Pavilion. Joining this mission cost €1250 + a mission voucher.
Interested in doing business in Silicon Valley? They organise a trip 19-23 June to San Fransisco to explore the trade market and match you with their local network and business. Costs are €1250 + a mission voucher. More information about this mission can be found here.
Monday Reads
Business Insider UK – There’s a campaign to turn Twitter into a user-owned co-operative, and shareholders will vote on it next month.
TechCrunch – Following months of rumors, Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has confirmed that it has raised $1.4 billion in new funding at a post-money valuation of $11.6 billion to battle Amazon and Alibaba. The deal includes some big name strategic investors: China’s Tencent, eBay and Microsoft, which joint existing Flipkart backers that include Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel and DST Global.
FD.nl (Dutch, €) – The cities of Eindhoven and Amsterdam want to regulate all the data about our whereabouts that are collected by the governments and companies. The two cities make a plea for rules that all engaged shoul obey to.