(Editor’s note: This edition of the Eindhoven Business Briefing is dedicated to risk capital and is part of our Tech Tuesday series. We cover tech because so many of the people coming here are founders, engineers and managers.)
Not to jinx it, but this is a moment we just didn’t see coming … a moment of new momentum when early-stage Dutch startups are getting love from investors, a trend that started earlier this year. The notable difference is that in 2021, it was a big deal for startups in the Netherlands to break the million euro mark. Today, we calculate the average raise is about 10 million euros, far more if you factor in more mature companies such as Axelera AI, which raised $250 million back in February.
High Tech Campus Eindhoven-based LUMO Labs Founding Partner Andy Lürling posted recently on LinkedIn, celebrating 2026 at the mid-point. And he wrote that he and his VC firm have a lot to celebrate … portfolio companies growing and raising new rounds “on five continents already.”
It’s an impressive list and more empirical evidence that Europe, especially Eindhoven, is starting to attract risk capital, break the dependency on tiny government subsidies and maybe – just maybe – become more independent from the United States.
Startups, get your pitch decks perfected while it lasts!
Here’s a list of highlights from this year for LUMO Labs’ portfolio from Andy, as well as some commentary:
• Skyfora raised 6.5 million euros for its mission to transform existing telecom infrastructure into AI-powered weather intelligence networks, with new deployments across Europe. This is one of LUMO Labs’ numerous non-Dutch investments, with Skyfora based in Helsinki.
• Whispp secured 5 million euros in a funding round and is bringing real-time Voice Reconstruction AI to the next generation of communication devices. Whispp is based in Leiden.
• AirHub is a drones-for-good team based in Groningen. AirHub raised 4.4 million euros to strengthen Europe’s drone infrastructure and deliver first responder systems worldwide.
• Tap Electric secured a 4 million euro raise to accelerate its European expansion. The round was led by No Such Ventures with existing investors Shamrock Ventures, Fair Capital Impact Fund and LUMO Labs. Tap technology makes EV charging smarter and more affordable while reducing pressure on the electric power grid. Tap Electric is based in Amsterdam.
• Healthplus.ai‘s Periscope is delivering results by analyzing patient data directly within electronic health records to identify patients at risk of post-operative infections. By providing actionable insights at the point of care, Periscope helps surgical teams make faster, more informed decisions and improve patient outcomes … and soon more. Healthplus.ai is based in Amsterdam.
• Sycai Medical entered its next growth phase with the appointment of a new CEO, Alfonso Martinez. The Medtech startup aides radiologists in the diagnosis of pancreatic cystic lesions and the early stage detection of pancreatic cancer through AI and big data algorithms applied to CT scans, according to their website.
• HULO.ai continues to take Dutch water innovation to the world, working with utilities, governments and industry leaders across the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Brazil to make water infrastructure smarter and more resilient.
LUMO also brought Avendar, MAECONOMY and MagiQware to the LUMO Labs portfolio, companies building the kind of digital deep tech Europe needs to strengthen its competitiveness and resilience.
Andy wrote:
What stands out to me is that all of these companies solving real-world challenges.
Improving healthcare.
Reducing water loss.
Making energy systems smarter.
Strengthening public safety.
Increasing climate resilience and circularity.
Giving people back their voice.
In Andy’s view, the companies that deserve investments most are the companies that combine tech (scalable), impact (relevance) and an ambitious but realistic business model (sustainable). “Companies that combine all three will define the next decade(s).”
Other raises
• Keiron raised 21 million A round
Keiron Printing Technologies, the pioneer of Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LiFT) precision solder paste printing, announced last month it had closed a 20.7 million euro Series A round. This is in addition to a 10 million raise the High Tech Campus Eindhoven-based company raised this time last year. LiFT gets rid of the solder paste printing for electronics by replacing it entirely with a single digital, non-contact process. Now here’s why this raise is notable … we saw the original team come out of HighTechXL, with tech developed at TNO. As HTXL founder Guus Frericks would put it, it was a sh** show. The founders were too young and had no technical expertise, so the product never really went anywhere until the current CEO, Paul Rooimans, showed up.
This latest round was co-led by Invest-NL, DeepTechXL and Waves Capital with existing and new investors, Ramphastos Investments, ATUM Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund and TNO Ventures. We talked with one VC recently at a High Tech Campus event, and he was very excited about Keiron. A big change from the early days.
• Xeltis raises 20.5 million euros
Eindhoven doesn’t get enough pub as a medtech center, but it is. Xeltis, a leading developer of implants that enable the natural creation of living and long-lasting vessels, just raised an additional 20.5 million euros of new funding from new and existing shareholders. Participating investors included the European Innovation Council, Invest-NL, VI Partners, EQT Life Sciences, DaVita and other current shareholders, with Horizon 3 Healthcare, a new investor, who led the round. Xeltis announced it will move to High Tech Campus next month.
A dose of reality
While we celebrate the relative success of our Dutch startups, here’s a sobering comparison of Europe’s innovation centers.
Michael Jackson – the Paris-based British VC, not the dead pop star – notes on LinkedIn that University of Oxford spinouts have raised more money this year than all German spinouts combined. UK spinouts have raised 40 percent of all the money that’s gone to European spinouts.
We sort of agree with Jackson that the vast majority of European universities and research institutes do a shoddy job spinning out companies, with universities in particular trying to keep too large a share of equity. But our experience is, Dutch research institutes such as TNO perform well. Still, the numbers speak for themselves. “Reforms are urgently needed,” Jackson writes.
Briefs
• New AI HUB in Amsterdam
Next month The Stack, a new 4,500-square-meter AI hub, is scheduled to open in Amsterdam’s Oostenburg neighborhood. The initiative brings European AI developers under one roof à la Station F in Paris and aims to bridge the gap between Europe’s AI potential and the actual production of foundation models. The U.S. has produced 40 such models; Europe? Three.
• Scaleup Europe Fund
A couple of weeks ago, the European Commission completed the final legal steps to establish the Scaleup Europe Fund, meant to enable Europe’s scale-ups “to grow faster and compete globally” with a total fund of 5 billion euros. Okay, competing globally with 5 billion euros is like competing in Formula 1 with a Fiat Topolino. One decent sized American VC such as Benchmark has $50 billion in assets under management. But let’s say Scaleup Europe invests an average of 100 million euros, which is pretty much the low bar for AI semiconductor scale-ups … the fund could jump-start 5,000 scale-ups. So, that’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
