In collaboration with MT/Sprout – Written by: John van Schagen
Digitizing healthcare. It sounds like a logical step in an era where everything has to be smart, fast, and online. In practice, however, things turn out to be a lot more challenging, with protocols and outdated systems that don’t communicate with each other. Yet Tim Wolbrink and Derk Rietveld are taking on the challenge. Their CoryCare is a new platform designed to finally enable healthcare professionals to truly collaborate.
Mark Bottinga has been working as a purchaser for government agencies and semi-public organizations for ten years. He calls it a wonderful profession. "Because you can really make a difference with public money."
However, there is also a downside to his work. Tenders that take six to twelve months, stacks of documents, and an often endless series of assessments. The result? An enormous administrative burden. "We did great work, but sometimes it felt like we were walking through mud with lead in our shoes."
As the market for tendering platforms continues to consolidate and there is essentially only one dominant player left, he starts to get restless. He believes there is a smarter, more efficient, and above all, much faster way of doing things. "For a long time, there was hardly any innovation in this field. Now that AI is opening up a whole range of new possibilities, I saw an opportunity that I didn't want to pass up."
It marks the start of Tenpu, the startup he founded in early spring 2023 together with his technical co-founder Valentin Zberea.
Building a new product
The concept in a nutshell? A platform that guides buyers step by step through the process, prepares templates, and prevents errors. In the first versions, this was largely done manually, without AI. The idea was to guarantee security and control.
"We wanted to do it right, not fast. Now we are gradually adding AI agents that can automatically generate parts of the process. However, the buyer always remains in control," says Bottinga.
He describes the first year and a half as tough. "You're literally building something that doesn't exist yet. Then you discover along the way that some choices aren't practical. Take our first product, for example, a dynamic purchasing system. It turned out to be far too complex to start with, simply because no one dared to test it first."
Nevertheless, the team continued to build, learn, and adjust. The product now has a solid foundation, and the company has twelve employees.
Software that cannot fail
Tenpu's growth is not happening in sprints, but in stages. In the public sector, everything simply takes a little longer than average.
"A simple contract can take three or four months, while large projects can take up to a year. That's part of the playing field, but it also requires patience and a strong cash position," says Bottinga. "We are currently investing primarily in our people and support. Our software is mission critical. If a supplier has to register at 10 a.m. on Monday and the platform is down, it could cost millions of euros. So that can't happen."
His growth plan is ambitious, but he believes it is realistic. By 2026, the company aims to offer a complete product suite that enables buyers to conduct all types of tenders. And after that? To become the market leader in the Netherlands and expand into other European countries. Because buyers there are experiencing the same frustrations.
The power of B. Amsterdam
Since October, Tenpu has been operating from new premises in B. Amsterdam. According to him, the move has had more impact than he could have imagined beforehand. "We used to be in a small cubicle, a bit of a makeshift setup. People came to the office two days a week on average, and even that took a lot of effort on our part as founders."
Now that has completely changed. According to Bottinga, there is always a buzz and a great energy at B. Amsterdam. "The fact that we as a team are now in one space much more often, so we can work on the product, has really accelerated the development of Tenpu."
Bottinga also mentions a number of practical advantages. For example, his company regularly organizes roundtable sessions with customers to discuss topics such as the roadmap or the use of AI. "That's possible here, without any hassle or travel time. We even have a rooftop bar where I can proudly welcome customers."
Culture as a driver of growth
The success Tenpu strives for does not depend solely on technology. Bottinga considers culture to be just as important. "I want people to contradict me, to dare to say that I'm wrong. A developer sees things differently than a designer or a buyer, and it's precisely that combination that usually yields the best solutions. That's why it's so great that people here can easily walk into each other's offices. They grab a marker and draw something on the wall. It may seem like a small thing, but it definitely has an impact. That energy translates directly into the product."
In any case, there is no shortage of potential. Bottinga points to a figure that motivates him: 14 percent of European GDP, more than 2,000 billion euros. "That is how much is spent annually through tenders. And if we gain just 1 percent in efficiency with our software, that already represents a huge social saving. That's what I'm doing it for."
Money is therefore not his primary motivation, he emphasizes. Impact is. "We are going to ensure that buyers can do their jobs better, with more enjoyment and less hassle."
