Start to scale. Startup and Scale-up Founder Stories‪.‬ Up!Rotterdam

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 Prize in 2020. Later they added the sleek and smart AO heatpump, that won the iF Design Award 2024 out of almost 11,000 entries from 72 countries. Today, DeWarmte is well underway to install their 3000th heat pump by the end of 2024.In this episode, we'll talk about:A smarter way to get residential ...

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 founded Loop Biotech, on a mission to revolutionize the funeral industry - through coffins that turn people into plant food.Bob's journey received widespread attention, making headlines in Wired, CNN, The Guardian, and the BBC. VICE Media even awarded him the title of Human of the Year. His backe...

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 established and sold her first business specializing in circular products. In 2017, she co-founded QLayers alongside Ruben Geutjens. Her significant contributions have been widely recognized through numerous accolades, including the prestigious European Rising Innovator and EY Emerging Entrepreneur...

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 determination to stand up against the industry with products that produce massive electronic waste - they started Gerrard Street, in 2015, which was later renamed Repeat Audio. Today, Repeat offers a range of modular high fidelity headphones. Notable users include the Metropole Orchestra,...

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 Raymon Pouwels. They secured 8M in funding within two years. And today, umob stands as the first MaaS operator in the Netherlands to integrate all three e-moped operators (Check, GO Sharing & felyx) into one platform.In this episode, we'll talk about:The opportunities and business model i...

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 ecosystem developed over the past 4 years;Who you found the most interesting founders this year;All you ever wanted to know about Up!Rotterdam.Links mentioned:People: Lars Crama, Lisette Braakenburg, Hans Scheffer, Friso Schmidt, Han Kleppe, Fonger Ypma, Koen Burgers, Mattijs Slee, Nalden, Ellen S...