Employees hold just 3.5% of the equity in Dutch companies at exit, against almost 20% among international leaders, according to a Techleap position paper that asks parliament to pass startup tax incentives in time for 1 January 2027.
Credit: this report is based on a story first published by IO+. Read the original at ioplus.nl.
According to IO+, Techleap prepared the paper for the parliamentary committee debate on startups and scaleups held on 28 October with Heleen Herbert, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Krijn van Beers and Marije Dijksma represented the organisation, which sets out six bottlenecks running from employee ownership to growth capital.
The debate agenda covered the venture capital market, the involvement of pension funds in Invest-NL and European rules on companies in financial difficulty.
The pipeline is thinning
Techleap draws on its State of Dutch Tech 2026 report. The number of new startups raising more than €100,000 in private capital fell from 188 in 2023 to 117 in 2025, a drop of 38%. The paper puts the share of Dutch startups that become scaleups at 21.6%, below a European average of 24.1%.
Stock options and the cap table
With employees owning 3.5% of Dutch companies at exit, Techleap asks parliament to approve the proposed legislation on tax incentives for startups and scaleups, with implementation on 1 January 2027. Under the arrangement it describes, employees would pay tax only when they sell, at a rate aligned with what founders and investors pay.
At European level, Techleap wants EU Inc, the proposed European legal form, to include a central digital register and a broad framework for stock options, rather than serve mainly as a fast incorporation route.
Angels, procurement and state aid
For early-stage money, the organisation calls for a decision on a tax incentive scheme for business angels by spring 2027 at the latest, and for cuts to the Toekomstfonds (Future Fund) to be reversed permanently.
On procurement, the paper says the Netherlands fell from third to twelfth place in a European assessment of spending on innovation procurement. Of more than €1bn in public procurement for research and development, 95% goes to studies and consultancy and 5% to developing or testing products. Techleap wants a renewed national target, monitoring, and a fixed share of R&D procurement reserved for startups and scaleups.
On state aid, it asks Herbert to back the proposed 15+5 regime, which would exempt innovative companies from the ban on aid to undertakings in difficulty during their first fifteen years. Techleap also notes that convertible loans are not automatically recognised as equity in that assessment.
Spinouts and labour rules
Citing the Dutch Spin-off Report 2026, the paper says the number of researchers has risen 28% since 2015 while new spinouts have fallen 2%. Techleap wants two ministries to commit to quadrupling the impact of spinouts by 2035: twice as many companies, growing twice as fast.
Its final asks concern employment: a collective arrangement covering the second year of sickness for small employers, and, above a salary threshold, notice periods and compensation that can be agreed in advance.
Original source: IO+, "From startup to global player: Techleap calls for room to grow"
