Holland Startup
Industry Focus
Geographic Focus
Holland Startup is a Utrecht-based venture builder founded in 2014 by Robbert Jan Hanse and Maurice Bakker (with René Roskamp joining as third partner in mid-2015) with the mission to enable young entrepreneurship and guide young entrepreneurs on their journey to succeed. Inspired by Bill Gross's IdeaLab, Holland Startup has become a specialist in the design, incubation, acceleration, and active operational support of digital companies and their founders. The organization follows a philosophy of guided entrepreneurship, investigating problems worth solving, designing solutions, selling to target customers, and then investing in the startup. Holland Startup builds B2B SaaS companies using a standardized 7-step controlled process that moves from ideation to scaling in 300 days. The venture builder works exclusively with teams of two co-founders (graduates recruited from universities) who receive coaching on the job, hands-on support, and back-office services. Holland Startup takes up to 25% equity stake (versus 35%+ for co-founders and 40% for external investors) and provides commitment for life rather than short-term acceleration. Since inception, Holland Startup has helped 20+ young entrepreneurs and built 8 startups, with goals to help 50 entrepreneurs build 25 startups over five years. The organization launched Holland Startup Fund I in 2017, an €8 million early-stage fund aimed at pre-revenue startup teams, with limited partners consisting of entrepreneurs with meaningful exits. The venture builder operates from headquarters in Utrecht's city center, taking advantage of Utrecht University's top 10 European ranking in entrepreneurship and innovation, where a quarter of the population consists of students.
2014
3 Companies
3
3X Higher