Quote – a Dutch magazine on business and lifestyle – wondered what happened to the entrepreneurs who pitched their business five years ago. Amongst them was our architect Bart Roeffen who pitched for DeltaSync.
Bart: “We raised the money we needed to do research, but our pitch was actually very naive. We asked to invest in a concept, but investors want to invest in a product. Or in our case, in a real estate project on a specific location. Our company DeltaSync is doing really well though. We raised funds and work for several cities in the Netherlands and abroad.”
The timing of the pitch five years ago had to do with the Floating Pavilion in the Rijnhaven in Rotterdam, realized by DeltaSync. Bart: “That was a great succes because that was at the time when people were getting more aware of climate change. We wanted to take advantage of this momentum. We noticed quite quickly though that there were a lot of obstacles due to Dutch laws and regulations. Thats why we focused on other countries as well, where there are huge possibilities.”
“Overall, I’m still convinced that we have to look at the possibilities on the water, because we are devastating the earth right now. And with that I don’t mean land reclamation like in Dubai, which is irresponsible from a ecological point of view.”
Bart concludes with an interesting fact for potential investors: “Right now building on the water is 10% to 20% more expensive, but this is largely compensated by the price of water plots, which is lower than the price of land.”
Credits text & photo Quote-article: Sander Schimmelpenninck & Aafke Holwerda
