Amac opened its first large store in Amsterdam, a flagship store in The CubeHouse, a hybrid wooden office building. The store is designed as a store of the future with a cashless system.
Office.eu, a Dutch startup, is preparing to launch a European alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, with 30,000 interested parties signed up for early access.
Emerce is hosting its E-Commerce Live! and Digital Marketing Live! events in Amsterdam
Salut launches its AI app in Europe, positioning itself as a central interface for multiple large language models with a focus on verification of answers and European data storage.
Framna published research on mobile app user expectations, finding that users have higher expectations for mobile apps due to AI tools
Beeld en Geluid launches online archive Schatkamer with over 700,000 radio and TV programs
Dutch financial institution Van Lanschot Kempen acquired a 400-hectare olive grove in Portugal’s Alqueva region to expand its Rio de Azeite platform. The property features favorable climate conditions and reliable water resources from the Alqueva dam. The SDG Farmland fund now manages approximately 26,600 hectares globally with over 480 million euros in assets under management.
Qbuzz, one of the first public transport operators in the Netherlands, launched Quby, an AI assistant that provides immediate answers to travelers and supports customer service staff during conversations. The assistant retrieves real-time travel information, supports multiple languages (Dutch, English, German, French, Arabic, Turkish), and intelligently routes complex issues to human agents while automating administrative tasks like transcriptions and summaries.
KickstartAI, founded in 2019 by Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM and NS, extended its partnership agreement with these founding members until 2029. The organization focuses on accelerating AI adoption in practice across various sectors, with successful implementations including baggage detection for NS, package volume prediction for Bol, digital financial guidance for ING, and food waste reduction planning for KLM. The new phase aims to broaden the partner network to additional sectors and organizations.
Qivalis, a consortium of European banks based in Amsterdam, has expanded to 37 member institutions from 15 countries to develop a euro-denominated stablecoin as an alternative to dollar-dominated stablecoins. The initiative plans to launch a regulated stablecoin in the second half of 2024, subject to regulatory approval. Portuguese banks are notably absent from the project so far, though it includes major banks from Spain, France, Italy, and Nordic countries.