According to Startup Genome's Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2024, the Dutch ecosystem is now 13th place in the world – and is therefore ahead of both Paris and Berlin. In 2023, Dutch startups raised $2.2 billion.
Although there have been fewer startup deals this year, overall investments have increased, according to figures from the Dutch Startup Association. And for some startups and scaleups, 2024 was truly a monumental year.
Picnic hosts one of the largest rounds in Europe
After increasing its business by 40% in 2023 thanks to international expansion in France and Germany, Dutch online supermarket Picnic started the year in style, as announced a financing round of 355 million euros in January. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation participated in the round, bringing the company's total proceeds to €1.3 billion.
Founded in 2015, Picnic, with its fully automated logistics centers and delivery algorithms, has defied the mass collapse of online food delivery startups that hit companies like Getir and Flink in the wake of the pandemic. In 2018, a year before the brand reached 1,000,000 shoppers in the Netherlands, Daniel Gebler, the company's CTO, took the stage at the TNW conference to talk about the technology that is revolutionizing the Everywhere Commerce space.
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Gebler also ended the year with a bang when he was named CxO of the Year by Computable.nl.
DataSnipper achieves unicorn status
With its $100 million Series B funding in February, Amsterdam-based auditing platform DataSnipper reached a valuation of $1 billion, achieving mythical unicorn status.
The round was led by Index Ventures and the funds will help DataSnipper, which already counts Hilton, Siemens and Frontier Airlines among its clients, expand into additional industries, including forensic accountants and tax advisors.
DataSnipper was founded in 2017 by Maarten Alblas, Jonas Ruyter and Kai Bakker. In 2023, the company named a new CEO, Vidya Peters (pictured alongside the founding team).
Peters was previously chief operating officer at payment solutions provider Marqeta and helped the company go public in 2021. She sees DataSnipper's long-term goal as connecting unstructured data across industries and believes there are huge opportunities for growth and expansion worldwide.
Mews becomes a unicorn fund from Carbon Equity with a volume of 100 million euros
March was a month of celebration for current and former TNW Spaces member startups. Hotel management software provider Mews reached a valuation of €1.1 billion after raising €101 million led by Swedish investment firm Kinnevik.
The good news didn't stop there for Mews, which was founded in 2012 by former hotelier Richard Valter. In September, the company secured a further €90 million from Vista Credit Partners.
Having already acquired nine other startups in the industry, the funds may allow Mews to continue its buying spree and solidify its position as a leader in redefining the hotel industry with its cloud offerings.
Meanwhile, leading climate fund investment startup Carbon Equity raised €100 million for its Climate Tech Portfolio Fund II – exceeding its original target of €75 million and more than doubling its first fund from 2022. Carbon Equity was only founded in 2021 and has quickly become a force to be reckoned with when investing in curated clean tech solutions.
In October, Wired named Carbon Equity one of the hottest startups in Amsterdam, and in early December, co-founder Jacqueline van den Ende of Change Inc. was named Changemaker of the Year, rounding off a momentous year. Let’s hope climate technology investment continues to flourish in 2025.
First technology fund of the Dutch Ministry of Defense
It may be an unfortunate sign of the times we live in, but there is no denying that defense technology startups – from Ukrainian drone developers into German AI darling Helsing – are in motion. In October, the Dutch Ministry of Defense announced a €100 million fund to provide early-stage financing to the country's start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs that meet specific innovation needs.
The fund invests up to 5 million euros per company. The focus is on dual-use technologies, i.e. technologies that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. It's scheduled to open in 2025, so keep an eye out for the first investments.
We can't wait to see what 2025 will bring when Amsterdam celebrates its 750th anniversary and the TNW conference returns to NDSM Island in June. Join us as we bring together the entire Dutch tech ecosystem and discover what's really next in technology!
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