The Netherlands

Introduction

Over the past decades, the Netherlands has emerged as a prominent player in the startup ecosystem, showcasing remarkable growth and offering a conducive environment for innovative ventures to flourish.

On a European scale, The Netherlands is considered a leader in the tech startup space, with it’s capital, Amsterdam, being one of the top continental hubs for startups and venture capital.

On a global scale, The Netherlands ranks within the top 15 countries globally for VC investment. Further to this, the Netherlands is home to over 30+ unicorn and 6.5k+ funded startups, all of which can be explored on the Dealroom platform.

The future of startups lies in Europe. All ingredients are in place to establish its dominant position. The Netherlands is claiming a central role to make that happen

Arjen Strijker, Capital Lead at Techleap

Learn more about TechLeap here

Venture Capital

VC investment into The Netherlands has seen rapid growth across all categories over the past few years.

In 2023 & 2024, global VC investment experienced significant deceleration compared to 2021/2022. This drop was felt by major players in Europe, including the Dutch tech ecosystem.

By stage

Early stage

Early-stage VC in the Netherlands has settled above pre-2021 levels.

Access early-stage funding rounds into Dutch startups here on the platform.

Breakout stage

Breakout-stage VC is on a long term upward growth trend.

Access breakout-stage funding rounds into Dutch startups here on the platform.

Scaleup stage

One primary reason for the decline in Dutch investment in 2023 is the lack of mega-rounds compared to highs in 2021 and 2022.

Access scaleup-stage funding rounds into Dutch startups here on the platform.

By industry

In 2023, VC investment in the sectors relating to fintech, food, and health sectors together accounted for around $1 billion, or more than half of all Dutch venture capital funding. VC investment into Dutch Healthtech startups have increased most since 2019.

Explore the leading industries for VC investment into Dutch startups here on the platform

Leading segments into Dutch startups in 2024 include the likes of Photonics, Urban Tech and Revenue management.

Explore these leading segments investment trends here.

Dutch vs European VC investment trends
When comparing industry investment for The Netherlands and Europe, we see a higher degree of investment into Energy and Fintech startups within The Netherlands.

Meanwhile Transportation, Health and Enterprise Software related startups receive a higher proportion of investment in Europe, as can be seen below.

By province

Since 2018, Amsterdam startups have raised between 40-60% of the total VC investment into the Netherlands.

As can be seen in the map, VC investment is concentrated startups located in hubs in the West which includes the likes of such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Leiden.

The second largest region for VC investment in the country is the South, home to Brainport Eindhoven.

The remaining proportion of VC investment would go into emerging startup ecosystems located in the North and East of The Netherlands including the likes of Groningen and Zwolle.

The provinces of North Holland, Groningen and North Brabant raised the highest VC investment on a per capita basis in 2024.

Leading early stage investment hubs

While Amsterdam attracts the largest amount of early stage VC investment, startup ecosystem hubs such as Utrecht, Rotterdam and Groningen are experiencing rapid relative growth in early stage VC investment.

Sources of capital

Like many European ecosystems, most VC capital originates from Dutch investors and other European investors however 2021 buckled the trend due to US based megaround investments into MessageBird and Mollie.

Investors

Explore the data for the most active investors into Dutch startups as well as the most active Dutch investors here on the Dealroom platform.

Growing role of accelerators and incubators

The importance of accelerators and incubators in the Netherlands is growing, as the country's startup scene continues to mature.

In recent years, there has been a surge in the number of startups being founded in the Netherlands, and this has led to an increased demand for their support services.

In North Brabant, accelerators such as The Gate, HighTechXL and AI Innovation Center are part of the Brainport Eindhoven ecosystem. Together with partners such as Eindhoven University of Technology they have greatly supported tech startups in the ecosystem over the past few years.

Learn more about the 150+ accelerators and incubators that operate within the Netherlands here on the Techleap ecosystem platform.

International comparisons

Country Benchmarking

Within Europe, the Netherlands ranks consistently within the top 10 national startup ecosystems for VC investment and ranks within the top 20 countries globally for annual VC investment over the past few years.

The table below showcases VC investment into European national ecosystems in 2024 year-to-date.

City Benchmarking

Amsterdam falls within the top 10 within Europe in terms of VC investment. Furthermore, other Dutch hubs such as Rotterdam and Utrecht rank within the top 50 in Europe.

Amsterdam ranks in the top ten European hubs by VC Investment in 2024.

Per Capita Benchmarking

Against its European counterparts, the Netherlands ranks in the top 10 for VC investment per capita.