Hamed Sadeghian, founder and CEO of Nearfield Instruments, has been crowned as the winner of the third edition of the Leading Entrepreneur in Tech (LET) Award.Organised by Amsterdam-based Techleap.nl, the LET Award (formerly LOEY Award) celebrates entrepreneurs who have built outstanding companies while delivering measurable societal impact through innovation, job creation, and solutions to major global challenges. Techleap is a non-profit organisation partly subsidised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. It aims to help Dutch tech startups and scaleups grow faster and more effectively.Nicola Ebmeyer, CEO of Gain.pro, and Maxim Romain, co-founder and CEO of Dott, were also nominated this year. It’s worth mentioning that last year Kees Aarts, CEO and founder of the innovative tech scaleup Protix, received the Leading Entrepreneur in Tech (LET) Award 2024.The LET Award was presented at MEET, an annual event where Dutch founders share ideas and support each other’s growth.Meet the JuryThis year’s LET Award jury included Kees Aarts (Protix), Vidya Peters (Datasnipper), Thomas Plantenga (Vinted), and Thomas Wolf (Hugging Face).The nominees are evaluated on growth, technological innovation, inspiration, ambition, and commitment to diversity and inclusion.The winner was selected following personal interviews and jury deliberation, chaired by Prince Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy at Techleap.Techleap’s MEET community expands its reachDuring the MEET 2024 edition, around 346 founders came together to exchange experiences and knowledge. The broader Techleap community grew to 381 companies and 605 active members.Through the Rise and Pole Position programs, 219 entrepreneurs received coaching. These companies made up 39 per cent of all Dutch scale-ups last year and secured 70 per cent of the country’s venture capital.Together, they created more than 26,000 jobs and raised €950M in investments

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A novel study debunks the myth that Private Equity (PE) ownership negatively impacts companies and their workers. In fact, businesses owned by PE on average outperform family-held businesses on key metrics. They grow revenue twice as fast. But also invest more into their business and grow employment at a faster pace.LONDON, March 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Landmark bankruptcies and restructurings such as those involving Four Seasons Healthcare (UK), Windreich (Germany) and Alteo (France) have created a challenging narrative in Europe around PE-ownership. In response, politicians like Jeremy Corbyn in the UK have spoken out against further growth of the sector, fearing job losses and financial instability.Private market intelligence provider Gain.pro, recently conducted a landmark study proving these isolated cases making headlines are far from representative. Analyzing over 15,400 PE-backed and family or privately-owned assets in Europe side to side, three findings stand out:Revenue growth is 2x faster for PE-owned businesses: On average, majority PE-backed companies grow their revenue ~3-5% faster per year, with EBITDA margins being 3-5% higher as well.PE-backed companies provide more jobs: They create employment at a faster rate, which is exemplified by post-COVID year 2022 when PE-held companies grew employment 10% versus a mere 4% for their family-held peers.They invest significantly more into their businesses: Long-term investment (capital expenditures) averages 3.2% of sales for PE-held companies, significantly higher than the 2.6% invested by independently held businesses.These surprising findings make a strong case for a sector that is often associated with cost-cutting and austerity