Amsterdam’s RemoteDream raises €100K on Dutch Dragons’ Den; also receives €100K Rabobank Innovation Loan

Amsterdam-based RemoteDream, a platform that helps find and book hotels and hostels that are ideal for working remotely, announced that it has raised €100K on the Dutch edition of the TV show Dragons’ Den. This episode can be seen via Viaplay.

The startup’s founders, Salvatore Tipaldi and Joeri Nanov, presented on the show on May 9th. The founders pitched RemoteDream to dragons Shawn Harris, Pieter Schoen, Won Yip, Bas Witvoet, and Manon van Essen. According to Nanov, the company received €100K from two angels in the show.

Additionally, RemoteDream also announced that it has raised an additional €100K from Dutch financial services provider Rabobank Innovatie Lening.

The startup says the proceeds will help the company in creating awareness about the ease to work and travel remotely from abroad.

How was RemoteDream born and what does it offer?

Joeri Nanov says, “When we were working remotely from abroad we always stumbled on the same problems. The hotels did not have ergonomic workstations. The desks in the rooms were too small and the chairs were not adjustable. The lack of good WIFI gave us another challenge. Due to bad internet, we structurally missed online meetings. Our motive to travel around and work at the same time was to meet new people, however, the locations we worked from did not have like-minded people.”

After researching a bit more, the founders came to the realisation that though there were many hotels and hostels focusing on the remote worker as a target audience, finding such places was a difficult task. And that is when the idea for RemoteDream came to life. 

RemoteDream helps in finding locations to work and stay during a workation or remote work trip. “It should become the place where all the ideal remote work hotels and hostels could be found and booked. Eventually, it should also become the place where you can arrange everything around your remote work journey,” adds Nanov.

According to the startup, the ideal location includes places where one can find a community of remote workers, places that have co-workings integrated, places where users can find ergonomic workstations, and good internet.

According to the founders, RemoteDream’s concept differentiates from competitors in the following ways:

• Speaking the language of remote workers
• Offering locations that are not available on other websites
• Discounts on longer stays of a week or a month
• Providing smart filters to help remote workers find places where it is warm in winter, where one can surf during a work break or can stay in the timezone of their employer.

Currently, the startup offers more than 200 locations, which translates into +40,000 beds in 25 countries spread over 5 continents. In the near future, RemoteDream wants to help remote workers with visa requests and insurances as well as connect them via a community.

The Dutch version of Dragon’s Den

Earlier in January 2022, Dragon’s Den was launched in the Netherlands through the streaming platform Viaplay. Dragon’s Den pits entrepreneurs against five multi-millionaire investors, or Dragons, to pitch their ideas for investment. Each entrepreneur gets 3 minutes to pitch. It can be an already established business or something just a little more than an idea.

The TV show was launched as ‘Money Tigers’ on Nippon TV in Japan in 2001. The format became an instant global success with production in over 40 countries. Over $250M (~ €220M) has been invested in small businesses across the globe through the show.