Rotterdam's PayWatch and Whspr win KVK innovation awards

ROTTERDAM, 13 November 2026 | Two Rotterdam companies have received national recognition for innovations addressing everyday problems. PayWatch, which helps people avoid financial difficulties, and Whspr, which develops quieter heat pumps for residential neighbourhoods, have each won an Innovation Promise award at the 2026 KVK Innovation Top 100. Their recognition comes alongside a category victory for Delft-based Plastilose, whose environmentally friendly medicine cups have a direct connection to Rotterdam.

The awards were presented on Friday 13 November at Jaarbeurs Utrecht, during the 21st edition of the annual competition organised by the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK). The event recognises small and medium-sized Dutch businesses developing new technologies and solutions to economic and social challenges.

PayWatch wants to stop debt before it becomes a crisis

Rotterdam-based PayWatch received the Innovation Promise award in the Labour Market and Society category. The company has developed a digital platform designed to help people keep track of their bills and prevent missed payments from developing into more serious debt problems.

It's a familiar situation: a bill goes unnoticed, a payment reminder arrives, and before long additional charges begin to accumulate. PayWatch wants to intervene earlier by bringing financial obligations together and helping users recognise when action is needed.

The platform can identify bills through connected financial information, monitor payment deadlines and provide insight into outstanding obligations. Its wider ambition is to make financial management more accessible and reduce avoidable collection costs.

Founded by Rotterdam entrepreneurs Samba Jarju and Mariama Sesay, PayWatch addresses a problem that extends well beyond the world of financial technology. For households struggling to keep track of their finances, preventing a debt problem can be considerably easier than resolving one after costs have escalated.

Whspr tackles a surprisingly noisy problem

Another Rotterdam winner, Whspr, received the Innovation Promise award in the Energy Transition category for a quieter hybrid heat pump developed specifically for densely built residential neighbourhoods.

Heat pumps can help households reduce their dependence on natural gas, but installing them in terraced houses isn't always straightforward. Outdoor units produce noise, and the available space between neighbouring properties can be limited.

Whspr has developed a system intended to address precisely that problem. Its design substantially reduces operating noise, allowing the outdoor unit to be positioned much closer to neighbouring property boundaries than many conventional installations.

Earlier in 2026, Whspr worked with Eneco on a pilot involving approximately twenty residential installations. The trial included privately owned homes and rental properties, allowing the companies to study the technology's performance and installation requirements under real-world conditions.

The potential benefits extend beyond individual households. If quieter systems make heat pumps more practical in compact neighbourhoods, they could help remove one of the obstacles to replacing gas-fired heating in Dutch cities.

Delft's Plastilose has a Rotterdam connection too

The highest-placed South Holland company was Plastilose from Delft, which won the Circular Economy category with an alternative to disposable plastic medicine cups.

These small cups are used in enormous quantities throughout healthcare. Plastilose is developing replacements made from bacterial cellulose, a material grown by microorganisms rather than manufactured from conventional plastics.

The company aims to produce biodegradable disposable medical products that can replace commonly used plastic alternatives without leaving microplastics behind.

Although its laboratory and office are now based at the Biotech Campus Delft, Plastilose has roots in Rotterdam. Its early experiments took place at BlueCity, the city's circular-economy hub, while the company is registered in Rotterdam.

There's an even more direct local connection: Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam has been testing Plastilose's medicine cups since April 2026. The pilot allows healthcare staff to evaluate the cups during everyday medication rounds as the company works towards larger-scale production.

Other South Holland innovators recognised

Leiden-based Rift Protein also received an Innovation Promise award, in the Health and Nutrition category. The company develops alternative plant proteins using crops including mung beans, with a focus on ingredients that can be produced more sustainably and remain suitable for a changing climate.

The overall winner of the 2026 KVK Innovation Top 100 was QT Sense from Groningen. Its quantum microscope technology enables researchers to study living cells in greater detail, potentially opening new possibilities for medical research, diagnostics and drug development.

The KVK Innovation Top 100 has been organised annually since 2006. This year, 100 finalists were selected from more than 200 entries, with innovations assessed for qualities including originality, impact, growth potential and social relevance.

Almost 10,000 public votes were cast. The specialist juries accounted for 80 per cent of the category scores, while the public vote contributed the remaining 20 per cent. The overall winner was subsequently selected by a separate jury.

There is no cash prize attached to the competition. Instead, the emphasis is on recognition, visibility and opportunities for promising businesses to develop their innovations further.

Small companies addressing big challenges

What makes the Rotterdam winners particularly interesting is how practical their ambitions are. PayWatch is tackling the financial stress caused by missed bills, while Whspr is addressing a technical obstacle to cleaner domestic heating. Neither innovation needs to change the entire world to make a meaningful difference to people's lives.

And with Plastilose's work already being tested at Maasstad Hospital, this year's awards also demonstrate how the wider Rotterdam region can bring together start-ups, established businesses and public institutions to develop new solutions.

For more information about the competition and its participating companies, visit the official KVK Innovation Top 100 website.