The Netherlands is home to numerous significant startups that have developed into global players, including Booking.com and Adyen.
The country boasts an outstanding level of urban innovation and quality of life for both local entrepreneurs and immigrant talent.
2024 was the third-best funding year ever for Dutch startups, following the peak years 2021 and 2022, according to the Quarterly Startup Report 2024.
Having said that, this is not the case in 2025!
Some statistics
According to the latest Global Startup Ecosystem Index report from StartupBlink, the Netherlands remains in the top 10 when it comes to the global startup ecosystem the but drops one spot to 10th.
In Q1 2025, approximately €429M was invested in Dutch startups, according to this year’s Quarterly Startup Report. Compared to Q1 last year, when more than €1B was invested, this represents a decrease of 59 per cent.
Moreover, the number of deals is down for the fifth consecutive quarter in all phases. A total of 79 deals were counted in Q1 2025, 11 per cent less than in Q1 2024, when 89 were counted.
The Netherlands dropped in the European ranking from fourth to seventh-eighth position. Other countries such as Spain, Sweden, and Ireland did manage to attract multiple large rounds.
However, the good news is that the first half of 2025 has shown that ambition and resilience can pay off.
According to Dealroom, the Dutch startups have raised around $1.4B (approximately €1.2B) in H1 2025, in over 204 funding rounds.
Several startups not only secured substantial funding rounds but also made headlines for pushing the boundaries in sectors such as fintech, e-commerce, sustainability, and AI.
In this article, we have compiled the top ten largest funding rounds in the Netherlands for H1 2025. Furthermore, these companies are actively seeking new talent in addition to funding.
Azafaros
HQ: Naarden
Funding in H1, 2025: €132M
CEO: Stefano Portolano
Hiring: No
Azafaros is a clinical-stage company developing therapeutics for rare lysosomal storage disorders.
Azafaros is based on research from professors Hans Aerts, Hermen Overkleeft, and Stan van Boeckel at Leiden University and the Academic Medical Center in the Netherlands.
The company is building a pipeline of therapeutics aimed at modifying disease progression in patients with rare lysosomal storage disorders. These disorders are genetic conditions that can lead to neurodegeneration and, in some cases, life-threatening outcomes.
The company’s lead drug candidate, nizubaglustat, is a dual-acting compound currently in development for several lysosomal storage diseases.
Azafaros uses its scientific knowledge and development approach to explore new paths for drug discovery and delivery.
Piano
HQ: Amsterdam
Fund raised in H1, 2025: €111M
Founder/s: Trevor Kaufman
Hiring: Yes| Apply here
Piano.io is a digital experience platform that helps media businesses optimise user engagement and drive revenue.
Its Digital Experience Cloud offers AI-driven recommendations, automation, and personalised journeys to boost conversions for publishers, broadcasters, and content creators.
The Dutch company operates on a subscription-based model, providing continuous updates and white-labeled solutions for integration.
With open APIs and easy integrations, Piano.io enables businesses to enhance customer interactions efficiently while maximising subscriptions, conversions, and analytics.
The company secured a total financing of $120M (approximately €111M), which includes a $75M (approximately €70M) senior secured term loan facility, led by Runway Growth Capital LLC.
Additionally, the round features a $45M (approximately €41.7M) in a Series D investment led by Updata Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based growth equity firm focused on technology.
Finom
HQ: Amsterdam
Funding in H1, 2025: €92M
Founder/s: Andrey Petrov, Kos Stiskin, Oleg Laguta, and Yakov Novikov
Hiring: Yes| Apply here
FINOM is a digital banking solution for SMEs and entrepreneurs. The company’s banking tools enable businesses to quickly open accounts, streamlining online banking, payment processing, invoicing, and expense management.
The company does it by developing its proprietary core banking system that powers its broad suite of products and services, including rapid account setup, online banking, payment processing, invoicing, FX, and expense management.
Mews
HQ: Amsterdam
Fund raised in Q1, 2025: €70.6M
CEO: Matt Welle
Hiring: Yes| Apply here
Mews has developed Mews Hospitality Cloud to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience, and create more profitable businesses.
The Dutch company’s clients include BWH Hotels, Strawberry, The Social Hub, and Airelles Collection. The company claims to have over 5,500 customers across more than 85 countries.
Toloka
HQ: Amsterdam
Funding in May 2025: €64M
Founder/s: Olga Megorskaya
Hiring: Yes| Apply here
Toloka has established itself as a trusted data partner for global technology leaders, including Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and Shopify.
The company has evolved from a general-use crowdsourcing platform to a sophisticated provider of PhD-level domain expertise for large language model (LLM) development and virtual environments where experts test AI agents.
The company’s platform manages over 200,000 experts and annotators across more than 100 countries and 40 languages, covering over 50 verified knowledge domains.
Leyden Labs
HQ: Leiden
Fund raised in H1, 2025: €68M
Founder/s: Jaap Goudsmit, Koenraad Wiedhaup, and Ronald Brus
Hiring: Yes| Apply here
Leyden Labs works to free people from the threat of respiratory viruses.
The company utilises its platform to target commonalities of viral families to protect against many viruses simultaneously, as opposed to vaccines that typically protect against a specific virus variant.
The Dutch company’s platform is built on two concepts: broad protection against known viruses, new variants, and newly emerging viruses, and protection at the gate, i.e., in the mucosa (e.g,. in the nose and throat).
Alesta Therapeutics
HQ: Leiden
Fund raised in H1, 2025: €65M
CEO: Ilan Ganot
Hiring: No
Aesta Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing transformative small-molecule therapies for rare diseases.
The Dutch company focuses on creating novel oral treatments for underserved conditions. Its lead asset, ALE1, targets hypophosphatasia (HPP), while ALE2 is aimed at treating Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease.
Salvia BioElectronics
HQ: Eindhoven
Founder/s: Hubert Martens
Funding amount: €53M
Hiring status: Yes| Apply here
Salvia BioElectronics is transforming migraine treatment with its proprietary neuromodulation technology, a personalised, minimally invasive therapy designed for people with chronic migraine.
Salvia’s ultra-thin implant targets key nerves involved in migraine, aiming to reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks.
Salvia’s FDA-approved Breakthrough Device offers a hopeful new treatment for patients who haven’t found relief with other therapies.
Salvia’s implant is less invasive than traditional options, making surgery easier and recovery faster, while also being discreet in appearance.
MySalvia Therapy puts patients in control of their treatment.
It uses two thin implants placed just under the skin on the forehead and the back of the head.
Patients can activate the therapy at any time using a wearable device; by pressing a button, they can deliver stimulation when and where they need it.
This therapy also has the potential for treating cluster headaches, which are extremely painful and have few effective treatments available.
Avidicure
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Arthur Lahr
Funding amount: €43.8M
Hiring status: No
Avidicure has introduced a new antibody platform called “AVC-Boosters”. This platform combines dual agonistic, multifunctional, and avidity-engineered features to deliver targeted monotherapy for use in oncology.
AVC-Boosters activate coordinated responses from both the innate and adaptive immune systems. The design integrates key mechanisms from first-generation antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, T-cell engagers, and antibody-drug conjugates.
Vivici
HQ: Delft
Fund raised in H1, 2025: €32M
CEO: Stephan van Sint Fiet
Hiring: No
Vivici is a B2B ingredients company pioneering the development of superior dairy proteins through precision fermentation.
Backed by nutrition, health, and beauty multinational dsm-firmenich and dairy multinational Fonterra, Vivici uses precision fermentation to create dairy protein.
This method blends traditional fermentation with modern biotechnology to produce proteins without involving animals. Vivitein BLG, an isolated whey protein (beta-lactoglobulin), is the first ingredient to be launched under the company’s ViviteinTM protein platform.
