Expertwired secures funding to scale its tech-driven industry expert sourcing & matching platform in its mission to disrupt the global market research industry

Amsterdam-based Expertwired is a global tech-driven expert network that has developed an innovative sourcing and matching technology giving its clients almost instant access to millions of industry experts worldwide. Expertwired connects market research firms, in-house consulting teams, investment advisors and many more seeking real-time market intelligence to industry experts. Through its interactive platform, where clients pay for 1:1 video consultations with these experts, Expertwired delivers higher quality matches, and at lower costs than incumbent industry players. Today, Expertwired has raised close to €1M in its second round of funding to continue to fundamentally change how people do market research and businesses connect with industry experts to craft insights and make informed decisions. 

According to Reinier Huisman, founder of Expertwired “The potential for a tech-solution to support better decision making is huge. Often, doing market research means hours of ‘googling’ or buying expensive, often outdated, market reports. In today’s world, it is crucial to have quick access to the most recent and relevant information, tailored to one’s interest. This is where Expertwired comes in, allowing our clients to dramatically step up their ability to connect with the latest insights from industry experts. Leading experts are often hard to find, and don’t share their knowledge openly. Our platform allows us to discover leaders in their field, connect with them in a trusted environment, and provide our clients fast and affordable access to their insights.”

Expertwired is growing rapidly since the business launched mid-2021 and clients already openly share their recognition for the game-changing nature of the platform versus incumbent expert networks who often employ resource-intense, time-intense, and cost-intense operating models to deliver from their existing database of experts.

Expertwired’s platform is now mostly used by (strategic) consultancy firms and private equity investors, but eyes a much broader user base and more use-cases. The platform is active in over 18 countries and serves notable clients such as KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, and EY (big four), many private equity firms, large corporations (such as HP, Philips), research firms (Frost & Sullivan) and Universities (Harvard). 

Huisman, with over 15 years background in strategy consulting and M&A, explains: “With Expertwired we embarked on a journey to develop a disruptive technology that could custom recruit perfect matching experts without having to rely on an existing, often stale, and overused, member database other industry players typically use. With our automated sourcing & matching technology we are now able to deliver on any client search for industry expertise with better expert matches, at a much lower cost than other expert networks. All this with a more user-friendly experience that puts our clients and experts in the driving seat.”

Where traditional networks (such as GLG, Guidepoint, Alphasights) often require clients to contractually commit to high volumes of pre-paid interviews, Expertwired says it is democratizing the market by allowing businesses to start their searches instantly and get access to experts specifically sourced and matched to their interests, without prepayments. The Expertwired platform supports the full expert seeking journey: from scheduling interviews through different time zones to payment to experts, and provides a safe, compliant environment for knowledge sharing. On the Expertwired platform users can search, select, and book pre-vetted and screened experts in an easy, seamless experience at on average 50% of the costs of traditional networks.

Traditional networks easily charge clients more than €1,000 per expert interview and pay only around €200 to the experts. “Experts often don’t know this, and we think it is fundamentally unsustainable as the experts are really the ones providing the knowledge.”, says Huisman. Expertwired pays out experts on average €400 per interview, but experts always choose their own rate. This makes Expertwired the highest paying platform for experts globally, whilst clients – who pay a mark-up of 20% platform fee – are always better off than through alternative ‘low-tech’ networks. Huisman: “To experts, it’s not all about earnings. We’ve built our technology in such a way that experts on-board in minutes and determine their own hourly rate. We pre-fill their professional experience automatically and enable them to accept or decline incoming opportunities in a few clicks. Straightforward and easy.”

The current round was led by Pop Up Qapital, the new angel syndicate from serial investor Quintin Schevernels (former CEO of Funda). Other individual angels in this investment round include Jurgen van Dijk, Ruud van Hoek (founders Stepstone Corporate Finance), Patrick Stal (ex-N26, Uber, TomTom), and continued participation from existing investor MB Capital.  

Quintin Schevernels, Pop Up Qapital: ”The vision of Expertwired’s founders and their ability to develop and launch their impressive technology and platform in such a short time with strong customer traction, quickly convinced us to invest. We believe Expertwired has the potential to redesign the customer experience for market research on a global scale.”

Mathijs Bakker, MB Capital: “As the initial pre-seed investor in Expertwired, we are proud to contribute to the journey of ExpertWired, and its founders, and will continue to do so in the future.”

Launched early 2022 by Quintin Schevernels, Pop Up Qapital represents a group of seasoned entrepreneurs highly experienced and familiar with marketplaces and SaaS models and aims to finance and support early-stage startups. One of the things that make Pop Up Qapital unique is that it handpicks relevant angel investors from its network for every single investment. The fund’s investment strategy is mainly focused on SaaS or marketplace startups from the Netherlands.

Expertwired was in the pre-seed stage funded by MB Capital. MB Capital launched in early 2021 as a family office led by founder Mathijs Bakker. Mathijs is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in founding several ICT and software companies. Most recently Mathijs sold CSN Groep towards Interstellar and will continue his journey to support, and invest, in start-ups with a strong disruptive business model. 

Dutch tech-startup Expertwired closed its second round of funding, securing close to €1M to scale its tech-driven industry expert sourcing & matching platform in its mission to disrupt the global market research industry

Expertwired secures next funding round to scale its tech-driven industry expert sourcing & matching platform

Expertwired secures funding to scale its tech-driven industry expert sourcing & matching platform

[Podcast] How to disrupt an industry with new models and technology that nobody has

Reinier Huisman, CEO & co-founder of Expertwired, shared his entrepreneur journey of disrupting the expert network industry and making expert knowledge sharing more accessible to the world. Reinier was invited for the podcast and interviewed by Eugen B. Ross, Managing Director of Russmedia Equity Partners. 

In the podcast, Reinier talks about how he initiated the business idea of developing a tech-based expert knowledge marketplace. He addressed the uniqueness of Expertwired’s advanced custom sourcing technology and how the "new game" business model benefits both the clients and the experts. He also explains how the “old game” business model of incumbent expert networks still heavily relies on manual expert sourcing and little use of technology. 

Reinier ends the podcast by sharing his learnings for starting tech-entrepreneurs on how to pivot successfully in business.

Listen to this podcast episode on Spotify.

Expertwired is disrupting the expert network industry with proprietary technology. The startup is able to custom source industry experts for any specific market for client's market research needs enabling them to connect with industry experts for 1-hour video consultations.

How to disrupt an industry with new models and technology that nobody has

How Expertwired Boosts Your Life Sciences Research

As the name suggests, Life Sciences are concerned with life and specifically our health. This includes the study of living organisms such as humans, animals, and bacteria. In today's world, Life Sciences, go beyond into practice of medicine, pharmaceuticals, sales, medical devices, policies and regulations, and more. In a nutshell, Life Sciences try to provide solutions to a variety of health and medical problems and ultimately help patients. But Life Sciences don't have to be as complicated as it might sound!


How Expertwired Can Help You in Life Sciences

Life Sciences are ever-changing with advancements in research, technology, and availability of vast amounts of data delivering new medicines, treatments, medical devices, and tech-driven products and software solutions. To support research, as well as knowing how to develop, test, regulate, approve, manufacture, market, and sell medical tech and other innovations require expert knowledge of Life Sciences and their respective industries. This is where often experienced professionals in the healthcare sector are consulted via expert networks like Expertwired to give that valuable real-time and hands-on insight into market developments.


The two main reasons clients seek out experts in Life Sciences are:

to gain insights into markets, technologies, products, practices, and regulations of Life Sciences.

to find physicians, nurses, other clinical practitioners, and regulatory consultants for the purpose of clinical trials, pharmaceutical drug and medical device testing, and approval of these solutions for use.


For your research and development, you want access to the most relevant experts at your fingertips to give you the most up-to-date market understanding and insights. Expertwired gives you access to a practically unlimited pool of experts that can guide you through it all. We have experts to help you in identifying market trends, needs assessments, competitive intelligence, product development, manufacturing, biotech, strategies, and much more with backgrounds as healthcare professionals, medical professors, and industry leaders in medical devices - to name just some. The overview below shows a more compelling overview of experts in our network:

Expertwired is changing the game, and most importantly how you do market research for the better! What makes Expertwired the best choice for your Life Sciences research:

An abundance of experts for any sector and niche because we source experts with technology and are able to deliver on virtually every custom request in record time.

A tech-driven approach to provide the highest quality matches that are pre-vetted and screened by our rigid process. We have a non-match rate as low as 2%.

Marketplace dynamics allow us to offer the best rates in the industry without prepaid credits or subscriptions. You can simply get started right away!

We are an investor-backed company located in Amsterdam with the most passionate team to give you hands-on support where you need it and fired up to disrupt the traditional expert network industry with our tech-driven model.

We guarantee we can find the most specialized, niche experts for whatever niche markets and unique projects you may throw at us. Get ahead of the curve in Life Sciences with Expertwired—your key partner in Life Sciences research!

Psst! Check out our guide to get the most out of your expert interviews and optimize your Life Sciences research with us!

The Life Science landscape is evolving with tech developments and the unpredictability of COVID-19. So, Life Sciences are increasingly relevant. Since the pandemic, our health and pharmaceutical research and solutions are more pressing than ever. The sector is seeing exciting growth with constant technological development. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, may struggle with datafication and automation in Life Sciences. To adapt to the new data-driven approaches and changes across different areas and industries, Life Sciences companies may need more specialized and strategic expertise than before.

The main areas of expertise in Life Sciences we cover include:

Pharmaceuticals
This includes pharmaceutical drug development, testing, manufacturing, etc.

Medical technologies
Medtech and medical devices innovations, such as emerging femtech medical technologies specifically targeting women's health concerns.

Biopharma and biotech
A growing area in Life Sciences focused on adapting biological or synthesized biological materials into pharmaceuticals and medical technologies.

Commercial sales and marketing
The marketing and sales of medical products from pharmaceuticals to devices.

Healthcare and patient services
Includes patient information systems, digital platforms, and databases.

Academic and medical research
This includes clinical trials, pharmaceutical drug testing, and medical device testing that requires connecting with doctors and clinical practitioners in Life Sciences.



There are, however, more niche areas developing in Life Sciences not knowing which expert you will need tomorrow. This is where Expertwired is the best option for connecting you to experts with specific niche experience. Our sourcing and expert screening process enables us to pinpoint the exact aspects that matter for you to select and choose which experts you wish to have a 1:1 video interview with.  Smarten up your market research and get started with Expertwired!

Learn how Experwired can help you improve your Life Sciences market research with industry experts at your fingertips!

How Experwired Boosts Your Life Sciences Research

How to become an industry expert?

Do you want to become an industry expert? As industries continue to grow and develop, we not only see more niche markets emerging, we also see the demand for specialized industry experts to help businesses navigate into uncharted territory is seeing strong uplift.

Our clients are looking to get market insights to validate new product launches, strengthen arguments to make (or break) investment decisions, define go-to-market strategies, or other areas where they have questions on market trends & developments or competitive dynamics they cannot get answered through ordinary market research.

We connect our clients to industry experts for 1-hour paid video calls. Calls where clients have the ability to have their questions answered by someone deeply experienced and involved in the industry. We cater to clients such as PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and every day more are joining our network as they see the value of getting market insights directly from the source.

Becoming an industry expert does not happen overnight, but rather is an ongoing process of educating and establishing yourself within your industry and keeping up with the trends causing businesses to pivot and adapt to change.

A sought-after industry expert has multiple years of experience in an industry and has a current or recent professional position that reflects their experience and stature. Experts are not necessarily CEOs or CFOs but can very well be supply chain specialists, marketers, healthcare professionals, production-line operators, lab technicians, etc... In essence, any crucial part of business activities could be the focal point for our clients.  In short: if you have more than 5 years' experience in an industry you are very likely to be an expert (even if you had not thought of yourself that way).

An industry expert has knowledge. And knowledge has value. We enable experts (you) to get paid for knowledge sharing, in a safe, compliant, and user-friendly manner.

To help you reach your potential, we've gathered the most important tips to help you become an industry expert.

To get started in the world of industry experts you want to find your niche and focus on that. Finding a specific niche is one of the best ways for you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Believe it or not, being specialized in just one particular area is far more valuable than having a broad understanding of a bunch of fields. Even if it's small, If you're good in your particular niche you are well on your way to becoming a trusted industry expert.

When choosing to hone in on your focus follow your passions. If you're passionate about what you do, your peers and clients will see that and want to work with and learn from you. Regardless of your particular area of expertise, if you're following your passion and immersing yourself in your specific field you will inevitably develop your expertise. Your passion will help motivate you in your journey and can lead you to a lifelong career in your niche. Many industry experts eventually turn their passions into a career in consulting.

Once you've found your focus and passion you can begin to further build your knowledge and presence in the industry, from diving deeper into your area of expertise to making connections with other experts in your field.

No matter you are a starter or an expert in your niche, you must always keep diving deeper and learning. If you're still trying to break into your industry of expertise it is important to use any resources available to your advantage. This may include investing in relevant industry courses and seminars or participating in conferences to learn from and connect with other industry experts.

A big part of learning is staying up to date on industry news and trends. Industries are constantly changing and as an industry expert you need to not only know the fundamentals of the industry but keep up with it and its trends. Check news resources, read articles, listen to or participate in industry podcasts, subscribe to industry newsletters, and consult your industry connections. Knowing the trends and understanding your industry can help you stay ahead of the curve. The best information and insights are always up to date to be relevant. So ultimately, the point is to never stop learning and seeking knowledge.

3. Build a network of connections in your field

Networking is a great way to both build your connections in the field and learn things quickly and efficiently. The world of networking can be daunting at first but you'll find that your peers are in the same shoes as you. Connect with experts on LinkedIn, attend industry conferences, or join an industry networking association to learn from other experts and share your perspectives. Immerse yourself in your industry to find peers and mentors who can help you grow. By building a network of connections you open yourself up to new opportunities and start to make a name for yourself.

To go the extra mile, try to connect with those who are in related industries. Having a broadened understanding of your specific industry as well as understanding related industries relevant to yours will make you a more well-rounded yet specialized industry expert. The goal is to learn and to incorporate the lessons and experiences you've had along the way into what you do as an expert.

As you continue to build your network and develop yourself as an expert, you can start to take on new adventures to influence others. By taking the initiative and leading conversations among your fellow experts you will start to exert yourself as a leader. Start with taking more responsibilities in your organization as well as your industry communities and associations. The active leadership role you play will help establish yourself as a credible and trustworthy industry expert among your peers and future clients.

To establish your leadership in your field, you need to express yourself and make people convinced. By publishing articles and industry-related content, you will make yourself more reputable. To continue to build your reputation as an industry expert, sharing your knowledge is crucial. You should be actively engaging with and creating useful content for your industry. Use your expertise and the help of your network to build a platform for yourself. Industry leaders often actively contribute content in a number of ways such as:

Blogs — a great way to express yourself a bit more freely on topics that interest you within your industry of expertise

Podcasts — discuss relevant industry topics with guests and provide a platform for dialogues with other industry experts

Industry publications — writing for an industry column or publishing articles will help boost your credibility enormously

Public speaking at conferences — deliver speeches at industry conferences and events to showcase your expertise

Teaching workshops — teaching is an authoritative leadership role and allows you to educate others on the ins and outs of the industry you know best as an expert

By building a repertoire of your work from ebooks, podcasts, workshops, and public speeches your visibility within the industry will grow.

If you want to take your expertise to the next level, you can delve into the world of consulting. Consulting clients is where you can unleash your potential to impact real-world decisions. As a seasoned industry expert, you'll be able to offer your unique opinions and predictions to help your clients navigate the industry and make smart business decisions. Consulting clients is important for keeping yourself immersed in the industry and pushes you to stay up to date so you can provide clients with the best insights.

It might be difficult to find clients when you are first starting off. Expert networks are a great platform to get more opportunities to work with clients. Expert networks match industry experts with clients according to their requirements. Therefore, you don't need to look for clients for consulting opportunities but wait for expert networks to find them for you. Becoming an expert advisor at an expert network shows you are highly regarded in your specific industry and that your expertise is valuable.

As a fast-growing expert network, Expertwired aims to empower experts and advocate for transparency in the industry. With the extremely user-friendly registration procedure at Expertwired, all you need is a LinkedIn profile to get started.

Online and particularly social media presence is increasingly important nowadays. Although it may seem trivial, your online social media presence can make a big difference in how you are perceived. Use different social media to express yourself and share your successes by posting about your projects or industry-related events and conferences. Social media such as Twitter are less formal environments for you to make industry connections and allow for you to express your personality a bit more. LinkedIn is a great platform to connect with experts and clients in your industry, show your resume and accomplishments, as well as update your connections on what you're up to.

As you keep working and building your resume be sure to keep your social media profiles updated. Joining an expert network is also a good way to boost online presence because you can add your role as an expert advisor to your social media and LinkedIn profile.

Tip: Add your role as 'expert advisor' at Expertwired to your LinkedIn profile. The following template text is easy to add and you are free to use.

Description - Expert Advisor for Expertwired, providing consultative services to clients. (Areas of expertise include xxx.)


We hope with the help of these tips and a lot of hard work you'll be able to begin your journey to becoming an industry expert!


Please note there are also reasons someone would not be allowed to share knowledge via an expert network. This could perhaps be the case if your current employment contract states you are not allowed to perform auxiliary activities. Be sure to verify if you are allowed to engage in expert consultations. Need help to understand if you may or may not? visit our site for more information about compliance.

Automotive

Energy & Utilities

Pharmaceutical

Construction & Infrastructure

Agriculture Crops & Forestry

James gave our client, a hedge fund investor, valuable insights in the world of international telecom.

Benchmarking performance

Learn how Robert helped our client, a private equity firm, with their due diligence.

Due Diligence on investment cases

Sven helped a consultancy firm understand real-time market impact

Handling market turbulence

Read how Marie helped a large food retailer estimate marketing and expenditure and conversion.

Innovation and greenfield growth

Resource exploration & geology expert with 14+ years in Mining 

Mark L.

Professional with 22+ years in business development in Liquid Food Packaging

Stefano G.

18+ years in Agriculture with expertise in seed & field production management

Cristian T.

Marketing executive & growth advisor in Transportation, IT, and Staffing & Recruitment

Alex N.

Don't rely on desktop research or market reports alone.  Speak to industry experts in 1:1 video calls to find validation on the topics top-of-mind for you can make all the difference. Get real-time market insights and - often - hear about market perspectives you didn't expect to be important at all by just looking at available market research and deal documentation.

Our experts give you the insights you need. Today.

The best industry experts at your fingertips

[[[Due diligence]]] on investment cases

When performing commercial due diligence (CDD) activities you need to be confident that you have the most relevant and recent market insights. Talking with an expert active the field today can make all the difference.

Industry Expert interviews crucial in best-in-class Commercial Due Diligence

Due diligence on investment cases

Do you also experience that market reports often don't have exactly the benchmarks you are looking for? Our industry experts will give you the answers you need for your Operational Due Diligence, Performance Improvement or other Industry Benchmarking activities. Tell us exactly what you need and we will deliver you a list of experts available for you now. Ask today, get your answers tomorrow.

Benchmarking made easy with Expertwired

Get the industry benchmarks you need directly from industry experts

[[[Benchmarking]]] performance

Solidify and challenge business cases with operational and financial benchmarks straight from industry experts which are now active in the target market.

Validating the needs of your target market is a crucial step in the early conception stage of a new product or service. On consumer focused products your best bet might be through consumer panels and surveys, but what about b2b user testing and b2b market validation? Having 1-on-1 interviews with experts in the field is essential to dig deep, validate your assumptions, and get new perspectives resulting in big impact on your ROI.

Why go blind if you can validate before launch?

Validate your product or business ideas by speaking with experts in the field.

[[[Market validation]]] made easy

Get the market intelligence you need from anticipated users before launching a new product or entering a new market. We help our clients every day with easy access to experts with their market validation & user testing needs. Try us and be amazed.

New product / market validation

Sudden events impact our world and your business. COVID-19, political instabilities or a blocked Suez canal. Unexpected things happen with short and long-term impact to your business, your suppliers or your clients and end-markets. Our clients see the benefit of doing regular industry expert consultations to keep a close eye on market effects, rather than to rely on market publications - which in these situations -  signal too late for you to respond. See how we help our clients and let us help you.

Handling market turbulence with Expertwired

Understand sudden market impacts first and act before others

[[[Handling]]] market turbulence

Markets move in real-time, but you don't see this reflected directly in your financial performance or market reports. Speaking with our industry experts help you understand how to address sudden market challenges, to react, and to capture opportunities.

Innovating essentially means going into the unknown. Unknown end-user interest, applicability for different end-markets, or essentially different market characteristics between geographies. In these environments it is crucial to validate and test market potential and applicability before going in deep allocating resources and investments. We help our clients by matching them with industry experts of the target audience for 1:1 video conversations. Overcome unknowns and unforeseen risks (or opportunities) in innovation. Reach out. We can help.

Increase your ROI when pursuing Innovations

Get the market intelligence you need by speaking directly with your target audience

[[[Innovation]]] and greenfield growth

When going into new markets, expanding internationally, or launching new products you step into the unknown. Speaking with industry experts will give you the go-to-market perspectives you need and market insights others don't have.

The best industry experts at your fingertips

These top tier companies already use Expertwired

Recently booked experts

Why businesses choose Expertwired

Abundance of experts

100% screened experts

No cost until you book

Safe & secure

We're the world's access to real-time expert knowledge

4.9/5

Empowering experts

Investor backed

How does Expertwired work?

Search

Select

Video call

Pay per minute

Used in high impact situations

The highest pay in the industry. Guaranteed

Insights

Get started today

Frequently asked questions