Amsterdam dominates tech funding activity in The Netherlands, but it's still far below levels seen in London, Paris and Berlin

Amsterdam-based startups are off to a relatively slow start in 2016, at least in fundraising terms, according to data collected and analysed by tech.eu and Dealroom.

Technology companies based in The Netherlands' capital raised €37 million in the first four months of 2016 across 24 investments, compared to €31 million and 20 deals in the same period a year ago. This represents a year-on-year 17% drop, both in total investment volume and number of deals.

To put things in perspective, according to our data, London-based startups raised €680 million in Q1 2016, Paris €273 million and Berlin €194 million. Those in Amsterdam, just €24 million.

This sluggish start to the year takes place after what was arguably a very solid year for Amsterdam’s technology scene. According to our carefully curated data sets, local startups completed a total of 75 financing rounds in 2015, combining for more than €300 million.

As visible on the graph above, the third quarter of last year was the most active both in terms of investments and total capital deployed, with 25 deals worth a combined €217 million.

Financing rounds from Afrimax (€109 million) and Catawiki (€74 million) were the largest of 2015 for companies headquartered in Amsterdam.

Other notable recent investments in The Netherlands include Adyen’s undisclosed round led by Iconiq Capital, which pushed its valuation from $1.5 billion to $2.3 billion, and e-commerce giant Coolblue, which according to some sources raised more than €140 million in April 2016.

The following graph shows fundraising activity from Amsterdam-based companies, excluding the two aforementioned big (and trend-skewing) rounds from Afrimax and Catawiki.

Amsterdam’s technology companies accounted for the majority of investments in Dutch startups in 2015, with more than 50% of all country-wide deals, the same percentage seen in the first four months of 2016.

As we’ve previously noted, Amsterdam’s startup scene has grown tremendously over the past few years, but still has room for improvement if certain aspects are addressed. Building a critical mass of scale-ups that are able to attract large sums of capital seems to be one of them, at least according to the first few months of 2016 and in comparison to Europe's other top cities.

**Also read:**

Startup Amsterdam: can the Dutch capital catch up to Europe’s top startup hubs, London and Berlin?

How Amsterdam’s Rockstart supports startups, the ‘rock bands of the industry’

The unicorn of Amsterdam: Catching up with Adyen co-founder and CEO Pieter van der Does

Inside global startup accelerator Startupbootcamp’s offices in B.Amsterdam

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