EU Alumnus, Xander van der Heijden, on Mapping Tech & Entrepreneurship
Xander was born into a family of Dutch entrepreneurs and software engineers so it’s no surprise that he has combined the two worlds, forging himself a career focused on venture building in the tech space. He now resides in Singapore where he runs his companies, UNL, a micro-location infrastructure and next-generation mapping technology startup, and Venturerock, an investment and venture-building platform.
Tell us about your career journey since leaving EU Business School:
I started my first official company during my studies. It was my first tech company, which I ran for many years. My career has always focused on tech in the startup ecosystem, either building my own companies or helping other founders. I have only worked for one employer, who brought me in to support their transitioning from on-premise software to the Cloud. I quickly realized that having a boss wasn’t for me so, once the CEO left, I made my exit and continued my journey as an entrepreneur.
How did you first get into technology?
I have always been a big fan of gaming and the technology behind it. When I was eight years old, I was introduced to an IBM computer by my uncle, who was a software engineer. He gave me a coding book and put me in front of a big green screen, telling me to write out the code so it would appear on the computer. I was programming a game without even knowing it! That spurred me on, and I decided to learn more about the world of computers. I grew up in tech, seeing the evolution and transition from analogue to digital and I’d say my superpower is translating visions and ideas into concrete technology solutions.
What made you decide to start building UNL?
While working on technologies behind supply chain logistics and e-commerce, I discovered that the last step – the last-mile and last-meter delivery – consumes on average of 40 to 60 percent of the total cost. I decided to investigate why the costs are that high and quickly concluded that addressing systems were the problem. Traditional postal addresses aren’t designed for the digital economy, nor do they tell you where to park, where to find a charging station nearby or where the front door is. If you look at Europe, every country has an addressing format in their own language. Zooming further out, you discover that 75% of the world isn’t addressed – 4 billion people without a verified address! It blew my mind.
An address is part of your sovereign identity. If you don’t have an address, you can’t open a bank account, be insured, put a property in your name and, in many countries, can’t even vote. This brought me to the idea of giving locations a unique digital smart address (an identity) so that people and places can be included in basic digital economic traffic. That evolved into a very ambitious journey.
We thought that, to solve this problem, we could work with big tech companies like Google Maps and TomTom but, as we started building our digital infrastructure, we saw that these companies are using old databases and their technology poses limitations, especially in emerging markets in developing countries. As the physical world changes faster than ever, we need novel ways to collect data, build maps and publish location intelligence.
We took the opportunity to build a full-stack mapping solution along with a digital-first global addressing system for both real and virtual worlds. We are building the Internet of Places, a digital twin of the physical world which, in a world of robots, drones and automated driving, is becoming even more essential.
What kind of services and tools does UNL offer businesses?
UNL offers a complete suite of location services, from search, discovery and navigation to real-time tracking, asset tracing and dynamic geofencing. We enable companies to bring and leverage their own business data in their own Virtual Private Maps. We also implemented our own Web 3 protocol to manage location identities, transactions and location assets – enabling proof of delivery, payment, presence and address. This goes far beyond creating better maps or traditional search and navigate. It allows us to create programmable, transactional digital twins of real-world locations, opening up a whole new universe of possibilities for the spatial economy.
Could you tell us about your involvement in venture building?
I needed to raise venture capital when I was building my first company. At the time, there were only two investors in the Netherlands, run by banks, but banks don’t usually understand entrepreneurs nor the future of technology. On the other hand, I didn’t want to accept offers from Silicon Valley because I wanted my company to be ‘made in Holland’. It was challenging, as Europe lagged behind Silicon Valley in terms of tech ecosystem maturity and investment activity, which encouraged me to do my own research.
In Europe, there’s a lack of capital and lack of willingness to take risks. There is a disconnect between capital, as there is no single capital market, bringing local challenges regarding rules and legislation.
With Venturerock, we are creating an alternative model to venture capital that can work outside the U.S. by combining the agility and high-growth potential of early-stage venture building with the discipline and liquidity focus of Private Equity. Our AI-native platform equips founders with the tools to scale from idea to growth-stage company. The transparency it provides enables us to fund based on real-time performance, making investment decisions smarter, faster, and less risky. Venturerock is now a global company, active in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the U.S.
How have you evolved personally as an entrepreneur?
At first, I was very stubborn and believed I could do everything myself. I thought I had all the answers but that wasn’t true, and I needed to learn the hard way that I didn’t. Learning, listening and owning my mistakes have become the DNA of my career growth.
What were the main skills and concepts you acquired at EU Business School that have helped you in your career?
The most valuable part for me was the open mindset and sharing different perspectives in an international environment.
How did you find the experience of creating your own business while studying?
It was challenging but, thanks to the school being flexible, I was able to create a balance: work during the day and do my studies in the evening. My thesis was based on my company which made things easier. Still, juggling studies while leading a startup as founder and CEO was far more intense than most people realized.
Do you have advice for students who would like to start their own companies?
Go out and talk to people with experience. Learn, research and have an open mind. It is important to really understand what entrepreneurship is. It isn’t about all the success stories that you read on social media, it’s hard work and sacrifice. It’s at least a 10-year commitment and you never know if you are going to succeed, so you need to understand that before you start.
