LinkedIn Top Startups 2022: The 10 companies on the rise in the Netherlands

The 2022 LinkedIn Top Startups list reveals 10 emerging Dutch companies gaining attention. Backed by unique LinkedIn data measuring different elements of growth and demand, the list reveals companies like Lightyear , Pieter Pot and OpenUp that you should be paying attention to.

This article is also available in Dutch.?

As covid determined our way of living and working in the past two years. Now, nearing the end of 2022, this seems like something from the past and we are having some completely different issues to deal with. We are currently experiencing the effects of several intertwined crises that will shape our economy and the labour market in the coming years. These make for challenging times for all of us, but how startups hold up in our ever faster changing world is an interesting indicator of what the future holds.

If you want to know where the world of work is going, you would do well to keep an eye on the startup world. Our fourth annual LinkedIn Top Startups list helps with this. To compile the list, we looked at LinkedIn data across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement within the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. (You can learn more about our methodology and eligibility requirements at the bottom of this article.)

This list is ultimately meant to be a resource for jobseekers excited by the opportunity to innovate, solve big problems and grow their skills. If joining a startup is the right fit for you, check out which roles, functions and skills are in demand at each company —? and click on them to find the associated LinkedIn Learning courses to study up. If you see a company that sparks your interest, take a look at who you may know and turn on job alerts to stay on top of future opportunities.?

Here are this year’s 10 Top Startups in the Netherlands — and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.

Full-time headcount: 500 | Headquarters: Helmond | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Software Development, Manufacturing Operations | Largest job functions: Engineering, Operations, Information Technology | Most common job titles: Information Technology Architect, Software Engineer, Electrical Engineer | What they do: Lightyear builds solar powered electric cars. The company was born out of Solar Team Eindhoven, a team of technology students from The Netherlands who won the World Solar Challenge in Australia multiple times. Their aim is to make sustainable mobility widely available by 2025.

See jobs at Lightyear | See people you may know at Lightyear

Full-time headcount: 7500 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Software Development, Communication | Largest job functions: Operations, Engineering, Information Technology | Most common job titles: Driver, Order Picker, Supply Chain Associate | What they do: Picnic delivers your daily groceries at home. In 2015, they started in Amersfoort with four electric delivery vans. By now, more than 1.000 little cars are driving around delivering groceries in more than 120 cities. In 2018, they expanded their territory to Germany and since 2021 they also have a foothold in France.

See jobs at Picnic | See people you may know at Picnic

Full-time headcount: 60 | Headquarters: Rotterdam | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Project Management, Digital Marketing | Largest job functions: Operations, Marketing, Engineering | Most common job titles: Order Picker, Customer Service Representative, Category Manager | What they do: Delivering food to your home, but without disposable packaging. That, in a nutshell, is what sets Pieter Pot apart from other grocery deliverers. Everything is packed in reusable glass jars or bottles which you return for deposit to the delivery person with your next order.

More about Pieter Pot | See people you may know at Pieter Pot

Full-time headcount: 160 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Software Development, Data Science, Business Management | Largest job functions: Engineering, Finance, Marketing | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Finance Officer, Compliance Manager | What they do: Bitvavo is an app for investing in crypto currencies. The app allows you to trade in over 180 different digital valuta. The crypto exchange started 4 years ago and processes 10 billion euro worth of transactions every month.

See jobs at Bitvavo | See people you may know at Bitvavo

Full-time headcount: 260 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2017 | Most common skills: Software Development, Business Management, Data Science | Largest job functions: Finance, Engineering, Information Technology | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Account Executive, Data Analyst | What they do: Fourthline specialises in KYC, or so-called know your customer scans. This gives their customers insight in who they are doing business with. They use software that carries out hundreds of checks at lightning speed, varying from a relatively simple identity check to tracking down negative publicity.

See jobs at Fourthline | See people you may know at Fourthline

Full-time headcount: 890 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Communication, Business Management | Largest job functions: Operations, Business Development, Engineering | Most common job titles: Supply Chain Associate, Order Picker, Customer Service Representative | What they do: Fresh and local food delivered to your home – this is how Crisp wants to distinguish itself from other online food delivery companies. After raising 30 million euro in funding in 2021, the company expanded into Belgium this year. In June, a brand new distribution centre was opened there.

See jobs at Crisp | See people you may know at Crisp

Full-time headcount: 135 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Data Science, Social Media | Largest job functions: Healthcare Services, Business Development, Marketing | Most common job titles: Psychologist, Strategic Partnerships, Support Team Lead | What they do: According to OpenUp, a psychologist is like a personal trainer for your mind. Companies can take out a subscription, giving employees direct access to a certified psychologist. With their service OpenUp wants to lower the threshold to psychological help.

See jobs at OpenUp | See people you may know at OpenUp

Full-time headcount: 185 | Headquarters: Rotterdam | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Software Development, Digital Literacy, Teamwork | Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Financial Administration | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, HR consultant, Account Manager | What they do: Starting out as an online temp agency in 2019, JEX reinvented itself in 2021 as a provider of various software solutions for the temporary staffing industry. Using a Craigslist model, JEX connects companies to personnel. They also offer solutions for planning, invoicing, customer and staff management and recruitment.

See jobs at JEX | See people you may know at JEX

Full-time headcount: 75 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Software Development, Data Science | Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Marketing | Most common job titles: Account Executive, Software Engineer, Data Analyst | What they do: Vesper is an online platform that monitors the commodity market for sugar, dairy and vegetable oil. For buyers it is important to know what the market is like, so that they can buy from the right supplier at the right time. Vesper provides them with all the necessary data in one dashboard that they can personalise for their own sector.

See jobs at Vesper | See people you may know at Vesper

Full-time headcount: 185 | Headquarters: Amsterdam | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Software Development, Digital Marketing | Largest job functions: Marketing, Engineering, Operations | Most common job titles: Supply Chain Associate, Strategic Partnerships, Software Engineer | What they do: All clothes should be worn, that's what Otrium claims. To facilitate this, Otrium offers designer labels such as Hilfiger or Viktor & Rolf an online platform where surplus stock is offered to consumers at a discount. The platform raised 100 million euro in 2021 and is active in 11 European countries and the US.

See jobs at Otrium | See people you may know at Otrium

You can also check out the Top Startups in Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the U.S.

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Methodology

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July, 1 2021 through June 30, 2022.?

To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 50 or more full-time employees, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 20% or more of their workforce within the methodology time frame are also ineligible.?

About company insights

Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant country and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. All data points are measured among hires in the last year. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. The insights reflect data as of July 2022. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company’s employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company.

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Reported by: Melvin Captein

Methodology and insights by: LinkedIn Economic Graph team

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Honoree companies: 1. Lightyear | 2. Picnic | 3. Pieter Pot | 4. Bitvavo | 5. Fourthline | 6. Crisp | 7. OpenUp | 8. JEX | 9. Vesper | 10. Otrium