The Netherlands is a resilient, progressive country. It has a healthy business climate with over 450 multinationals like Philips, Heineken, Unilever, established financial industry, and high-ranking academic institutions in order to make it a solid home for technological development.

Yet very little and a very fragmented supply of venture funding is available with little or no institutional investor contribution. After validating, business models of early- and later-stage startups with revenue between Eur 0 - 1 mln, fall into a critical valley of death where there is little or no funding available. In order to ensure that ventures get access to investors and funds, there are challenges to be addressed:

Investment deal sizes are too small for institutional investors as opposed to the relatively high administrative costs;
Mismatch of venture risk profiles and risk appetite of institutional investors;
Unpredictable and uncertain deal flow and a potential lack of available investment opportunities;
Due to different (restrictive) investment terms its hard to co-invest / make future investments in ventures;
The pool of private investors is relatively unorganized;
Little or no availability of venture debt for scale-up ventures;
The lack of a self-sustaining transparent online marketplace where ventures and investors can seamlessly connect and access support services;
No fiscal stimulation to invest in early-stage high-risk ventures; and
Public and private funding possibilities are fragmented by many parties.