SeedBlink Blog

We're hugely excited to announce that we have signed an agreement to acquire Symbid, one of the first crowdinvesting platforms worldwide in order to build, together, the infrastructure for European innovation.

Symbid was founded in 2011 by a team of Dutch entrepreneurs and has since built a community of 50,000 investors in startups mainly from the Benelux. In its first 10 years of operation (until the end of 2021), Symbid has facilitated investments totaling €35 million for more than 180 startups, 67 of which were from the technology sector.  

By joining forces, our communities will have access to a wider choice of investment opportunities from a combined deal flow, with richer investment tools. This stronger network will also facilitate access to more mature deals next to strong VCs. On the other side, ambitious tech founders will benefit from simplified and valuable ways to raise growth funding.

Robin Slakhorst, founder of Symbid, will serve as Board Advisor for SeedBlink, while Robbin Hoogstraten will serve as SeedBlink's Country Manager for the Netherlands. Steve Slakhorst will also join our product management team, helping us to integrate learned practices and Benelux client needs in our roadmap.

Ionut Patrahau, Managing Director & Corporate Development at SeedBlink, said:

“As SeedBlink's first acquisition, Symbid is a particularly important milestone. First, it brings together reasonable Eastern European valuations with Western European investment potential, and second, it provides a Western market for Eastern European startups. In other words, Symbid is the gateway for Eastern European startups to the West and for Western investors to the East’s rising potential. This symbiosis is particularly important for continental expansion, as local presence is crucial in the European investment culture. The existence of a single primary market depends on the credibility of investors, a credibility that is reinforced by SeedBlink's area of operations through its subsidiaries.”

Robin Slakhorst, Founder of Symbid, said:

“We believe Europe needs more tech innovation to become more competitive on the global stage. Bold founders need to be financed with sufficient capital to fuel those ambitions, and individuals need professional and structured access to these venture opportunities. The combined forces will help us lead the entrepreneurial ecosystem, by offering a unique digital financing infrastructure, a secondary market and a fast network of professional investors, co-investing with individuals throughout Europe.” 

Europe needs consolidation as SeedBlink needs Europe. Innovation is driving the new economy, and the combination of SeedBlink and Symbid will support portfolio diversification and investment infrastructure, putting together both east and the west opportunities. We’ve both made a name for ourselves in providing private investors with access to curated European startup opportunities, so this is a natural move looking for the European consolidation game.

With Symbid’s addition, the two platforms have helped more than 250 startups secure investments with over 110 million euros, including Dronamics, Druid, FlowX, Hunch, Kinderpedia or Cyscale (from SeedBlink’s portfolio), and Goboony, Madaster, Goal 3, Paper on the Rocks or Sustainer Homes (from Symbid’s portfolio), with a combined network of 62,000 individual investors. 

What’s next?

The companies are working together to integrate the teams, customers, brands, services and technologies, expected to be completed in early 2023. As soon as there are further updates on the integration process that could lead to a change in the SeedBlink experience, obviously, we'll be more than happy to keep you posted.

In the meantime, we thank you for your continued support and look forward to you joining us in this exciting phase of SeedBlink's growth.