“This is unique”, responds Lucien Burm, chairman of the Dutch Startup Association. “It is due to a number of large investment rounds and that is really special for the Netherlands.” According to him, there are two possible explanations: the start-up landscape is maturing and there is more foreign money.
“The Dutch ecosystem does not have such funds that can make such large investments,” says Burm. “That is something that needs to be worked on. It is of course true that with success the money flows back abroad and then the question is whether you will ever see anything of it again.”
Janneke Niessen, partner at investment fund CapitalT, calls the record good news. “These major investments are no coincidence,” says Niessen. She also believes that the Dutch start-up world is maturing. “I really see it as something positive.” Niessen does have two caveats, however. “If you look at start-ups that are younger and therefore raise smaller amounts, the picture there is less rosy. Diversity among founders also lags behind; it remains a lot of white young men.”
‘Still a lot to gain’
Burm also sees that things are still difficult at the bottom of the investment market, in small start-ups. “In the corona year you had a kind of withholding for a while – in March, April and May. That recovered after that, mainly with large investments.” Niessen notes that the corona crisis also caused diversity among founders to decline. “So there is still a lot to gain.”
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