Person

Kees Koolen

Dutch businessman and investor. Former COO, CEO, and Chairman of Booking.com (2002–2014), where he scaled the company into the world's leading online travel platform. Early investor in Uber and advisor to Uber's international expansion (2012–2017). Founding partner of EQT Ventures (2015). In 2019, founded Koolen Industries, investing over €130M in clean energy and clean mobility companies, including robotics startups like Aziobot (autonomous cleaning robots). An accomplished Dakar Rally competitor — the only person to have completed the race in all vehicle categories — he is developing an emission-free competition vehicle (Project 2030 / Nicias). Studied at Fontys University of Applied Sciences and the University of Twente.

Dutch · 1 current role · 1 founding

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Current roles (1)

EQT Ventures Founding PartnerSEC-verified

Foundings (1)

EQT Venturesno longer at company

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Co-founders (2)

Hjalmar Winbladh co-founded EQT Ventures
Lars Jörnow co-founded EQT Ventures

Former / Previously (1)

Uber Advisor — International Expansion? to 2017-09-01Secondary-verified

Sources (2)

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