Ali Niknam (born December 12, 1982) is a Dutch entrepreneur, book author, founder of TransIP, CEO and founder of

bunq bunq B.V. (colloquially named bunq — bank of The Free) is an international fintech company with a European banking license operating in 30 European countries. It was founded in Amsterdam where its headquarters are currently located. The compa ...

Biography

Ali Niknam was born in an Iranian family on December 12, 1982, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. When Ali Niknam was 7 years old, the family moved to Gouda, Netherlands. Niknam graduated from secondary school at the Coornhert Gymnasium in Gouda and in 2007 received a bachelor's degree in technical informatics from the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

. In 2003, during university years, Niknam founded TransIP, a company that specialized in domain name registration and

web hosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing we ...

. In 2014, he handed over the management of the company and in 2019, after the merging with the Belgian company Combell, TransIP was renamed team.blue where he remained a board member. In 2007, with his two partners, Niknam founded a data center company The Datacenter Group. As of 2018 he remained a shareholder in the company at least. In 2011, Niknam wrote a book called ''Ondernemers hebben nooit geluk'' (Entrepreneurs are never lucky) covering his entrepreneurship experience. In 2012, Niknam launched a mobile bank named

in which he invested €98.7 million. In 2023, bunq was valued at €1.65bn after a new funding round. In 2022, together with Robert Vis and Joris Beckers, Niknam founded the People for People Foundation, which supported people affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Together, the three men donate €500 thousand per year.

Awards

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award The EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards previously Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is an award sponsored by Ernst & Young in recognition of entrepreneurship. Founded in 1986 in Milwaukee as a single award, as of 2016 twenty-five pro ...

2024 * Businessman of the Year by Masters EXPO * LOEY Lifetime Achievement Award 2022

References

{{Netherlands-bio-stub Living people Dutch business executives 1982 births