According to PwC, the Netherlands ranks fourth in Europe for producing unicorns, with 32 high-growth companies emerging from its ecosystem. This reflects a strong and dynamic environment for entrepreneurs to start and grow their business. In addition, Atomico reports that while overall funding across Europe declined year-on-year, the Netherlands has seen the largest absolute increase in investment – rising to €2.3 billion in 2024 compared to €1.66 billion in 2023.
However, behind those unicorns lie hundreds, perhaps thousands, of startups that have failed to grow into scale-ups — in the Netherlands, only around 21.5% of startups actually progress to the scale-up phase. Closing the gap between startups and scaleups is crucial. If more companies break through, the Dutch economy would grow.
The invisible burden of complexity
Why is scaling up so difficult?
Part of the answer lies in the macroeconomic environment. Pandemic aftershocks, rising interest rates, inflation, and a shortage of skills have all had an impact on business growth. And, with the fluctuating situation with tariffs, international trade could become more complicated too.
Yet macroeconomics and geopolitics only tell half the story. The business world is becoming increasingly complex. Scaleups typically have to integrate a wide range of systems, sometimes as many as 25 different solutions within the organization. From accounting and payroll to marketing and sales management, each system has its own dataset and the apps do not always work well together. In practice, this means that a large part of that data is lost.
A fragmented working environment wastes more than just time. It also weakens the ability to make good decisions. Marketing teams cannot see how their campaigns affect working capital, and purchasing teams have no insight into the demand curve they need to plan for. With so many obstacles, there is effectively a hidden tax on growth, with innovation being slowed down by the effort it takes to keep things running at all. But AI could put an end to that.
AI as a decision-making enhancer
AI can break this vicious cycle, not by making decisions for managers, but by enriching and accelerating the decision-making process. By automatically connecting and analyzing diverse data sources, AI can provide faster, clearer, and more confident insights. For scaleups, this can mean the difference between stagnation and acceleration.
For example, an AI tool could flag excess inventory at an e-commerce company and simultaneously identify passive customers who might respond to a targeted campaign. By combining these insights, a company can clear its inventory, reduce waste, and boost sales.
Building resilient companies
Large companies can afford specialized innovation and insight teams, but scaleups often cannot. Making AI accessible to small and medium-sized companies levels the playing field. With better insights and faster decision-making, these companies can also seize opportunities, make growth plans, and build resilience against market shocks.
However, support is essential. Government programs such as the Dutch AI Coalition (AIC4NL) play an important role in this, but the private sector must also invest. It is not enough to help entrepreneurs at the start; we must also help them grow, without complexity holding them back.
Turning insight into impact
There is little doubt that AI is already radically changing companies and entire sectors. But the focus is usually on how startups use AI to manage all aspects of their organization, or how large companies develop and integrate AI for their employees and customers. Scaleups must also reap the benefits.
In a volatile economic environment, doing nothing is now the greater risk. Those who take the first steps now will trade complexity for clarity and give their teams the space to focus on customers, new markets, and innovation. The companies that consider AI a strategic asset today will determine the Dutch economy tomorrow.
This article was submitted by Intuit.