Polarsteps takes home Koning Willem I award at Amsterdam ceremony. Polarsteps was awarded the prestigious Koning Willem I award, presented on Wednesday evening by Her Majesty Queen Máxima at Circa Amsterdam. Job Harmsen Last edited Aug 5, 2026 What is the Koning Willem I award? The Koning Willem I Award is the Netherlands' foremost entrepreneurship award. The awards are presented every two years by the Koning Willem I Foundation, with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, recognizing companies that demonstrate bold, forward-thinking entrepreneurship. Queen Máxima is the honorary chairperson of the foundation. Polarsteps received the award in the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) category. The other winners were Spierings Mobile Cranes in the Large Enterprises category and DO IT Organic, which received the Sustainable Plaque. At the award ceremony, Olaf Sleijpen, president of the Dutch Central Bank, highlighted the shared qualities connecting the three winners: "Vision, courage, and decisiveness. That is the kind of entrepreneurship the Netherlands needs today." A globally scalable platform with Dutch roots. The jury also praised the determination and perseverance with which Polarsteps has been built, highlighting the company's ability to develop a globally scalable technology platform from the Netherlands without compromising on vision, culture, or social responsibility. "In doing so, Polarsteps has proven itself to be a powerful driver of progress, fully in line with the spirit of the Koning Willem I Award. The company's measured approach to scaling, combined with a sharp focus on innovation, values, and social relevance, makes Polarsteps a compelling winner within a strong and diverse field of contenders." Clare Jones, CEO at Polarsteps, is thrilled with the award win: "Though Polarsteps has scaled internationally so much lately, we are incredibly proud to be a Dutch company and have been deeply supported here in the Netherlands. This recognition and the ceremony with Her Majesty Queen Máxima have been so meaningful for us, and a chance to celebrate our Dutch roots." Co-founder Koen Droste adds: "When Niek Bokkers, Maximiliano Neustadt, Job Harmsen and I started Polarsteps 11 years ago, we agreed on one thing from the very beginning: we wanted to be proud not only of what we would hopefully achieve, but also of how we achieved it." Maximiliano Neustadt, co-founder and CTO at Polarsteps, agrees: "We're honored that the Koning Willem I Foundation has recognized Polarsteps as an example of European entrepreneurial success. From day one, we made intentional choices to build on strong Dutch and European values while pursuing global ambitions, and this award is a testament that we're on the right path." This recognition adds to a strong run for the company. Polarsteps was recently ranked among the top 1000 fastest-growing companies in Europe by the Financial Times; named Mobile App of the Year in the TravelTech Breakthrough Awards; and selected by Apple as one of its top three most-loved travel apps. About Polarsteps. Recognized by the Financial Times and Sifted as one of Europe's fastest-growing tech companies, Polarsteps is the all-in-one travel app loved by over 20 million travelers worldwide. Travelers can easily create itineraries with the Travel Planner, see their trips automatically plotted on a beautiful world map with the Travel Tracker, and relive every adventure with premium Travel Books. Headquartered in Amsterdam and powered by an international team of 100 passionate travelers, Polarsteps is becoming the essential tool for modern-day explorers: before, during, and after their trips.

Polarsteps in the news in 2025: coverage in Forbes, Financial Times, Condé Nast Traveller and more. 2025 was an exciting year for Polarsteps, with rapid growth in existing markets, much-requested new features shipped, and predicted expansion into non-European territories. All this activity attracted press attention from newspapers, tech publications, and travel media across Europe. The coverage was wide-ranging: here are just some of the highlights from 2025. Polarsteps Editors Last edited Aug 5, 2026 France. Polarsteps further cemented itself as an essential travel app in France in 2025. Early in the year, several news outlets reported on the 290% increase in the number of French travelers using the app compared to the previous year. This phenomenal growth continued in 2025, with more French travelers starting to use the app than ever before, putting France on course to overtake the Netherlands as the company's number-one user base. In February, the French arm of global business magazine Forbes published an interview with CEO Clare Jones, asking for her take on how competitive European businesses can be against US tech companies, how AI can be a useful part of the travel landscape, and how far a traveler needs to go to find adventure. The piece hailed Polarsteps as a "travel success story". In April, specialist broadcaster Tech & Co ran an article about "hit app" Polarsteps, calling it "a travel journal 2.0" and setting the user experience firmly apart from other social-media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. "It's more authentic and intimate." In May, Le Figaro featured Polarsteps' new Accommodations tool, which allows travelers to book hotels, hostels, and holiday rentals directly in the app via partnerships with Booking.com, Hostelworld, and Airbnb. Polarsteps, the article said, aims to become a "super-app" pulling together everything the modern traveler needs in one place. "For a generation used to instant gratification and seamless technology, Polarsteps meets a growing expectation: the desire to travel light and spontaneously, without having to totally wing it." In August, Le Parisien newspaper ran a story about the rapid rise of Polarsteps as a go-to app among young French travelers, and how they use it in different ways. The paper interviewed users who referred to the app as an extension of France's celebrated backpackers' guide, 'Le Guide du Routard', and said the UI is so user-friendly that "even my grandmother can follow along". During the summer, CEO Clare Jones was profiled in financial broadsheet Les Echos, which summarized Polarsteps' journey since it was founded 10 years ago. Germany. Travelers increasingly want to be able to plan, book, and store everything to do with their trip in one place, a need Polarsteps' planning tool intends to meet. The company's user data shows that German travelers are keen planners, and Germany is starting to follow France's growth trajectory, with 53% year-on-year user growth in 2025. In July, Polarsteps' growth among German travelers was picked up by major German broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Journalist Klaus Max Smolka said: "Polarsteps can be seen as a combination of Lonely Planet, Booking.com, Google Sheets, Cewe Photobook, and Instagram for personal use - all without annoying ads." That same summer, regional newspaper Neue Ruhr Zeitung (NRZ) covered Polarsteps' new Planning tool and how this dovetails with German travelers' tendency to research and plan their trips in depth. In October, Condé Nast Traveller (Germany) also recommended Polarsteps, telling its readers that the way it keeps travel memories alive is more effective than any souvenir: "Perhaps the souvenir simply has a different name now: Polarsteps." And in December, the German edition of Forbes reported on its Under 30 Summit Europe, which was held in Berlin and featured a talk by Polarsteps CEO Clare Jones. Clare discussed how travelers are increasingly using AI to plan trips, and the need to combine the output of large-language models with human checks and balances. North america & the UK. The USA, Canada, and the UK are huge markets that are firmly in Polarsteps' sights as the company expands beyond Europe. The Planning tool, which helps travelers plan each stage of their itinerary by suggesting next steps and providing relevant context and inspiration for each destination, is as relevant to US road-trippers crossing their own country as it is for British backpackers setting off on months-long multi-destination trips. In May, Polarsteps co-founder Koen Droste was interviewed for an episode of the Canadian podcast The Product Market Fit Show. During this 45-minute deep dive, Koen explained how he and the company's other three founders succeeded where so many other travel apps failed by building growth through word of mouth and a high-quality product - the opposite of the 'move fast and break things' mentality that prevailed at the time. He also described how the company weathered the storm of Covid-19 pandemic, when travel stopped worldwide, and how he and the team have kept Polarsteps' original vision alive since establishing the company 10 years ago. Throughout the year, the Polarsteps app was recommended by several publications, including British broadsheet the Financial Times and industry publication Tech Radar. Polarsteps was also mentioned in features and thinkpieces by websites and newspapers including Forbes.com and The Guardian; subjects ranged from travel trends to issues like overtourism, backpacking on a budget, and slow and sustainable travel. The Netherlands. Polarsteps is most well known in its home country, where almost one in three people now have the Polarsteps app downloaded on their phone. The app not only dominates the downloads chart in the Travel section of the App Store, but also regularly features among the most downloaded apps in the Netherlands in general. In February, national newspaper De Volkskrant interviewed Head of Design and co-founder Job Harmsen and CEO Clare Jones for its economic pages, focusing on Polarsteps' long-term goal to grow to 100 million monthly active users, how its teams are harnessing AI to achieve this, and the Teleporter perk for employees. The country's foremost finance newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad also ran an in-depth piece about Polarsteps, explaining its unique position as an all-in-one travel app. The paper examined how far ahead of the competition Polarsteps is compared with apps offering travel-tracking journals or photo books only, and how the home-grown app plans to become a European tech success story that's as universally known as Booking, Airbnb, and Expedia. About Polarsteps. Recognized by the Financial Times and Sifted as one of Europe's fastest-growing tech companies, Polarsteps is the all-in-one travel app loved by over 20 million travelers worldwide. Travelers can easily create itineraries with the Travel Planner, see their trips automatically plotted on a beautiful world map with the Travel Tracker, and relive every adventure with premium Travel Books. Headquartered in Amsterdam and powered by an international team of 100 passionate travelers, Polarsteps is becoming the essential tool for modern-day explorers: before, during, and after their trips.

Polarsteps named one of Europe's fastest growing companies by Financial Times. Polarsteps has been named in the Financial Times' FT1000 list of Europe's Fastest-Growing Companies, ranking in the top 100 overall - out of 1,000 companies included - and second in the Travel & Leisure category. This marks the company's debut in the annual ranking. Claire Bissell Last edited Aug 5, 2026 The FT1000, compiled by the Financial Times in partnership with Statista, ranks the 1,000 European companies with the highest revenue growth between 2021 and 2024. During that period, Polarsteps grew at a compound annual rate of 117%, placing it among the top 10% of companies in this year's list. Continued growth and expansion. Founded in Amsterdam, Polarsteps has grown into one of the world's leading travel apps, with almost 20 million users worldwide. Following the Netherlands' trajectory, where one in three people has the app downloaded on their phones, France and Germany have emerged as particularly strong markets. To support its continued growth, Polarsteps has expanded its team to more than 100 employees and is set to move into a larger office in Amsterdam this summer. Originally built as an automatic travel tracker, Polarsteps has evolved into a full-service travel companion. In addition to route tracking and trip sharing, the platform now offers AI-powered itinerary planning, accommodation booking, and Trip Reels, allowing travelers to plan, document, and relive their journeys in one place. The Financial Times' recognition underscores Polarsteps' expanding international presence as it continues to build tools that simplify trip planning, enrich storytelling, and inspire more people to explore the world. Sharing the news. The Polarsteps team shared a short video on social media about the company's debut in the Financial Times' FT1000 ranking: About Polarsteps. Recognized by the Financial Times and Sifted as one of Europe's fastest-growing tech companies, Polarsteps is the all-in-one travel app loved by over 20 million travelers worldwide. Travelers can easily create itineraries with the Travel Planner, see their trips automatically plotted on a beautiful world map with the Travel Tracker, and relive every adventure with premium Travel Books. Headquartered in Amsterdam and powered by an international team of 100 passionate travelers, Polarsteps is becoming the essential tool for modern-day explorers: before, during, and after their trips. Join 20M+ explorers by downloading Polarsteps today! Get the app