Flower subscription startup Bloomon has closed the 'Dutch Startup Deal of the Year.' The company, not even a year old, recently announced an investment (series A) of 3.5 million euro led by Dutch INKEF Capital.
The jury of the Vectrix-NextStage election chose the service out of three finalists during a grand finale on Thursday afternoon in Amsterdam. Bloomon was awarded 1.500 euro, that can be spend on one of the business trips the organisation hosts. Bloomon is fastly expanding in Europe. "I am not waiting on anyone", said co-founder Patrick Hurenkamp to StartupJuncture earlier.
The list for best Dutch startup deals of 2015/2016 was narrowed down to three companies earlier this week: Bloomon, BUX and StuDocu.
- BUX– Trading app. 6.1 million euro from Holtzbrink Ventures, Orange Growth and Velocity Capital.
- StuDocu – Student platform for sharing notes. 1.35 million euro from Peak Capital and Point Nine Capital.
The jury, including Edwin Hengstmengel (Endeit Capital) Michel Simons (NextStage, Early Stage Fund) Johan van Mil, partner Peak Capital and Ton van 't Noordende (Keadyn), looked at funding deals of startups no older than three years that raised money between April 2015 and March 2016. The startups were judged on the amount of money raised, the background of the team and investors and growth potential.
Last year, 3D printing service 3DHubs won the Dutch startup deal of the year. Other shortlisted companies included:
- Gitlab – Investment: €4M by Khosla Ventures.
- GetSocial – Investment: €2,5M by Astor Participaties, Enabling Technology Fund and Novamedia.
- Sowdan – Investment: €2,1M by Pieter Schoen, among others.
- Yippie – Investment: €600k by undisclosed business angels
- 3D Universum – Investment: €750k by NextStage Early Stage Fund en Emendo Capital
- Nestpick – Investment: €11M by Rocket Internet, Mongrove en Enern
- Deskbookers – Investment: €1,5M by Point Nine Capital, Arthur Kosten, Marcel Beemsterboer
- Pimmr – Investment: €825K / Marco Aarnink, Wilco Jiskoot, Wolf Nathan, Peter Jan Rubingh en Willem van der Hooft