Meld een Vermoeden Receives Investment for Total Solution Against Crime

Local authorities are taking on more and more investigative responsibilities, but often lack the tools to carry out this task effectively. HSD partner 'Meld een Vermoeden' offers a unique platform to easily report suspicious situations. The digital platform then enriches the reports with information from public sources and strengthens cooperation with partners in the security domain. For the further development of the platform Meld een Vermoeden receives a capital injection of 600,000 euros from InnovationQuarter and investment partners. Deputy mayor Saskia Bruines of the city of The Hague announced this news on 28 April.

The Hague scale-up Meld een Vermoeden focuses on combating subversion: crime where the boundary between the upper and lower world is blurred. This can involve, for example, vacant restaurants, shop premises and homes that function as a cover for money laundering, illegal prostitution or drug trafficking. Their invisibility makes this form of crime difficult to tackle. Cases are based on suspicions and gut feelings, which are not stored in police systems.

The organisation is the first to make it possible to map out this so-called 'soft information' and to automatically enrich the report with, among other things, cadastral information, the WOZ value and the registered businesses at the address. With the investment, the scale-up wants to develop the platform into a total solution that supports municipalities from first suspicion to legal prosecution.

Stronger information position

Meld een Vermoeden was founded in 2016 by IT company Milvum from The Hague. As the winner of a hackathon of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the company was allowed to run a pilot with the municipality of The Hague. In this pilot, an accessible mobile app allowed citizens, police officers and officials to report a suspicious situation on the spot and within a minute. The pilot showed that this method significantly lowers the threshold for reporting a suspicious situation, which is very beneficial for the information position of municipalities.

The central collection of information strengthens the cooperation with chain partners such as the Public Prosecutor's Office, Customs and the National Police. This ensures an effective and integrated approach to subversion, where previously valuable information was lost due to fragmented systems. Meld een Vermoeden now has 1,700 users and 27 municipalities as customers.

Developing a total solution

The investment will be used to develop the hotline into a total solution. To make this possible, Meld een Vermoeden wants to expand its team, start different cooperation projects and run three new pilots with municipalities. The launch of the total solution is planned for 1 October this year.

Viresh Jagesser, CEO Meld een Vermoeden: 'With this investment we can deliver even more value in tackling subversion and provide municipalities with an effective total solution.

Saskia Bruines, deputy mayor of the city of The Hague:"The Hague municipality is happy to congratulate the security company Meld een Vermoeden with a €600,000 grant from InnovationQuarter. Meld een Vermoeden focuses on fighting subversive crime in cooperation with municipalities, a topic that touches the core of what The Hague stands for: peace, justice and security. We are proud that the company is based in The Hague and is part of the Dutch security cluster. In this cluster, businesses, governments and knowledge institutions work together on a secure digital society. We look forward to our further cooperation!"

Maurice Bakker, Fund Manager IQ Capital: "This investment in Meld een vermoeden fits very well with the policy of the Dutch government. In recent years, the Dutch government has invested heavily in early detection and combating subversive criminal activities. By making this investment, InnovationQuarter makes it possible for Meld een Vermoeden to further develop its platform to support municipalities even better in tackling subversion".

Symposium

InnovationQuarter, HSD and Meld een Vermoeden join forces and organize an online symposium on innovation in tackling subversion on Thursday May 27th from 10:00 to 11:00. 

Pieter van de Stadt (Mayor of Lansingerland), Jolijn Broekhuizen (researcher Bureau Broekhuizen) and Viresh Jagesser (CEO Meld een Vermoeden) will discuss the topic with Joris den Bruinen (Director HSD). 

Topics such as cooperation and information exchange between (semi) governments, innovation in the security domain, local approaches to subversion by municipalities and the scientific view on citizens' willingness to report will be discussed during the symposium. You can register via https://events.innovationquarter.nl/symposiumondermijning.

The funds were made possible by the European Union. Would you like to know more about Opportunities for West / EFRO? Click here.