The launch of Founded will give North of the Netherlands startups a boost. Founded is a partnership of regional governments, knowledge institutions, support programs, businesses, and investors. With an integrated and data-driven approach, the initiative joins the forces of all regional players to support and grow innovative startups and scaleups. The program received a €4 million grant t from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and €4.8 million from a regional coalition of governments, knowledge institutions, and businesses.
Mission and objectives
The project puts the founders’ entrepreneurial power on the center stage. Founded aims at making the North of the Netherlands a place for startups and scaleups to work on solutions to global challenges. A close-connected network of partners working on the same goals should increase the number of innovative companies and the growth of the already existing ones.
Unique collaboration
In the Northern Netherlands, numerous initiatives and organizations are active in the startup and scaleup ecosystem, resulting in a lot of fragmentation. Founded wants to counter this fragmentation to clarify which support options are available for (aspiring) entrepreneurs. This enables a wide range of offerings, from inspiration programming for students and researchers, accelerator programs, and founder community facilitation to investment programs with VCs from outside the region.
Willemien Meeuwissen, member of the Drenthe provincial executive: “Support for broad-based SMEs was already available in Drenthe, but for the innovative and dynamic start-ups and scale-ups, we did not have specific support. With Founded, we offer entrepreneurs who start or want to scale up practical knowledge and help to establish or expand their businesses. This is important both for developing new solutions for the future and for the broad prosperity of the region.”
Friso Douwstra, deputy of the Frisian executive: “Founded is a joint and integrated plan to make the Northern Netherlands the place where startups and scale-ups work on global challenges of today and the future.”
Joint launch with Future Tech Ventures
Future Tech Ventures (FTV) was also launched during the launch of Founded at the Startup Festival held in Groningen. Future Tech Ventures is a new proof-of-concept investment fund that will guide and finance high-tech startups in the Northern Netherlands over the next five years. This joint launch strengthens the collaboration between the two initiatives. Future Tech Ventures provides the necessary funding and business development for startups, and Founded provides the supporting infrastructure to grow startups. The FTV and Founded initiatives boost the region’s innovative power and economic growth. Both projects receive European funding through the Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland (SNN) to make it possible.
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