TNW Conference: dates, who attends, and how founders get in
“Build your brand, connect with investors, and grow at Europe's top tech festival.”
Verified ·37 official sources·Organised by TNW (The Next Web); Tekpon acquired TNW’s media and events brands from the Financial Times in December 2025.
- Next edition
- Dates not yet announced
- Where
- NDSM, Amsterdam, Netherlands source
- Format
- in-person · 2 days (2025)
- Tickets
- € 580 incl VAT–€ 1,950 incl. VAT (TNW Conference 2025; lowest published priced pass was Under 30s, highest was VIP). Selected Next 750 participants also received a free one-day pass (2025). source
- Startup pass
- TNW for Startups was an application-based, selected programme for the 2025 edition. Separately, founders could apply for a Startup Attendee Pass; TNW described that as an eligibility-check form and said it did not include a pod or other startup-package perks. No London-relaunch startup programme or application details were published in the relocation announcement. source
- Cadence
- Historically annual; recent editions were in June (2023–2025). TNW announced a move of its flagship conference to London in 2026, but published no edition date.
GeneralistAIAgtech & foodClimateDefenseFintechDeeptechHealth & biotechPre-seedSeedSeries AGrowthFoundersInvestorsCorporatesDevelopersPolicy & government
Next edition
The organiser has not published dates for the next edition; historically it historically annual; recent editions were in June (2023–2025). TNW announced a move of its flagship conference to London in 2026, but published no edition date.. We re-check weekly and list dates only when the organiser prints them with a year.
Ticket tiers as published
| Tier | Price | Includes | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Attendee Pass source | € 1,155 incl. VAT | All content sessions, business hall, matchmaking platform, side events and opening/closing parties, and networking with attendees (2025). | TNW Conference 2025 |
| Startup Attendee Pass source | € 695 incl. VAT | All content sessions, business hall, matchmaking platform, side events and opening/closing parties, networking, and listing as a Startup Attendee in the event app. No pod or other startup-package perks (2025). | TNW Conference 2025 |
| Corporate Pass source | € 1,265 incl. VAT | All content sessions, business hall, matchmaking platform, side events and parties, dedicated Corporate Meeting Pods, themed roundtables and workshops, and the ability to set up 1:1 meetings with other corporate innovators (2025). | TNW Conference 2025 |
| VIP Pass source | € 1,950 incl. VAT | Content programme and side events; VIP Lounge and Meetings Area; speaker Q&As; selected exclusive side events, roundtables and guided tours; VIP networking drinks; one complimentary general-attendee pass for a guest; and 30% discounted colleague passes (2025). | TNW Conference 2025 |
| Under 30s Business Pass source | € 580 incl VAT | Content sessions, business hall, matchmaking platform, side events and opening/closing parties, and networking. Age checked at entry (2025). | TNW Conference 2025 |
| Women in Tech source | No price displayed on the organizer page consulted. | The ticket chooser described premium content and exclusive networking opportunities; specific pass inclusions and price were not displayed on the Women in Tech page consulted (2025). | TNW Conference 2025 |
How founders get in
At TNW Conference 2025, founders could showcase their businesses, build visibility, and connect with investors and potential customers. Accepted programme startups could prepare a pod, apply for pitch battles and themed meetups, and use Virtual Office Hours to start investor conversations. The organizer described the event as a technology festival combining business programming with networking.
- Edition note: TNW Conference 2025 in Amsterdam is the latest completed edition. TNW announced in September 2025 that there would be no Conference in 2026, then announced in January 2026 that its flagship conference was relocating to London. That relocation announcement gave no event date or startup-program details; it said tickets were being sold privately through trusted networks.
- For the 2025 startup programme, check the published eligibility criteria and apply to TNW for Startups. The programme was selective; accepted applicants were contacted about next steps.
- After acceptance, complete the startup profile/onboarding so investors can review it.
- Apply for a Pitch Battle if interested; choose from the offered industry-themed tech tours and meetups, and confirm the startup pod allocation.
- Sign up early for founder/investor side events and join Virtual Office Hours to begin networking before attending. A founder seeking only an attendee ticket could instead use the Startup Attendee route; that pass did not include a pod or other startup-package perks.
| Startup programme | TNW for Startups was an application-based, selected programme for the 2025 edition. Separately, founders could apply for a Startup Attendee Pass; TNW described that as an eligibility-check form and said it did not include a pod or other startup-package perks. No London-relaunch startup programme or application details were published in the relocation announcement. source |
|---|---|
| Eligibility | TNW’s 2025 startup criteria: bootstrapped to seed stage, max €1M funding; founded between 2018–2024; under 100 employees; building or marketing software or hardware products. |
| Scholarships / free passes | The organizer’s 2025 Next 750 programme offered selected Rising Stars, Inclusion Champions, and Amsterdam Changemakers a free one-day TNW Conference pass. It also offered 25% off an attendee-pass upgrade to the full two-day experience and a 20% discount to share. No general startup scholarship or open free-pass application was found. |
| Investor pass | Apply through TNW for Investors; the public investor page described a curated investor programme. The 2026 London relocation announcement said public tickets would be available but were then being sold privately through trusted networks. source |
| Application required | No, tickets are purchased |
TNW Conference Pitch Battle
| Format | Not a field in the response schema; the 2025 organizer recap identifies Pitch Battle finals and says the judges were investors, industry leaders, and media insiders. |
|---|
Winners
- Tap Electric (2025) — Grand prize; monetary amount not published, Dan Pezim; Nico Spoelstra source
Meeting investors there
The 2025 organizer materials presented investor discovery and networking as core activities: startups could complete profiles for investors to review, use the conference app to network and schedule meetings, and meet in the Venture Hub. TNW also offered founders Virtual Office Hours and investor-focused side events. No count or guaranteed number of investor meetings was published. source
| Investors attending | 470+ investors (2025) source |
|---|---|
| Matchmaking | TNW Conference App source |
| Formats | TNW Conference App matchmaking and scheduled networking meetings (2025). · Venture Hub, where startups and investors could meet, talk business, and develop leads (2025). · Virtual Office Hours for startup founders to begin investor conversations before the event (2025 startup-program journey). · Investor-focused side events and meetups; founders were advised to sign up early (2025). |
| Meetings arranged | No meeting total stated in the public TNW 2025 impact-report summary. source |
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 (Most recent completed Amsterdam edition: TNW Conference 2025, June 19–20, 2025. TNW said there would be no TNW Conference in Amsterdam in 2026; a January 29, 2026 announcement said the flagship conference was relocating to London, but gave no event date or ticket price. No next Amsterdam edition was announced in the consulted official pages.)
- Jason Silva, Filmmaker / Speaker · The Psychedelic Puppet Show
- Ali Niknam, Founder and CEO · bunq
- Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy · Techleap.nl
- Jacqueline van den Ende, Co-founder & CEO · Carbon Equity
- Michiel Kotting, Partner · Northzone
- Julien Bek, Partner · Sequoia Capital
- Vidya Peters, CEO · Datasnipper
- Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO · CM.com
- Jyoti Hirani-Driver, Chief Operating Officer · NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)
- Thomas Wolf, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer (CSO) · Hugging Face
- Pernilla Sjöholm, Tinder Swindler Survivor & Founder of Identity Fraud Startup
- Robert Doornbos, Former F1 driver
- Peter Wennink, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Heineken; Former President and CEO, ASML · Heineken; ASML
- Lucien Engelen, CEO & Author · TransformHealth; author of “Augmented Health(care)”
- King Willonius, Filmmaker, AI Storyteller & Comedian · Blerd Factory LLC
- Sandro Gianella, Head of EMEA Policy & Partnerships · OpenAI
- Aishwarya Srinivasan, Head of AI Developer Relations - Growth · Fireworks AI
- Aisha Bowe, Rocket Scientist & Astronaut · Blue Origin; formerly NASA
- Reinier Zonneveld, DJ · Filth On Acid
- Guillaume Princen, Head of EMEA · Anthropic
- Daniel Gebler, CTO · Picnic
- Marc Wesselink, Founder · Venturerock
- Pieter Paul van Oerle, Founder · nlmtd
- Seth Dobrin, General Partner · 1infinity Ventures
- Janneke Niessen, Founding Partner · CapitalT
Full lineup: official speakers page.
Sponsors and partners
Partner; sponsor tier not specified 4
KPNKPMG NetherlandsAigencyBulgarian SME Promotion Agency
Named event activation; formal sponsor tier not stated 5
EYLevi9AWSAiraloDatasnipper
Catering partner 1
The Food Line Up
Government partners: Bulgarian SME Promotion Agency
Startups there
Startup-only exhibitor count not published (2025); TNW reported 150+ total exhibitors (2025), not a startup-only figure. · official startup directory
Alumni the organiser highlights
- Vonage (2018) — TNW lists it among startup alumni; participated in the conference in 2018. source
- Sendbird (2022) — TNW lists it among startup alumni; participated in the conference in 2022. source
- Happn (2018) — TNW lists it among startup alumni; participated in the conference in 2018. source
- Waze (2012) — TNW lists it among startup alumni; participated in the conference in 2012. source
- Laundryheap (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) — TNW lists it among startup alumni; participated in the conference in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. source
- Prezi (2012) — TNW lists it among startup alumni; participated in the conference in 2012. source
- Slack (2015) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; spoke at the conference in 2015. source
- N26 (2019) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2019. source
- Trello (2014) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2014. source
- Yammer (2012) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2012. source
- Foursquare (2010) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2010. source
- Typeform (2016) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2016. source
- Sendcloud (2019) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2019. source
- Picnic (2019) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2019. source
- Wise (2013) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2013. source
- Storyblok (2022) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2022. source
- Bolt Mobility (2018) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2018. source
- Aircall (2022) — TNW lists it among scaleup alumni; participated in the conference in 2022. source
Programme
| Tracks | Growth & Venture (2025): startup and investor content on European investment, funding, runway, go-to-market, and company culture. · The Next in Tech (2025): AI and deeptech, digital security, climate/health, mobility, energy, and emerging technologies. · Enterprise Innovation (2025): privacy and cybersecurity, disruption, regulation, and ESG/sustainability. source |
|---|---|
| Side events | For 2025, standard attendee passes included side events and the opening and closing parties. The startup programme highlighted investor-focused side events, tech tours, meetups, and pre-event Virtual Office Hours. TNW’s published event recap also described the Venture Hub and EY Dome. The January 2026 announcement described TNW Gathering as an invite-only format in several cities, including Amsterdam, but did not give dates or ticketing details. |
| Awards | For TNW Conference 2025, the published startup-awards activity included TECH5, a competition for growth-stage startups, and the Pitch Battle. TNW named Tap Electric as Pitch Battle winner and said it received the grand prize; no prize amount or prize details were stated. |
| Hackathon | No TNW Conference 2025 hackathon or London-relaunch hackathon was identified in the organizer’s published programme pages. |
| Volunteering | A 2024 TNW volunteer page described volunteering as a way to get a front-row seat, but no 2025 volunteer application, access terms, or volunteer free-pass programme was published in the pages consulted. source |
| Official app | TNW Conference App |
| Hashtag | #TNWconference |
Past editions, as published
| Edition | Dates | Attendees | Investors | Startups | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 source | Jun 19–20, 2025 | 5,800+ registered attendees (2025) | 470+ investors (2025) | 3,400+ startups and scaleups (2025) | recap · report · video · photos |
| 2024 source | Jun 20–21, 2024 | 3,500 startups (Day 1, 2024); 1,750 corporates (Day 1, 2024); 600 investors (Day 1, 2024); 2,000 tech ecosystem representatives (Day 1, 2024); 100 journalists (Day 1, 2024). | 600 investors (Day 1, 2024) | 3,500 startups (Day 1, 2024) | recap |
| 2023 source | Jun 15–16, 2023 | — | — | — | recap |
| 2022 source | Jun 16, 2022 | — | — | — | video |
| 2021 · Hybrid format: in-person and online participation (2021). source | Sep 30 – Oct 1, 2021 | — | — | — | video |
| TNW TRANSFORM 2020 · Online edition (2020). source | Jul 2, 2020 | — | — | — | video |
| TNW Conference London (announced; event year/date not stated) · London source | — | — | — | — | |
| 2006 (first edition) source | — | — | — | — |
Cities: Amsterdam (2025 edition)
Who attends
| Breakdown | 3,400+ startups and scaleups; 470+ investors; 100+ ecosystem builders; 67% decision makers (2025). source |
|---|---|
| Roles | Founders, Investors, Corporates, Developers, Policy & government |
| Stages | Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Growth |
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 TNW Conference Pitch Battle.
- 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:
- drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1r_UHT5boSq5qQGj1KVE7492FWzehIpXj
- drive.google.com/file/d/1WMc6o9_4Zx_Z1i9tIaHewOk7TiOL1YOf/view
- drive.google.com/file/d/1pUxnVo6WosWnOWiYwNYt_fiBUr6KicDD/view?usp=sharing
- linkedin.com/company/the-next-web
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en-US&id=events.grip.tnw
- thenextweb.com/conference
- thenextweb.com/conference/app
- thenextweb.com/conference/faq
- thenextweb.com/conference/general-attendee-tickets
- thenextweb.com/conference/highlights-2024
- thenextweb.com/conference/highlights-2025
- thenextweb.com/conference/impact-report-2025
- thenextweb.com/conference/investors
- thenextweb.com/conference/press
- thenextweb.com/conference/scaleups
- thenextweb.com/conference/speakers
- thenextweb.com/conference/startup-offerings
- thenextweb.com/conference/startups
- thenextweb.com/conference/tickets
- thenextweb.com/conference/under-30s
- thenextweb.com/conference/volunteer
- thenextweb.com/events
- thenextweb.com/news/5-reasons-why-you-have-to-attend-tnw-conference-2021
- thenextweb.com/news/a-new-era-for-tnw
- thenextweb.com/news/announcing-tnw-conference-2023-reclaim-the-future
- thenextweb.com/news/meet-industry-leaders-shaping-content-tnw-conference-2024
- thenextweb.com/news/tnw-conference-2023-wrap-up-highlights
- thenextweb.com/news/tnw-conference-2024-day-1-highlights
- thenextweb.com/news/tnw-conference-2025-to-discover-next-big-thing-in-tech-startups
- thenextweb.com/news/tnw-events-and-media-announcement
- thenextweb.com/news/tnw-moves-its-flagship-conference-to-london
- facebook.com/thenextweb
- instagram.com/p/DF8SF8bt984
- instagram.com/thenextweb
- youtube.com/user/thenextweb
- youtube.com/watch?v=lx6Wv8HCSp4
- x.com/thenextweb
TNW Conference: frequently asked
How much does TNW Conference cost?
Published ticket prices run € 580 incl VAT–€ 1,950 incl. VAT (TNW Conference 2025; lowest published priced pass was Under 30s, highest was VIP). Selected Next 750 participants also received a free one-day pass (2025).. Startups: TNW for Startups was an application-based, selected programme for the 2025 edition. Separately, founders could apply for a Startup Attendee Pass; TNW described that as an eligibility-check form and said it did not include a pod or other startup-package perks. No London-relaunch startup programme or application details were published in the relocation announcement..
How do startups get into TNW Conference?
TNW for Startups was an application-based, selected programme for the 2025 edition. Separately, founders could apply for a Startup Attendee Pass; TNW described that as an eligibility-check form and said it did not include a pod or other startup-package perks. No London-relaunch startup programme or application details were published in the relocation announcement. Eligibility as published: TNW’s 2025 startup criteria: bootstrapped to seed stage, max €1M funding; founded between 2018–2024; under 100 employees; building or marketing software or hardware products.
How many investors attend TNW Conference?
The organiser reports 470+ investors investors for the 2025 edition. The 2025 organizer materials presented investor discovery and networking as core activities: startups could complete profiles for investors to review, use the conference app to network and schedule meetings, and meet in the Venture Hub. TNW also offered founders Virtual Office Hours and investor-focused side events. No count or guaranteed number of investor meetings was published.
What is TNW Conference Pitch Battle?
TNW Conference's pitch competition.
How big is TNW Conference?
5,800+ registered attendees attendees (2025), 3,400+ startups and scaleups startups, from No country count stated in the public TNW 2025 impact-report summary. countries, per the organiser.