CONCLUSION

COL data report - 1 st July 2020

When looking at the data in this report it becomes clear that the COL is a government facility that provides the necessary relief for innovative startups, scaleups and SMEs in the Netherlands battling the negative effects of the COVID19 crisis. We’re sharing 4 observations on why the COL reaches key areas of innovation and makes impact. First, this reflects in the sectors that drive innovation and that represent the largest chunk in the applications, such as Medtech, CleanTech & Energy, Hightech systems, Agritech & Food and Softtech, who together take up a total of 85% of all applications. Furthermore, the sectors Hightech, Medtech and Life Sciences are the top 3 sectors that have the highest approval rates. Second, this can also be derived from the fact that most companies applied from regions with large innovation hubs such as Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and NoordBrabant.

Third, a large part of the total of 600 businesses that have been approved for a COL loan are businesses that are already in a scaleup phase and/or have an investor on board, which indicates a proven innovation and a sustainable business model. And lastly, almost all applications indicate that due to COVID19, runways are 4 times shorter than normal, which is problematic for businesses that by nature don’t have much meat on the bones to begin with. This also correlates with the fact that approved applications generally have a lower cash position. Currently the ROMs still continue to assess COL applications until the 1st of October. This works via the tender-system as described in chapter 2. But even when the COL is finished, the applicants indicated a financing need after these 9 months worth a total of €1.3 billion, which requires an approach that unlocks structural funding and that we as Techleap.nl keep working on together with our partners to make sure these important innovations can continue to grow in the Netherlands. NB. This report is showing the first results of the data and does not include the full reporting of the ROMs on these applications. We are working on a more extensive report which is due in the autumn of 2020, when the COL is officially finished.

This report has been created by

in collaboration with