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Our 12 most-read articles since switching to English in May
In late May of 2016, Silicon Canals switched from Dutch to English for multiple reasons. Obviously, as expats are making up a bigger and bigger share of the startup community it just makes sense to report news in English. Also, with Amsterdam more and more becoming one of the main startup cities in Europe, people from outside of the lowlands also want to find out what’s going on here.The change paid off as readership increased steadily throughout the year. We digged deep into our Google Analytics to present you a selection of our most read, posted, shared, liked, tweeted, and retweeted articles of the year.
MAY: Apple's CEO Tim Cook made a huge promise to The Netherlands
Tim Cook is Apple’s CEO. We all know that. He kicked off StartupFest Europe in The Netherlands with a bit of boring fireside chat with StartupDelta's at the time special startup envoy Neelie Kroes on technology, entrepreneurship and Apple’s future. But in the end, he had a little surprise for the excited Amsterdam crowd at the packed Beurs van Berlage.
MAY: Germans rule Tech5, no award for Tiqets at TNW16
It was already announced that Tiqets is the fastest growing Dutch startup, but could it also be the fastest growing startup of Europe? The answer is ‘no’. Impressive as Tiqets’ 2480% revenue growth might be, it is not nearly enough to win the Tech5 award for fastest growing startup. The German Lesara won the award with a staggering revenue growth of 7950%. Yikes.
JUNE: Struggling Symbid gets €490.000, closes Amsterdam office
Dutch crowdfundingplatform Symbid took a huge loss over 2015 and things don’t seem much better at the start of 2016. But a brand new investment gives them some air to breath. In a new funding round, Symbid raised a convertible loan of €490.000 with an interest of 8 percent.
JULY / AUGUST: Two new tech communities in Amsterdam: Nerderlands and LGBTech
There is no summer break for Dutch techies. If you want to get together with other people from the tech-community, swap ideas or expand your network, then there’s some great events coming up. Nerderlands is like a summer holiday for nerds, while LGBTech brings the geekiness to Europride 2016.
SEPTEMBER: Amsterdam third most popular startup city in Europe
Amsterdam is now the third most favourite city in Europe to found a startup. Plus, of all startup ecosystems in countries across Europe, the Dutch startup community has grown the most in the past year. Due to massive startup inflow, the startup population of the lowlands has increased by 31%. These are two of the main takeaways of the Startup Heatmap, which has been revealed by ESI, the European Startup Initiative.
OCTOBER: Hot Dutch startup Camarilla claims a million users, but do the numbers add up?
You might have heard about the superhot 2015 startup Camarilla, the social media platform that wants to make social media more personal. With the Path like app, users share photo’s and video’s with a maximum of fifteen people at a time. The catch: posts and following conversations aren’t public, but sent as individual direct messages. With an estimated million users, companies like Facebook and Snapchat are interested in what Camarilla has to offer. But do the user numbers actually add up?
OCTOBER: iHateRecruiters loves to get you a job at a startup
Recruiters: You can’t live with them, but it’d sure be nice to live without them. And with the arrival of the new Amsterdam-based startup recruitment platform iHateRecruiters you may actually be able to do just that. Are you sick and tired of recruiters looking for 21- to 26 year olds with at least fifteen years of experience? Then join the club and get in line to sign up with iHateRecruiters.
NOVEMBER: How to move your American startup to the Netherlands
Many Americans have been declaring in the lead-up to the elections that “If Trumps wins, I’ll leave the country”. Now that the Trump presidency is a fact (and we still can’t believe we’re typing these words) we would like to take the opportunity to explain American entrepreneurs how they can move their company to the Netherlands, or better yet even start it here.
NOVEMBER: Dutch babysitter platform 2Care4Kids is getting 2Big4Europe
Babysitter platform 2Care4Kids, best known in its home country as Oudermatch.nl, is expanding to Turkey and Argentina. In the last three years, the ‘sitter startup set up shop in Italy, Spain, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Turkey and Argentina mark the company’s first expansions outside of Europe. The startup intends 2Aim4Expansion into at least two more countries within a year from now.
DECEMBER: Road to Succes: Daniel Gebler on how he made Picnic deliver the goods
Getting in that CEO or CTO position doesn’t happen overnight. Everybody started somewhere – be it a dusty garage like Jobs and Wozniak, a cluttered dorm room like Zuckerberg or, like many young minds of today, in a coworking space without money but a mind full of ideas. In this new series on Silicon Canals we interview successful entrepreneurs about their road to success: what does it take to get to the top, especially at a young age? First up: Daniel Gebler of on demand online supermarket Picnic.
DECEMBER: Cabture successfully secures 2nd investment round with € 200K crowdfunding campaign
Christmas arriveD early for fast-growing Dutch startup Cabture, as it has successfully hit its €200.000 target for its second investment round. The travel experience startup that is improving the taxi-scene with its CabTab-equipped taxi’s raised the investment through a crowdfunding campaign on Eureeca. Cut-off date for the campaign was just after Christmas, but the customer-focused ad-tech company reached its destination early
DECEMBER: Qwobble lets startups swap staff members
If you can swap your festival tickets, why not also swap your staff? This question is not a joke, but a serious idea of a new Dutch startup. With Qwobble, you can switch employees for one day whenever you get completely stuck in your business. A fresh input from someone working in your field would bring about creative solutions that you hadn’t thought of yourself. Qwobble launched its website last week, and is now ready for you to swap your employees.