Golden Egg Check

Our Anna Dyachenko was featured on the Startup Pass-port podcast! In 6 minutes of 🔥 she explains the power of a peer-to-peer community and the support that founders can bring each other. "I saw a lot of sugar-coated success stories that never seemed to experience set-backs. But obviously not everyone will succeed. If we accept and normalize failures then people might be less hesitant to start a company." 👉🏼 Available on: YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dz9Psxq9 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dh637euw Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gFvPnRYe Erasmus Enterprise NL Startup Competition

Yes! We had our final closing of our oversubscribed first fund this week! We raised €5M, the hard cap, to become the most active VC in the Netherlands. 💪 As we've been doing for the past 2 years now, currently having a portfolio of 22 amazing companies, we will invest this capital in tech companies with our distinctive co-investment strategy, in which we always invest together with specialized venture capitalists or with a group of relevant angel investors. Thomas Mensink, partner at GEC Capital: "We have now invested together with, for example, Speedinvest, Norrsken VC and Curiosity VC. We benefit from their knowledge and expertise. At the same time, we contribute to our network of investors so that our portfolio companies have faster and better access to (follow-up) capital. This way we can do many deals with a small team and ensure optimal spread for our investors." GEC Capital I: 💪 brings together several (former) tech entrepreneurs  🎯 aims on about 35 investments in tech startups in 3 years 💰 invests in early-stage tech companies Gilles Meijer, founder of Golden Egg Check and partner at GEC Capital: “We generally invest in Pre-Seed and Seed, but in terms of sector we are broadly interested because we always co-invest with a specialist. With our €5 million we can make 30 to 35 investments and still have enough in reserve to continue investing in the most successful companies.” Read our press release: https://lnkd.in/eHmiK4A6

📈 What’s happening?! 📊 The growth of investments in Dutch startups is not continuing. After a strong first quarter, investments in Dutch startups have declined compared to Q1. 'Only' €440M was invested in Q2. The number of deals has decreased by 20% in total compared to the same quarter last year. This is the main insight from the Quarterly Startup Report, a quarterly data analysis of Dealroom.co, Golden Egg Check, KPMG NL Emerging Giants, the Regionale Ontwikkelingsmaatschappijen (ROM’s), Nederlandse Vereniging van Participatiemaatschappijen (NVP), Techleap, Invest-NL and Dutch Startup Association (dSa). The decline is also due to the size of the investments: especially very large rounds of around €100M and higher were missing this quarter. These rounds are exceptional and difficult to predict in the Netherlands anyway. Compared to the second quarters in previous years, there is now also a decline. A significant part of the decline comes from the number of Series A deals (€4-15M) which went from 20 in Q2 2023 to 10 last quarter. In the early phase, in rounds up to €1M, the number of investments increased, from 14 to 19, compared to the first quarter. The top 3 largest deals of the past quarter: 1. Axelera AI $68M 2. BioBTX €42M (though total round including loan and subsidies was €80M) 3. Mosa Meat €40M Thomas Mensink comments on behalf of Golden Egg Check: "It is striking that in 2024 there have been almost half fewer investments in the segment from 4 to 15 million euros. These are typical Series A rounds. Where previously the challenge was mainly in the early phase, up to 1 million euros, and the large rounds in the later phase, it now seems to be in the middle. Perhaps companies are still waiting for the right time to come back to the market for their Series A round." Read all about startup funding in Q2 in the press release > https://lnkd.in/dSucnQwh Dr. Job Andreoli Mustafa Torun Lucien Burm Emma Bell Felix Zwart Friso Schmid Johan Schaap Nina C. Orla Browne Romy Menten Chiara Parisi Bob Rietveld Myrthe Hooijman Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau Rinke Zonneveld Izzy Sayers

At the end of May, the very first edition took place of the brand new NL Startup Competition, a regional event aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. Startups from various sectors applied across Social, Energy Transition, Digital, and Circular/Sustainable. Out of 109 applicants, 16 startups pitched their innovative ideas during the Upstream Festival at Poppodium Annabel in Rotterdam. Competing in front of an expert jury, the startups showcased their projects. Liesje Goldschmidt, Head of Business Development at Erasmus Enterprise and co-founder of NL Startup Competition: “It was a pleasure to co-organise this great new event together with Erasmus University Rotterdam, MT/Sprout and Golden Egg Check, whos software tool ‘Startup Challenge platform’ we used for the applications of the startups. With the software, we were able to make a good selection out of the huge number of talented and ambitious applicants.” “We are very proud to have helped 16 startups in social, digital, energy transition and circular/sustainable with their next step. Our competition attracted startups not only from Zuid-Holland but from all over the country, which shows the huge potential of the Netherlands when it comes to entrepreneurship and innovation.” On top of the category prizes (prize money, a valuable network and knowledge), the judges awarded ChatLicense and its co-founder Marjolein van Tilburg 🤙🏻 with an entry ticket to the Top 100 Bootcamp for the Entrepreneurship World Cup in Riyad. The Golden Egg Check Startup Challenge platform (https://lnkd.in/e5uvvbxa) is a closed environment in which participating ideas can shape their registration based on the structure drawn up by us (or the organization). The participants, organization and jury all work in one platform, making the challenge process more efficient, manageable and easier. Pre-register for next year's edition of NL Startup Competition: https://lnkd.in/ey6TzvTt Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau

Tomorrow. Groningen. Founders & VCs. We're co-organising Northern Founders Summer Drinks 2024 🥂🫒 Hope to see you there! Sign-up via https://lu.ma/vjxuvj22 FounderFuel.vc Max Schalow 👨🚀 Chingiskhan Kazakhstan 🤠 Curiosity VC Herman Kienhuis LUMO Labs Federico Pisano Founded Tjarda Polderman VentureLab North Richard Rushby Golden Egg Check Anna Dyachenko Ytsen van der Meer Thomas Mensink

The fundraising challenge is real…. - How much to raise? How much dilution is acceptable? - What dealterms can kill future investment rounds? - How to create momentum and investor FOMO? In short: how to raise venture capital for your startup in the most optimal way? To prepare founders for fundraising, Golden Egg Check designed the Investor Readiness Bootcamp. Besides sessions led by Thomas Mensink and Gilles Meijer (Golden Egg Check), we often invite external experts such as Joyce Mackenzie Liu (Pegafund) and Sjoerd Mol (Benvalor) to share insights and best practices regarding topics such as the fundraising process, finance & metrics and term sheets. Recently, NV NOM and Founded asked us to organize an Investor Readiness Program (IRP) for founders in the North. And last week, we closed off with the final session of this program with a negotiation game hosted by Niek Huizenga, and an inspiring fireside chat by Lusanne Tehupuring (Enatom) and Meron Mekonnen (LUMO Labs). This is some feedback from participating founders: "The workshops were really nice and interesting. It was a real pleasure to meet the trainers and other founders and hope to see you all again soon." - Anton van Halteren (DataQueue) "The sessions were really good. It helped me to get into the discourse and language and get additional understanding  👍" - Ivo Kooijman (IMPLICAN B.V.) "I especially appreciate the practical aspect of the bootcamp (i.e how the mechanics works), now I certainly feel more equipped for the fundraising process. Thanks to all the trainers and organizers!" - Amar Kamat (Sencilia) Thanks Leonie Ebbes and Niek Huizenga for setting this up! And thanks to all participating founders for your pitches, questions and dedication! #InvestmentReadiness #entrepreneurs #investing #BusinessGrowth #founders #techstartup #venturecapital

🚀 Exciting News! 🚀 We're thrilled to announce that Golden Egg Check Capital supports Cawa, which raised €500k to increase trust in the voluntary carbon credit market! The investment was led by Shamrock Ventures and supported by Golden Egg Check and a group of experienced angel investors. 🌍 Meet Cawa and understand our decision to support Cawa in their mission to help remove megatons of CO2 from the atmosphere: 1. Traceability 🔎 Up to 85% of climate financing gets lost in intermediaries. Cawa fixes that and makes sure you know where your climate funding ends up. 2. High-quality carbon removal 💪 Cawa does the due diligence to make sure it only selects high-quality carbon removal credits. 3. Insights for stakeholders 📊 Clients, consumers or employees know exactly where climate funding ends up and what the impact is. Cawa’s API infrastructure enables platforms and companies to buy transparent, high-quality carbon credits, linking each transaction to individual stakeholders and providing complete impact info. Since the start, the Cawa software has already been integrated in platforms across the Netherlands 🇳🇱, UK 🇬🇧, Denmark 🇩🇰, and Spain 🇪🇸. Ytsen van der Meer, venture partner at Golden EGg Check Capital, adds: "Cawa presents a compelling opportunity in the rapidly growing carbon credits market, offering a transparent and scalable solution through their API infrastructure. We're impressed by Kees van Santen's deep industry knowledge and clear vision, which positions Cawa to significantly impact the sector and drive real environmental benefits." Kees van Santen, co-founder of Cawa, says: "This funding round demonstrates investors’ belief in the necessity of a transparent voluntary carbon market with high-quality carbon credits. The goal is to support as many good climate projects as possible by helping them secure funding. With this investment, we can assist more companies in responsibly purchasing carbon credits and developing climate projects."

PROUD TO ANNOUNCE: Golden Egg Check takes part in an investment of €1.1 million in Haaven, in a pre-seed round led by Speedinvest! With the investment Haaven is paving the way for expansion in Italy and The Netherlands.  This is the smart way Haaven works (and the reason Golden Egg Check is joining!): ⚡ The platform connects architects, engineers, and prefab builders to help customers design their dream (sustainable) homes and guiding them through the process ⚡ It is an integrated and innovative approach which lets customers plan and realize their construction project in one place  ⚡ Haaven leverages its expanding database to match customers and builders that best meet specific needs Dédé Kruisman, co-founder and CEO at Haaven: “If we can allow the various stakeholders to negotiate with each other more efficiently, we will move towards a product-based sector, in which the customer can really make his own choices, make his own configurations and where you as a builder or contractor know what to expect. Haaven is in between with smart tools and ensures that they can communicate with each other.” Thomas Mensink (Golden Egg Check): “We've been in touch with Dédé and Sacha Bloem for some time now, and were impressed by their drive and vision. With Speedinvest as lead investor, we are very excited to join this round with our fund!" Other investors joining Speedinvest in this great funding round: Quintin Schevernels (ex-CEO of Funda), Mike de Boer (ex-CFO of Knab), Eric Klaassen (co-founder of Crisp), Erik Nieuwenhuis (Founder of 12Build) Andre Grimbergen (co-founder of Albelli; founder of WONDR), and Paolo Moresco (Italian family office). Want to get to know Dédé and his ambitious ideas better?  📑 Read this article https://lnkd.in/euwjGiz7 🎧 And listen to the podcast of Golden Egg Checks Thomas Mensink talking with Dédé https://lnkd.in/eyAbw5dJ

Let’s meet at TNWs The Next Web Conference on June 20 & 21 at the Taets Art and Event Park in Amsterdam! As a partner of TNW, we were excited to co-host Virtual Open Office Hours last week, connecting startups and investors before the conference and setting the stage for future collaborations. For that reason, we might or might not have a couple of free tickets left for active VCs, angel investors and family offices :) 🫵 Golden Egg Check's Anna Dyachenko, Thomas Mensink, Gilles Meijer and Ytsen van der Meer will attend TNW 🎉 Also meet our portfolio companies and co-investors such as: The Social Handshake, Roseman Labs, orq.ai, 4impact capital, Arches Capital, No Such Ventures and Curiosity VC 🎫 Are you a partner at a VC firm, an active angel or LP? Contact us to secure your free spot at TNW! #TNWconference #startup #founders #entrepreneurship #tech

We attended the Lead Today Shape Tomorrow conference Vienna this week. It was great to meet so many female founders and other investors! The panel discussion with our portfolio founder Anastasia Kuskova (Sirius) and the partners of Fund F by Female Founders about fundraising challenges, and how to overcome them, was truly inspiring! We also had the closing dinner to celebrate the investment that Sirius announced earlier this year. Although Golden Egg Check Capital was among the first to commit, it did take some time to formally close the round 😅 but we're super happy to be part of Sirius' journey and we feel honoured to invest alongside the interesting people of Fund F, WEPA Ventures and BlackWood! 🙌 Thanks for the event Female Founders and good to finally meet you in-person Nina Wöss, Lisa-Marie Fassl, Jaysri Thangam, Pasinee Tangsuriyapaisan, Till Rösnick, Sergey Tyan and Galina Donnik!