On June 20, the Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) marked the tenth anniversary of its incubator programme.

At the outset, ten years may not seem like a long time but in the world of startups, it can be the difference between the age of Mollie and LUMICKS.

It thus warrants that we not look at these 10 years in abstract terms but look at the impact that one organisation can have in these short years.

In the case of ACE Incubator, that impact speaks volume of its influence in the Dutch tech ecosystem.

Since its founding in 2013, ACE Incubator has incubated 200 startups and Oscar Kneppers, who joined the entrepreneurial incubator as director in February, says 33 per cent of them are still active.

Fostering academic knowledge

Some of the brightest startup ideas have often taken birth in classrooms and academics but not every idea turns into a business.

The fact that even today we use Facebook as an example for a startup founded in university shows how the scale has failed to match the influence of Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

This gap in the transfer of knowledge from academia to society forms the basis of ACE Incubator‘s existence.

“At the founding days of ACE, the mission has always been to bring academic knowledge to society,” says Maxime ten Brinke, Marketing & Communications Manager at ACE.

ACE first began its journey as a minor within University of Amsterdam’s Amsterdam Business School before being spun out into ACE Ventures Lab under the leadership of Mirjam van Praag and Erik Boer.

Today, it is renowned as ACE Incubator and acts as the university business incubator in Amsterdam powered by University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA), and University Medical Center (UMC).

It supports students, researchers, and academics looking for ways to turn their tech or science based business into impactful companies of the future.

“Our support consists of training & coaching and introductions to our extensive network of industry leaders, business professionals, investors and service providers,” ACE Incubator says on its website.

Building impactful startups

At ACE Incubator, the mission of its leadership team is to support knowledge-based startups and scaleups.

It also offers a learning ground for high-growth ventures of the future and it reflects from its first exit to the newest alumni.

In 2017, Qualcomm acquired Scyfer, a Dutch startup developing AI and machine learning (ML) technologies for a number of industry vertical applications.

The Scyfer team joined the ACE Incubation programme in 2013 and remains one of the “proudest moments so far.”

Ten Brinke adds, “We want to create impactful companies of the future that offer solutions to the world’s biggest societal challenges.”

Amsterdam-based LUMICKS is another good example of ACE alumni creating impact with a solution aimed to solve societal challenges.

The startup offers diagnostic tools for cancer research and immunotherapy based on the principle of optical tweezers and super-resolution microscopy.

If LUMICKS is advancing the study of cancer at the single-molecule and single-cell levels, then ACE alumni Lalaland is using AI to create models for fashion brands, that allows these brands to showcase their collections for any size and skin tone.

It should not come as a surprise then when Ten Brinke calls ACE’s biggest contribution to the Dutch tech ecosystem as “fostering a space for entrepreneurial academics into becoming academic entrepreneurs.”

Driving an AI wave

At the time of writing, all ACE incubated startups had raised over €159M and the total revenue generated by these startups is €69.8M. They also directly employ 685 people.

ACE Incubator is not only in touch with the majority of operative startups in its portfolio but also offers active support until up to two years after joining the incubation programme.

However, its biggest impact could come in the next decade as every company adopts AI and societies brace themselves for profound changes.

A lot of AI ideas are coming from academia and are being built by students. Amsterdam is no stranger to this trend and being enmeshed in Amsterdam’s education ecosystem makes ACE uniquely positioned to drive the change.

Kneppers says, “In both quantum and AI, Amsterdam is well positioned on the global stage, having nurtured some of the most exciting startups in the field as well as a good reputation in delivering high quality talent to the world stage.”

As an incubator that is focussed on tech or science-based business ideas, ACE seems well positioned to support many academics with an AI background looking to set up their own companies.

To show its intent to support AI-fuelled startups, ACE launched AI Lab in 2019 as a platform that connected students with an AI background to companies working on an AI-based challenge over the course of 12 weeks.

It’s a shame that this initiative, which counted names such as OLVG, Spaarnelabs, uniQure, KraftHeinz, and ABN AMRO as partners, is currently on hold and Ten Brinke says they will “continue to support academics in this domain in our core programs.”

Third startup wave

Kneppers, a renowned publisher and serial entrepreneur who co-founded Rockstart in 2011, says we are about to enter the third wave of startups.

He adds that the first wave was from 1994 to 2001, which can be dubbed as the period when Yahoo launched and the dotcom crash killed a number of internet companies.

The second startup wave, according to Kneppers, was from 2012 to 2020 and he says the third wave will be all about “academic enterprises solving real world problems with the brightest minds and the best knowledge available.”

He does not hesitate from acknowledging that the biggest challenge for ACE has been to stay aligned and united with all the entrepreneurial initiatives that sprung out in the academic space in the past decade.

With more startups likely to sprung out as we see a transition to startups dominated by tech and science, ACE Incubator needs to tackle this with the pan-Amsterdam community.

As an incubator representing five leading academic institutions of the Netherlands, the next decade of ACE will not only define its future but the future of the Dutch tech ecosystem.

“With our current programmes, we encourage an entrepreneurial mind- and skill set amongst academics to make sure academic knowledge reaches society,” Ten Brinke says with clear conviction on how to succeed in the future.

Here are the key milestones achieved by ACE during its decade-long journey:

2013

ACE Incubator was founded by Erik Boer and Peter Krijnsen as ACE Ventures Lab

2014-2015

Backs Scyfer, LUMICKS, Nicolab, and others with pre-seed funding

2016

ACE moves from its old office to Startup Village, a community working space designed in collaboration with UvA Ventures Holding and Amsterdam Science Park

2017

First exit with the acquisition of Scyfer by Qualcomm

2018

Emerce announces ACE as the #1 incubator and completes incubation of over 100 startups

2019

Launches AI Lab to connect students to AI-fuelled companies

2020

ACE alumni Lalaland bags funding from Amsterdam-based student VC ASIF Ventures

2021

ABN AMRO joins forces with ACE’s AI Startup Lab

2023

Appoints Oscar Kneppers as new director of ACE

Techstars, a global startup accelerator that helps entrepreneurs succeed, announced on Wednesday, March 22, that it is shutting down its programme in Stockholm effective immediately. 

The announcement comes a week after welcoming a new cohort of 30 founders in Stockholm from various countries, including France, Spain, Estonia, and Sweden, reports Sifted. 

Techstars launched its accelerator programme in Stockholm and Paris simultaneously in September 2021 after raising €126M in funding. 

The decision to shut its programme abruptly has sent shockwaves in the ecosystem. 

Several international mentors, who had made travel arrangements to Stockholm for Thursday morning, were notified via email on Wednesday that “all programme sessions had been cancelled.”

The entrepreneurs who enrolled in the latest Techstars cohort in Stockholm were informed during their lunchtime on Wednesday that the programme had been terminated, reports Sifted.

Jonas Almeling, Head of Nordics at Seedrs, shared a post on LinkedIn saying “On Tuesday I was mentoring the great batch of diverse, amazing founders from all over the world that are(were) part of the Stockholm Techstars Accelerator.” 

He continues, “Tuesday evening, 1.5 weeks into the programme, they pull the plug on the programme and immediately shut it down. No matter what has happened behind the scenes here (yes I know the backstory as well, and to be clear the team has not, to my knowledge, done anything wrong) this is NOT how a “give first”, pay-it-forward-values based accelerator & investor that I have been proud to support should act towards the founders and the community. I think we all deserve a really good explanation here.”

Techstars: What you need to know

Founded by Brad Feld, David Brown, David Cohen, and Jared Polis in 2006, Techstars currently operates 47 accelerators in 33 cities and 12 countries globally. 

Techstars invests in approximately 500 startups and deploys approximately $130M (approx €109M) every year, making it one of the largest investors in high-growth early-stage companies by volume in the world. 

Since its inception in 2006, Techstars has invested in over 3,340 companies. It counts 15 unicorns among its accelerator graduates, including DigitalOcean, Chainalysis, PillPack, and SendGrid.

We have reached out to Techstars and will update the article as soon as we receive their responses

Tallinn-based Startup Wise Guys, a startup accelerator and early-stage investor, announced on Thursday that it has closed the first €25M of a targeted €45M to strengthen its new strategy of investing in the “underserved” global market.

Moving forward, Startup Wise Guys (SWG) aims to intensify its investment and expansion in underfunded markets and expand its presence in Europe and Africa. 

As a part of the plan, SWG will invest in a minimum of 200 startups from across Europe and Africa in 2023 – 2024, after making 120 investments in 2022. 

The startup accelerator claims that its latest office expansions in Spain and Italy would allow it to reach more founders in Southern and Western Europe, as well as in Latin America and North Africa.

Direct investments in future

Besides acceleration investments and follow-ons, SWG is also planning direct investments into growth-stage companies. 

Past direct investments include mobility unicorn Bolt, car subscription service Planet42, and Katana, a manufacturer’s ERP solution.

Cristobal Alonso, Global CEO at Startup Wise Guys, says, “In recent years, Startup Wise Guys has evolved into a truly international organisation, with an investment presence in countries ranging from Ukraine and Spain to South Africa.” 

He adds, “We are now deploying our experience at scale to help passionate founders thrive globally, despite uncertain economic conditions. We are the early-stage investor ready to help digital entrepreneurs with brave ideas, especially at times of crisis.” 

“We proved that during Covid, and we were active after the Ukraine war started. We are determined to help entrepreneurs turn crisis into new opportunities, and we have a strong track record helping purpose-driven founders become global entrepreneurs,” concludes Alonso.

Startup Wise Guys also announced the launch of the new logo as a part of its 11th anniversary. 

Startup Wise Guys: Startup accelerator and early-stage investor 

Founded in 2012 by a bunch of successful tech-savvy entrepreneurs, Startup Wise Guys is one of the most active accelerator funds in Europe and Africa. 

SWG has invested in over 350+ early-stage startups in B2B SaaS, Fintech, cybersecurity, XR, and sustainability in more than 60 countries. 

In 2022, Startup Wise Guys executed 120 early-stage investments, managed 12 full-time programmes, and introduced its first B2B digital SaaS programme exclusively for African startups. 

Additionally, they also launched an accelerator programme focused on XR in Malaga, Spain. The accelerator fund also operates programmes based out of Europe in the areas of SaaS, fintech, cyber security, and sustainability. 

As of the end of January this year, Startup Wise Guys had already made 12 investments.

Startup Wise Guys manages vertical-focused accelerator programmes from offices in Tallinn, Milan, Bilbao, and Malaga, with strong representation in countries such as Denmark, Romania, Turkey, and others. 

With a significant additional presence in the Nordics, Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Africa, and the Balkans, SWG aims to become the go-to accelerator programme and investor for any B2B startup looking to scale globally. 

Zane Bojāre, Head of Brand at Startup Wise Guys, says, “As we have expanded far beyond Estonia’s borders, we felt it was time to update our brand to reflect our international presence and global vision for the future. The new logo has a lot to unpack.”

London-based Founders Factory, a company builder and early-stage investor, announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Fastweb, an Italian telecom firm, to launch a new venture studio and accelerator to help the development of entrepreneurs in Italy. 

Based out of Milan, the joint venture will build, fund, launch, and scale more than 30 Italian and international innovative digital businesses over the next five years. 

Through the new venture studio and accelerator programme, Founders Factory and Fastweb will focus on Smart Home, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, Edtech, and Industry 4.0. 

While the startup accelerator will focus on assisting pre-seed and seed-stage startups to scale, the venture studio will design and launch new tech startups. 

Selected entrepreneurs and startups will have access to capital and Founders Factory’s network and operational support. 

Meanwhile, Fastweb will facilitate access to its technological and commercial scale, and give entrepreneurs a route to local and international markets. 

The partnership with Fastweb marks Founders Factory’s expansion into Italy, furthering its presence in Europe’s critical tech ecosystems.  

Founders Factory Italy will be chaired by Fabio Troiani, former co-founder and CEO of consultancy group BIP. 

Fabio Troiani, FF Italy Chairman, adds, “Throughout my 30 years of consulting, I have often dealt with the issue of how big corporations can learn to innovate from small, agile, innovative startups. Up to now, I have witnessed more failures than successes. Founders Factory’s unique formula conjugates the speed and creativity of the startup movement with the solidity of big corporate management and business cases. For those built and launched by Founders Factory Italy, it gives innovation and credibility, while corporations benefit from innovation and capital returns. A unique blend to guarantee success in innovation.”

Founders Factory: What you need to know

Founded in 2015 by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox, and George Northcott, Founders Factory is an accelerator and venture studio that builds and scales technology startups solving global problems. 

Founders Factory has backed and built almost 300 tech companies globally, 80+ of which have been built from scratch in its Venture Studio. 

The company’s partners include Aviva, L’Oreal, Guardian Media Group, easyJet, Reckitt, Johnson & Johnson Innovation DC, Nesta, and Standard Bank. 

It has operating hubs in London, Johannesburg, New York, and Miami.

Henry Lane Fox, Founders Factory CEO, says, “2022 has been the year that Italy has amped up its challenge to take the European startup crown. Further investment into the region and easier access to infrastructure is needed to help a new generation of entrepreneurial talent to succeed. Our newly-established presence in Italy will allow ambitious entrepreneurs from Italy and Southern Europe to benefit from our wealth of knowledge and expertise on how to build great businesses and from our partners’ infrastructure and services, starting with Fastweb as our launch partner.” 

Fastweb: What you need to know

Based out of Milan, Fastweb is a telecommunications operator that promotes the digital transformation of society to build an increasingly connected, inclusive, and eco-sustainable future. 

Alberto Calcagno, the Fastweb CEO, says, “Innovation is at the heart of our strategy ‘You are future’ which aims to build a more connected, inclusive, and eco-sustainable future for all. Through the joint venture with Founders Factory, we are committed to bringing the latest and most advanced technology products and services to our customers to drive the industry’s continued advancement and make Italy a destination of choice for startups looking to launch new businesses.”

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) announced the launch of 100x Impact Accelerator, a £50M (approximately €56.68M) initiative to shape a new generation of “social unicorns”. The accelerator launched its first call for applications on Monday, January 9.

100x aims to form a new ecosystem of finance, talent, and access that enables ‘high-potential’ social entrepreneurs and non-profits to have a beneficial influence on society on a scale of billions. 

Professor Stephan Chambers, Director of the Marshall Institute at LSE, says, “A clear understanding of the best approaches for social enterprises and charities to scale impact just doesn’t exist the way it does for private businesses to scale profits. That severely curtails the impact these organisations could have, and the world is worse off for it.”

“100x Impact Accelerator aims to plug this gap. By partnering with successful social unicorn founders and providing meaningful support to a large number of high potential impact-driven organisations, we aim to highlight ‘what works’ for social enterprises, so more of them experience real success,” adds Chambers.

The accelerator will launch two programmes per year. Applications for cohort 1 are currently live while cohort 2 applications will open in Spring 2023.

What to expect from 100x?

The aim of 100x is to find the right mix of knowledge, guidance, and funding to help impact-driven organisations. It attempts to demonstrate how impact-driven organisations can end the cycle of grant-seeking and weak governance by imitating the successful business accelerator model from the corporate sector. According to 100x, these factors often act together to restrict the potential for the development and influence of organisations.

Each social entrepreneur chosen for the 100x Impact Accelerator will get a grant of £150K, access to the ‘world-class’ knowledge of the LSE, and a 12-week programme of individualised coaching from experts and social unicorn founders to help leaders decide how to maximise their impact. 

Besides, the programme also consists of two weeks of in-person instruction at the LSE, online consultations with specialists, and an annual Summit Day where all participants will make presentations to philanthropists, investors, governments, and the media. For ventures participating in 100x, all costs will be reimbursed.

Leslie Labruto, Director of 100x Impact Accelerator, says, “The social sector is ripe with innovative approaches for scaling impact, like open-source models, digital tools, and government partnerships. We’re here to help ventures understand the best model for solving the problem they’re trying to tackle – and then work with them to develop it.”

She further adds, “We’re looking for bold, innovative impact scale-ups to join us as we challenge the social enterprise status quo.”

Every year, the 100x Impact Accelerator will help two cohorts of 10 social companies, 70 per cent of which will be from emerging countries. The accelerator is seeking scale-up impact organisations with a tested business strategy so that it may assist in achieving their next significant leap of growth.

Spots will be made available to organisations in eight industries that strongly align with the research interests of LSE. These include climate and environment, health and social care, refugees and cohesion, equitable economies, happiness and wellbeing, democracy, education, and new frontiers.

Amsterdam-based RocketX, a scale-up accelerator, announced on Wednesday that it has opened a new office in Athens, Greece, as part of its international expansion.

The Dutch accelerator is hosting its first event in Athens about International Expansion on October 13, Thursday, while also celebrating the opening of the new office. Registrations for the event can be done here. 

Fabian van Hoegee, co-founder of RocketX, says, “With your company growing, you might consider international market expansion. However, when expanding into new markets, there are challenges such as international laws, lacking brand awareness, and hiring employees abroad. Therefore, it is crucial to have profound international expansion strategies to overcome these challenges and lead your international expansion to success.”

Why Athens?

The accelerator says it chose Athens as its first international location due to the high tertiary enrolment rate among OECD countries. 

Greece has experienced a significant increase in tertiary education attainment over the past decade, making it an ideal choice for the company’s first office outside Amsterdam, says RocketX.

Greece ranks relatively high compared to many European countries in terms of English-speaking populations, says the company. In 2021, they reached the top 14 on the English Proficiency Index within Europe.

RocketX: What you need to know

RocketX helps innovative scale-ups in Europe to grow faster through three focus areas – talent, capital, and turnover. 

• RocketPeople helps scale-ups find talented people 
• RocketCapital supports scale-ups in raising growth capital
• RocketRevenue helps scale-ups increase revenue by deploying multidisciplinary sales and marketing teams

RocketX now employs 90 people in Amsterdam and Athens for more than 100 international clients in Europe.

Techstars, a global startup accelerator that helps entrepreneurs succeed, announced on Thursday, October 6, that it has renamed Techstars Paris into Techstars Sustainability Paris. 

Techstars Sustainability Paris will invest in early-stage high-growth impact startups tackling some of the most significant issues, such as water, energy, or waste management, with Raphaele Leyendecker as managing director.

“As France is building what it takes to bring french startups to become the next green unicorns, it will inevitably go through bridging the actual gap between the franco-french ecosystem and the global economy,” says Techstars.

The accelerator is industry and tech agnostic, meaning that these companies can be hardware and software but also deeptech, biotech, and fintech early-stage companies. 

Raphaele Leyendecker is a sustainability and digital entrepreneur, startup board member, and early-stage investor. She is also versed in strategic innovation and venture building, working with 55+ corporations such as Engie, Suez, and Schneider Electric. 

In 2022, Techstars Sustainability Paris invested in 24 startups. These startups will have access to financial, human, and intellectual capital to fuel the success of their business. As a part of the accelerator programme, the companies receive $120,000 in return for 6 per cent equity.

Techstars claims that 16 of its 24 portfolio companies are not French. Since it’s a hybrid programme, companies don’t have to be based in France to apply.

“Many international startups indeed see France as a great entry to the European market where we can get them access to a broad network of corporates and investors. With the evolution of the Venture Capital market, Techstars thinks Paris can become the capital of Sustainability for startups,” says the company. 

Outlander Materials

Based out of Rotterdam, Outlander Materials is one of the 24 startups that Techstars Sustainability Paris invested in. Lori Goff and Francois Schockaert founded Outlander Materials, a clean biotech company focused on upcycling food waste streams to new alternative materials such as UnPlastic. 

UnPlastic is a circular product made from food industry sources, by-products, and brewery waste. Its composition makes it functional and compostable, and it will never break down into micro- or nano-plastics.

Its properties make it suitable for food and packaging applications. 

With UnPlastic, the company aims to offer an alternative to commercial single-use plastic packaging that minimises plastic and food waste. 

“We found the programme to be exceptionally curated, personalised & tuned to our specific needs and phase of development (rare among programmes) and elegantly combined with 11 other phenomenal companies making a real, tangible contribution to sustainability across the globe,” says the founders.

The ScaleNL Accelerator is now accepting applications for its second cohort, an East Coast edition. ScaleNL, a public-private organisation that offers a launch platform in the US to Dutch tech startups.

ScaleNL Accelerator is an initiative funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Accelerator’s aim is to arm the newest Dutch businesses with the tools and network they need to thrive in the US market.

ScaleNL says the ideal participant will have reached product-market fit in the Netherlands and have US expansion in the next 12-24 months on their strategic roadmap.

Brief about the Accelerator programme

ScaleNL Accelerator is introduced as a 12-week US Accelerator programme. The programme selects digital-first businesses working on innovative and scalable tech across industries. The Dutch tech businesses working with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in mind will be considered for the programme.

Dutch entrepreneurs normally have a difficult time independently bringing their digital businesses to the US – they have to learn and adjust on the job for roughly a year or two. Through its programme, ScaleNL Accelerator gives Dutch tech companies the opportunity to join the US market competitively from Day 1.

What to expect from the accelerator programme?

This time, the Accelerator programme will concentrate on fostering business relationships with the US East Coast, specifically New York and Boston. The East Coast edition will take place in a hybrid style, with both online and in-person sessions with experts from January to March 2023. 

These sessions come in a range of formats, such as seminars, master courses, ask-me-anything meetings with successful founders, and office hours with seasoned mentors.

The programme also includes a business trip to the US East Coast, visiting Boston and New York.

Barry Nieuwenhuijs, Deputy Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York, says, “We are incredibly excited to bring the second cohort to the USA East Coast. This region offers enormous opportunities to grow and expand innovative businesses. Our team, together with our partners, are ready to support this next generation of Dutch entrepreneurs in the USA.”

Criteria to be met by the applicants

ScaleNL Accelerator’s East Coast version is accessible to companies with a variety of business models and sectors. This region is most attractive to Dutch Tech companies with the following focus areas based on the expertise of the region:

• Technologies related to: B2B, SaaS, big data & analytics, e-commerce, AI
• Industry focused on: biotech, life science & health, fintech, cyber security, logistics, photonics, food & agritech
• Sustainability Initiatives (SDGs): clean tech, energy transition, etc.

In an interview with Silicon Canals, Michael Dooijes and Jorn Poldermans, Startup Liaisons for the Netherlands in the US, Dooijes says, “Following the success of our first West Coast cohort, we again welcome all Dutch tech startups with US expansion ambitions, working on innovative, scalable and sustainable solutions. The Netherlands is good at solving global challenges together, and we‘d like to see this reflected in the selected startups. Since it’s a bespoke programme, any type of startup can find value.”

“Our Accelerator is an ideal fit for companies that have an established business in The Netherlands and/or Europe (product-market fit, solid user base) and currently have US expansion in the next 12-24 months on their strategic roadmap. This way, their international growth will lead to jobs and opportunities back in the Netherlands,” he adds.

How will the winning startups/scaleups be selected?

According to ScaleNL, 10 businesses are chosen to participate in each programme edition. 15 teams are invited to Selection Day from among all applicants, out of which the independent Selection Board makes the final decision. The board is made up of business owners, financiers, and knowledgeable consultants from the Dutch and American markets.

Interested companies can apply here.

How the programme has evolved since last year

Michael Dooijes says, “The ScaleNL is the first NL-US accelerator and just finished its first cohort. So obviously we are constantly making adjustments based on the feedback from our Founders and Advisors to better support future Dutch tech startups.”

For the second cohort, the Accelerator will concentrate on building a presence, a network, and connections in the US cities of New York and Boston.

Many businesses from the Netherlands choose the East Coast as their location for their operations because of the manageable time difference, the simplicity and speed of access to Europe, the range of customer options, and the region’s particular industry specialisation. 

“For us, at ScaleNL we want to offer Dutch tech as much flexibility as possible and that’s why we launched both an accelerator on the West Coast and on the East Coast. Founders learn most from other founders. That’s why mentorships with other founders is core to our programme and in various Ask-me-Anything sessions, we give our accelerator cohort exposure to an amazing group of European founders that have already set up their business in the US,” adds Jorn Poldermans from New York.

The second cohort’s highlight is a business trip to the East Coast of the US, where the founders will be personally introduced to the local ecosystem, hosted by the Netherlands Consulate General in New York and Innovation Attaché Network in Boston.

ScaleNL Accelerator’s 1st cohort experience

The programme’s first cohort, which consisted of 11 firms, finished this past June, with an emphasis on interacting with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ecosystems. Participating startups have had several triumphs during the last three months.

ScaleNL Accelerator participant, Somnox’s CEO & founder Julian Jagtenberg, says, “Scaling internationally is hard – many founders make the same mistakes over and over. The ScaleNL facilitated a community of like-minded founders in our endeavour of scaling throughout the US market. Having peer-support is part of the secret sauce to international success.”

Another company that was selected in the first cohort programme is Amsterdam-based Syntho. The startup has developed advanced synthetic data software that enables organisations to speed up innovation and comply with data privacy principles and regulations.

Syntho’s founder and CEO, Wim Kees Janssen, says, “The programme allowed us to make our first steps towards the US market and accelerated our ambition with a strong US network and relevant knowledge about doing business in the US. Since the start of the programme, we are onboarding many new customers that are active in healthcare and finance and the programme definitely enabled us to be ready for that.”

As part of the ScaleNL Acclerator programme, Wim Kees Janssen and the 9 other Founders in the cohort travelled to FOUR important cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York & Washington D.C.) in order to have an in-depth conversation with top tier investors, partners, colleagues and organisations.

“As a result, we strengthened our synthetic data generation proposition and built a strong foundation to keep on expanding to the US market. Now, we have access to the key advisors, the ecosystem and the market from which we will be able to further accelerate the adoption of synthetic data,” adds Wim Kees Janssen.

We also reached out to Bits of Stock’s founder, Arash Asady, to find out about his experience with the accelerator programme. Asady says, “The programme brought together some of the best startups in the Netherlands and cultivated an experience of collaboration amongst them while travelling through the United States.”

How successful have the companies of ScaleNL’s inaugural cohort been in establishing their presence in the US?

According to Michael Dooijes, scaling up worldwide is difficult for a variety of reasons, including the requirement for capital, the scarcity of a network, and the skill shortage. “Our programme really positioned the 10 participating founders to enter the US market competitively from day 1,” he says.

“They’ve been properly introduced to the ecosystem through the three major hubs in the US: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York. On average, the founders established 15 long-term relationships during the programme (partners, investors, clients, advisors, etc.), about 30 per cent have announced funding rounds so far including US investors, and we expect to hear more success stories in the next 6-12 months,” says Dooijes.

Jorn Poldermans in New York adds, “Most importantly, these companies have a real foothold now and a local community to rely on. Paired with their understanding of doing business in the US and the work they have done to prepare their businesses for the US, it’s just a matter of time before they successfully expand into the US. And that will eventually create jobs and opportunities in the Netherlands.”

Amsterdam-based Rockstart, a global early-stage investor, announced on Tuesday that it has launched its third fund, Rockstart Emerging Tech, targeting a close at €30M.

The Dutch firm says it will use the funds to help up to 50 early-stage emerging technology startups and ideas that tackle urgent societal problems through tech-enabled solutions over the next ten years. 

The “Rockstart Emerging Tech” funds will focus on Industry 4.0 & Advanced Analytics, Smart Societies, Digital Health, Data Privacy/Security, and more general applications proposing solutions for positive change.

Rune Theill, CEO and co-founder of Rockstart, says, “The Rockstart Emerging Tech fund will invest in technology startups with a purpose-driven agenda to maximise impact in the future. Rockstart has the experience and track record of supporting tech founders to scale locally, regionally, and globally and providing access to market and capital partners at all stages. With Rockstart Emerging Tech, we are expanding on the strategy we set out in 2012.”

The fund is backed by Vækstfonden (Danish Sovereign Wealth Fund), the family office De Hoge Dennen, several tech entrepreneurs, Rockstart alumni founders, and other informal investors.

In fact, Rockstart has already selected the first batch of startups for its third fund and will begin its accelerator programme at the end of August. The programmes are domain-focused and tailor-made, designed to rapidly take early-stage startups from MVP to scaling. 

The programmes will run twice per year, in spring and fall. After the programme, Rockstart will continue co-investing in its portfolio companies and can participate in Series B rounds. 

Michael Bjørnlund, Managing Partner Emerging Tech, Rockstart, says, “There is a great need for talented and passionate startup teams to solve today’s important challenges. With the new Rockstart Emerging Tech fund, we expand the areas in which Rockstart can support such founders and teams in their endeavours to craft and scale businesses. In addition, we aim to establish close ties with the entrepreneurs we invest in – from our pre-seed investment and the acceleration programme and onwards to co-investments up to potential Series B rounds. We are very proud of the investors backing us to launch this fund and the continued trust organisations such as Vækstfonden and De Hoge Dennen placed in Rockstart, enabling us to deliver on our mission.”

If you have a compelling idea, apply to Rockstart Emerging Tech here.

Rockstart: What you need to know

Rockstart is an early-stage investor that empowers founders across three domains – Energy, AgriFood, and Emerging Technologies. 

The Dutch VC firm invests in early-stage ventures. It provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates, and the wider Rockstart network.

The company has invested in more than 280 ventures and its alum value is more than $1B. In addition, the company has invested in more than 60 agrifood and energy startups across Europe, Asia, and the US from its first two funds in 2019 and 2020, respectively. 

Rockstart has notable exits such as Wercker, Bouw7, iClinic, and in 2021, 3D Hubs and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota.

Investor

Vaeksfonden is the Danish state’s investment fund. In collaboration with banks and domestic and international investors, Vaekstfonden identifies and develops the companies Denmark cannot afford to miss out on. 

“Denmark is known as one of the most digitalised countries in the world. This position was, among others, created by skilled entrepreneurs bringing new solutions to the market. Our investment in Rockstart Emerging Tech is a contribution to this exact agenda. Vækstfonden, the sovereign investment fund of Denmark, is looking at a clear opportunity to scale and develop more early-stage startups that help solve societal challenges through new digital solutions. Rockstart has showcased their worth in Denmark through the Rockstart AgriFood fund already, and we are happy to be part of yet another partnership,” says Lars Nordal Jensen, Early Stage Director, Vækstfonden.

Copenhagen-based BioInnovation Institute (BII), an international commercial foundation with a non-profit objective of incubating and accelerating life science research, announced on Tuesday that four companies have joined its new Venture House programme.

This new Venture House programme, previously known as Creation House, comprises an 18-month programme with a risk-free convertible loan of €1.3M. 

With this new approach, BII aims to assist early-stage startups that have already benefited from its 12-month Venture Lab programme, which was designed to support business acceleration, scientific research, and team building.

Bobby Soni, Chief Business Officer at BioInnovation Institute, says, “We are thrilled to present our new Venture House programme. We have had great success in building our Venture Lab programme as a solid platform for innovation and we believe that leveraging this existing platform will drive product innovation and ecosystem growth. By introducing this add-on funding opportunity, it will be even more attractive and exclusive for companies to be part of the programme. We look forward to continuing to support these four innovative companies and accelerate their growth.”

The Venture Lab programme supported 62 startups in 2021

Each startup received a risk-free convertible loan of €500K in 2021 as part of the BII’s Venture Lab programme. Besides providing support for business acceleration, scientific development, and team development, the programme also gives access to labs and offices at the BII’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in Copenhagen. Thus, after entering the Venture House programme, they have received a total of €1.8M.

The following new businesses have been admitted by the BII into the Venture House programme:

EvodiaBio: It is a bio-industrial company creating natural, sustainable scents for the food and beverage sector. The company’s yeast-based technology offers customers a non-alcoholic beer without sacrificing flavour.

HEI Therapeutics: It is a digital therapeutics company that claims to produce the world’s first medical-grade home monitoring solution for patients with hypothyroidism based on microfluidics, microtechnology and artificial intelligence.

Stimuliver: The company is developing liver implant technology to treat critically failing liver function in humans. As more and more people suffer from chronic liver disease, Stimuliver’s 3D implants will support the liver, assisting patients in maintaining vital organ function levels.

AMPA Medical: It is a specialist in ostomy treatment that has created an internal solution to take the place of the ostomy bag. AMPA aims to eliminate time-consuming, emotional, and physical barriers associated with the usage of ostomy bags by utilising “revolutionary” technologies.

About the BioInnovation Institute Foundation

The BioInnovation Institute Foundation is an international commercial foundation with a nonprofit objective supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The firm operates an incubator to accelerate life science innovation that drives the development of new solutions by early life science startups for the benefit of people and society.

BII offers startups and early-stage projects within health tech, therapeutics, and bio-industrials labs, office facilities, business development, startup business incubation, access to mentoring and international networks, plus funding opportunities of up to €1.3M per startup and €2.4M per project.

According to BII, since its inception in 2018, it has supported 62 startups and projects with €50M in funding. Over €207M have been invested in BII startups overall by domestic and foreign investors. With the support of its workforce, early-stage startups have the chance to advance to the next level with the aid of venture finance, pharmaceutical, and business experience. BII’s recent portfolio company successes include Adcendo, Stipe Therapeutics, Twelve Bio, Octarine Bio, and Cirqle Biomedical.