Dutch founders sound the alarm on capital, bureaucracy, and speed
Three Dutch founders call for action on money access, bureaucracy, and procedures streamlining to help Dutch startups grow.
Published on October 28, 2025
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From left to right: Rutger van Raalten, Mattijs Slee, and Koenraad Wiedhaup
Mauro swapped Sardinia for Eindhoven and has been an IO+ editor for 3 years. As a GREEN+ expert, he covers the energy transition with data-driven stories.
“As a society, I think we have come to the belief that innovation is crucial to maintaining our living standards in Europe. At the same time, given the current circumstances, we have realized how dependent we are on countries like the United States and China,” states Mattijs Slee. He is the CEO of Battolyser Systems, one of the most promising innovative companies in the Netherlands.
By recognizing how necessary innovation is, the willingness to support it should arise to keep the Netherlands and Europe competitive. Yet, startup founders lament bureaucracy, limited access to capital, and a lack of speed as factors that significantly slow down their progress.
In this second episode of ‘Why We Fail’, we spoke with him and the CEOs of two more Dutch innovative companies, who pointed out their concerns and the current limits of the startup ecosystem.
Why we fail - the struggles of the Dutch startup ecosystem
TechLeap’s State of Dutch Tech 2025 reveals a split: more scaleups, but fewer new startups secured €100K+ funding.
Getting lost in bureaucracy
A spinoff of Delft University of Technology, CarbonX has developed a material for graphite — a critical material for the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries — a domain largely dominated by China, where 95% of it is sourced. CarbonX’s alternative is a direct substitute for graphite, produced locally with a reduced carbon footprint.
The CEO, Rutger van Raalten, took the technology out of the labs alongside his cofounder, Daniela Sordi. The company, founded in 2014, has deep Dutch roots and has been expanding over the past few months, following a €14 million funding round. To fuel this growth, CarbonX has been working to unlock production manufacturing in the United States, in parallel with setting up a plant in Europe. In doing so, it is assessing locations in the Netherlands and France.
“Contract manufacturing in Europe is rather difficult since the industry has been stripped to the bare minimum ever since we agreed to have China as our ‘production backyard’. Building new in the Netherlands is posing similar struggles. However, in France, there is already a standardized process in place, with subsidies available, and with municipalities and regional government coordinating with the national investment level,” Van Raalten underlines.
“In the Netherlands, this same permitting process is rather diffuse. Although we are working closely wth the different organizations, each of them has to discuss individually with entities above it,” he adds. On top of that, the strict permitting regimes for nitrogen emissions are also a significant drawback to building a plant in the country.
Slow-moving procedures
This same lack of speed and process optimization is pointed out by Koenraad Wiedhaup, CEO of Leyden Labs. The company is active in developing nasal sprays to target respiratory diseases in the nasal mucosa. These sprays aim to stop infections—blocking further transmission—to protect against existing and new viruses, and provide universal protection, regardless of one’s immune history.
“For instance, we applied for a grant two years ago. It took eight months for the first review, then another year for the next steps. By then, we were already much further along.” The solution, he argues, lies in pre-approving company and strategic projects—a model already in place in countries like France, where alignment between national and regional governments accelerates decision-making.
Battolyser Systems’ CEO, Slee, echoes his colleagues on speed, urging the streamlining of procedures. The company develops a fully flexible electrolyzer, a device that produces hydrogen by splitting water with electricity. Their technology can switch on and off in response to intermittent renewable energy, procuring hydrogen when power prices are low and selling electricity when prices are high. With their technology, they aim to provide a solution to high hydrogen production costs and relieve the electricity grid from congestion.
The scale-up recently merged with VDL Hydrogen Systems, a subsidiary of the manufacturing company VDL Groep. With this move, the company hopes to fast-track its market entry and deliver a flexible electrolyzer for industrial hydrogen production.
Money talks
In his view, part of the reason Europe and the Netherlands struggle to scale up innovation is the difficulty of making long-term investment decisions. “However, when a crisis arises, we don’t hesitate to spend billions to tackle it. The last example that comes to mind is the energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We spent over €20 billion to help pay energy bills within the blink of an eye,” he says.
The United States is also where accessing biotech financing is easier, according to Wiedhaup. He also believes that pension funds should be more involved, helping them build a balanced portfolio of tech companies. “The government can play its part there, not only by changing regulations for the funds to invest but also by procuring products and services from startups. It would help build confidence and attract more customers and investors.”
Moving abroad
When founding Leyden Labs, Wiedhaup and his team thought of splitting the business between Leiden and Boston. “I started looking for houses and schools for my kids there,” he recalls. “In the end, we decided to stay in the Netherlands and draw from the talent pool available here.”
Every week, Battolyser receives proposals to move its business to other European countries, as well as Australia and Canada. “What is particularly appealing about these offers is that jurisdictions are often more progressive. In the Netherlands, employment laws and pension schemes are outdated and thus unsuited to innovative companies.”
The case of CarbonX differs. It has already begun production of its material in the United States, having secured a partner to produce 5,000 tons. “Not only was the permitting path there easier, but the truth is that the battery ecosystem in the US is much more mature. We could access more factories and supply them with our material,” explains Van Raalten.
In Europe, since there are limited plants for the company to access, CarbonX has to take another pathway: setting up a plant from scratch. This type of manufacturing plant can be built in specific locations and must comply with strict regulations.
Change of paradigm
With their companies, Slee and Wiedhaup are part of the Tech Champions initiative. Their companies are active in the ten key technologies of the Dutch National Technology Strategy (NTS). In the summer, they shared a manifesto with the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Vincent Karremans, outlining actions to help innovative companies thrive. In the document, the founders share their ideas, calling for consistent long-term policy, joint risk, and speed.
Politicians seem to have partially responded to that call. Yet, following the government's collapse, it will be the task of the upcoming cabinet to align with the entrepreneurs' vision.
Slee: “In the Netherlands, we are good at creating innovation; what we lack is how to industrialize these companies. They are not something hippy or a nice-to-have. They are working to solve actual societal problems, and they need to be celebrated for that.”
Van Raalten warns: “Europe and the Netherlands can’t catch up with the United States or China unless we change how we support innovation. The risk is that our best ideas—and our best companies—will leave.”