Start to scale. Startup and Scale-up Founder Stories.

Crijn Bouman is a pioneer in EV charging. In 2005 - long before EVs were a hype - he co-founded Epyon, one of Europe’s first fast-charging startups. That company later sold to ABB, where he grew thei…

Marta spent over a decade backing startups as a VC. Now, she’s on the other side of the table, scaling Paebbl across Europe - balancing deep-tech innovation, manufacturing at scale, and a fast-growin…

Marjolein is a driving force for digital well-being and responsible tech. In 2022, she left a successful career as a lawyer, mediator, and privacy expert to launch ChatLicense, helping families navig…

Philip co-founded Senz in 2005 with two fellow students. Together they created the 'original storm umbrella' that - pun intended - took the world by storm. 

Later on, Philip joined sleep startup Somno…

Kiki leads Thorizon, a revolutionary deeptech company backed by the EU, creating thorium-based molten salt reactors. Thorizon was founded by Lucas Pool and Sander de Groot as a spin-off from the nati…

Jouri is the founder and CEO of Pieter Pot, one of the most talked-about startups in the Netherlands. 

The online supermarket, known for using jars instead of plastic packaging, experienced rapid grow…

Jos is a passionate entrepreneur who started his journey early, registering his first business at the age of just 15. In 2013 he got involved in Bitcoin and became captivated by its transformative po…

From a young age, Koen built websites for clients, leading to his first startup, CompanySpot, the Dutch version of Glassdoor. Koen later played key roles at platforms like Hyves, Relatieplanet and Du…

Berend is on a mission to revolutionize the agriculture industry. 

With a Master in High-Tech Engineering ánd a Master in Management of Technology, he founded Plense Technologies together with Thijs B…

Immediately after graduating from TU Delft, Sander and Auke developed an innovative product called HeatCycle - which recovers all heat from household wastewater. That led them to win the ASN World Pr…

Let me introduce Inventor, Biodesigner and Entrepreneur: Bob Hendrikx.

With a background in Architectural Engineering Bob strives for a world in which we work in symbiosis with nature. In 2020 he foun…

With a masters degree in Complex Systems, Josefien Groot went from national boxing champion to Scale-up CEO, advocating for a sustainable future. 

Before reaching the age of 21, she had already establ…

After he completed his master in strategic product design from Delft University, Dorus began to do graphic studio work together with his fellow student Delft Tom. 

From a deep love for music and the d…

With Master’s degrees in Strategy and Marketing, she excelled in mobility. From cutting carbon footprint at General Motors to boosting fleet growth at Greenwheels. 

In 2021, Bibi co-founded umob with …

In the last episode of this year, Up!Rotterdam's Lars & Lisette reflect on the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Rotterdam and its development over the past 4 years.

We'll talk about:

• How our scale-up ecos…

During his PhD research, Wang explored robots' societal impact on the elderly, especially with dementia. 

In 2015, he left that and founded Tinybots, to make a tangible difference for those with cogni…

With a Master in Hydraulic Engineering from Delft Technical University and an Executive MBA from INSEAD, he spent 15 years with Shell, where his latest roles included Investment Director for Shell ve…

Joris Biskop is the former CTO of Luxexcel, 3d printing lens specialist, which was recently acquired by Meta for €400 million. Based on his insights there, he founded Addoptics, of which he is now th…

With a background in biology and a passion for environmental conservation, George embarked on a unique journey that led him from asset management to the world of oyster reef restoration. 

After comple…

In this episode I speak with Auke Bleij, Founder of Respyre - the fascinating startup that helps cities turn green through a special concrete that holds moss. Respyre is a spin-off from Delft Technic…