Turning scientific excellence into successful companies remains a persistent challenge. While Dutch research ranks among the best globally, translating that knowledge into ventures that attract investment, create jobs and deliver real-world impact is far less straightforward. The Venture Challenge has shown that this gap can be bridged.

This becomes tangible in the companies that have grown out of the Venture Challenge.

T-Cell Factory, acquired by Kite Pharma only two years after competing in the Venture Challenge, is the foundation of cell therapy manufacturing presence in the Netherlands, which led to a 19,000m2 facility in Hoofddorp, 900+ high-skilled jobs and up to 4000 cell therapy treatments per year.

Sirius Medical, a medtech company based in Eindhoven, raised €25+ million in funding and employs over 50 people while commercialising its Pintuition system globally, now used in more than 26 countries, from New Zealand to the USA to improve precision in cancer surgery.

Ncardia, formerly Pluriomics, grew into a Leiden-based iPSC platform company with a global footprint, raising ~$75 million and employing over 50 high skilled people while scaling its drug discovery and cell therapy capabilities from the Netherlands.

Beyond these examples, more than 175 companies have emerged from the Venture Challenge pipeline, forming a broad and continuously evolving base of Dutch life sciences ventures across medtech, drug development, enabling technologies that improve the drug development process, and diagnostics.

Many of these companies remain closely connected to the programme, with mentors supporting teams well beyond the initial training phase. Increasingly, alumni founders take on this mentoring role themselves, sharing their experience with new Venture Challenge teams. This continued support is embedded within the LifeSciences@Work programme, further strengthening the pipeline from research to entrepreneurship in the Netherlands.

What drives this success? Not one single ingredient, but a combination of elements: sustained government support, a highly experienced coaching duo that has been involved from the very beginning, and strong follow-up that continues to support teams in the critical first years after participation.

Curious to experience it for yourself, and to contribute to this growing impact? The next Venture Challenge call opens on May 5 and closes on July 2, 2026. More information is available via NWO.

*Through intensive coaching, validation and follow-up, the Venture Challenge equips first-time entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills and network needed to build successful ventures within lifesciences and medtech. It is a nationwide programme that runs twice per year through NWO and is one of the innovation instruments of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.