Is Amsterdam Only Good for Coffee Shops?

We did some research. Turns out, no. They also have one of the main startup hubs around Europe!

If you're into startups, or you just want to work somewhere you actually own something from day one instead of doing slides in a corporate internship, Amsterdam has something most cities don't: world-class talent density, international DNA baked in from day one, and a startup scene that genuinely punches above its weight.

AI, fintech, healthtech, regtech, agritech, devtools, climate. There's a whole wave of startups growing fast here, and not just the big names. A lot of smaller seed and pre-seed teams are actively hiring new grads too.

If you're a student, a recent grad, or someone tired of being employee #4000 somewhere, this is your sign.

Here's what's actually happening in Amsterdam right now, company by company.

AI Research & Search

Northsea — An AI-native platform automating customer research, running interview-style conversations in 80+ languages to replace slow, expensive surveys with faster, deeper insights. Raised €660K pre-seed led by CapitalT.

LangWatch — The first LLMops platform to help enterprise AI teams monitor, evaluate, and improve their AI applications before shipping, catching hallucinations and safety issues before they become PR disasters. Backed by Passion Capital, Volta Ventures, and Antler.

Promptwatch — Tracks how brands show up (or don't) across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, helping companies optimize for AI search the way they used to optimize for Google. Reached €2M in annual recurring revenue within a year of launch and just raised €6M seed.

Enterprise & Dev Tools

ReJot (YC W25) — Building Fragno, an open-source framework that lets API companies package backend endpoints and data patterns into drop-in libraries, so customers configure integrations instead of writing custom code. Founded by two former Adyen engineers.

Lleverage — A no-code AI automation platform that lets business teams describe a problem in plain language and get a working automated workflow back, no developer required. Raised €5M across two rounds in under a year, most recently from Peak.

Umbra Ai — Automates regulatory mapping for growing businesses, cutting compliance approval time by up to 90%.

Cutr (YC) — A marketplace digitizing the $1.4 trillion global woodworking industry, letting customers upload a design file, get an instant quote, and have parts made and delivered by vetted small workshops instead of hunting for a manual quote.

Findest — A VU University Amsterdam spin-out building IGOR^AI, an R&D technology-scouting platform used by ASML, Philips, Unilever, and Shell to find relevant technologies for research challenges faster. Raised €2.2M led by Partinc.

Fintech & Investing

neno — An AI-native platform automating Dutch BV company incorporation, business banking, and bookkeeping, giving new founders a Dutch-GAAP-trained accountant on call instead of a spreadsheet.

Peaks — Europe's first spare-change investing app, automatically rounding up your card purchases and investing the difference into diversified index funds. Regulated by DNB and AFM, with 130,000+ active users across the Netherlands and Germany.

Vesper — Gives grocery and food businesses a personalized view of global commodity markets, combining AI and data science to help buyers like Nestlé and Unilever negotiate and plan purchasing more effectively. Raised €5M seed led by Slimmer AI.

Voltico — Founded by the co-founder of felyx and a former Adyen engineer, Voltico automates the paperwork EV charging station operators need to cash in emission reduction credits, tapping into a compliance-heavy market most players still run through spreadsheets.

Customer Experience & Growth

Kaizo — An AI performance-management platform for customer support teams using Zendesk and Salesforce, automatically rating 100% of support tickets and gamifying agent performance. Backed by Google's Gradient Ventures.

Vox AI — A voice AI platform purpose-built for drive-thrus and quick-service restaurant operations, handling orders in 90+ languages without needing to swap out existing hardware. Raised €7.5M seed led by Headline.

SOUS — An AI agent that gives independent restaurants the same digital marketing and sales tools that big chains like Domino's have long had, automating online visibility, customer engagement, and direct orders. Raised €4M led by seed + speed Ventures.

Food, Agriculture & Marketplaces

Merqato — Combines a fruit and vegetable cooperative's own operational data with external factors like weather and retail promotions to predict supply and demand and cut food waste by roughly 10%.

Firsty.app — A global connectivity platform offering travelers and expats instant mobile data through a freemium model, with premium high-speed plans that undercut roaming costs significantly.

Healthtech & Wellbeing

Pamela Health — AI-powered medical scribing that generates clinical notes, summaries, and insights from consultations, hosted entirely in Europe and certified to ISO 27001 and NEN 7510, giving doctors back the time administrative work eats up.

Blue Health Intelligence — Runs a 360° preventive health check in about an hour, combining bloodwork, an ECG, a 3D body scan, and a doctor consultation, making the kind of screening once reserved for elite athletes accessible for €299.

Defense & Deep Tech

Intelic — Builds Nexus, command-and-control software that connects unmanned military systems across air, land, and sea into one operational picture, with onboard AI enabling autonomous missions in contested environments.

AI Infrastructure & Compute

Hivello — A DePIN aggregator letting anyone earn passive income by renting out their computer's idle CPU, GPU, bandwidth, and storage across multiple decentralized networks from one app.

Direct links to every open role at these companies are on Ceeve — no aggregator listings, no dead links, just the actual application pages.

See open roles at Amsterdam startups →