You didn't know these companies were Dutch

The Netherlands has many (family-owned) companies that regularly achieve international success and garner global acclaim. Of these companies, you probably did not know that they emerged from Dutch soil.Text: Patrick Stoffer

The Inner Circle

Left, right, right, left, right. And so on and so forth. We all know it: swiping on a dating app in hopes of running into the one and only. Next to Tinder, The Inner Circle is the country's most popular dating app, founded in 2012 by David Vermeulen and Michael Krayenhof in Amsterdam. Anno 2022, the app has around 3 million users worldwide: from Hong Kong to Los Angeles and Barcelona to Sydney.

G-star

The clothing brand G-Star can be found in many stores internationally, and also has its roots in the Netherlands. The label was founded in Amsterdam in 1989 under the name Gap-Star, but later changed its name to G-Star to focus more on the international market. American singer Pharell Williams even became co-owner of the brand in 2016. G-Star manages to attract well known faces, such as rap artist Snoop Dogg and Formula One driver Max Verstappen.

Booking.com

Are you going on vacation this summer and booking accommodation? Chances are you will do so through Booking.com. The billion-dollar company's service is used all over the world, so they are true pioneers in this field. The Enschede-based company was founded in 1996 by Geert-Jan Bruinsma, a student at the University of Twente, under the name Bookings.nl. In the beginning, stays could only be booked in the Netherlands, but as the website began to grow, the international offerings increased significantly. Today, the website is available in 43 languages and offers more than 28 million listings.

Shell

The company, which now goes by the name Shell plc, is one of the six largest state-independent oil companies in the world. Perhaps a clue, but still one with a slight edge. Royal Dutch Shell, as the oil company was called until January 2022, already suggests where the company's roots lie. Yet this is a bit more complex. Officially, its roots are in Indonesia, which at the time was a Dutch colony. In 1890, a group of Dutch businessmen in the Dutch East Indies founded the Royal Dutch Company for the Exploitation of Petroleum Resources. A difficult start creates a partnership with the British company Shell Transport & Trading Company. In 1907, the companies officially merge and 60% of the shares are held by the Dutch branch.