Founder of the Week: Martijn Kaag

• Martijn Kaag is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Veriam
• Kaag boasts two decades of experience in building secure identity systems.
• Veriam is a mission-first infrastructure startup tackling the issue of how ESG platforms and SaaS companies manage access, permissions and sustainability data as they scale.
• Kaag is driven not only by the allure of professional success, but also by his desire to ensure that his children inherit a liveable planet

 

 

Tell Me About Yourself and Veriam

 

I’m Martijn Kaag, a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in building secure identity systems. I founded Veriam to tackle a structural problem: how companies manage access, subscriptions, and sensitive data across complex ecosystems.

Veriam combines access control and subscription management in one secure platform, helping SaaS teams grow faster and enabling organisations to share ESG data supply chains with trust and transparency.

The platform is backed by a foundation I created to align commercial success with long-term impact. We’re based in the Netherlands and are proud to be building digital infrastructure for a more connected and sustainable economy.

 

What Inspired You To Start Veriam? What Problem Were You Trying To Solve?

 

Veriam began as a mission to support the large-scale exchange of ESG data across supply chains. We saw how difficult it was for companies to share sensitive information securely and realised the infrastructure simply wasn’t there. Our goal was to build that missing layer, a trusted platform that handles identity, access, subscription and agreements. This included linking access to pricing and usage, what we now call subscription-based access control (SBAC).

During development, we realised that the challenges that we were solving weren’t unique to ESG, SaaS teams were facing the same issues. That insight helped confirm the broader value of what we were building.

 

 

What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge So Far? How Did You Overcome It?

 

One of the biggest hurdles was the scope of what we set out to build. Veriam isn’t a narrow point solution, it’s foundational infrastructure that cuts across sectors. That meant delivering deep functionality across access, billing, and licensing, all in one platform. Each of those areas has its own set of specialised tools, with huge teams and funding.

Building an alternative platform that combines all these tools into one was ambitious, and bringing the first version to life took serious time, capital, and resilience. There was no shortcut. What’s got us this far is staying focused, staying grounded, and just putting in the work.

 

Can You Describe A Pivotal Moment That Significantly Shaped the Direction of Veriam?

 

A key turning point was when we shifted our go-to-market strategy. We initially framed our platform as infrastructure for ESG data exchange. When we saw how closely SaaS teams mirrored the same challenges, it changed everything.

We restructured and repositioned our whole solution. Veriam was not just for ESG, but for any organisation managing complex user access linked to entitlements, whether that’s data, features, or services. That decision opened the door to a much broader market, and fundamentally shaped how we present and sell the product today.

 

How Do You Define Success? 

 

For Your Business: Success for Veriam means enabling trusted data exchange at scale whilst reducing the friction that holds back progress across ESG, SaaS, and supply chains.

Our goal is to help organisations collaborate securely and transparently, without reinventing the wheel each time. When access is easier, reporting is more accurate, and digital collaboration becomes safer and more scalable.

As a Founder: If Veriam can create both economic and societal value and remain independent, resilient, and values-led, I’ll consider that a success.

 

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Thinking About Launching Their Own Startup?

 

Look for broken systems, mismatched incentives, or manual workarounds, they’re often symptoms of bigger opportunities. Once you find a real pain point, don’t rush to market. Go deep on architecture and design for long-term flexibility. And if your solution doesn’t already exist, be ready to educate users. Finally, surround yourself with people who care more about execution than ego. Great tech is nothing without grit and follow-through.

 

What’s Next For Your Veriam? Any Exciting Developments We Should Watch Out For?

 

We’re focused on growing across SaaS, ESG, and supply chains—three areas that face the same fundamental challenge: managing access and sharing data securely. As regulations tighten, particularly around emissions reporting and supply chain transparency, demand for trusted infrastructure is rising. Veriam is built for that future.

 

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.

 

Founder’s Five with Martijn Kaag

 

Being a successful entrepreneur and startup founder is an incredible accomplishment, but we want to know more about the man behind Veriam. Here’s our exclusive “Founder’s Five” with Martijn Kaag.

 

1. Favourite Business Tool?

Jira. It helps us stay focused and accountable.

 

2. One Lesson You Learned the Hard Way?

Balancing speed and quality in hiring. In a startup, you often need to move fast but finding the right person takes time. We learned that rushing the process creates more delays down the line. Now, we prioritise methodical hiring, even when speed is critical. The right people make all the difference.

 

3. One Future Trend You’re Watching?

The rise of carbon accounting and impact quantification. As these ESG systems mature, they need secure, scalable authentication between organisations. Veriam provides trust infrastructure across ecosystems.

 

4. One Quote You Live By?

“Do the most good you can, in the time you have, with the resources you’ve got.” As a founder, there’s always more you could do. This quote helps me focus on acting with purpose, making smart use of what’s available, and accepting that time and resources are finite. It keeps me accountable to both ambition and reality.

 

5. One Book or Podcast You Recommend?

Doing Good Better by William MacAskill. It challenges you to think critically about impact. Not just what feels right, but what actually helps.

 

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Know someone who deserves to be recognised as a founder making waves in the startup landscape? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.