Featured in FT’s “Let’s Launch In” series, Rotterdam is an up-and-coming startup hub

As entrepreneurs look for new and supportive environments to launch their businesses, Rotterdam is “a city on the up,” according to a recent article by TheFinancial Times (FT).

Featured as part of FT’s “Let’s Launch In…” series, Rotterdam—famously home to Europe’s busiest maritime port—provides a number of attractive features for startups looking to launch in Europe. With its strong ties to Erasmus University Rotterdam, particularly its School of Management and Medical Center, the city’s startup ecosystem is driven largely by medical and corporate entrepreneurship—but at the heart is the Erasmus Center for Entrepreneurship, which provides incubation services, networking and competitions for startup companies and works with big companies that want to connect with startups.

U.S.-based Cambridge Innovation Center recently chose Rotterdam as its first overseas hub, providing workspace, networking and tech startup know-how to 500 companies and entrepreneurs with its new center. As the article points out, Tim Rowe, the company’s founder and CEO, has likened Rotterdam to a Boston of the Netherlands because of its proximity to so many universities.

Maarten van den Heuvel of the networking business Founded in Holland adds that, in addition to its “thriving cultural scene, diversity of national backgrounds and dramatic skyline,” Rotterdam has a much lower cost of living than Amsterdam—another attractive feature for entrepreneurs.

Plus, high-speed train services link Rotterdam to leading cities in the Netherlands and beyond, so startup teams can reach Delft in 10 minutes, Schiphol international airport in under 30 minutes and Amsterdam in under 40.

The article also features “local heroes,” or startups already thriving in the port city, including Cool Blue, an online retailer, Housing Anywhere, which facilitates sublets of spare rooms and dorm space at more than 100 universities worldwide,Floorplanner, an online floor planning software service, and Symbid, a crowdfunding business that aims to make it easier for startups and smaller businesses to find alternative funding.

Click here to learn more about starting up in the Netherlands.

Source: The Financial Times