Startup Funding in the Netherlands for an MVP: RVO Loans, WBSO and Regional Funds

The Netherlands has no grant aimed at paying for an early-stage founder's MVP build. What it has is a set of RVO instruments that are mostly loans or tax reductions: Vroegefasefinanciering (VFF) for proving that a technologically innovative idea works, the Innovatiekrediet for larger, technically risky development, and WBSO for the R&D hours of your own staff. Around them sit the regional development companies (ROMs) and their funds, which lend or invest in technology startups, and the small regional MIT feasibility grants, whose 2026 windows have closed.

Realistically, VFF and a regional proof-of-concept loan are the only routes that can fund a build, and only when the product is technologically new, the project is at least €50,000 and an investor has signed up for the next stage. This page sets out each scheme, its status on 20 October 2026, and what its official rules say about paying an outside or foreign development team. It is orientation, not financial or legal advice. For building from the Netherlands in general (rates, KVK rules, VAT), see MVP development in the Netherlands; for the wider picture, the European MVP funding hub and EU-wide funding for startups.

At a glance

Vroegefasefinanciering (VFF)

What it is. RVO describes VFF as an interest-bearing loan for an idea that has reached proof of principle and now needs to show proof of concept: whether it is technically feasible and has a market. The product, process or service must be technologically new, and an investor must want to come in once the early phase is done.

Who can apply. SMEs, innovative starters and academic starters (the last via NWO's TTW domain, with a separate budget). For starters, RVO's conditions for innovative starters say you count as a starter if you have been registered with KVK for less than five years when the loan is granted, and you show innovativeness through an S&O-verklaring (a WBSO decision), an external expert's evaluation, or R&D spending of at least 10% of your operating costs. The early-phase project must be finishable within two years.

Amounts. On RVO's conditions page, an innovative starter can borrow 100% of project costs of €50,000 to €450,000. Small SMEs borrow 45% and medium SMEs 35%, with minimum project costs of €110,000 and €142,000. RVO's page gives the SME loan maximums as €202,500 and €157,500; the regulation text on wetten.overheid.nl (article 3.16.3) shows €157,500 and €122,500, so confirm the figure with RVO if you are an SME. In Noord-Brabant the regional maximum is €350,000.

Interest and repayment. 7.71% from 1 September 2026, with repayment starting after three to five years. The loan and interest are repaid in full.

What costs count. RVO's background page says "Alle kosten die aan de validatie zijn verbonden, kunnen onder de lening vallen" (all costs connected to the validation can fall under the loan), and that "het ontwikkelen van een commercieel of verkoopbaar prototype" is not covered. The regulation values the founder's own hours at a fixed €45 an hour (article 3.16.8). That second rule matters for an MVP: if what you are building is a product you intend to sell, rather than a test of whether the technology and market work, it is outside VFF.

Process and timing. The national desk takes applications from 1 January to 31 December 2026, in order of arrival, with a lottery if the budget runs out on a single day. RVO recommends its Quick Scan first. A starter's application needs a business plan with the early-phase plan, a cash-flow forecast, a budget for the early-phase plan, an investor's declaration and evidence of the investor's financial capacity. The investor must intend to invest at least the amount you are asking from the government.

Common reasons for refusal. The regulation (article 3.16.9) lists them: you could fund it yourself or get it elsewhere; the investor's intent or capacity is not plausible; costs are above €450,000 or below €50,000; there is too little confidence you can finish the project or repay the loan; the project has already received a subsidy; it could be financed by a regional VFF lender instead; or you started before the application date.

Regional desks. RVO lists regional desks in Friesland (FOM), Limburg (Limburg Startup Capital Fund, LIOF), Noord-Brabant (Brabant Startup Fonds), Noord-Holland (Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland), Utrecht (ROM Regio Utrecht), Zeeland (InnoGo!) and Zuid-Holland (UNIIQ), each with its own sector focus. Founders in other provinces use the national desk.

Innovatiekrediet

What it is. A repayable credit for the technical development of a new product, process or service, or clinical development of a medicine or device, that can be on the market within five years. The project must carry high technological risk and be financed in part from other sources.

Who and how much. SMEs and large companies can apply; the FAQ adds there are no age or size restrictions, and a new BV is fine. Without collaboration, a small company can receive up to 45% of project costs, medium 35%, large 25%; with collaboration, 50% for small and medium. At least 55% comes from other money. The maximum is €10 million for technical projects and €5 million for clinical ones, and the 2026 budget is €50 million.

Conditions that rule most MVPs out. The conditions page sets a minimum project size of €150,000. There must be "een kans dat het project faalt door een technisch risico", and no other major risks. The company must be based in the Netherlands and a large part of the activities must take place there. Financing for the project and the company must be complete for the whole project term before the credit is granted.

Interest and repayment. 3.0% compound interest from payout, plus a one-off 15% surcharge for technical projects (25% for clinical). Under the regulation (article 3.9.8), the outstanding balance must be repaid within ten years after the final subsidy decision.

What costs count. The regulation limits eligible costs to those in article 25(3) of the EU General Block Exemption Regulation (article 3.9.4a). RVO's FAQ says costs must relate directly to developing the product, not to marketing or general operations, and that for software RVO looks less at technology readiness levels and more at the risks and why the technology is challenging and new.

Process. Applications are open all year in 2026 through mijn.rvo.nl, with a Quick Scan beforehand. The regulation (article 3.9.7) lists refusal grounds including eligible costs under €150,000, doubt that you can finance the project and commercialisation, doubt that you can repay within the period, and too little positive effect for the Dutch economy.

WBSO

What it is. A tax scheme that reimburses part of the wage costs of R&D (S&O) projects, including technically new software. Companies receive it as a reduction in wage tax; the self-employed as a deduction in income tax.

The 2026 figures. 36% of the first €391,020 of the R&D base and 16% above it; starters get 50% on the first bracket. The R&D base is your R&D hours multiplied by an average R&D hourly wage, plus costs and expenses. A company that did not use WBSO two years earlier uses a fixed hourly wage of €29 in 2026. For costs and expenses, companies with staff choose either a fixed amount, which the WBSO handbook 2026 sets at €10 per R&D hour for the first 1,800 hours and €4 above that, or their actual costs and expenses. The self-employed get an R&D deduction of €15,979, plus €7,996 for starters, if they work at least 1,225 hours a year in the business and at least 500 hours on R&D.

What counts as R&D for software. The handbook lists activities that are not R&D, including maintenance of software, describing architecture, "het ontwerpen of bouwen van een nieuw systeem", market research, and building a prototype that is likely to have productive or commercial significance. WBSO stops once you have demonstrated the working principle. In practice, the hours your own developers spend solving a genuinely new technical problem can qualify; building a usable product with established technology usually does not.

Timing. You can only apply for future work. The WBSO calendar gives 30 September 2026 as the last date to apply for 2026, so for new work the next chance is 2027, with applications opening from mid-November 2026.

MIT feasibility projects (MIT haalbaarheidsprojecten)

RVO's MIT page says "De Haalbaarheidsprojecten worden niet meer uitgevoerd door RVO"; they are applied for regionally. The other MIT instruments on that page are marked closed or temporarily closed.

For 2026, Stimulus's MIT Zuid factsheet (Zeeland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg) gave a window of 7 April to 15 September 2026, up to 35% of eligible costs with a maximum of €20,000, first come, first served. At least 60% of the project must be feasibility research and at most 40% industrial research or experimental development, finished within 12 months. Gelderland's 2026 FAQ gave the same window, expected the ceiling to be reached on the first day with a notary's lottery, paid a fixed €20,000 to projects that scored enough, and accepted applications only in Dutch.

So this is a small grant for studying whether an innovation is feasible, not for building it, and the 2026 round is over. Watch your province's page for 2027.

Regional development companies and their funds

The ROMs invest; they are not grant desks. What we could confirm on their official pages:

• Zuid-Holland: InnovationQuarter's UNIIQ. A convertible loan of up to €450,000 at 5% plus the reference rate, paid in stages against agreed milestones. For a BV in Zuid-Holland, no older than five years, with technology validated at TRL 3 to 5, a protection strategy and a concrete 12-month validation plan. The process takes about four months.
• Limburg: LIOF's Limburg Startup Capital Fund. Its 2025 investment regulation for the early-phase fund lends innovative starters up to 100% of early-phase costs, €50,000 to €450,000. It asks for a business plan with an estimate of development costs, a 24-month monthly liquidity forecast, at least 12 months of runway, and refuses applications where the project started before the application.
• Flevoland: Horizon Flevoland. Innovatiefinanciering of €50,000 to €1,000,000, always as a subordinated (convertible) loan, for products or services not yet fully developed, including developing, testing and demonstrating them.
• Noord-Brabant: BOM and the Brabant Startup Fonds. RVO names the Brabant Startup Fonds as the provincial VFF desk with a €350,000 maximum. BOM's investment pages describe financing up to €5 million and instruments for each stage, without startup-specific terms we could confirm.
• Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel, and the north. ROM Utrecht Region invests through its health, earth and digital ventures, and is the provincial VFF desk. Oost NL (Gelderland and Overijssel) and NOM (the northern Netherlands) invest in companies in their regions, but their pages we opened gave no early-stage terms. Ask their teams directly.

Seed Capital

Seed Capital lends interest-free to private venture funds, which match it and invest in technology and creative startups. Startups do not apply to RVO; they approach the participating funds, which can invest €100,000 to €5 million per company. RVO's call for funds is open from 3 August to 30 October 2026. This is equity, with the usual investor terms.

Can this money pay an outside development team, or one in another country?

This is where most guides go quiet. Scheme by scheme, from the official rules:

• VFF. RVO's pages say all costs connected to the validation can fall under the loan, and exclude developing a commercial or saleable prototype. Neither RVO's pages nor title 3.16 of the regulation say anything about external suppliers or where they are located. The official guidance does not say; ask the programme before you commit, through RVO's VFF Quick Scan or your regional VFF desk.
• Innovatiekrediet. Yes, within limits. The FAQ says "Uitbesteed werk kan gelden als kosten die in aanmerking komen voor Innovatiekrediet", but RVO checks how much is outsourced, asks where the technical challenge lies if nearly all of it is, and requires the work to be carried out in the Netherlands with "niet meer dan 50% uitvloeiing naar het buitenland". An outside team abroad can therefore be at most part of the project.
• WBSO. No, for the development itself. The conditions say "U mag alleen WBSO aanvragen voor S&O-uren van uzelf en van medewerkers die bij u op de loonlijst staan", that hired labour is excluded, and that "De kosten van uitbesteed onderzoek komen niet in aanmerking voor WBSO." R&D must take place in an EU member state. The one exception: if you claim actual costs, outsourced work that is not research but is essential to your project, such as a lab test or a prototype without user value, can count, and then it does not matter whether the contractor is inside or outside the EU. A working MVP has user value, so it does not fit that exception.
• MIT feasibility projects. The MIT Zuid factsheet refers eligible costs to article 1.7 of the regional regulation, and Gelderland's FAQ says activities must be aimed at and benefit Gelderland. Neither says whether a foreign supplier is allowed. The scheme is closed for 2026; if it reopens, ask the regional programme office (Stimulus for Zuid-Nederland, the province for Gelderland) before you commit.
• Regional funds and Seed Capital. These are loans and investments in your company against a business plan, not cost reimbursements. The fund documents we opened set no rule on where your suppliers are, but LIOF's regulation, for example, requires the plan to show the money benefits only the funded project. Agree the development budget, including any outside team, with the investment manager before the loan agreement is signed.

What this means for Easify. We invoice in euros from our registered entity in India, and our engineering is in India. That puts our work outside WBSO entirely, counts as work going abroad under the Innovatiekrediet's 50% limit, and is unaddressed under VFF. If a programme requires a Dutch or EU supplier, we would not qualify, so check that before you plan around us.

How to plan your MVP budget around it

1. Do not start before you apply. VFF, LIOF's fund and WBSO all refuse or exclude work begun before the application. Talk to the programme first, then sign suppliers.
2. Decide what kind of project it is. A feasibility test of new technology fits VFF or a regional proof-of-concept loan. A sellable first version usually fits founder money, angels or an investor's round.
3. Check the size. VFF for starters starts at €50,000 of project costs and the Innovatiekrediet at €150,000. A €5,000 to €25,000 MVP may be one part of a larger, eligible plan, or it may be better paid for directly.
4. Line up the investor. VFF requires a future investor's declaration for at least the amount you borrow. Without it, there is no application.
5. Write the scope and get a fixed price. Applications ask for a project plan and budget. A written scope with a fixed price helps with that in general; our MVP Scoping Sprint produces one for €900 in about two weeks, credited in full against the build if you build with us. No scheme requires or accepts our document in particular, and we do not write applications.
6. Keep R&D in-house where WBSO matters. If you have your own developers working on a genuinely new technical problem, WBSO may cover part of their wages while an outside team builds the rest. Book the hours per person, project and day.

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Founding in Germany instead? See startup grants in Germany.

Scheme details checked against official sources on 20 October 2026. Schemes change; confirm with the programme before applying.

We build MVPs for founders across Europe, typically €5,000 to €25,000 over four to twelve weeks, hosted in EU data-centre regions. Send us your scope or the funding route you are considering, and we reply within one business day.