Company News Archives - XABLU

Celebrating a connector: Arjan ten Buuren named VNTR Global Connector of the Year

XABLU HQ — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 14:26:29 +0000

We’re excited to share that our Managing Partner Arjan ten Buuren has been named Global Connector of the Year by VNTR Capital for his work as Chapter Director, VNTR Capital NL.
Well-deserved.

For us, this is more than an award. It’s a public recognition of something we’ve experienced from up close all year: Arjan’s rare ability to turn introductions into real collaborations.

A connector at the heart of our venture studio

At Xablu Venture Studio, we build ventures by bringing the right people, ideas and resources together. Arjan sits right in the middle of that.

Day to day, we see him:

Spotting founders who are ready for their next step.
Matching them with investors and partners who share their ambition.
Keeping conversations moving long after the first “nice to meet you”.

He doesn’t treat a warm intro as a box to tick. For Arjan, an introduction is the start of a journey:
What could these people build together? How can we remove friction so they can move faster?

That mindset is exactly what this Global Connector of the Year recognition captures.

Why Lisbon is a milestone

At the VNTR Summit in Lisbon, a curated gathering by VNTR Capital, a global community of active investors, family offices and venture studios. Arjan received the Global Connector of the Year title. VNTR is all about making quality intros that lead to real co-investments and new ventures, so this recognition fits perfectly with the way he operates. The rest of the week, at Web Summit 2025, he represented Xablu Venture Studio in meetings with:

Founders who want a studio partner instead of going it alone.
Investors looking for de-risked, studio-backed venture pipelines.
Corporate innovators who want to turn strategy into real-world ventures.

For us, Lisbon marked a clear milestone in his journey as a connector and in how Xablu shows up in the global venture ecosystem.

So yes, this is a proud moment.
Arjan, thanks for the energy you put into the venture ecosystem. You make the pie bigger for everyone. Onward.

If you’re a founder, investor or corporate innovator and want to explore how we build ventures together:

Let’s see what the next introduction can turn into.

The post Celebrating a connector: Arjan ten Buuren named VNTR Global Connector of the Year appeared first on XABLU.

MyGalileoApp – Two Xablu mentored teams under the final 10!

Sabine Alberts — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 08:07:01 +0000

The Xablu Participation

The ten projects in the MyGalileoApp competition judged to be the most exciting in terms of their level of innovation, market potential, and technical feasibility are finally revealed!. Selected from 30 projects shortlisted for the competition’s first development phase, these 10 projects will now advance to the second development phase, at the end of which they should deliver a fully functioning app. Two of the 10 finalists were mentored by Xablu.

Photo: ©GSA, ©European GNSS Agency

Trukatu and Henk Kok: The Smart Navigation and Infotainment innovation category

The Smart Navigation and Infotainment innovation category account for three of the 10 finalists. The Ready Park app (France), GALILEONAUT (France) and the Trukatu app (Spain) which is a mobile C2C platform that connects people who want to rent or lease items with owners who have items to rent out. Trukatu enjoyed the mentoring and guidance of Xablu Co-Founder Henk Kok.

Photo: ©GSA, ©European GNSS Agency

LetMeAut and Maaike Dokter: the Fitness, Sport and mHealth category

Two of the shortlisted projects fall in the Fitness, Sport and mHealth category. The first of these – PanPan – Possible Assistance Needed (Germany) and LetMeAut (Italy) – makes everyday tasks easier for people with autism. Our team is proud to have had our Solution Advisor for Mobile Healthcare Maaike Dokter supervising LetMeAut towards their positioning under the top 10.

The other five

These four of the 10 shortlisted projects are in the Augmented Reality and Games innovation category: uMaze (Finland), ARGEO (Italy), STPR (Poland, Australia, Ukraine) and arstory (Germany). Finally, the Mapping, GIS and Agriculture innovation category accounts for one app among the top ten shortlisted projects: Tractor Navigator (France).

High standards leading to the hard competition!

We are proud to not have one but two of our experts contribute to the team’s developments and achievements in this very high-standard and hard competition.

“The standard of entry in this year’s competition was very high, which made the judges’ task a difficult one. However, the final 10 projects stood out in terms of their innovative approach and uptake potential and we are looking forward to seeing the final working apps in October,” said Justyna Redelkiewicz Musial, in charge of LBS and IoT market development at the European GNSS Agency (GSA). “We hope that the 20 projects that didn’t make it into the second development phase will continue to develop their apps because, at the finals, they will also have the opportunity to demonstrate the progress that they have made,” she said.

The Clock is ticking!

The 10 projects selected for the second development phase will have until October 21 to deliver a finalized version of their app with 100% functionality. During this phase, the teams can receive technical support from the competition’s technical and business advisory team. At the end of the phase, the application should be already available for download on the Google Play and Apple platforms.

Receiving the reward they deserve!

All teams that will successfully complete the second development phase will be invited to the finals, to be held on November 2019, where they will present their application to the GSA evaluation board. The awards will be decided after these presentations, with the first-place winner receiving a EUR 100,000 prize. The runner up and third place winners will receive EUR 50,000 and EUR 30,000 respectively.

Read this: Galileo Demo Centre Hanoi – only a few spaces left!

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link the article to the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu).

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post MyGalileoApp – Two Xablu mentored teams under the final 10! appeared first on XABLU.

XABLU signs Partnership Agreement Xamarin training with Web Age Solutions

Sabine Alberts — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 08:16:35 +0000

Toronto, Canada: XABLU is excited to announce that it has signed a partnership agreement with leading Toronto-based training provider Web Age Solutions. XABLU’s experienced Xamarin University-certified trainers will deliver a full catalogue of multi-day Microsoft Xamarin courses to software developers in cities across Canada and the United States.

Xablu’s unique team made up of Senior and MVP level Xamarin experts is passionate about providing Xamarin training to both beginning and experienced software developers through meetups, conferences, student workshops, hackathons, in-house team training and coaching.
The partnership will see XABLU provide trainers and content for intensive two to five-day on-location courses, ranging from beginner level to more specialized topics such as Xamarin UI/UX based training, Xamarin Azure, Security and Testing, and Xamarin.Android or OS-specific training.

“Working with Web Age Solutions is a natural development for us, as we have been getting more and more requests to provide training for teams based in North America. This partnership lets us expand our reach across both Canada and the USA through a professional and highly-regarded training provider, while allowing Web Age Solutions to further broaden their offering,” says Henk Kok, CEO of XABLU.

With the full catalogue of Xamarin courses already available online, developers can easily select the dates and locations that suit them best. Courses can also be customized to companies’ needs and provided in-house on request, ensuring your people develop the right skill set for your organization

About XABLU: Founded in 2015, XABLU is a leading cross-platform Xamarin Premier Consulting Partner based in Hengelo, the Netherlands. With deep expertise in Microsoft Xamarin, it offers app development, consultancy and training to mid-sized and large companies and institutions around the globe.

About Web Age Solutions Inc.: Founded in 1999 in Toronto, Canada, Web Age Solutions provides technology training and mentoring to companies navigating the world of online business. Counting half of the top Fortune 100 companies as clients, it provides quality education solutions to businesses across a wide range of industries worldwide.

See the full catalogue of Xamarin courses available on Web Age Solutions’ website. Interested in working together? Get in touch with us!

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post XABLU signs Partnership Agreement Xamarin training with Web Age Solutions appeared first on XABLU.

Meet the Developer: 5 questions for our newest developer Luuk Jongebloet

Sabine Alberts — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 08:24:29 +0000

A few weeks ago, Luuk Jongebloet, officialy became a team member of Xablu’s Xamarin Development team. We’ve asked Luuk to answer a few questions. Curious about Luuk? See his interview below!

What brought you to Xamarin development and where do you want to go with it?

For me it all started some time ago, in 2015, with the development of a smartwatch application. This whole process of creating fascinated me. Seeing something rise and evolve every time you adjust the code makes my job fun and lively.

As a developer I want to be able to create many iOS and Android applications which result in an easier and beneficial life for the end-user.

What’s the coolest thing you have ever been working on regarding development?

That must be the creation of an AI robot car which is able to imitate a train! This specific “train” is following a set track, and while it goes, it is picking up people from set stations. That sounds like some cool stuff right?!

What has your experience at XABLU been like so far?

Xablu, in its essence, is a group of carefully handpicked Xamarin professionals. All with very high expertise in my opinion. Being a part of this team is great. Next to that, being a team member, also enables to learn a bunch of new things from my colleagues all the time.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I like to spend my free time with either gaming, working out in the gym, and of course some quality time with friends has never hurt anybody.

What’s your favourite food?!

I can’t say for certain since I like á LOT of food! But lately I do like to eat ramen. Ramen is a Japanese dish, very salty, and mainly consisting of wheat noodles.

Good luck to Luuk from the whole team!

We’re always happy to grow our team with eager developers interested in working their hand at real app projects.

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post Meet the Developer: 5 questions for our newest developer Luuk Jongebloet appeared first on XABLU.

Insights: Xablu joins MyGalileoApp Mentor team

Maaike Dokter — Tue, 07 May 2019 08:51:08 +0000

Last week, we had the pleasure of presenting Xablu’s tips & tricks to the contestants of the MyGalileoApp Competition 2019 organized by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). The competition calls for creative mobile application ideas that could benefit from the precise positioning offered by Galileo. Now, the 30 selected teams will embark on the next stage of the competition where we, from Xablu, will act as mentors.

In 2016, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), called Galileo, went live. It was created by the European Union through the GSA. Galileo can provide high-precision information on our location, which is crucial for daily life activities. Location is the driving force behind many domains such as logistics and transport, which are indispensable in countless sectors such as agriculture, automated mobility, and healthcare.

The MyGalileoApp Competition received 148 innovative application ideas. Of these applications, 30 teams have been selected to partake in the second phase of the competition. During this phase, the teams will be supported by mentors and Xablu is honored to provide some of these mentors for the contestants.

Xablu knows, like no other, how important it is to solidify a concept before starting to build an application. Only by ensuring the solution matches the problem, the usability matches the user and the application fits the context, the application has a higher chance of being adopted and delivering the impact it is meant to have. The GSA works with the same mission while linking space to user needs: “While constantly working closely with a broad range of stakeholders, we ensure that the EU satellite navigation systems are fit for purpose and continue to meet the needs of those who use them today and tomorrow.

Xablu offers the contestants a tailored mentorship on Participatory Design

By helping them work together with their users, their chances of building a successful application increases immensely. Together, we can determine their stakeholders, create a plan of action for testing their application and evaluate the usability. It might seem that this work will take away time from the actual coding of the application but executing this process will save the contestants a lot of coding work and, thus, time since many issues are solved prior to development.

Moreover, Xablu has the technical expertise to help contestants realize their applications. Xablu builds applications through Xamarin, which allows for creating one shared-code base. This way, applications can be built for Android, iOS, and Windows with native app features and a native app feeling, while reusing a large percentage of your code-base. This allows for very efficient cross-platform development.

We want to wish all of the contestants good luck with the development of their applications and we hope we can personally help them achieve great impact using Galileo.

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post Insights: Xablu joins MyGalileoApp Mentor team appeared first on XABLU.

Introducing Maaike Dokter, Solution Advisor Mobile Healthcare!

Sabine Alberts — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 08:59:18 +0000

We recently welcomed a Solution Advisor Mobile Healthcare to our team, Maaike! We asked her to introduce herself through a few questions:

1. Tell me a bit about yourself as a Solution Advisor Mobile Healthcare:

Nowadays, the amount of ways in which we can use technology to help us in our daily lives has grown exponentially. At the same time, we notice the rapidly increasing need for healthcare: as our population grows and ages, more healthcare needs to be provided. However, this is a problem for the healthcare sector.

In line with the views of the government, more preventative healthcare is crucial. Also, we see many opportunities for current healthcare institutions to gain from using technology to achieve more efficiency, speed up patient treatment and improve quality of treatment.

My role is to find these opportunities and brainstorm together with the companies, as well as my colleagues, about how we can improve healthcare through mobile solutions. I have a background in creative technology, which focusses on designing a concept, building prototypes and bringing it to the market. My master’s degree is all about interaction with technology, with a specialisation in E-Health. My aim is to transfer this knowledge to healthcare institutions to improve their services, but, foremost, to improve healthcare for people in general.

2. What do you like to do in your free time?

I will obtain my master’s degree this summer, after which I hope to have some more free time on my hands. I do love traveling and meeting new cultures and I have my next backpacking trip planned later this year. I am also quite adventurous and love to do crazy things: skydiving, bungee jumping, canyoning, you name it!

3. What will you be doing for XABLU?

Xablu already creates amazing applications for companies and they provide really good training. I want to expand the scope even more by establishing a foundation for the company to be able to build really good healthcare solutions. Therefore, I need to figure out which aspects are important for healthcare mobile applications: E-Health is a specific domain that requires a different focus than other applications. Moreover, I will network to explore the possibilities within healthcare and put focus on the importance of user-centered design.

4. What has your experience at XABLU been like so far? What are you looking forward to?

Xablu has really welcomed me within their team and I am grateful for this opportunity. For now, I am only here one day a week, but we have made some good progress in creating potential collaborations within the healthcare sector. I am learning a lot from Xablu and I hope I can contribute a lot to the company, as well as to my colleagues.

I am excited to be part of such a great company and, at the same time, to be able to focus on my passion for e-health and healthcare in general. It is a great combination!

rtance of close collaboration and communication between different departments, such as business stakeholders, developers, and operations. This principle, often ignored in practice, aims to break down silos and facilitate effective teamwork to deliver value to the customer in a predictable and repeatable way. To start small with Agile Cooperation, technical and business teams should come together to define their shared vision and goals, and regular meetings can help build trust and facilitate teamwork.

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post Introducing Maaike Dokter, Solution Advisor Mobile Healthcare! appeared first on XABLU.

A partnership of top developers: meet Nico Milcoff

Kasia Krzyzanowski — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 09:21:40 +0000

We recently started working with the very talented Xamarin developer Nico Milcoff. He’s not only a Microsoft MVP and lead maintainer of the open source MvvmCross project, he also finds time to lead his own team of developers at DGenix, headquarted in Rosario, Argentina.

We first met Nico just over a year ago when he was a guest speaker at our big MvvmCross & Xamarin HackDay, co-sponsored by the .NET Foundation. The event brought together an elite group of top MvvmCross and Xamarin experts from around the world, Nico among them.

Impressed with his expertise, we kept in close touch. Finally this past July, Nico began working closely with our team to contribute his deep knowledge and skills to several of our ongoing projects, notably the MiniBrew mobile app, which is launching to the public soon. His team at DGenix is also available to lend their skills and experience to projects – we’ve already had the pleasure of working with Mariano Miño and look forward to meeting the others!

We’re excited about our collaboration and hope you’ll join us in welcoming Nico and the DGenix team!

Get to know some of the other new members of our team on our blog and team page! Interested in working together? Get in touch with us!

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post A partnership of top developers: meet Nico Milcoff appeared first on XABLU.

Introducing Ivo Krugers, Xamarin developer

Kasia Krzyzanowski — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:35:31 +0000

This week we’re happy to introduce Ivo Krugers, a Senior Xamarin developer who joined our team this month.

1. What brought you to Xamarin development and where do you want to go with it?

I’ve been a software developer all my life. Reusing code is always something we developers yearn for, so having decided to move into mobile development, Xamarin was the logical choice. I love what I’m doing and just go with the opportunities that arise.

2. What will you do at XABLU?

At XABLU, I’ll do a lot of app development (I’m currently part of the MiniBrew app project) but also provide Xamarin training to inspire others.

3. What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time I like to relax and spend time with my family.

Interested in joining our team?

We’re currently looking for new developers from Junior to Senior. If you’re interested in or experienced with Microsoft Xamarin and want to be part of awesome projects, check out our open positions!

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post Introducing Ivo Krugers, Xamarin developer appeared first on XABLU.

Welcome to Damiano Patane, our newest developer!

Kasia Krzyzanowski — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 09:45:18 +0000

We’re happy to have a great new developer join our team, Damiano! We asked him a few questions to get to know him better…

1. Tell me a bit about yourself as a developer:

I’m Damiano Patane, 25 years old, and I am from Alkmaar but will soon be living in Amsterdam. Since childhood I’ve had a passion for technology and computers, so I logically started studying Computer Science. I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Haarlem, where I did a specialization in Mobile Development and Game Development (games for smartphones).

I then did an internship in China where I developed mobile applications that helped with the care of elderly people, followed by my graduation thesis where I did security research for the Gentzz dating application on Android.

After completing my studies, I discovered my passion for creating mobile applications and launched myself as a Mobile Developer. Mobile applications can have a huge impact on daily life, for example, how Uber has had a major impact on the taxi industry. With the belief that in the future everything will become more mobile and we will be less and less bound to computers or laptops, I want to continue to focus my passion on creating mobile applications.

2. What do you like to do in your free time?

After work I’m usually running/jogging or working out in the gym, almost daily. Sitting behind a PC all day writing code is a physically lazy job, so I want to make up for that. If I have any time left I usually like watching shows and movies or playing some games. On the weekend I’m always out with friends.

3. What will you be doing for XABLU?

I’m a Junior Mobile Developer with experience in both native and cross-platform development. Currently, I’m helping out Minibrew with their Xamarin iOS application alongside my colleague Bart Kuipers and in the future I’ll be taking on other projects as well.

4. What has your experience at XABLU been like so far? What are you looking forward to?

I started a month ago and have been having a great experience so far! I like my colleagues at XABLU and I feel I fit right in at Minibrew. I love that I’m learning a lot, not just from creating their app, but also about communicating with the Minibrew machines, which is a more complex architecture than usual.

Interested in joining our team?

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post Welcome to Damiano Patane, our newest developer! appeared first on XABLU.

Introducing Bart Kuipers, Xamarin developer!

Kasia Krzyzanowski — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 12:13:00 +0000

We recently welcomed a new developer to our team, Bart! We asked him to introduce himself through a few questions:

1. Tell me a bit about yourself as a developer:

I’m a .NET developer with over five years of software development experience. I split my time between the Netherlands and the Philippines, where for the past two years I’ve been responsible for developing a new Xamarin.Forms app and managing a small team of Filipino developers.

Although I don’t have a pure technical education background, I fell in love with programming. What I like about the job is the journey from analyzing a complex problem to finding a solution and actually creating a useful app. This is even more fun when you have great team members who can help you along that journey. Hardly a day passes by where you do not learn anything new!

2. What do you like to do in your free time?

When I’m not programming I like traveling, eating, beach bumming and more eating!

3. What will you be doing for XABLU?

As a Xamarin Developer I’ll be contributing to different mobile app projects. I’m currently working on the Minibrew project together with my colleagues Maurice and Damiano.

4. What has your experience at XABLU been like so far? What are you looking forward to?

Although I’ve only been working for XABLU for a very short time, I have a good first impression. Very nice colleagues, Kapsalon (Dutch kebab) team lunch on Fridays, and interesting projects. What’s not to like? I’m really looking forward to working on many challenging projects and working together with the XABLU team to deliver awesome apps!

Curious how Xablu can help your organization ?

The post Introducing Bart Kuipers, Xamarin developer! appeared first on XABLU.