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Eindhoven Startups to Watch in 2027: 7 Verified Brainport Companies, Their Funding and Lessons for Founders

Eindhoven Startups to Watch in 2027: Verified Brainport Companies in AI Chips, Photonics, Batteries and Medtech

Eindhoven is the centre of Brainport, the Dutch high-tech region around ASML, Philips and the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and its startups mostly build hardware: chips, lasers, sensors, batteries and medical devices. The 2026 version of this article named ten "best" Eindhoven startups, but when we checked them, most were based in Amsterdam, Enschede or Prague, or could not be found at all. For this 2027 edition we started again: in October 2026 we checked every company on its own website, that it still operates, that it gives an Eindhoven address, what it actually sells and what it publishes about its funding. Rounds we found only in the press are named with the outlet. The old names and why they are gone are listed near the end.
Quick answer: the Eindhoven startups to watch in 2027 are Axelera AI (AI inference chips), Sendcloud (shipping software for online shops), SMART Photonics (a foundry for chips that use light), EFFECT Photonics (lasers for optical networks), LionVolt (lithium-metal battery cells), Salvia BioElectronics (a migraine implant in clinical trials) and MantiSpectra (chip-sized spectral sensors). Six of the seven sit on the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, and Innovation Industries, a Dutch deep tech investor, backed six of them. Monumental, Mews, DataSnipper and most other names on the old list are gone because they are not Eindhoven companies.
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Why Eindhoven Matters for Founders in 2027

The StartupBlink 2026 ecosystem index ranks Eindhoven 113th in the world, down 7 places, 2nd in the Netherlands and 24th in Western Europe, both unchanged since 2025. It counts 246 startups in the city and puts its growth from April 2025 to April 2026 at 1.7%, far below the 34% average of all cities. Where Eindhoven stands out is hardware: StartupBlink ranks it 63rd in the world for hardware and IoT and 26th for medtech, well above its overall position. So Eindhoven is not the place for the most startups, but it is one of Europe's strongest places for companies that build physical technology.
Much of that happens in one place. The High Tech Campus Eindhoven says it hosts more than 300 companies and more than 12,500 professionals and rents ready-to-use desks, offices and labs to startups. HighTechXL, on the same campus, calls itself a deep tech venture builder: it runs a 12-month programme that pairs entrepreneurs with technology from research labs and large companies, and says that by the first quarter of 2026 it had created 102 ventures that raised EUR 171 million. It has also launched PreSeedXL, an EUR 11 million fund for pre-seed deep tech. For the wider picture, compare our guides to deep tech cities in Europe and the best countries for startups in Europe.

Eindhoven Startups to Watch in 2027 Compared

StartupWhat it doesCustomersLatest funding we citeEindhoven base checked
Axelera AIAI accelerator chips and cards for edge and serversDevice makers, data centresMore than $250M, February 2026 (company)Yes, High Tech Campus 5
SendcloudShipping platform: labels, tracking, returnsOnline shops in EuropeEUR 150M raised 2020 to 2022 (company)Yes, Eindhoven office listed first
SMART PhotonicsFoundry for indium phosphide photonic chipsChip designers in telecom, sensingEUR 100M, July 2023 (TU/e)Yes, High Tech Campus 37
EFFECT PhotonicsTunable lasers for coherent optical networksTransceiver makers$62M Series D total, June 2025 (IO+)Yes, High Tech Campus 37
LionVoltLithium-metal battery cells with a 3D anodeDrone, aviation and EV makersEUR 15M, February 2024 (Silicon Canals)Yes, High Tech Campus 7
Salvia BioElectronicsImplant therapy for chronic migraine (investigational)Patients, via clinicians$60M Series B, May 2025 (lead investor)Yes, High Tech Campus 37
MantiSpectraChip-sized near-infrared spectral sensorsIndustry, appliances, health devicesEUR 4M, September 2023 (IO+)Yes, High Tech Campus 9
Sources: each company's official website or news page, checked 28 October 2026; funding as published by the company, its lead investor or the outlet named. Amounts are in the currency of the announcement.

The Eindhoven Startups to Watch in 2027

1. Axelera AI: European chips for AI inference

Axelera AI designs AI accelerators, chips, PCIe cards and systems that run vision, agentic and generative AI "from embedded to edge to server", together with its Voyager software kit. Its flagship chip is Metis, and in September 2026 it launched Europa, its next-generation architecture, with partners that include Dell and Supermicro. Its address is on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. In February 2026 the company announced more than $250 million in new funding, led by Innovation Industries with BlackRock and SiteGround Capital as new investors and existing backers such as the EIC Fund, Invest-NL and Samsung Catalyst Fund. It says it has attracted more than $450 million in equity, grants and venture debt since it was incorporated in July 2021.
Lesson for founders: Europe wants its own AI hardware. A company that combines that political demand with a real product and partners such as Dell can raise growth rounds of a size rare for European chip startups.

2. Sendcloud: shipping software for online shops

Sendcloud is a shipping platform for e-commerce: checkout options, pick and pack, labels, tracking, returns and support automation in one place, connected to more than 170 carriers and more than 100 plug-and-play integrations. Its homepage says more than 30,000 e-commerce businesses across Europe use it, offers a 14-day free trial, and its FAQ says it fully supports shipping from 8 European countries. Its about page says three friends who ran their own online store founded it in 2012, lists offices in Eindhoven, Munich and Florence and more than 400 employees, and says it raised EUR 150 million between 2020 and 2022.
Lesson for founders: Sendcloud's founders solved their own problem first. A tool you needed as a customer is easier to sell, because you already speak your buyers' language.
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3. SMART Photonics: a foundry for chips that use light

SMART Photonics "builds chips that use light instead of electrons": it manufactures photonic integrated circuits in indium phosphide (InP) for other companies and gives them a process design kit to design their own chips, for data and telecom, sensing and quantum uses. Its address is High Tech Campus 37. In September 2026 its site linked to a report in the Dutch daily FD that SMART Photonics and the US chipmaker GlobalFoundries are joining forces to produce light-based chips. According to TU/e, the university it was spun out of, it raised EUR 100 million in July 2023 from ASML, NXP, VDL Groep, ING, BOP Impact Ventures and Invest-NL's Deep Tech Fund, with existing investors returning, plus EUR 60 million of public funding through the National Growth Fund project PhotonDelta.
Lesson for founders: a foundry is infrastructure for a whole industry. When your customers are other startups, the region's large companies and the government may invest to keep you alive and local.

4. EFFECT Photonics: lasers for optical networks

EFFECT Photonics designs and manufactures monolithic InP laser assemblies for coherent optical communications; its two tunable lasers, the pITLA14 for 100G and the nITLA17 for 400G and 800G transceivers, were listed as in development when we checked. Its site calls it a TU/e spin-off with 91 granted and 39 pending patents and a fabless model, with headquarters at High Tech Campus 37 and a supply chain office in Taiwan. According to the Optica newsroom, it raised a $38 million Series D in March 2024 led by the Innovation Industries Strategic Partners Fund, and according to IO+, an extra $24 million in June 2025 brought the round to $62 million. Its former US subsidiary has since been renamed Arycs Technologies, according to a September 2025 company announcement on Business Wire.
Lesson for founders: deep tech takes several rounds before revenue. EFFECT kept its investors through a long Series D by focusing on a narrow product: the laser, not the whole transceiver.
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5. LionVolt: lithium-metal battery cells

LionVolt makes lithium-metal battery cells based on its own 3D anode architecture and says they are "available as finished lithium-metal cells today" for drones, aviation, light mobility and electric vehicles; it runs an early access programme, Flight One, for drone makers. Its headquarters is at High Tech Campus 7, and it also has a UK site in Thurso, Scotland. According to Silicon Canals, it spun off from the research organisation TNO at Holst Centre and raised a EUR 4 million seed round led by Innovation Industries in November 2021. In February 2024, Silicon Canals reported EUR 15 million in new equity from investors it did not name, the purchase of a battery cell production line from the Scottish company AMTE Power, and a pilot production line at the Brainport Industries Campus in Eindhoven.
Lesson for founders: buying a failed competitor's production line can be faster and cheaper than building one. Look for assets you can buy when others in your sector run out of money.

6. Salvia BioElectronics: a migraine implant in clinical trials

Salvia BioElectronics is developing MySalvia Therapy for people with chronic migraine: ultra-thin implants activated by the press of a button on a wearable device. The therapy is investigational; the company says it "has not yet been approved for commercial use". It announced the first patient implanted in RECLAIM-II, a pivotal US study expected to enrol about 150 patients at more than 20 sites. Its headquarters is at High Tech Campus 37, with offices in Coral Springs, Florida, and Sydney. According to its lead investor Innovation Industries, Salvia raised a $60 million (EUR 53 million) Series B in May 2025, with Invest-NL and the EIC Fund taking part, to work towards US FDA authorisation and approvals in Europe and Australia.
Lesson for founders: in medtech, the regulator is your first customer. Salvia raised its money around a clear trial and approval plan, not around sales forecasts.

7. MantiSpectra: spectral sensors on a chip

MantiSpectra makes ChipSense, "a general-purpose, compact spectral sensor" that analyses materials with near-infrared light without destroying them, for industrial quality control, home appliances, clinical diagnostics and personal health. Its site calls it a TU/e spin-off, now fabless and ISO 9001 certified, at High Tech Campus 9, and lists a CES Innovation Award (2024) and the Hannover Messe HERMES Startup Award (2023). According to IO+, it raised EUR 4 million in September 2023 in a round led by Innovation Industries and PhotonVentures, with support from PhotonDelta's National Growth Fund programme.
Lesson for founders: MantiSpectra sells a component other companies build into their products. A platform part can reach many markets without building each end product yourself.

Eindhoven Companies From the Old List That Changed or Could Not Be Verified

The 2026 version of this article listed ten companies, most with claims we could not confirm. Here is what we found, plus two well-known Eindhoven names that changed:
  • Monumental: not a food-tech company. Its site says it builds autonomous bricklaying robots for construction sites, with headquarters in Amsterdam.
  • Mews: hospitality software that, as its about page says, was born in Prague. Not an Eindhoven startup.
  • DataSnipper, Otrium and Silverflow: real companies (audit automation, an online designer outlet and card payment processing), but their sites give no Eindhoven base; DataSnipper lists offices in Amsterdam, New York, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Mexico City.
  • Flowbeams: works on needle-free injections, but its site points to Enschede and the province of Overijssel, not Eindhoven. We also removed the old article's unsourced award claim.
  • Amazec Photonics: a real Dutch company that measures tiny temperature changes with photonics for heart monitoring, but its site gives no city, so we could not confirm an Eindhoven base. According to Silicon Canals, it raised a EUR 1.5 million seed round led by PhotonDelta in February 2024.
  • Budz Detection and Liion Power: we found no Eindhoven company under either name, so we removed them and the "50% longer" battery claim.
  • Carbyon: the Eindhoven direct air capture startup announced in July 2026 that it had been acquired by Airhive, another direct air capture developer, according to its news page.
  • Lightyear: the Brainport solar car company now presents itself on its site as a supplier of solar charging systems for electric vehicles, not as a car maker.
We also removed the old article's "Silicon Valley of Europe" filler, its unsourced figures, and its links to third-party startup lists.

Which Eindhoven Startup Should You Learn From?

  • You build AI or chips: study Axelera AI and how it ties its pitch to Europe's demand for its own hardware.
  • You build software for online sellers: study Sendcloud, which started from its founders' own shipping problem.
  • You build infrastructure other startups need: study SMART Photonics and how large companies and the state co-invested.
  • You build deep tech with long timelines: study EFFECT Photonics and LionVolt, and how they kept raising before revenue.
  • You build medtech: study Salvia BioElectronics and how its funding follows its clinical trial plan.
  • You build sensors or components: study MantiSpectra, which sells one part into many markets.

How Founders Use Eindhoven's Startup Scene

Notice who funds these companies: Innovation Industries led or joined rounds in six of the seven, PhotonDelta backed SMART Photonics and MantiSpectra, and Invest-NL and the EIC Fund appear again and again. If you build hardware, meet these investors early. Compare them with the funds in our guides to deep tech VCs in Europe and early-stage VC firms, and look at programmes like HighTechXL next to the ones in our list of startup incubators in Europe. Women founders can add non-dilutive money from our lists of grants for female entrepreneurs in Europe and female founder grants.
Meet the ecosystem in person at the events in our guides to startup events in Eindhoven, startup events in the Netherlands and deep tech startup events, and read our Eindhoven city analysis if you are thinking of moving. Comparing cities? See our lists of Berlin startups to watch, Beirut startups to watch, Mexico City startups to watch and Chicago startups to watch, and the best cities for AI startups in Europe.
Before you copy any of these business models, validate your startup idea with real customers. Deep tech founders often forget marketing until a funding round depends on it, so start early: list your startup in the F/MS marketing directories, publish your startup press release, and write about your product with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog so customers, investors and AI assistants can find you.
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FAQ About Eindhoven Startups to Watch in 2027

Which Eindhoven startups should I watch in 2027?

Our verified list: Axelera AI, Sendcloud, SMART Photonics, EFFECT Photonics, LionVolt, Salvia BioElectronics and MantiSpectra. Each still operates and gives an Eindhoven address on its official site, checked in October 2026.

Where does Eindhoven rank as a startup ecosystem?

StartupBlink's 2026 index ranks Eindhoven 113th in the world, down 7 places, 2nd in the Netherlands and 24th in Western Europe. It is much stronger in hardware and IoT (63rd) and medtech (26th) than overall.

Which Eindhoven startup raised the most money recently?

Axelera AI, which announced more than $250 million in February 2026 and says it has attracted more than $450 million in equity, grants and venture debt since 2021.

Is Sendcloud an Eindhoven company?

Yes. Its about page lists Eindhoven first among its offices, with Munich and Florence, says it was founded in 2012 and says it raised EUR 150 million between 2020 and 2022.

Are Monumental, Mews and DataSnipper Eindhoven startups?

No. Monumental's headquarters is in Amsterdam, Mews was born in Prague, and DataSnipper lists offices in Amsterdam and abroad but not Eindhoven. We removed them from this list.

Can patients already get Salvia's migraine implant?

No. Salvia BioElectronics says MySalvia Therapy is being evaluated in clinical studies and has not yet been approved for commercial use.

What happened to Carbyon and Lightyear?

Carbyon announced in July 2026 that Airhive had acquired it. Lightyear now presents itself as a supplier of solar charging systems for electric vehicles rather than a car maker.

Where can startups get support in Eindhoven?

The High Tech Campus Eindhoven rents desks, offices and labs to startups, HighTechXL runs a 12-month deep tech venture builder programme and the PreSeedXL fund, and PhotonDelta supports photonics companies.

What can founders learn from Eindhoven startups?

Build on deep research, find investors who understand hardware, plan for several rounds before revenue, and sell to other companies that build your part into their products.

Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?

You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.

About the Author

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
2026-10-28 19:49 Best Startups