The Dutch tech ecosystem shows worrying signs of stagnation, with a significant decline in new startups and Dutch investors.
Techleap concludes this in its new State of Dutch Tech report. The number of startups raising more than 100,000 euros is falling sharply. Whereas 172 startups succeeded in 2023, only 104 succeeded in 2024.
The overall investment landscape in the Netherlands shows a mixed picture. Indeed, a total of 3.1 billion euros in venture capital was raised, an increase of 47 percent. The 3.1 billion euros puts the Netherlands in fourth place in Europe, after the UK, Germany and France. Most of the venture capital now comes from European investors. Dutch investors appear to slow their spending, representing only 15 percent of the money raised. By comparison; previously, the figure was 61 percent.
Constantijn van Oranje of ecosystem Techleap warned of the Netherlands’ position when presenting the survey: “Where other countries invest in a healthy growth climate for tech companies, the Netherlands lags behind. Our tech companies suffer from regulatory pressure and need more growth capital and better access to talent and global markets.”
Deeptech an exception
The deeptech sector appears to be a positive exception, with a 35 percent share of the ecosystem and €1.1 billion in investments. This sector is showing impressive growth in the number of scaleups, rising from 17 percent to 35 percent in five years. This success is attributed to targeted public investment. Projects contributing to it include Quantum Delta NL, Nearfield Instruments and Brainport Eindhoven.
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