The top 10 Brainport startups: high ambitions, worldwide impact
The ten new winners of the Gerard & Anton Award 2025 were announced in Eindhoven today.
Published on July 3, 2025
The 2025 G&A Award Winners
Team IO+ selects and features the most important news stories on innovation and technology, carefully curated by our editors.
For the eleventh time, the Gerard & Anton Awards were presented today at the High Tech Campus. Under the watchful eye of over 300 visitors, winners 101 to 110 received an award. From a long list of over 70 nominations, they were chosen as the most promising startups from Brainport in 2025.
The ten startups were selected from a long list of over 70 candidates. "It was hard to choose; half of the nominations could have had a podium spot here today. But that is a good sign: the harder the choice, the better our startup ecosystem does," said jury chairman Stijn Steenbakkers. In the coming days, we will publish extensive interviews with each of them on IO+, but below is a list, in alphabetical order, along with a summary from the jury report.
Avoxt: making green hydrogen accessible worldwide
Hydrogen is often referred to as the key to a carbon-neutral industry. However, truly sustainably produced hydrogen remains too expensive and technically challenging to scale up. The Groningen-Eindhoven start-up AVOXT aims to change this with an innovative electrolyser stack that is more efficient, robust, and cost-effective than what is currently available on the market.
Driven by personal conviction and a strong climate agenda, the team developed a technology that can serve up to 20% of the global market. Since 2022, AVOXT has raised nearly €2 million and benefits from the high-tech community in Eindhoven.
ARTIC Technologies: new standard for drug testing with microhairs
TU/e spin-off ARTIC Technologies develops a revolutionary micropump for cell culture. Founders Laure van der Sanden, Hossein Eslami Amirabadi, and Prof. Jaap den Toonder translated a scientific breakthrough into a modular platform that precisely controls fluid flow during preclinical drug testing.
Unlike traditional methods, ARTIC offers a scalable and easy-to-use solution that better aligns with human physiology. Its mission: to narrow the gap between preclinical and clinical research. Thus, the startup contributes to reducing the use of laboratory animals and wants to explore future applications in green tech. With support from the Brainport ecosystem, ARTIC is now focusing on scale-up and market validation.
EYEO Imaging: revolutionizing image sensors
EYEO Imaging is the latest winner - only this May did they go public. The startup aims to revolutionize image sensors with innovative technology based on nanophotonics. Instead of traditional color filters, which lose more than 70% of the light, EYEO utilizes physical structures to split light efficiently. The result? Much sharper images, even in low light, as well as up to three times smaller sensors.
This innovation, born out of years of research at imec, could become the standard in everything from smartphones to medical devices and AR/VR. With €15 million in seed capital and a strong base in the Brainport region, EYEO is now fully committed to scaling up and conducting market validation.
© Eyeo
Fastmicro: more efficient chip production at the nanoscale
Fastmicro, a Geldrop-based scale-up, is developing advanced systems for ultra-fast and quantitative analysis of submicrometer contamination on surfaces such as wafers, pellicles, and reticles. With their technology, Dark-Field Scatterometry, they detect particles as small as 100 nanometers, according to strict ISO standards. This helps chip manufacturers such as ASML improve production results and significantly reduce downtime during production.
Originating from 15 years of research in collaboration with TNO, Fastmicro has a high-tech demo center in Geldrop, the Netherlands, and has now installed its systems in more than seven countries.
Innofluidics: improving cancer diagnostics with data
InnoFluidics founder Sertan Sukas combines technical precision with a personal mission to enhance cancer diagnostics by leveraging better data, eliminating the need for chemical labels. Their technology provides real-time, multi-parameter insights at the cellular level - perfectly aligned with the rise of "Bioprocessing 4.0. InnoFluidics builds everything in-house and has now run a working prototype at a client's facility. With €1 million in funding, support from the Brainport ecosystem, and international ambitions, the company aims to become the world leader in single-cell analysis for biotechnology and healthcare.
Keiron Technologies: precision assembly for the future of AI chips
At Eindhoven's High Tech Campus, Keiron Technologies is developing a technology that is radically changing electronics assembly. Founders John Willems and Paul Rooimans are developing a non-contact, digital method for applying solder paste to printed circuit boards—a crucial yet often underestimated step in the manufacturing process. With their nanoliter-level precision, based on Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LiFT), Keiron enables assembly of tiny, complex components for applications such as AI chips and advanced sensors.
Their technology is scalable, more sustainable, ánd more reliable than traditional methods. Since its founding in 2019, Keiron has raised €11 million, with Brainport as a crucial springboard. More than 30 systems are now on order.
LiveDrop: becoming the world leader in secure and fast data exchange
In 2021, Eindhoven-based LiveDrop was founded with a mission as ambitious as it is necessary: to create a new standard for secure data transfer. What began as a brainstorm between Erno Langendijk and Maarten Tobias has evolved into a startup that has now established a deep foothold in the defense and cybersecurity domain.
LiveDrop's technology enables offline communication. Their patented system transmits files via a moving visual data matrix (similar to a QR code) without the use of wifi, Bluetooth, or networks. The Dutch Ministry of Defense has validated the method and offers a solution in critical applications such as communication with drones. From the Brainport ecosystem, the team is working on an international scale-up, with applications in defense, cybersecurity, and healthcare.
Naext: a more accessible world with innovative, privacy-friendly technology
Navigation technology for people with visual impairments in complex indoor environments, such as hospitals and public transportation, may initially seem like a niche. For Lukas van Delft and Victor van Dinten, founders of Naext, it forms the basis for a broader European ambition: to enable a more accessible world with innovative, privacy-friendly technology.
Their platform works seamlessly with ordinary smartphones and smart glasses, eliminating the need for expensive infrastructure, and combines AI, computer vision, and spatial computing. In doing so, Naext aims not only to make mobility accessible but also to offer an open European alternative to closed big-tech solutions. Meanwhile, the company has raised €1.5 million in funding and has thousands of active users.
Shanx Medtech: radically accelerating the standard in infection diagnostics
The Eindhoven-based medtech startup ShanX is developing an ultra-fast diagnostic system that determines within one hour which antibiotic is effective against a specific bacterium. With this, the company aims to radically accelerate the standard in infection diagnostics and contribute to the fight against antibiotic resistance. The technology offers clinical accuracy without waiting periods of days, and is deployable in both hospitals and general practices.
Since its inception in 2019, ShanX has raised €7.6 million and presented strong clinical data at the ESCMID Congress. From the Brainport ecosystem, ShanX is working on a global rollout, with the goal of faster treatments, less resistance, and saving lives with data that matters.
XIVER: Europe's leading independent MEMS foundry
XIVER is the only company in Europe dedicated entirely to manufacturing MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) as an independent foundry. A foundry is a factory that specializes in producing semiconductor chips or microelectromechanical systems for other companies.
Originating from Philips, a consortium led by investor Cees Meeuwis acquired the company in private ownership last year, retaining more than 110 employees. XIVER produces ultra-thin membranes, filters, and advanced MEMS components.
With a modern 2,650 m² clean room, 200 mm wafer production, and complete in-house process development, the company oversees projects from R&D through to medium-scale series production. Strategically crucial in the chip chain, XIVER supplies for ASML's EUV machines and automotive technology, among others.
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