Interview with StartupAmsterdam

Intro

Last month uPledge was shortlisted to pitch and showcase their solution at The Next Web Conference 2022 (“TNW 2022”). Taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, TNW 2022 featured technology giants and the most promising industry leaders to showcase and present ideas to the world.

During the event, our CEO and co-founder Andrew had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Joël Dori from Startup Amsterdam for an in-depth interview on the impact and sustainability landscape in the world of startups.

Startup Amsterdam is an action programme run by the City of Amsterdam that brings the public and private sectors together to support startups, scale-ups, entrepreneurs, and other players in the local ecosystem.

The interview

Andrew: I’m here with Joel from Startup Amsterdam. Now I've been told two things about you, that you are the startup liaison and that you are also their most outrageous person. Could you tell me a little about yourself and your role?

Joël: Wow, who said that? Well, I don’t know about the last part but yes I do mainly look after and manage our community of startups. Ever since university I've loved working with startups, the ideas and the founders, and getting hands-on involved with them. This role (at StartupAmsterdam) is my first job after university in fact. What I really enjoy about it is that you can see how fast the innovation landscape is changing, and now we’re starting to orient our programmes towards startups with solutions that support and make society better.

Andrew: Are there any solutions right now by startups that you think are needed more urgently and how do you find the startups that provide them?

Joël: Well we conduct a lot of outreach via programmes and events such as this one (The Next Web Conference), where we can provide a platform for the startups to gather and gain visibility. Recently we have been focusing on Smart and Digital Health startups that could help to enhance the well-being of the people here in the Netherlands, especially in this post-pandemic era.

Andrew: Yeah I actually noticed (on this board) behind us, the logos of 10 startups that you are currently featuring at this event (TNW)?

Joël: Exactly, and some of them are here today, we are providing them each a booth to showcase their products to conference attendees, and later there will be a live pitching session right on this stage where a large audience will be present.

Andrew: Awesome! And I love this setup you have going on here, lots of red, almost like a VIP red carpet area. I am aware that two of your startups, BeeSage and HealthCurious will be pitching at the TNW Bootstrage Pitch Battle later today with uPledge. We were all selected as three of the Top 8 that will be presenting to the panel! Do you think there is an underlying theme that helped in this selection process? To clarify, uPledge is not Healthtech but we are a Climate tech.

Joël: Yes definitely, I'm sure that during the selection process, there are considerations on the types of startups that have both viability in their solutions as well as external-facing impact. These events are also a great opportunity to meet the interested investors and stakeholders, so it could be reflecting themes that are currently in demand with the general audience.

Andrew: By any chance, did Startup Amsterdam have a say in which startups were selected for the Pitch Battle?

Joël: No, not at all, we’re impartial to the shortlisted startups. Congratulations on being selected by the way!

Andrew: Thank you - I can promise that we’re all gonna put on a memorable show!

So let’s move on to specifically talk about the Impact and Sustainability domain for startups. How important is this emergence of Impact or Climate Tech startups in this day and age?

Joël: More and more important every day, and there are good signs that we are seeing a mindset shift in the startup world towards sustainability. Many stakeholders including Startup Amsterdam believe that new companies need to go above and beyond just making a profit. They must also be able to show that they are contributing positively to society. Increased awareness by the general public demands for solutions from service providers that help to reduce carbon emissions or at the very least not negatively impact the environment.

Andrew: That’s interesting but somehow not unexpected because when people think of Amsterdam and the Netherlands, one popular imagery is the windmills. Windmills are commonly associated with green and sustainable energy. It is a good thing then that as a region, you are also exemplifying the image that has been portrayed.

What are some examples of sustainable solutions that you have seen in recent months?

Joël: Well we have seen startups that come from a variety of different industries. Clean energy and the circular economy are some of the more popular domains, making sure that the production and consumption of energy, raw materials and resources are as efficient as possible. These solutions have a direct impact on cities such as Amsterdam as well, where we care about reducing wastage.

Aside from that, sustainable fashion has also become more popular among consumers, as the clothing and apparel industry has traditionally been known to be carbon intensive.

Andrew: These are such important insights, and it is great hearing them from you as an enabler helping to foster these solutions. Have there been startups yet that focus on sustainable finance or climate fintech?

Joël: We have not seen many yet - however Fintech innovations are usually quite complicated, so it could be that they are just slightly early in the curve.

Andrew: Well it is definitely coming, a rising wave of Climate Fintechs! Fintechs have been notoriously known for their tenacity in driving profit margins and big returns to their investor bases. It is time that they started caring about ethical and sustainable returns.

Let’s unpack some challenges that are generally faced by Climate Tech startups - being a relatively new domain, we have heard feedback that stakeholders do not easily grasp the need for impact-related products and it has also been more difficult to secure funding in this area.

Joël: Well this is generally true for most startups, but of course when a domain is new, there needs to be more education and awareness generated in order to increase the general acceptability among stakeholders. What we try to do is to find a way to expose and highlight our startups through targeted programmes and initiatives, sometimes oriented towards a particular theme such as sustainability. Because what we find is that while we are highlighting a certain domain, ie. Smart Health, there are usually spillover effects where the stakeholders would also have interests in other types of social or impact causes.

Andrew: I get exactly what you mean by spillover effects - sometimes when you raise the general awareness of a subdomain, you raise awareness also for the entire domain as a whole. And the learnings can also be shared because most of the impact startups are trying to solve the same macro problems, ie. carbon reduction, but across a multitude of different domains.

There was a really interesting impact startup called Nettle that we met during our (uPledge) Startupbootcamp Sustainability 2021 cohort. Their innovation was creating a type of filament from recycled bio-polymers mixed with fibers of the nettle plant waste. Despite their successes, however, we heard from them that it was still a big challenge to communicate the idea to investors because there was still a knowledge gap in terms of communicating the impact implications and issues that their product could solve.

What are your thoughts regarding the availability of impact funding here in the Netherlands?

Joël: Yes it can indeed be a challenge, but I would go back to my earlier point that by raising awareness with stakeholders such as investors in one area of the Impact domain, we are able to improve the market perception as a whole. Startup Amsterdam actually has a number of planned initiatives for impact and sustainability startups and investors later in the year. So we’ll be releasing more information at a later date.

Andrew: Sounds very promising, where can impact startups find more information about these initiatives?

Joël: You can visit our page o Linkedin or our website for current and upcoming initiatives. Additionally, in partnership with Dealroom, we have created an Amsterdam Startup Map where you can explore the local tech ecosystem.

Andrew: Thank you so much for your time Joël, looking forward to what’s coming next!

Joël:  Thank you!

End

µPledge is a crowdfunding solution that helps investors improve their financial wellness while connecting them to verified sustainable startups. In support of the UN's Sustainable Developmental Goals, their mission is to create an equity investing experience that is lower risk and more sustainable.