nannila@yesdelft.nl

Top-10 Startup Success Stories: February

Written by nannila@yesdelft.nl on February 23, 2022. Posted in All Focus Areas, News.

Another month full of highlights, developments and news from our incubator. We have collected the top-10 succes stories for you in this article. Enjoy reading!

1. Talent overview and best entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Netherlands

This year’s Talent overview in FD contains at least 10 people from our ecosystem! We are so proud to have so much young talent around. The fact that our region is rated the best Entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Netherlands by Universiteit Utrecht and Birch Consultants shows that we have a strong network to build on!

2. Whiffle

Whiffle secures €3 million to accelerate energy transition with revolutionary weather model. The capital injection is financed by impact investors SHIFT Invest and ENERGIIQ. Read more about this news in this link and find a nice video in this LinkedIn post.

Whiffle’s highly advanced weather model makes renewable energy production more predictable. The technology is of great value to the energy sector because better forecasts reduce the costs of weather risks.

3. Gerrard Street

Headphones with a lifetime service guarantee, if something breaks it can be fixed. A sustainable, circular solution that prevents unnecessary waste. Musicians of the Metropole Orchestra have chosen these durable and comfortable headphones for their live performance on stage and in the studio. Gerrard Street is very proud and launched a limited edition, 30% of the sales of these headphones will be donated to the Metropole Orchestra. Read more in this post and the site of the Metropole Orchestra.

4. Hardt Hyperloop

Scale-up Hardt Hyperloop is growing and decided to move to a new building in Rotterdam. They are moving into an 800m2 space, which is twice as big as the current location. Hardt is also building an Experience Centre there, where in addition to experiencing the hyperloop, there will also be room for co-creation between the business community, knowledge institutes and the government for the further development of the hyperloop. The full story can be found on their website and this LinkedIn post from one of the founders.

Hardt Hyperloop is involved in The Hyperconnected Europe initiative. The goals of the initiative are to explore various aspects of the future European hyperloop network, such as its layout, passenger and cargo services, stations, and impact on Europe’s sustainability goals. Read more about this initiative here or watch the video. On February 21st they revealed the design for the partners and on the 23rd for the general public.

5. Manometric

Manometric has also recently moved to a larger facility in The Hague. YES!Delft awarded them with the Scale-up of the year award because of the growth they have shown in the past years. Their team expanded to 25 people in the last four years and is still growing. See their vacancies here. Recently the team partnered up with Maikel Lobbezoo and Jim van Eeden, through UNETI Labs and the Atomico Angel Programme. More information on that news can be read here.

6. Tarnoc

Tarnoc delivered a pilot in a home in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. This is the first home in a pilot of 8 houses that will receive Tarnocs all-electric turbine heat pump. These products allow a fast transition from gas to electricity. The product fits in the same place as the original product and does not require any additional units outside of the house. The pilot is done together with De WarmteWissel. Read more information in this post.

7. Circularise

Circularise communicated they are partnering up with BEC GmbH, Grundfos, Minviro and REIA to lead a three-year innovation project. This project will help companies improve the transparency and sustainability of their supply chains when it comes to critical and rare earth materials. The company is growing and looking for more team members. They have been selected as a finalist of the Grand Prix ACF AutoTech. The Finals are on April 14th and can be attended online. They have also been selected in the second cohort of ENECHANGE Insight Ventures!

8. Nature’s Principles

SHIFT Invest and Jeroen van Rotterdam have announced they are investing in Nature’s Principles, see this post on LinkedIn. The investment will be used to expand the team and to test a larger scale pilot production. Check out the vacancies for open positions.

9. SOLHO

SOLHO develops solar off-grid energy systems to power horticultural projects, enabling unparalleled growth opportunities for greenhouse manufacturers. They are developing valuable local partnerships in the MENA region to boost solar thermal projects. Earlier this year they were selected among the four finalists in the global startup competition “Get in the ring” at the Dubai expo.

10. Sense Glove

TNO has created a Haptic Bimanual Telexistence System using SenseGlove DK1. The system enables the operator to interact with the environment many miles away by touching and feeling remote objects with the robotic arms.

Thanks to force-feedback technology the operator gets to feel what the robot “feels”, experiencing the size and density of the remote objects. This concept could help military personnel and emergency services to safely undertake dangerous tasks. Read more in their LinkedIn post. Sense Glove is listed as one of the Best Haptic VR devices 2022 by XR Today.

Next month the new Accelerator program will start again and we will present a new batch of startups to you after the 10th of March.

YES!Delft Awards 2021: these are the winners!

Written by nannila@yesdelft.nl on February 15, 2022. Posted in All Focus Areas, News.

In 2021 we continued to get used to online meetings, bump fists instead of shaking hands, and work from home where possible. We are proud of all startups in our ecosystem and would like to continue the tradition of the YES!Delft Awards to show our appreciation for the perseverance, endurance, and energy that everyone put into their company.

This year’s categories are:
– Rookie of the Year
– Rising Star
– Scaleup of the Year
– Best Promo Campaign

Reliq

Reliq won the Rookie of the year award 2021! The three co-founders, Michele, Kyriakos and Zois joined the Validation lab and the Accelerator Program at YES!Delft. They were surprised they won this award as they are still building their first product. They design hardware that helps audio professionals to save cable-management time and discover new creative possibilities.
The team indicated that they are very happy they joined YES!Delft because it enabled them to meet many inspiring people who helped them get access to funding, find a way to build a plan and business profile, and broaden their network. Keep an eye on their website this year and follow their entrepreneurial journey!

Venturi

The future of sustainable air travel is electric! Venturi’s mission is to enable 100% sustainable regional air travel and improve airlines flight operating costs. They recently unveiled the design of their Echelon 01 electric aircraft during an event at airport Teuge. The design of their first aircraft accommodates no less than 44 passengers. The next stage of the development is the conceptual design. Recently Venturi announced their partnership with Airborne on the joint engineering of low-capex manufacturing processes for flexible, lightweight airframe components and structures.

With that, they will also look to expand their team. Check out the vacancies on their website. This rising start is a company to keep an eye on going forward! YES!Delft awarded Venturi with the Rising Star Award 2021!

Manometric

Manometric’s mission is to transform orthoses and prosthetics from necessities to products people love to wear. Over the last four years, their company has grown to a diverse team of 25 people – from software engineers to orthopedic technicians. They started in a shared office at YES!Delft after joining the Accelerator Program. Recently they moved to a new office in The Hague where they could have everything under one roof and provide a pleasant environment for patients. We awarded them with the Scale-up of the Year award 2021!

In 2021 they received funding from NextGen and InnovationQuarter, which allowed them to optimise their production process and hire the best people. Pieter mentioned that a great team is essential to their organisation. His advice to entrepreneurial graduates with the ambition to start their own company is to start their career at a startup. It’s the best learning school – a steep learning curve and unique opportunities to grow into leadership positions. Manometric is also looking for additional team members! Check out the vacancies on their website and the YES!Delft startup jobs!

Wolter Wefers Bettink: Look out for the sharks

Written by nannila@yesdelft.nl on January 27, 2022. Posted in All Focus Areas, News.

After a successful career of 28 years as a lawyer and partner at various renowned law firms, Wolter Wefers Bettink decided to dedicate a day per week to advising startups on topics like intellectual property, negotiating, dealing with conflicts and other legal matters.

As a partner at Houthoff in 2012, he initiated a program providing legal support to startup companies. The main driver was the realisation that startups often do not have their legal matters adequately set up, which may only become apparent when an investor conducts due diligence. At the age of 62, he retired at Houthoff, and it was Duke Urbanik (Entrepreneur in Residence) who convinced him to join YES!Delft as a Legal Counsel in Residence in 2015.

Intellectual Property

At YES!Delft Wolter could advise founders to set things up correctly from the start instead of stepping in when things had already gone wrong. “IP is key”, Wolter says. “In Delft, there are two major IP areas of importance: Patents on technical inventions and software copyright. It is important to be informed about the possibilities and the consequences for various scenarios.”

Most of the time, startups start with a couple of founders that have an idea (often they are friends), they set up an organisation and start working together. If, after some time, one of the founders decides to leave and start a new adventure and nothing was agreed on intellectual property or copyright, this may create a severe hazard to the organisation. What if the person leaving takes their contribution with them to a new organisation?

“It is gratifying to give startups the information they need at the right time”

Over the past seven years, Wolter has seen many companies spread their wings and fly. He is proud and happy to have contributed to the success of these startups. “It is gratifying to give startups the information they need at the right time,” Wolter says. He has seen some successful companies from close by that started with a group of students, like, for example, Swapfiets. They began in 2015 and have grown into 1500 employees in four different countries, taken over by Pon in 2019. Another example Wolter has advised from the start is ParkBee, a company that quickly grew out of the YES!Delft facilities and is now scaling up internationally.

“It is important that entrepreneurs are correctly informed about their rights concerning Intellectual Property and patents. Lack of appropriate information about their rights could result in contracts they regret later. In 2020 a new regulation was created by VSNU and NFU, which calls for transparency and fair dealings with (student-)entrepreneurs,” Wolter says. “Another important element is the fact that master students have the right to request an embargo for their thesis. Thereby, they have the opportunity to apply for a patent for an invention made in the master phase, before the information becomes public.” The same applies to agreements startup founders make with clients in the case of a pilot.

A network is an essential benefit

Sometimes startups deal with issues that are too complex to discuss in a couple of hours or they require specific expertise. In these cases, Wolter referred the startups to lawyers, patent attorneys or civil law notaries in his network that could help. This network is an essential benefit of the Entrepreneurs in Residence at YES!Delft. Wolter is realistic about networks too and says: “My network watered down a bit”.

In 2019 he realised it was essential to add legal expertise in investments, shareholders agreements and financing, and he introduced Philip van Verschuer, a former partner at Loyens & Loeff. Philip is continuing his work as Legal Counsel in Residence at YES!Delft. To make up for Wolter’s departure, YES!Delft is partnering with several law firms, where startups can purchase legal advice on contracts and IP at reasonable rates. Another positive development he has seen over the years is that YES!Delft is currently more focused on funding, which is crucial for startups.

What is the best advice for young entrepreneurs thinking of starting a company?

Wolter indicates that the most crucial element is creating a team of good people who click together. This is one of the reasons that part of the YES!Delft Accelerator program focuses on team analysis.

In addition to this, it is essential to have endurance and resilience to keep going. There will be rough moments in the entrepreneurial journey, and persistence will pull you thru.

Furthermore, you should be able to make the right decisions at the right time. This sometimes means you need to say goodbye to people who are not a good fit for your organisation, or develop a new product when there is no market for the original one.

And last but not least: Look out for the sharks! Become streetwise and do not agree to any binding contracts with people with different intentions.

After seven years, we say goodbye to Wolter. We are very thankful for all the energy Wolter put into our startups. Looking ahead into the future, Wolter indicated he would like to stay active and spend more time with his family. He will also remain active as a mediator in his own company Wefers Bettink, perhaps do some writing and give legal advice to startups if requested. There will undoubtedly be interesting new challenges on his path!

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Editorial note: If you would like to find more information about Intellectual property and the legal position for TU Delft students, visit: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/student/legal-position/intellectual-property

Do you want to see who and what can help you in your way to startup? Then visit the TU Delft Campus website to find an overview of the several programmes, events and parties.

Do you have a startup and would you like to enter our incubator, join our Validation Lab or Accelerator Program and meet our Entrepreneurs in Residence.

Meet the accelerator batch fall 2021

Written by nannila@yesdelft.nl on November 4, 2021. Posted in All Focus Areas, News. 1 Comment

We are very proud to welcome the following companies to our Accelerator batch of this autumn!

With the help of our experts and mentors, through workshops and one-on-one sessions the startups are more than ready to change the world with their innovative ideas. Learn more about their goals, aspirations and cutting edge technologies in this article.

DUCKDUCKGOOSE

Deepfake technology has become incredibly accessible and the number of applications is numerous. But this also makes abuse more accessible. Experts at UCL have ranked deepfakes as the most serious AI crime threat. Examples of abuse include identity fraud, false burden of proof, and fake news. With the ever increasing digitisation and the speed of internet platforms, convincing deepfakes can quickly reach millions of people or get involved in all kinds of processes and influence every facet of our lives negatively. And that’s exactly where DuckDuckGoose comes in.

DuckDuckGoose is on a mission to create a digital environment where we can still believe what we perceive. Through advances in artificial intelligence and computer vision, we make it possible to detect deepfakes in an insightful manner. Our explainable deepfake detection tool uncovers deepfake selfies presented in the digital identity verification (IDV) process, helping IDV experts in avoiding false positives when it comes to identification of people.

TECTIVE ROBOTS

Farmers are facing increasingly restrictive legislation on chemical usage, whilst having to deal with more extreme weather conditions and decreasing margins. Precision agriculture techniques hold a great promise: to reduce chemical usage by 30%, whilst increasing yields by 30%. At the core of precision agriculture lies the need for per-plant crop health monitoring. The cost of acquiring this data is a limiting factor. Tective Robotics is working with farmers to create a fully automated crop surveying service using a network of dronehubs. By automating the entire drone flight process from our hubs, we provide farmers with a care-free, low-risk and cost-effective alternative to buying and flying their own drones. Each hub can accommodate hundreds of farmers, creating a shared infrastructure in the Netherlands that will benefit both farmers and create opportunities for many other usecases.

ACOUSTIC INSIGHT BV

Acoustic Insight develops an innovative medical device based on an optical echo to identify middle-ear abnormalities for ear specialists around the world.

Acoustic Insight develops an innovative diagnostics platform offering ear surgeons around the world exceptional insight in the well-being of the middle ear. Our technology accurately identifies morphological and conductive abnormalities allowing ear specialists to enhance treatment plans for their patients.

LANEFYLD

The Lanefyld rollator prevents rollator related accidents. With our product we enable nursing homes to provide better quality of care for their residents and reduce healthcare costs.

Lanefyld wants to become the “Tesla” of the rollator market. 50% of all people using a rollator are doing so incorrectly which causes lots of accidents.These accidents can have a significant impact on a person’s life as they can become isolated, are unable to live at home or sometimes even pass away. In order to solve this problem, we utilize smart technology to assess if an accident is about to happen, just like Tesla. In case of a dangerous situation, the system automatically activates the electric brakes in order to stop the accident from happening. We combine our technology with a beautiful design because we believe that functionality and aesthetics should always go hand in hand.

NATURE’S PRINCIPLES

Nature’s Principles B.V. is a Dutch biochemical startup developing a patented fermentation technology to produce L-lactic acid directly from sugar beet, in a up to 30% more cost-efficient process. Our lactic acid will be provided to PLA (bioplastics) producers with an LCA calculation that includes up to 500x less water usage than traditional water depleting production processes.

VERTIGO TECHNOLOGIES B.V.

Vertigo Technologies is a Dutch startup expert in the development of microwave and millimeter wave equipment. With “Fresco Microwave Sensing” , Vertigo is introducing a new series of sensors for the inspection of internal properties of fresh fruit, like ripening stage, freshness or shelf-life, without affecting the fruit. Fresco sensors can be used in the entire fresh fruit value chain, from farm to import/export and retail, in the form of both handheld and sorting line devices, to optimize logistics and reduce waste.

MAGNETO B.V.

In Magneto, we believe that people don’t have to sacrifice our planet for their comfort or vice versa. Current heating and cooling are some of the biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions. Our technology offers an alternative to producers of systems for cooling and heating. An alternative that has zero greenhouse gas emissions, saves up to 30% of power consumption to their clients, and has a lower cost of ownership. No need to sacrifice our comfort for our planet!

Author: nannila@yesdelft.nl

1. Talent overview and best entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Netherlands

2. Whiffle

3. Gerrard Street

4. Hardt Hyperloop

5. Manometric

6. Tarnoc

7. Circularise

8. Nature’s Principles

9. SOLHO

10. Sense Glove

Reliq

Venturi

Manometric

Intellectual Property

A network is an essential benefit

What is the best advice for young entrepreneurs thinking of starting a company?

Our startups and scale-ups have celebrated lots of successes in this last month of 2021. New measures against the pandemic are forcing everyone to reduce contact, however we continue to do business, receive funding, expand teams and win pilots!

4. Micro Cosmos

5. Yooom BV, Flux Medical Systems & Hello 24/7

YES!DELFT START- AND SCALE-UPS HAVE CELEBRATED A LOT OF SUCCESSES AGAIN THIS MONTH. FROM SECURING INVESTMENTS TO GETTING FEATURED BY NEWS OUTLETS AND PARTNERING UP WITH BIG CORPORATES! FIND OUT ALL ABOUT IT IN THIS MONTH’S TOP 10 STARTUP SUCCESS STORIES!

4. DeNoize

MAGNETO B.V.

IS YOUR STARTUP READY TO BE PART OF THE NEXT ACCELERATOR BATCH?

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