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Upstream festival 2025

From May 21 until May 22, 2025, the Rotterdam Metropolitan Region transformed again into the place where startups, scale-ups, investors, bold corporates, policymakers and students come together to make a positive impact on the world.

KEY FACTS

Upstream provided access to capital, new markets and talent for entrepreneurs who want to scale their business. Through a plethora of events, carefully curated and focusing on individual topics with a common goal: providing the founders of our regions' fastest growing and most innovative startups and scale-ups with better access to talent, markets and capital.

  • 2 days
  • 3 stages
  • 28 speakers
  • 48 side events
  • 50+ co-creation partners
  • 3100+ visitors
  • 1029 main event visitors
  • 2150 additional visitors side events
  • 40 exhibitors
"You could tell that this festival was all about connection. Everyone was approachable from startup founders to investors, and the energy was contagious."– Nieuws.marketing
Photo galleryDownload Impact Report 2025
Aftermovie 2025Press release Upstream 2025

Access to Capital

• €5 billion in assets under management by 41 investors

• 456 speed dates

• 3:1 founder-to-investor ratio

• Investor stage breakdown: Seed (67.4%), Early growth (28.3%), Late growth (4.3%)

• Investor solution scope: Hard- & Software (66.3%), Software (30.1%), Hardware (3.6%)

"Last year we have met a company at Upstream and later on we invested in them." – Kristian de Lange, Founder Smarter Ventures

Access to MARKETs

• 23 exhibitors including AWS, KPN, KPMG, Microsoft, PwC, Rabobank, S&T, Saint-Gobain, Superscript

"Looking back on a very successful Upstream Festival last week! Last year it was already one of the best Dutch startup events for us. This year Upstream went even bigger and better. We will definitely be back next year. A big shout out to the organizers! You rock! " – Stef Prinsen, Business Developer TNO Fast Track

Access to TALENT

• +700 new job connections made.

• +20 scale-ups on the floor.

• +300 attendees.

• +40 MBAs attended.

• Dutch talent: 77.3%

• International talent: 22.7%

"Up! Up! Incredible to reconnect with the Dutch start- & scale-up ecosystem at one of the most dynamic events of the year: Upstream Festival, you nailed it...again" – Rutger van Raalten, Co-Founder & CEO CarbonX

Marketing Metrics

• +81K page views of upstreamfestival.com

• +17K page views of the ticket page

• 54% of attendees active on an event platform

• +2.9 million social media impressions

Visitor demographics: Startups (40.3%), Attendees (32.7%), Students (14%), Investors (13%)

"Thank you for the invitation and for letting me speak at Upstream. Immediately after that, a buyer of activated carbon approached me who wanted to work with us." – Toh Man Yong

PARTNERS

Main Partners: City of Rotterdam, Rabobank, Gemeente Delft, Provincie Zuid-Holland.

Program Partners: Gemeente Zoetermeer, Port of Rotterdam, Achmea Impact Ventures, Techleap.

Co-funded by: European Union, Dutch Societal Innovation Hub

"The main reason why we joined Upstream right at the beginning is because we bet on Upstream to get the whole ecosystem together so we are able to get in contact with the ecosystem and see what kind of new ideas are in place or where we can also lend a hand. It is one of the few events in the Netherlands where you actually only have founders, investors, and corporates that can help startups grow. For me, it's really the event of the year." – Robin Hempel, Startup & Scale-up Banker Rabobank

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