We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Silicon Canal! Inspired by the canals of Amsterdam and the passion of its founders, Remco Janssen started Silicon Canal in 2014 to provide essential startup news across Europe.
“Looking back to 2014, I realized that there was a lack of a reliable source of startup news for both insiders and outsiders. As a journalist and communications professional, this inspired me to start a media platform for startups, not only in the Netherlands, but also across Benelux and Europe,” he said.
Since our founding, we have experienced incredible growth and change. On May 24, 2016, we made a major transition from Dutch to English to better communicate with the diverse startup community in Amsterdam.
“To mark our 10-year journey and reaffirm our commitment to the European startup ecosystem, we are excited to introduce Silicon Canals 3.0. With a powerful backend and a clean, fresh look that meets the growing demand for news from the European tech ecosystem, we are ready for the next decade.”
To celebrate this milestone, we’re excited to share some of our most impactful stories. Check them out below.
The first few years! (2014 to 2016)
Silicon Canals was launched in 2014 to track the Dutch startup ecosystem and provide updates on the tech startup ecosystem across the Benelux region.
In September 2014, Startup Next, a large community of local volunteers active in the Amsterdam startup scene, announced the selection of seven platform-based startups that had participated in the pre-acceleration program. One of the selected startups was Veylinx, a real-world behavioral insights platform that answers important business questions.
In February 2015, Ace & Tate signed a contract to open pop-up stores in seven locations in de Bijenkorf and raised €700,000 in funding. According to founder Mark de Lange, the company also planned to expand into Germany.
In May of the same year, Rotterdam-based Bolt announced the launch of a new electric scooter. Bolt also claimed to offer the fastest scooter in the Netherlands. In November of the same year, the photo-sharing app Camarilla was launched. Camarilla allows users to share photos with up to 15 people, and is focused on groups of close family and best friends for a more intimate social experience.
In June 2015, the LOEY Starters Award sought out the best entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. 20 entrepreneurs were selected based on their growth, innovation and inspiration.
The following year, in 2016, Utrecht-based Watermelon faced challenges from WhatsApp and Facebook. WhatsApp reportedly took action against Watermelon due to its rapid growth, including blocking its advertising on Facebook and affecting its customer acquisition.
Top news from 2017 to 2020!
In March 2017, Dutch company Picnic made headlines by raising €100 million from some of the Netherlands’ wealthiest families, a major funding milestone.
In May of that year, young Dutch entrepreneur Ruben Pforz entered the private jet sector by founding the Berlin-based startup JetEight.
In May, we also looked at Rotterdam’s most interesting tech startups, highlighting companies that are making waves in the Dutch tech scene with impressive funding to fuel their growth.
The following year, in 2018, we highlighted the most groundbreaking Dutch tech startups, the most valuable tech giants in Europe, and key fintech startups to watch.
In February 2019, we covered Europe’s fastest-growing tech city. In August, we reviewed Berlin’s best electric scooters, including Lime, Circ, Tier, and VOI. In the same month, founder Remco Janssen interviewed Circ’s COO Boris Mittermüller about their upcoming line of shared electric scooters, which are set to launch in 2020.
In June 2019, we featured the 10 best online food delivery apps in London.
In September, Apple held an ‘Apple Special Event’ to unveil updates on its subscription services and new iPhone models. The event highlighted Apple’s focus on premium subscriptions as a strategy to increase revenue amid declining iPhone sales.
In the same month (September), Swedish fintech company Northmill challenged traditional banking by securing a banking license from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (SFSA).
In 2019, we also introduced nine innovative European stock trading app startups that transformed the stock market.
Highlights from 2021 to 2023
In April 2021, we listed 10 Amsterdam startups that had secured funding and were hiring for expansion in Q1. By September 2021, Amsterdam-based online supermarket Picnic had secured €600 million in Series D funding to accelerate growth and sustainability. Recent updates include an additional €355 million in funding and the first profit in the Netherlands.
In January 2022, we highlighted the exciting career prospects offered by unicorns in Amsterdam. In the same month, we also identified 24 AI startups in Amsterdam that are actively recruiting.
We continued to track hiring trends until January 2023, introducing the unicorns with vacancies in Amsterdam. In mid-2023, we expanded the scope to include the top 10 multinationals hiring in June and the top 20 SMEs hiring in July.
The following month, in August 2023, we highlighted Amsterdam startups that had secured funding that month, and in September we refreshed our list of job opportunities at Amsterdam Unicorns.
As we begin the next decade with Silicon Canals 3.0, we are committed to delivering the stories that matter most to our readers. Cheers to the next chapter. Thank you for joining us on our journey.