{"id":"64d82b98-f06f-42d0-97a7-8440242fee85","slug":"kees-koolen","name":"Kees Koolen","bioBrief":"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](/companies/uber) and advisor to Uber's international expansion (2012–2017). Founding partner of [EQT Ventures](/companies/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.","priorExits":null,"nationality":"Dutch","verificationPosture":"verified","aliases":[],"sources":[{"url":"https://www.koolenindustries.com/about-kees-koolen","title":"About Kees Koolen","sourceName":"Koolen Industries (official)"},{"url":"https://www.crunchbase.com/person/kees-koolen","title":"Kees Koolen — Founder, Chairman and CEO","sourceName":"Crunchbase"}],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","createdAt":"2026-07-24T11:03:11.224Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-25T03:26:30.848Z","educations":[],"companyRoles":[{"id":"2f9423ab-3990-4a05-8e22-4c8b5ba6324c","personId":"64d82b98-f06f-42d0-97a7-8440242fee85","companyId":"eda89a50-9d70-4e92-9ae3-20eb75eb2307","role":"founder","roleTitle":"Founding Partner","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_sec","createdAt":"2026-07-24T11:03:11.686Z","company":{"slug":"eqt-ventures","name":"EQT Ventures"}},{"id":"d8ce699b-b8e2-4844-9649-64f1735d826d","personId":"64d82b98-f06f-42d0-97a7-8440242fee85","companyId":"917d99fb-b0df-4611-a0b7-3dcff1ec0cc2","role":"executive","roleTitle":"Advisor — International Expansion","startDate":null,"endDate":"2017-09-01T00:00:00.000Z","currentRole":false,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","createdAt":"2026-07-25T03:26:28.688Z","company":{"slug":"uber","name":"Uber"}}],"boardRoles":[],"investorRoles":[],"foundings":[{"id":"38c99144-2a0a-40c6-bc6f-c6182c173d48","personId":"64d82b98-f06f-42d0-97a7-8440242fee85","companyId":"eda89a50-9d70-4e92-9ae3-20eb75eb2307","foundingDate":null,"cofounderStatus":null,"stillAtCompany":false,"createdAt":"2026-07-24T11:03:12.150Z","company":{"slug":"eqt-ventures","name":"EQT Ventures"}}]}