EU-Startups Summit: dates, who attends, and how founders get in
“At this exclusive in-person event we’ll be showcasing many of Europe’s hottest startups and coming together to learn from some of the most successful European entrepreneurs of our time.”
Verified ·46 official sources·Organised by EU-Startups.com, organised by the EU-Startups events team at Menlo Media S.L.U.; EU-Startups/Menlo Media became part of MeOut Group in 2025.
- Next edition
- May 13–14, 2027 · EU-Startups Summit 2027 source
- Where
- Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, Malta
- Format
- in-person · 2 days
- EU-Startups Summit Pitch Competition
- A prize package worth €1 million (2027), as stated on the Summit page. The completed 2026 competition’s package was valued at over €1 million (2026). source
- Cadence
- Annual, held in May; the 2026 edition took place May 7–8, and the next edition is announced for May 13–14, 2027.
GeneralistAIHealth & biotechClimateDeeptechRoboticsPre-seedSeedFoundersInvestorsCorporatesPress
Next edition
| Dates | May 13–14, 2027 source |
|---|---|
| Edition | EU-Startups Summit 2027 |
| Venue | Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, Malta |
| Timezone | Europe/Malta |
| Tickets | eu-startups.com source |
How founders get in
For 2027, the organiser describes two days of networking, inspiration, and learning for tech-based and tech-enabled startups with global ambitions. The programme is presented as fireside chats, keynotes and a pitch competition, alongside an exhibition hall, a dedicated networking app, topic-focused sessions, a networking area, and evening drinks.
- For the next edition, buy an attendee ticket through the organiser’s 2027 Eventbrite listing; general attendance is presented as ticket purchase, not an application. The event is scheduled for 2027-05-13 to 2027-05-14.
- For the 2027 pitch competition, apply when its application phase opens in December 2026. The organiser has not yet published the application form or full eligibility rules for that edition.
- After buying a ticket, use the Summit networking app to complete your profile, find and message participants, and arrange meetings. The 2026 guide also says meeting-room slots could be booked through the app.
| Includes | The 2026 Future Unicorns package included a branded exhibition pod, two event tickets (2026), access to the networking app with a company profile and lead-generation features, and a logo in the event booklet plus a mention in the Exhibition Overview article. |
|---|---|
| Scholarships / free passes | No organiser-published scholarship, diversity pass, or general free-pass programme for the 2027 edition is specified on the current event or ticket pages. |
| Press | The 2027 event and ticket pages list media among the expected attendee groups but do not publish a separate media-pass or accreditation process. |
| Application required | No, tickets are purchased |
EU-Startups Summit Pitch Competition
| Prize | A prize package worth €1 million (2027), as stated on the Summit page. The completed 2026 competition’s package was valued at over €1 million (2026). source |
|---|---|
| Format | For 2027, the organiser describes 15 selected early-stage startups (2027), each pitching for three minutes (2027) before an audience and investor jury. The 2026 competition also selected 15 finalists (2026) for live main-stage pitches followed by jury questions. |
| Eligibility | The 2027 eligibility criteria and exact deadline have not yet been published; the application phase is announced to start in December 2026. The 2026 criteria were Europe-based, pre-seed or seed startups, founded within the previous three years (2026), with no more than €750,000 in venture capital raised (2026). |
Winners
- AlterEcho (2026) — Prize package valued at over €1 million (2026), including a potential investment of up to €250,000 from Look AI Ventures (2026), a potential $220,000 Techstars investment (2026), and up to €434,000 in matching funding from Malta Venture Capital (2026), plus credits and services. Funding was conditional on the relevant investment and due-diligence processes. source
Judges
- Angelo Burgarello, Managing Partner at Look AI Ventures source
- Emilie Vallauri, Global Portfolio & Platform at Techstars source
- Miguel Borg, CEO at Malta Venture Capital source
Meeting investors there
Founders can discover and contact investors through the networking app, then schedule meetings and book meeting-room space. The organiser also describes in-person networking in the networking area, topic-focused sessions, evening drinks, and investor presentations on stage. source
| Investors attending | 250 investors (2026 event-page figure) source |
|---|---|
| Matchmaking | The EU-Startups Summit networking app (the 2026 guide calls it the “EU-Startups Summit App”; the 2027 page describes a dedicated networking app). source |
| Formats | Dedicated networking app and networking area (2027). · Topic-focused networking sessions and networking drinks on both event evenings (2027). · “Investors on Stage”: 15 investors present their VC firms and investment focus each day (2027). · App-based participant discovery, messaging, and scheduling of 1:1 meetings, plus bookable meeting-room space (2026). |
| Meetings arranged | 8,500 meetings (2026 event-page figure) source |
Investor firms the organiser lists (Published outcomes and main speaker list: completed 2026 edition. Next announced edition: 2027-05-13 to 2027-05-14 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, Malta; the organiser's Eventbrite listing is live.)
Raspberry VenturesGeek VenturesNautaWakeUp CapitalLook AI Ventures42 Global VenturesSOSVAcurio VenturesECS Capital PartnersAntlerAquilae VenturesAltaIR CapitalG+D VenturesBurda Principal InvestmentsPrime Advantage Capital PartnersSoulmate VenturesKompas VCidentity.vcTrueGreat Product VenturesRedstoneFil Rouge CapitalElevator Ventures3TS Capital PartnersEarth CapitalFirgun Ventures
The full investor list is available to registered attendees; see the official investor page.
Before you go: the hub's cold email to VCs playbook covers the pre-event outreach that fills a meeting calendar, and Causo matches your stage and thesis to the funds in its database so you know who to ask for a meeting.
Who speaks (Published outcomes and main speaker list: completed 2026 edition. Next announced edition: 2027-05-13 to 2027-05-14 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, Malta; the organiser's Eventbrite listing is live.)
- Kilian Kaminski, Co-founder of refurbed; speaker announced for 2027 · refurbed
- Diliara Lupenko, Co-Founder & COO · Impress
- Wouter Durville, Co-Founder & CEO · TestGorilla
- Joaquin Cuenca Abela, Founder & CEO · Freepik
- Natalia Shahmetova, CEO and Co-founder · nove8 and Woofz
- Angelo Burgarello, Managing Partner · Look AI Ventures
- Akansha Dimri, Founder and Editor · Tech Funding News
- Miguel Borg, CEO · Malta Venture Capital
- Ekaterina Gorbacheva, Global Expansion Director · Udora
- George Gregory, CEO · Malta Enterprise
- Zoltan Vardy, Founder and B2B sales expert · The Launch Code
- Piotr Godzinski, Director of Partnerships EMEA · Techstars
- Clare Jones, Founder and CEO · Polarsteps
Full lineup: official speakers page.
Notable past speakers
- Diliara Lupenko, Co-Founder & COO · Impress (2026)
- Wouter Durville, Co-Founder & CEO · TestGorilla (2026)
- Joaquin Cuenca Abela, Founder & CEO · Freepik (2026)
Sponsors and partners
Event sponsor (2026) 3
Mobility partner (2026) 1
Event partner (2026) 2
AX GroupGrand Hotel Excelsior
Government partners: Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Italian Trade Agency (ITA), Malta Enterprise, Malta Venture Capital, INDIS, Trade Malta, Tech.MT, Finance Malta, Gaming Malta, Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA), Residency Malta
Startups there
Programme
| Tracks | Main Stage — named in the 2026 agenda; the 2027 page says there will be two stages but does not name them. · Growth Stage — named in the 2026 agenda; the 2027 page says there will be two stages but does not name them. |
|---|---|
| Side events | The organiser announces networking drinks on both evenings of the 2027 event. Its 2026 guide placed official networking drinks on both event days; no broader 2027 side-event programme is specified on the main page. |
| Volunteering | The organiser’s volunteer listing was for the 2026 edition and is marked expired. It sought volunteers preferably based in Malta, with strong English and an interest in startups, available the afternoon before the event and for both full event days. Listed benefits included a volunteer lunch, event-day lunches, and invitations to the evening networking parties. No 2027 volunteer call is listed on the current Summit page. |
| Official app | EU-Startups Summit |
| Hashtag | #EUStartupsSummit |
Past editions, as published
| Edition | Dates | Attendees | Investors | Startups | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 source | May 7–8, 2026 | More than 2,400 attendees (2026) | — | 15 finalists; more than 1,600 applications; winner AlterEcho; prize package valued at over €1 million (2026) | recap · report · photos |
| 2025 source | Apr 24–25, 2025 | About 2,100 attendees (2025) | — | 15 finalists; over 1,500 applications; winner PryvX; prize package valued at over €755,000 (2025) | recap · report |
| 2024 · Malta · Location changed from Barcelona (2023) to Malta (2024). source | May 9–10, 2024 | — | — | 15 pitch finalists; almost 1,500 applications (2024) | |
| 2023 · Barcelona source | Apr 20–21, 2023 | More than 2,000 expected (2023) | — | — | |
| 2022 · Barcelona source | May 12–13, 2022 | More than 1,600 expected (2022) | — | — | |
| 2021 · Held online. source | Apr 28–30, 2021 | Over 1,500 participants expected (2021) | — | 15 pitch finalists selected from about 1,000 applications (2021) | |
| 2019 · Barcelona source | May 2–3, 2019 | Up to 1,200 expected (2019) | — | 14 finalists; winner Tribe (2019) | recap · report |
| 2018 · Barcelona · The organizer announced the move to Barcelona and rebranded the annual event from EU-Startups Conference to EU-Startups Summit. source | Apr 24, 2018 | 750+ expected (2018) | — | — | |
| 2017 (EU-Startups Conference) · Berlin source | Apr 13, 2017 | 400+ expected (2017) | — | 15 startup pitch teams planned (2017) | |
| 2016 (EU-Startups Conference) · Berlin source | Jun 24, 2016 | About 200 expected (2016) | — | 15 startup pitch teams planned (2016) | |
| 2015 (EU-Startups Conference) · Berlin source | Oct 23, 2015 | About 140 expected (2015) | — | — | |
| 2014 (inaugural EU-Startups Conference) · Munich source | Nov 7, 2014 | About 80 attended (2014) | — | — | recap · report |
| 2020 · The 2020 event was postponed due to COVID-19 until April 29–30, 2021; the 2021 edition was held online. source | — | — | — | — |
Cities: Munich (2014); Berlin (2015–2017); Barcelona (from 2018; pandemic-era events excepted); Valletta, Malta (from 2024)
Who attends
| Breakdown | More than 2,400 attendees, including 1,200 founders (2026) source |
|---|---|
| Geography | Attendees from across Europe (2026) source |
| Roles | Founders, Investors, Corporates, Press |
| Stages | Pre-seed, Seed |
Official links and socials
Travel & apps
Prepare for it
- How to cold email VCs — book the meetings before you land.
- The 12-slide seed deck — what to have ready when a partner says "send me the deck".
- Pitch Deck Roaster — a slide-by-slide pass before you submit to EU-Startups Summit Pitch Competition.
- Accelerator deadlines — the application windows that open around the event.
Sources
Every fact above was read from one of these official pages on Oct 7, 2026:
- apps.apple.com/us/app/eu-startups-summit/id1456787763
- drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VPVl4fPC0n2MZR1i0FhU03zdSWus5w9a?usp=drive_link
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=events.grip.eustartupsummit186
- eu-startups.com/2014/11/recap-of-the-eu-startups-conference-2014
- eu-startups.com/2016/03/see-you-at-the-eu-startups-conference-2016-june-24-berlin
- eu-startups.com/2017/07/were-relocating-to-barcelona-see-you-at-the-eu-startups-summit-2018-on-april-13
- eu-startups.com/2019/05/meet-tribe-the-winner-of-our-big-pitch-competition-at-this-years-eu-startups-summit
- eu-startups.com/2020/03/eu-startups-summit-will-be-postponed-until-april-29-30-2021-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19
- eu-startups.com/2022/03/sissel-hansen-founder-and-ceo-of-startup-guide-will-speak-at-the-eu-startups-summit-in-barcelona-on-may-12-13
- eu-startups.com/2023/01/marcos-martin-founder-and-ceo-of-decelera-will-speak-at-this-years-eu-startups-summit-on-april-20-21-in-barcelona
- eu-startups.com/2024/03/meet-the-15-pitch-competition-finalists-of-the-eu-startups-summit-2024
- eu-startups.com/2025/04/meet-pryvx-the-winner-of-the-eu-startups-summit-2025-pitch-competition
- eu-startups.com/2025/10/natalia-shahmetova-ceo-of-woofz-joins-as-speaker-at-the-eu-startups-summit-2026
- eu-startups.com/2026/01/impress-co-founder-and-coo-diliara-lupenko-will-speak-at-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-on-may-7-8-in-malta
- eu-startups.com/2026/01/joaquin-cuenca-abela-co-founder-ceo-of-freepik-will-speak-at-this-years-eu-startups-summit
- eu-startups.com/2026/01/testgorillas-founder-wouter-durville-joins-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-on-may-7-8-in-malta
- eu-startups.com/2026/02/flowwow-global-expansion-director-ekaterina-gorbacheva-to-speak-at-the-eu-startups-summit-2026
- eu-startups.com/2026/02/polarsteps-ceo-clare-jones-joins-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-on-may-7-8-in-malta
- eu-startups.com/2026/03/100-investors-who-already-secured-their-tickets-for-this-years-eu-startups-summit-on-may-7-8-in-malta
- eu-startups.com/2026/03/meet-the-experts-joining-the-startup-media-landscape-and-pr-tips-panel-discussion-at-the-eu-startups-summit-2026
- eu-startups.com/2026/03/meet-the-pitch-competition-finalists-of-the-eu-startups-summit-2026
- eu-startups.com/2026/03/zoltan-vardy-sales-gtm-advisor-author-and-founder-of-the-launch-code-returns-to-the-eu-startups-summit-2026
- eu-startups.com/2026/04/meet-the-speakers-joining-our-how-to-launch-and-scale-in-malta-panel-at-the-eu-startups-summit-2026
- eu-startups.com/2026/04/practical-info-and-special-tips-for-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-in-malta-look-inside
- eu-startups.com/2026/05/and-thats-a-wrap-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-footage-and-photos-are-now-live
- eu-startups.com/2026/05/and-thats-a-wrap-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-footage-and-photos-are-now-live
- eu-startups.com/2026/05/meet-alterecho-the-winner-of-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-pitch-competition
- eu-startups.com/2026/05/meet-alterecho-the-winner-of-the-eu-startups-summit-2026-pitch-competition
- eu-startups.com/2026/09/kilian-kaminski-refurbed-co-founder-joins-the-eu-startups-summit-2027
- eu-startups.com/conference
- eu-startups.com/eu-startups-conference-2015
- eu-startups.com/eu-startups-conference-2017
- eu-startups.com/eu-startups-summit-2019
- eu-startups.com/eu-startups-summit-2020
- eu-startups.com/eu-startups-summit-2024
- eu-startups.com/exhibit-at-this-years-eu-startups-summit
- eu-startups.com/newsletter
- eu-startups.com/secure-your-tickets
- eu-startups.com/summit
- eu-startups.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/EU-Startups-Summit-2026-Agenda-Hotel-Deals_compressed-1-1.pdf
- eventbrite.co.uk/e/eu-startups-summit-tickets-1989206057867
- facebook.com/EUStartups
- instagram.com/eu_startups
- linkedin.com/company/7585916
- youtube.com/@EUStartups
- x.com/EU_Startups
EU-Startups Summit: frequently asked
When is EU-Startups Summit 2027?
EU-Startups Summit 2027 runs May 13–14, 2027 at Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, according to the organiser's published dates.
How many investors attend EU-Startups Summit?
The organiser reports 250 investors (2026 event-page figure) investors. Founders can discover and contact investors through the networking app, then schedule meetings and book meeting-room space. The organiser also describes in-person networking in the networking area, topic-focused sessions, evening drinks, and investor presentations on stage.
What is EU-Startups Summit Pitch Competition?
EU-Startups Summit's pitch competition. Prize as published: A prize package worth €1 million (2027), as stated on the Summit page. The completed 2026 competition’s package was valued at over €1 million (2026).. Eligibility: The 2027 eligibility criteria and exact deadline have not yet been published; the application phase is announced to start in December 2026. The 2026 criteria were Europe-based, pre-seed or seed startups, founded within the previous three years (2026), with no more than €750,000 in venture capital raised (2026).
How big is EU-Startups Summit?
More than 2,400 attendees attendees (2026), 15 pitch-competition finalist startups (2026); total attending startup count not published startups, from Attendees described as coming from across Europe; no country count published countries, per the organiser.