Dennis de Vries (Silicon Canals) covered our funding analysis in an article, and interviewed Thomas Mensink (Golden Egg Check):

Compared to last year, it is a remarkable rise. The pandemic is an obvious factor. From March on, 2020 was a year with many of its own challenges. But this huge peak in funding is not an exception, believes Thomas Mensink. He is a Startup & Investment Analyst at Golden Egg Check and one of the creators of the report. He sees a strong trend upward, even though last quarter is exceptional.

‘More late-stage rounds’

“I don’t think we’ll break this record again in the next half-year”, he explains on the phone. “Some really big funding rounds just happened to come together in a short period. However, we’ve seen for a while now that Dutch startups close ever-larger funding rounds. There are more and bigger late-stage rounds.”

That’s a good sign for the Dutch startup ecosystem, Mensink says. “It means there are companies that are not only able to raise those amounts, but which are also able to handle it and who are entrusted with such an investment.”

‘Money will not dry up’

It is a sign of the ecosystem growing up. However, it is not just the big ones that are making their mark. Mensink compares the ecosystem with a pyramid, with a small top of unicorns and a broad base of early-stage startups. “At the bottom of the pyramid, a lot is happening as well. We see not only a rise in large funding rounds, but also many smaller rounds for early-stage startups. The pyramid not only grows higher but also broader and stronger.”

Mensink says regional development agencies play an important role at that level but also notices more and more professional angel investors participating. “I’m not worried the money will dry up.”

Read the full article on Silicon Canals here: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/interview-quarterly-startup-report-thomas-mensink/