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The COVID-19 pandemic brought numerous challenges for companies, creating radically different settings to operate. Businesses, both small and large globally, scrambled to stay afloat. 

The pandemic-related challenges proved to be a great deal for many, but some used it to their advantage and spurred a great deal of innovation, pivoted, and survived. 

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Many experts believed that pivoting one’s business model under normal conditions would have been a risky move if not for the unprecedented pressure brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Numerous companies in Amsterdam pivoted to help others weather the storm during the COVID-19 crisis. Here’s a list: 

3D Hubs

Amsterdam-based 3D Hubs is an online manufacturing platform that provides engineers with on-demand access to a global network of manufacturing partners. Users can easily upload their design, instantly receive a quote, and start production at the click of a button. 

During the pandemic, the startup activated its worldwide network of manufacturers to produce medical equipment. They did it through their special COVID-19 Manufacturing Fund, a crowdfunding campaign, and shipped them to hospitals globally. 

Earlier this year, Protolabs, a global technology-enabled digital manufacturing company, acquired 3D Hubs for €272.1M.

Caro Health

Caro is an Amsterdam-based digital health companion for patients. The company aims to improve patient outcomes and experience by delivering relevant content, conversational guidance, and actionable notifications throughout the patient journey. 

During the pandemic, the company developed the COVID-19 Home Recovery Program to reduce the burden on healthcare providers. The service allows patients to stay in touch with healthcare professionals during their time of recovery. This initiative gained them a spot in the Techleap COVID-19 program.

In October, Caro participated in the World Summit AI 2021 in Amsterdam to seek funding, clients and exposure to accelerate its business to the next level.

Nori Health 

Nori Health is an Amsterdam-based healthtech startup that offers an AI chatbot coach for patients with chronic diseases. 

During the pandemic, the healthtech startup offered an AI-powered digital coach to support people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis. 

Notably, many IBD patients have an increased risk of infection in the pandemic. By allowing them to stay at home but still receive adequate care and monitoring by professionals, Nori decreases the risk for people all over Europe. 

Recently, Nori Health graduated from a 10-week “PharmaU,” designed to teach startups about the pharma industry.

Castor 

Amsterdam-based Castor offers a cloud-based clinical data platform that simplifies and streamlines clinical trials processes. The company offers a self-service clinical research platform enabling the researcher to design studies and integrate data from any source in real-time. 

During the pandemic, the company came up with an amazing gesture – making their platform free for researchers looking for a vaccine for COVID-19. This move ensured researchers capture Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) research data and speed up the process of understanding the virus and disease.

In July, the company raised $45M (approx €38M) in funding in a Series B financing round led by Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital. Castor said it will use the funding to accelerate product development with a particular focus on scaling direct-to-patient trials globally.

Convious 

Convious is the all-in-one platform built exclusively for the leisure industry. It enables them to connect with their customers directly, enhancing their experience and increasing conversions while managing all operations in a single place. 

During the pandemic, Amsterdam-based Convious launched Crowd Control to help venues in the leisure industry manage their crowds to maintain social distancing.

Earlier this month, the company secured $12M (€10.6M) in a Series A round of funding led by Begin Capital and other investors to help its customers attract and convert more visitors.

ACE incubator 

ACE Incubator is an Amsterdam-based incubator for science and high-tech startups. The incubator, which started its Spring Incubation Program right in the middle of the lockdown, pivoted its offline program to the online space. As a result, a diverse group of 14 startups joined the online edition of its Spring cohort.

Earlier this month, ACE welcomed seven ambitious Young Professionals at the startup ecosystem of Startup Village Amsterdam for a hybrid event. The Rabobank Young Professional Programs offer graduates the chance to choose the right career path.

Aidence

Aidence is an Amsterdam-based medical imaging startup that uses Artificial Intelligence to help medical professionals detect diseases such as lung cancer. 

During the pandemic, Aidence created ICOVAI, a consortium for COVID-19 imaging AI. The consortium of industry experts developed and deployed a not-for-profit cloud-based AI solution for COVID-19 detection on chest CT for European hospitals to use.

In September, Jeroen van Duffelen, the co-founder of Dutch scaleup Aidence, won the LOEY Talent Award. You can check out our exclusive conversation with him here.

Dashmote

Dashmote‘s artificial intelligence technology helps companies make complex decisions based on data gathered from images and text uploaded to the internet. During the pandemic, the company launched a new Meal Delivery Radar offering detailed market insights to companies bringing food to people’s doorstep.

The Dutch scale-up saw 193 per cent year-on-year growth in 2020 as more industry leaders seeking for opportunities to grow online. The also expects its growth to continue into 2021 as well.

Polarsteps

Polarsteps app allows you to automatically record your trip or vacation to share it with your family and friends back at home. In July, the company launched Polarsteps Guides, a collection of the world’s best travel destinations and insider tips. The feature was created by experienced travel editors with the help of Polarsteps’ travelers.

It allows travelers to spend less time seeking and more time turning travel dreams into travel realities. The first 60 Polarsteps Guides cover three countries: the Netherlands, France, and Germany. The Guides are available for free in the Polarsteps app.