Online supermarket Picnic has been officially named the fastest-growing company in the Netherlands, taking home the highly coveted 'Golden Scaler' award at the 10th lustrum Awards Ceremony, held on 6 October 2026. Hosted by Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Erasmus Paviljoen at the Erasmus University Campus, the event serves as the annual celebration for the cohort of high-growth enterprises featured in the Top 250 Insights Report.
This year, ECE celebrates the 10th edition of Top 250: 'Ten years ago, we set out to answer one simple question: who are the fastest-growing companies in the Netherlands? Today, Top 250 is not only a list, but an engine of growth on its own, connecting leaders and founders of high-growth firms, fostering knowledge exchange and peer to peer interactions,' says Leonardo Fuligni, Deputy Director of ECE.
Why is it so important to measure growth and bring together such ecosystem? Prof. Justin Jansen (RSM): 'The hardest constraints on growth are rarely the market or the technology. They are the limits of what the leadership team can interpret, coordinate, and let go of. The capacity to lead a much larger, more complex organisation has to be built by the people already in the room. We do this by sharing the knowledge from our research but also bringing together these outstanding leaders to learn from each other'.
This comprehensive report monitors and connects the most impactful fastest-growing firms in the country. From within this exclusive Top 250 cohort, enterprises compete across four distinct award categories recognising outstanding growth trajectories and societal impact.
Reflecting on Picnic taking home the Golden Scaler award, Michiel Muller, Founder of Picnic, stated: 'This award belongs to the whole Picnic team, whose effort and drive made it possible. Technology is the engine behind our productivity, helping our people do more with every hour as we grow. Our relentless focus on customers earns the loyalty that keeps them coming back, and we're thankful for the support of our partners, who have been with us every step of the way.'
Alongside Picnic’s overall victory, three other exceptional enterprises were recognised for their outstanding growth trajectories and societal impact. The evening's awards featured handovers from notable ecosystem leaders, including previous Top 250 winners Erik Hogenboom (Action), Andreas Saari (Paebble) and Pascal Walk (AMCO):
- Young Scaler Award: Awarded to Change customer service for their rapid and disruptive expansion in their early scaling phase.
- Impact Scaler Award: Awarded to Breedweer facilitaire diensten for their unwavering commitment to combining sustainable growth with profound societal impact. The winner was selected by an expert jury, with the official jury speech delivered by Juultje van der Wijk, Cooperative Director at Rabobank, and Ruben Brave, serial entrepreneur and director Dutch New Narrative Lab.
- Woman-led Scaler Award: Awarded to Gain for exceptional leadership and high-growth performance under female executive direction, with the award officially handed over by Dr Laura Rosendahl Huber of the Rotterdam School of Management.
Following Gain's recognition as the Woman-led Scaler, Nicola Ebmeyer, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Gain, shared: 'At Gain, we’ve shown that Dutch tech can compete on a global stage and win. I’m incredibly proud to accept this award on behalf of our brilliant team, who keep raising the bar every day. As a female co-founder, I’m particularly proud to be part of a growing generation of women building and scaling ambitious companies. This award belongs to the whole Gain team and is a testament to their innovation, ambition and pace.'
The 10th anniversary ceremony brought together C-level executives from the country's most ambitious enterprises. The programme was formally opened with welcoming remarks from Tim Versnel alongside Ellen van Schoten, Vice-Chair of the Executive Board at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Hans Scheffer, CEO of Helloprint, delivered a high-energy keynote address, sharing unfiltered insights into his own scaling journey, followed by reflections on a decade of data from Prof. Justin Jansen.
'Congratulations to all the winners. Their ambition and drive show exactly what an event like the Top 250 is all about: bringing people together to inspire each other, challenge each other and help each other move forward. That is why Rotterdam is proud to host and partner with this event. If we want to become Europe’s strongest and greenest economy by 2050, we need exactly that entrepreneurial spirit: companies that keep innovating, growing and raising the bar,' said Tim Versnel, Alderman of the Municipality of Rotterdam.
The afternoon also featured highly targeted executive breakout sessions and round table discussions focused on complex scaling challenges, facilitated by top-tier experts including Otto Raspe (Rabobank), Gert-Jan van Wijk (Opire), and academic leaders Prof. Tom Mom, Dr Birgul Arslan (RSM), and Dr Jana Retkowsky (RSM) on topics such as "AI & Scaling"’, ‘"Building Team Resilience" and "Leadership for Scaling".
The Top 250 research and the annual Awards Ceremony are supported by main partners nlgroeit and the Municipality of Rotterdam; data partners Gain and Dealroom.co; and award ceremony partners HelloPrint, SAU, Erasmus Enterprise, Van Lanschot Kempen, Rabobank and Windt Legal.
The Blueprint for Future Growth
To uncover the strategies driving these exceptional companies, Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship has officially released the 10th-anniversary Top 250 Insights Report. The comprehensive study details the data, trends, and leadership tactics defining the next era of scaling in the Netherlands.
About Top 250
Top 250 is annual research by Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, initiated in cooperation with prof. Justin Jansen. The Top 250 Insights Report outlines the trends and composition of the group of fastest-growing companies in the Netherlands. The numbers in the report are based on a quantitative model designed to analyse this group, including number of FTEs, age, location, founders, and efforts in sustainability and SDGs.
The Top 250 research was carried out using data from companies enrolled in the research via a survey by Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, and data from Dealroom and Gain. To be included in the Top 250, companies must be headquartered in the Netherlands and meet the OECD (2016) high-growth firm criteria. Growth is measured using FTE data, and the nominees for the awards are selected by weighing both relative and absolute growth.
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Ambitious enterprises looking to accelerate their growth, overcome complex challenges, and potentially join future Top 250 cohorts are encouraged to download the full report here and connect with Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship to explore research-driven scaling strategies.
For interview requests or further information, please contact Gijs Holtmark van Dijkerhof, Marketeer at Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship, at holtmark@ece.nl.
Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE), part of Erasmus University Rotterdam and co-initiator of the European Scaleup Institute, is a global leader in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation through research and education activities. Discover more about ECE.
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