{"id":162614,"date":"2019-01-05T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-05T05:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=162614"},"modified":"2019-01-05T06:00:05","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T05:00:05","slug":"noord-holland-is-amsterdam-the-start-up-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/noord-holland-is-amsterdam-the-start-up-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"Noord-Holland: is Amsterdam the start-up paradise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is one category of companies that are responsible for innovation in the Netherlands, it would have to be the start-ups.\u00a0Innovation Origins<\/a>\u00a0is always looking for relevant innovations, therefore there is every reason to really capture the complete Dutch start-up ecosystem. Armed with the data sets of\u00a0\u00a0StartupDelta<\/a>, we visited all Dutch provinces. In 14 episodes, published between December 24, 2018, and January 7, 2019, we\u2019re giving an overview of the start-up ecosystem in the Netherlands. The series has been made by the journalists of cooperation\u00a0PitchProducties<\/a>, commissioned by Innovation Origins. Today: Noord-Holland.\u00a0Read the other episodes of the series here<\/a>\u00a0(as far as already published).<\/em><\/p>\n

When it comes to start-ups, there’s only one city that is by far the biggest. With over 1,600 start-ups, Amsterdam is\u00a0the\u00a0<\/em>start-up hub of the Netherlands. Why is it that so many start-ups are located in Amsterdam and above all, how does the city distinguish itself from the rest of the Netherlands?<\/p>\n

“Start-ups prefer to settle in a city where connections, as well as competitors, are just around the corner,” says Wouter Keij, the fund manager at\u00a0Innovation Fund Noord-Holland<\/a>. The province of Noord-Holland started the fund in cooperation with several knowledge institutions to support and stimulate innovative projects in the region.<\/p>\n

Fintech<\/h3>\n

The international character of Amsterdam also contributes to a favourable start-up climate, Wouter Keij believes. Large international companies where innovation is of paramount importance mainly settle in the capital city. “Amsterdam hardly has any national competition in the field of fintech”, says Keij. Success stories like Adyen, but also fast-growing fintech companies like\u00a0Dyme<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Bitfury<\/a>\u00a0were established in the capital city. It is, therefore, no surprise that fintech is the biggest sector of the more than 1600 start-ups in Amsterdam. Bitfury was the country’s best-funded start-up in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n