Start-up Event 2022

On the 10 of June 2022 a group of around 50 VSAE members with an entrepreneurial  mindset gathered at the start up village Amsterdam for this year's VSAE Start-up event. After two years in which the otherwise annual event could not take place due to the pandemic, this event was even more exciting and had to be a great success. Luckily the amazing committee consisting of Emma, Floor, Magda, Savio and Shahzeb made sure of this. During the five months ahead of the event they contacted Start-ups, found an opening speaker, visited multiple locations and took care of the catering. The location which was a perfect match for this event turned out to be the Startup Village, which is a cutting-edge venue near Amsterdam Science Park. 

The event started with an opening speech by Margherita Cantele, who is the HR Officer of Da Vinci Derivatives. You might not expect this, but Da Vinci Derivatives participated in the VSAE Start-up Event 2019 as a Start-up themselves. Only three years later they grew into a well established company that will open their second office this year. 

After the opening speech every Start-up got the chance to introduce themselves to the students with a short pitch. These were the five amazing companies:

Owlin: Owlin helps you find the needle in the haystack and surface relevant insights, signals and risks from over 3 million sources. Quickly, transparently and across the globe in 18 different languages.

Whoppah: Whoppah is the marketplace for the most beautiful second-hand design and vintage. Our offer is curated by a professional curation team. That is a big advantage, because this way design lovers can find the most beautiful high quality design in one place and items from our sellers are valued by buyers, so buyers get fair prices.

Republiq: We are experienced real estate consultants, but our approach is innovative. We're betting heavily on big data. Data puts more foundation under every real estate decision. That's why Republiq consists of half real estate consultants and half data scientists. The combination makes all the difference: numbers only come to life when you have a feel for the world behind them.

Triply: Triply offers software products and services that enable you to integrate your organisations’ data assets into a standards- compliant Knowledge Graph.

Vlammrs: Vlammrs is the young, data-curious, subsidiary within Ormit Talent Group. With a mix of senior data expertise and Young Data Science Professionals, we help companies discover what value data can bring to the organisation. We then guide them technically and soft-skills them to realise value.

After the five pitches the Icebreaker rounds started. In groups of ten the students talked to every startup for ten minutes each. It was great to see how interested and curious the students were. Some students even found spots for internships or working student positions during the icebreaker rounds. 

The event was finished with a borrel during which the students could chat more with the Start-ups that were interesting to them and of course enjoy some drinks in the sun. 

All in all, the Start-up event 2022 turned out to be an amazing opportunity for students to learn more about starting a company, get inspired by different stories and meet a variety of possible future employers. I am looking forward to next year’s edition!