Customer review with Max Orlov and Ivan Ilin of iki.ai about Startup Visa

We applied for the Startup Visa program, because we were looking for the right ecosystem for our high-tech startup. The Netherlands seemed like a great choice, because of the open and modern culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. And everyone speaks English, so it’s much easier for us to do business here. We contacted different facilitators, but the NOM was by far the most communicative, proactive and straightforward in what they could offer us.

We are very happy with the constant support of the different NOM departments and representatives. Both the market readiness program and the investor readiness program were really helpful. A definite highlight was the Startup Festival, which was fun and we met a few very relevant VCs there and a lot of great entrepreneurs from the region.

It was really great. I want to thank our program manager Fleur Mulder for always being ready with useful tips, relevant events and invitations. And also NOM Investment managers Ytsen van der Meer and Daan Verhorst for making valuable VC and client introductions.

Definitely! In general, even though NOM does not position itself as an accelerator, it works like that, at least in our experience. And everyone we’ve worked with is very open, helpful and straightforward. Groningen with its prominent universities and huge student community offers a unique opportunity to test our product, build the early adopters community and set us on the path for the growth stage.