Top 20 impact startups – Amsterdam
2021-07-21
Confido
10 minutes
This week in our startup tour of Europe, we’re taking a deep dive into Amsterdam’s startup ecosystem.
As of 2020, Amsterdam’s tech sector is reported to be worth €73bn. That’s a seven-fold increase in value in the past five years. According to a report by Dealroom, the city also has more startups per person than any other place in Europe. There are over 2,700 startups in Amsterdam — that’s 1.1 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Here are our top 20 Amsterdam-based impact startups...
Climate action
About: Turn your commercial garbage disposal into positive value on-site with The Waste Transformers’ innovative food waste solution. They developed an on-site containerized anaerobic digester, called a Waste Transformer. It is placed next to companies or in communities who produce food waste. Biodegradable waste, such as kitchen waste, and commercial waste is automatically turned into biogas or electricity and heat.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Plastic Whale is a social enterprise with a mission – they want plastic-free waters. Worldwide. They achieve this by showing others that economic value can be created from plastic waste, involving as many people and businesses as possible within the pillars: ‘We Collect, We Create, We Educate.’
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Crisp’s mission is to make better quality food available to a wider audience. That is why they focus entirely on super fresh, tasty food of the moment. This is only possible if they purchase directly and have a good relationship with the makers and growers of the food.
Company size: 251 to 500 employees
Funding: Crisp has raised a total of €46m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in March 2021 from a Series B round.
About: GreenHome (formerly Bleeve) helps hundreds of homeowners every week to make their homes more sustainable. Do you want to insulate the floor, place solar panels on the roof or completely remove your home from natural gas? They can help you, step by step. From energy saving advice, an overview of all subsidies to finding a reliable company.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Unknown
Sustainable cities & transportation
About: What if reimagining how you travel could mean the world to your city’s future? dott offers dock-less, shared electrical scooters and bikes as alternatives for short-distance travel. They’re here to free our cities with clean rides for everyone.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: dott has raised a total of $140.8m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in April 2021 from a Series B round.
About: Becoming a Swapfiets member means more than just a great bike for a fixed amount per month. It also means that you become part of a group of like-minded people who believe that things need to be better.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Swapfiets has completed an undisclosed round, raised in May 2019.
About: felyx is an innovative scale-up with ambitious plans for sustainable and shared urban transport. felyx offers shared electric mopeds as a new and disrupting urban mobility concept. You can start your ride in 3 simple steps. Use the felyx app to locate, reserve, and activate the nearest moped.
Company size: 101 to 250 employees
Funding: felyx has raised a total of €28.1m in funding over five rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2021 from a Series A round.
Edtech
About: StudySmartWithChris.com is a portal on which learners of all age can study their textbooks while making use of proven speed learning techniques such as Mind Mapping, effective reading patters and optimized review methodologies. Their platform allows users to share their notes with co-learners from all over the world. Their aim is to create a worldwide campus on which learners study their books and share notes, idea's, get in contact, and exchange knowledge.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Growth Tribe is here to empower adults to always be learning. They help individuals and organisations acquire the most in-demand digital capabilities through actionable, hands-on and enjoyable learning programmes.
Company size: 101 to 250 employees
Funding: Growth Tribe has raised a total of €5m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in December 2020 from a Series A round.
About: ProctorExam works with colleges, universities and certification providers to offer a secure web-based infrastructure for remote exams. They allow candidates greater access to education and institutions with more flexible, scalable and cost-effective ways to conduct authentic assessments digitally.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: ProctorExam has raised a total of $810.1k in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in April 2018 from a Secondary Market round.
About: At Springest you can find and compare training programmes and courses among 19 different categories (Communication, IT, Legal, etc.) and around 570 subjects (Public Speaking, Software Engineering, Contract Law, etc.) that fit your learning style, needs and budget. Whether it be a 3-week training course in Manchester, a Webinar or an in-company training programme, they will match you with your ideal training offering.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Springest has raised a total of $1.1m in funding over three rounds. Their latest funding was raised in June 2017 from a Corporate Round.
Healthtech
About: Worried about a mole or skin spot? SkinVision is a mobile app that allows you to understand your risk factors for skin cancer and keep track of your moles. Simply take a photo of the skin spot with your smartphone and you receive a risk indication by their clinically validated technology within 30 seconds. They provide recommendations on the next steps to take, including whether to visit a healthcare professional.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: SkinVision has raised a total of $12.2m in funding over seven rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2020 from a Venture - Series Unknown round.
About: myTomorrows bridge the gap between patients who are searching for treatment options and the pharmaceutical companies who provide them. Ronald Brus, myTomorrows’ founder, explains the story behind the startup: "I started myTomorrows in 2012 after losing my father to an aggressive form of lung cancer. As a physician and founder of several biotech companies, I thought I could help him find and access a treatment in development. But I was surprised at how complicated and slow the process was. I decided this had to change, so I dedicated myself to creating an easier and faster way for patients to access treatments in development."
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: myTomorrows has raised a total of $22.2m in funding over five rounds. Their latest funding was raised in January 2017.
About: SHE. Health Clinics aims to provide the ultimate blended care solution for women: combining telehealth with physical care at various clinic locations.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Th team has raised over €2m in seed funding since March 2018. They are now raising their Series-A.
About: Aidence rally the brightest minds to drastically improve medical diagnostics using AI. Their team consists of data science, medical and regulatory experts, supported by experienced advisors and critical users. Together, they built Veye Lung Nodules and Veye Reporting, their first AI clinical applications for early lung cancer diagnosis and reporting.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Aidence has raised a total of $14m in funding over three rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2019 from a Series A round.
About: Agendia provides healthcare professionals with actionable insights throughout their patient’s breast cancer journeys. Agendia’s genomic testing platforms help them match each patient to the right treatment at the right time to help minimize under- and over-treatment, and improve their quality of life.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Agendia has raised a total of $182.3m in funding over nine rounds. Their latest funding was raised in July 2018 from a Private Equity round.
About: People who sleep better lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. However, 1 out of 3 people worldwide report having sleep difficulties and could benefit from guidance, education and coaching on the topic of sleep. That's why Shleep was founded by sleep expert Els van der Helm and "business guy" Joeran Albers.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Shleep has raised a total of $1.6m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in October 2019 from a Pre-Seed round.
Mental health
About: Measuring and improving wellbeing at work is critical for healthy workplaces, and thus, commercial success. Healthy Workers’ platform helps you to continuously measure & increase your employees’ wellbeing — because happy employees make great businesses.
Company Size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Healthy Workers has raised a total of €2m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in Dec 2018.
About: Psylaris provide VR software to therapists to enable them to treat their clients more efficiently. Their mission is to develop a system that provides direct access to affordable (and efficient) psychological care to anyone, anywhere.
Company Size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Psylaris has completed one funding round of an undisclosed amount. This was a Seed round raised in March 2018.
About: Psyflix is a video platform that provides mental health professionals with online training and webinars about psychotherapy and e-health.
Company Size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
We want to do everything we can to help support these fantastic businesses and the work they’re doing.
If you belong to a tech for good startup and want to have a chat about how we could scale your Product or Tech teams, do get in touch at contact@confidotalent.com.
Have we missed your favourites? Let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn, we’d love to hear from you!
Funding information taken from Crunch Base.