Dutch-based Partnify secures €1.8M to fix collaboration chaos for Europe’s SMEs: Exclusive interview with CEO and co-founder Jens Visser

Dutch startup Partnify, the online business platform that streamlines project collaboration between companies, has raised €1.8M in funding.

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Zwolle, the Netherlands-based Partnify, an online platform that facilitates collaboration between multiple companies and teams, has raised €1.8M in funding.

The investment round was led by European venture capital firm Hi inov (marking its first investment in a Dutch company) and includes contributions from Rabobank, Inovexus, Maasinvest, and several angel investors.

In fact, all angel investors from Partnify’s initial €500K funding round in 2024 have reinvested.

Fund utilisation

The Dutch company will use the capital to expand the team, further develop the platform, particularly through the integration of AI, and accelerate international growth in Germany, France, Belgium, and Sweden.

The investment will help the Ditch company to develop PAI, a new AI layer.

This technology analyses data and communication from ongoing projects to provide insights, automate tasks, and improve team performance.

The company says it detects early signs of problems like delays or conflicting goals and gives practical recommendations.

Addressing misalignment during collaboration

As small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly work with external experts on a project basis, both clients and service providers face challenges in maintaining clear, efficient collaboration processes.

Talking about the inspiration behind founding Partnify to Silicon Canals, Jens Visser, CEO, says, “During our time running an agency, we noticed that many companies working with external partners often became misaligned over time. When we looked into it, we found that this misalignment is the main reason why more than half of long-term partnerships fail. What’s interesting is that those same partnerships usually generate around 80 per cent of a company’s revenue, yet they don’t get the attention they deserve.

Visser believes the root of the problem lies in fragmented communication, a multitude of disconnected tools, and a lack of shared visibility.

Most existing tools focus on internal management rather than helping multiple companies stay aligned during collaboration.

How does Partnify solve the problem?

Partnify is an online platform that simplifies collaboration between companies and teams.

Instead of using various emails, chats, and tools, Partnify brings everything together in one place. It includes communication, documents, tasks, updates, agreements, and contracts.

With Partnify, companies can work with multiple external partners in a single shared project space. Everyone involved can access the same information and see the project’s progress, even when team members change.

The platform uses AI to provide quick insights on important things like project updates, key decisions, files, deadlines, and communication history.

“When everyone is aligned and has access to the same information, there’s less confusion and fewer misunderstandings. That alignment builds trust and allows people to focus on collaboration and the human side of partnership rather than managing updates or chasing information,” adds Vissen.

Partnify use case: From disorganisation to effective collaboration

Since early 2024, the number of companies using Partnify has grown from 200 to over 3,200.

The company’s platform turns disorganised teamwork into clear and effective collaboration, making it easier to build lasting partnerships.

“A good example is a marketing agency that uses Partnify. They have around ten employees, work with about fifteen subcontractors, and manage projects for more than thirty different clients. Before using Partnify, they spent a lot of time managing communication between everyone,” Visser cites an example.

“Since switching to Partnify, they’ve brought everything into one shared space. Everyone now works from the same source of communication, updates, and documents. It has become their single source of truth, and that alignment has made collaboration much smoother for both their internal team and their external partners,” he explains.

Balancing growth and close relationships

Every company faces unique challenges during the scaling process, and this Dutch company is no different.

Visser notes that one of the biggest challenges faced by the team was balancing growth with maintaining close relationships with their users.

“In the beginning, we had a personal connection with every company on the platform, but as we started to scale, that became harder. You start building more scalable features and systems, but it’s easy to forget how valuable individual feedback is. Staying connected with companies one-on-one has been key to improving the product,” explains Visser.

About Hi inov

Hi inov is a European B2B venture capital fund founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, with offices in Paris, Lyon, and Munich.

The VC supports high-growth European companies from seed to Series A and B, focusing on driving transformation in the industrial and service sectors through innovative technological solutions.

“Partnify’s vision aligns perfectly with our mission to support European B2B SaaS companies that drive real value,” says Wolfgang Krause, Partner at Hi inov. “SMEs in particular need solutions that reduce complexity. Partnify combines technological depth with practical utility, positioning itself to become the standard for partnership-driven projects across Europe – ultimately strengthening SME competitiveness.”