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The flexible and outward-looking nature of Amsterdam has infected its startup scene -- and its worldly aspect means the city is gradually becoming an accelerator for the rest of the globe. "Because we're small, we have to think global from day one," explains Don Ritzen, managing director of local accelerator Rockstart. "We have to go after Germany, the UK and the US in a very short time if we want to compete -- because if anyone's had an idea, you can bet other people have thought of the same thing." In February, Amsterdam launched its Sharing City initiative, connecting startups with corporates via city facilities. And a previous weakness -- the absence of repeat and serial entrepreneurs -- is being corrected. Ritzen also notes that when Salim Ismail from Singularity University listed the world's top 100 unicorn companies (those valued at $1 billion-plus), ten were Dutch.
Peerby
Herengracht 182, Amsterdam 1016 BR
Peerby connects borrowers and lenders via a location-based app. It was initially developed in 2009 as a messenger tool. Founder Daan Weddepohl was getting nowhere – until he read Rachel Botsman's sharing economy manifesto What's Mine is Yours. "Every sharing site in the world is basically a list," Weddepohl, 34, says. "You have about a two per cent chance of finding what you need. We send messages from people who need things, to the people willing to share." In October, the company raised $2.1 million (£1.4 million) from XAnge Private Equity in France and an existing Netherlands-based investor, Sanoma Ventures.
Treatwell
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 120-126, Amsterdam 1012 SH
After Laurens Groenendijk sold his founding stake in Just Eat in 2010, his wife said, "There's no Just Eat for hairdressers." And so Treatwell was born. "It was pure greenfield," Groenendijk, 41, says of his 2013-founded startup. "You have all these under-digitised entrepreneurs running beauty parlours and spas with clients who would prefer not to book a Brazilian over the phone at work." Erik Wienk, 44, the former CFO of Booking.com, came on board for his experience in bookings management. Roll-out is on a city by city basis -- Treatwell is across Holland, Benelux and Germany, and is expanding to Milan and Zurich. "Sometimes you have to think in postcode terms," says Groenendijk. The company is about to start searching for €10m series B funding to reach the rest of the continent.
Catawiki
Vijzelstraat 68, Amsterdam 1017 HL "I got so fed up spending hours on eBay searching and searching before I found one really great item," explains Catawiki co-founder René Schoenmakers. Launched in 2008 as a site for comic-book enthusiasts, it now holds auctions of "exceptional items", such as classic cars. In September, the company closed a €10m (£7.2m) series B round led by Accel Partners.
SnappCar
Herengracht 182, Amsterdam 1016 BR
There are 250 million cars in Europe standing idle 23 hours a day. SnappCar aims to take 250,000 of them off the roads via a mobile app that offers private car rentals. Founders Victor van Tol, 40, and Pascal Ontijd, 34, raised €500,000 last year, and bought Danish peer MinbilDinbil, securing financing from investors that values the company at €9m.
Adyen
Simon Carmiggeltstraat 6-50, Amsterdam 1011 DJ
The online payments company's December 2014 funding round raised $250m (£161m) and valued it at $1.5bn. CEO Pieter van der Does, 45, raised the finance to bolster the balance sheet -- the company is expanding into point-of-sale payments, and retailers like to see cash reserves. Since its 2006 launch, Adyen has grown to handle more than 250 payment methods.
3D Hubs
Herengracht 182, Amsterdam 1016 BR
An online platform connecting 3D-printer owners with local people who need something printed, it had just 15 print-hubs in Amsterdam in 2013. Two years on, founders Bram De Zwart, 32, and Brian Garret, 29, have a network with over 16,000 locations in 140 countries. A September series A funding round brought $4.5m from investors including Balderton Capital.
CrowdyHouse
Brouwersgracht 246, Amsterdam 1013 HE
CrowdyHouse is like Etsy for professionals, giving Europe's product designers access to international markets. Launched in 2013 by Mark Studholme, former manager of architecture social network Archello, and his furniture designer partner Suzan Claesen, both 29, CrowdyHouse handles payments, promotions and PR. In April, angels invested €560,000.
Quiver
Barbara Strozzilaan 201, Amsterdam 1083 HN
Quiver provides security services for documents -- from contracts to databases. "Research from the Ponemon Institute and Gartner shows that 60 per cent of all file sharing methods are unsafe. Quiver is like a smart container around your file or your data," says Django Lor, founder and CEO. Quiver protects a file by using geolocation. A pilot with ING bank is underway.
ElasticSearch
Rijnsburgstraat 9-11, Amsterdam 1059 AT
Shay Banon, 37, creator and CTO of Elasticsearch, says it's hard to find a social analytics company not running Elasticsearch under the hood. The company provides real-time data search and analytics so that companies can analyse any aspect of their data. In June last year, it raised $70m in Series C funding -- bringing total funding to $104m just 18 months after launch.
TravelBird
Keizersgracht 281, Amsterdam 1016 ED
Founded in 2010, the company has 650 staff in 17 countries who plan holidays depending on local culture and hunches, and who negotiate discounts to offer six package deals per day, every day. The company turned over €95m in 2014 and closed its second funding round in May -- raising €16.5m to add to early backing from Berlin tech-magnates the Samwer brothers.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
