Which government grants can a startup get in the Netherlands?

Most of it is not a grant. The Dutch state supports young companies with a tax credit for research work, a lower tax rate on profit from innovation, a risk-bearing loan for development projects, regional investment companies, and European programmes. Almost all of them ask for a company established in the Netherlands first.

This guide is for a founder whose company is registered outside Europe and who wants to know what public money a Dutch company can reach. It maps the four groups: tax schemes, loans, regional investors and the European layer. It does not answer whether to go for public money or for investors first. That question belongs to Equity-free money first.

One word first. In Dutch, a subsidie is money you do not pay back, and most of what founders call a grant here is not that. Two of the largest schemes are tax reductions, one is a loan, and the regional funds buy shares.

What does the Dutch state offer a young company?

Four groups. A tax credit on the payroll of research staff, a lower tax rate on profit that comes from innovation, a risk-bearing loan for development projects, and investment by a regional development company. On top of that sits the European layer, where the European Innovation Council funds breakthrough technology.

The Dutch government's own business portal lists them like this:

• WBSO, the Dutch tax credit for research and development, run by RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. It lowers the payroll tax a company pays for its R&D staff. See what WBSO is worth in 2026.
• The innovation box, a lower rate of corporate income tax on profit that comes from your own innovation. See the Dutch innovation box.
• The Innovation Credit, a loan for developing a new product, process or service, which the portal calls risk-bearing. See the Dutch Innovation Credit.
• Proof-of-concept funding, for testing whether an idea works technically and fits a market.
• The regional development companies, the ROMs, public investors that each cover their own part of the country. See which regional development fund fits your company.
• The EIC Accelerator, the European Union's programme for breakthrough technology. See can a company from outside the EU apply.

Sources:
Business.gov.nl, Getting financing for your innovation
Ondernemersplein, Regionale Ontwikkelingsmaatschappijen (in Dutch)

Are these grants, or something else?

Mostly something else. WBSO and the innovation box are tax reductions: they lower a bill you already have, and a company without Dutch payroll or Dutch profit has nothing to reduce. The Innovation Credit is a loan. A regional development company takes shares or lends money, and the Dutch government portal states plainly that a ROM does not give subsidies.

That has a practical consequence for a company that has just landed. The two tax schemes reward something you are already doing, so they are usually the first public money a landing company can use, but only once there is Dutch payroll or Dutch profit. The loan and the regional investor both need a plan they can judge, and both want their money back.

Sources:
Ondernemersplein, Regionale Ontwikkelingsmaatschappijen (in Dutch)
Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme

Can a foreign-owned company use them?

Yes, through a Dutch company. None of these schemes looks at who owns the shares. They look at where the company is established, where the work is done, and which Dutch tax it pays. A company registered only in Seoul, Tokyo or Singapore cannot apply, while its Dutch company can, on the same terms as a Dutch-owned one.

Each scheme draws that line in its own place:

• WBSO follows the payroll. The applicant is the company that employs the research staff and withholds Dutch payroll tax, which is why ownership does not enter into it. See WBSO for foreign-owned companies.
• The innovation box follows the corporate income tax return, so it needs a company that is taxed in the Netherlands and makes a profit.
• The Innovation Credit asks that the business is established in the Netherlands.
• A regional development company asks that the company is actually in its region and does its work there.
• The EIC Accelerator asks for a company in an EU member state or an associated country by the time the full proposal goes in.

Sources:
Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme
European Commission, EIC Work Programme 2026, page 73

What is each one worth in 2026?

According to RVO's 2026 rates, WBSO lowers payroll tax by 36% of the first EUR 391,020 of a company's R&D costs and by 16% of everything above that, with 50% on that first part for a starter. According to the Dutch tax office, profit that falls in the innovation box is taxed at an effective rate of 9%.

The other two Dutch routes are sized per project:

• The Innovation Credit covers 25% of the eligible costs of a development project, plus 10 percentage points for a medium-sized company and 20 percentage points for a small one. The credit is at most EUR 5 million for a clinical development project and at most EUR 10 million for a technical one, and a project that costs less than EUR 150,000 is rejected.
• A regional development company publishes its own range. They run from tens of thousands of euros for a first loan to several million for a growth round, and the figures per fund are in which regional development fund fits your company.

Sources:
RVO, Handleiding WBSO 2026, page 4 and section 1.3
Belastingdienst, Innovatiebox (in Dutch)
Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, articles 3.9.3, 3.9.4 and 3.9.7 (in Dutch)

Where public money fits in a move to Europe

The Dutch schemes reward a company that is already here and already spending. The European route works the other way around: it is a competition you enter, on fixed dates. When each one takes applications is set out in the funding calendar for 2026, and what a landing route looks like in practice is on the Route.

Sources

1. Business.gov.nl, Getting financing for your innovation, checked 22 September 2026
2. Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme, checked 22 September 2026
3. Belastingdienst, Innovatiebox (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
4. Ondernemersplein, Regionale Ontwikkelingsmaatschappijen (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
5. RVO, Handleiding WBSO 2026 (PDF, in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
6. Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, title 3.9 Innovatiekredieten (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026

Checked on 22 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change: check the official source, or ask an adviser, before you act on it.