Where Dutch marketing and adtech startups are based

Four of the six Dutch AI-driven marketing and adtech startups currently active are headquartered in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. The remaining two are based in Utrecht and Rotterdam. This picture aligns with the broader distribution of the Dutch startup scene, in which Amsterdam has long formed the largest cluster.

The companies vary in focus: from AI visibility in search engines to automated campaigns for hospitality businesses. What they share is a choice of location that provides access to marketing expertise, media organisations and technical talent. That combination is most clearly present in Amsterdam, though Utrecht and Rotterdam show that there is also room for specialised players outside the capital.

Four Amsterdam startups, each with its own focus

The Amsterdam startups in this segment target distinct sub-markets. LoveMyBrand, founded in 2026, positions itself as an AI marketing agent that manages content, visuals and campaigns from a single platform. The company operates a credit-based subscription model and targets brands that want to maintain a consistent brand identity across multiple channels.

Toppi, active since spring 2024, serves the hospitality sector specifically. The platform increases the online visibility of restaurants and cafés and claims to have delivered an average of 15 percent more revenue within twelve months to its more than 550 clients. In early 2025, Toppi raised one million euros in a seed round, with X Investments as the investor.

Wheel AI, also founded in 2024, targets small and medium-sized businesses with an all-in-one platform for campaign automation and online growth. The company is small in size and is at an early stage.

PromptMarketingfounded in 2025, capitalises on the rise of AI search engines. The company helps brands become more discoverable in systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, an approach also known as Generative Engine Optimization. Founder Arjan ter Huurne organises events on the future of AI search under the name Visible Amsterdam.

Utrecht and Rotterdam: specialised offshoots

Outside Amsterdam, two companies are active in this segment. The AI Club was founded in Utrecht in 2022 and is building a platform featuring structured reviews and comparisons of AI software, aimed at operations and IT decision-makers within SMEs. The company organises monthly meetups as part of a broader international AI community. Raúl del Cuadro and Renata Eschiletti are involved as subject-matter experts.

MrWork in Rotterdam focuses on recruitment marketing automation. The platform automates candidate sourcing and relieves recruiters of repetitive tasks. Clients include IKEA, Dura Vermeer and Simon Loos. MrWork employs between fifty and two hundred people, making it considerably larger than most others in this overview.

Both companies illustrate that being based outside Amsterdam is entirely compatible with a clearly defined target audience. The AI Club serves an internationally oriented community from Utrecht; MrWork has succeeded in reaching major clients in logistics and retail from Rotterdam.

Why Amsterdam remains the largest cluster

Amsterdam offers a combination of factors that is relevant to marketing and adtech startups. The city has a dense concentration of media companies, advertisers and agencies, providing a nearby market. In addition, there is a large supply of multilingual technical and commercial talent, partly fuelled by the University of Amsterdam, VU Amsterdam and various universities of applied sciences.

The investment climate is relatively mature by Dutch standards. Toppi's seed round of one million euros was supported by an Amsterdam-based investor, and the city is home to several funds that are active at the early stage. According to data from StartupAmsterdam, the city counts more than 1,500 startups, accounting for over forty percent of the national total.

For marketing and adtech specifically, the presence of international technology companies, advertising networks and major media houses in the region also acts as a flywheel: they attract talent that subsequently founds its own companies or serves as the first customer for young startups.

What the distribution reveals about the ecosystem

The marketing and adtech segment counts six companies in this overview, most of which were founded recently. Five of the six started in 2022 or later, and only one has raised public funding. This reflects a sector that is moving rapidly due to the rise of generative AI, but in which most players are still at an early stage.

The regional concentration in Amsterdam is not unique to this segment. It fits a broader pattern in which specialised knowledge and capital accumulate in the capital, while cities such as Utrecht and Rotterdam are stronger in specific niches. For founders based outside Amsterdam, a sharply defined target audience, such as Utrecht-based SME decision-makers or Rotterdam logistics clients, offers an alternative route to early customers and relevance. The growth of the Amsterdam cluster in marketing AI is also attracting investors who are less active elsewhere in the Netherlands, making it a pertinent question for policymakers in other regions as to how they can deepen their own ecosystems.