It’s getting more and more difficult to keep up with startup events across Europe, because they seem to be multiplying like bunnies.
One of the trends is cities trading startups. Why, we have no idea. Shouldn’t they be stealing each other’s talent? That said, since the early days of Dispatches (way back 90 days ago) we’ve predicted talent migration in the form of techpats seeking the most interesting opportunities will become the new normal.
So, let’s just say we saw this one coming ….
• NYC2AMSTERDAM BOOTCAMP May 24 through May 27
(Application deadline is Friday, April 15.)
Applications for the second year of the NYC2Amsterdam startup boot camp are now open for New York City-based startups looking to expand to Europe.
NYC2Amsterdam Startup Bootcamp 2016 is billed as a two-day intensive program to introduce NYC startups to the startup scene in Amsterdam and Europe. This bootcamp is organized by StartupAmsterdam in collaboration with the New York City Economic Development Corp.
The bootcamp will be followed by The Next Web Conference Europe, a tech conference bringing together the world’s technology leaders, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. (See below.)
Startup Amsterdam, a public-private partnership, is sponsoring the event. This is from their website:
Participating startups will gain valuable information from Dutch industry experts, lead users and peers on a soft landing in Amsterdam, and learn how to expand and scale their companies in the European market. StartupAmsterdam will provide a tailor-made introductory programme into the Amsterdam startup ecosystem. Included bootcamp activities are meetings with Dutch corporates/launching customers, one-on-one advice on legal/recruitment/financial practices, access to the TNW Conference Europe and many more!
StartupAmsterdam collaborates with partner cities, according to their website. The inaugural NYC2Amsterdam bootcamp was organized last August. A bootcamp to Paris took place this March.
For more information about the bootcamp and how to apply, check the factsheet here.
In this exchange, Haarlemvalley will travel with a maximum of 30 startups, investors, government folks and experts to New York on May 28 through May 31. Six (Dutch and American) startups will pitch to a combination of Dutch and American investors in Harlem, New York. (Get it? Haarlem to Harlem?)
• STARTUP DAY 2016, Stockholm, April 23 (runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
This is short notice, but this event has some serious star power including Shahan Lilja, former deployment stratagiest at Plantir Technologies (the Peter Theil-backed company that crunches data for the world’s intelligence agencies) and Klarna co-founder Niklas Adalberth. Startup Day is organized by the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship.
From the Startup Day website:
Startup Day gathers the entire startup ecosystem in an annual event focusing on eclectic startup inspiration and once-in-a-year networking.
This all-day event features inspiring founder stories on stage, an Impact Expo offering resources for growing startups, a pitching competition, an all-day Startup Jobs Fair, and more than 1000 founders, entrepreneurs, students, VCs, press and other enthusiasts comprising an opportunity of awesomeness in one of the most formidable entrepreneurship ecosystems in the world.
You can order your tickets here.
• 11TH ANNUAL TNW CONFERENCE, Amsterdam, 26 May through 27 May
Frederiksplein 42
Amsterdam, Netherlands’
(We included this in an earlier roundup. Information on the website has been updated with new speakers added including Kayvon Beykpour, founder of video startup Periscope.)
The city of Amsterdam plays host to the 11th annual TNW Conference, a technology gathering that brings together the world’s top technology leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. Inspiring keynote talks and endless networking opportunities are tied together by more than 8 stages, 300 exhibitor pavilions and a week full of satellite events about the future of technology, innovation, marketing, communication and imagination.
Unlike a lot of the lesser tech events, this attracts celeb Silicon Valley names. For 2016, Gary Vanyerchuck is on the roster along with Steve Huffman from Reddit, Youtube producer Casey Neistat and Julie Zhuo, director of product design at Facebook. TNW also has serious sponsorships from Adyen, Google, Paypal, Amazon and Facebook.
Here’s the full list of speakers.
• STARTUP FEST EUROPE, 25 May to 28 May, Amsterdam.
This promises to be huge. Startup Fest Europe is a week-long festival scheduled during the European presidency. And in that vein of being a showcase event for Europe’s effort to create a digital startup culture, there’s very much a political element to what promises to be a stellar event with some amazing names.
Airbnb’s Nathan Blecharczyk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick (who’s also CEO of Twitter) are just a few of the Silicon Valley A-listers scheduled to participate. Here’s the deal: Former European Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes, now envoy to Holland’s StartupDelta effort, personally invited Cook and Kalanick during her 2015 visit to San Francisco with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
A Dutch startup executive close to Kroes also confirmed to Dispatches Europe that Cook & Co. are coming to Startup Fest Europe. Other huge gets include Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Adyen co-founder Pieter van der Does.
See all the relevant details including the full lineup in our original post here.
• SEEDSTARS PRAGUE, 27 August
(Deadline to apply 13 August.)
Seedstars is best-known as the organization that promotes startup cultures in the Developing World. Which, to us, doesn’t include Prague. But, that’s where they’re headed.
From the website:
Seedstars World is coming for the first time to Prague!
The 12 best startups from Czech Republic will be invited to pitch in front of an investment panel and compete to be crowned the most promising seed-stage startup of Seedstars Prague 2016. The winning startup will join the global Seedstars Family and take part in the regional and global Seedstars Summits that include our tried and tested bootcamp and investor forum. It’s a catalytic platform for high–growth emerging market startups.
In addition to seeing the top startups pitch, you can look forward to an event filled with disruptive tech, inspirational discussions, networking sessions and one flight ticket for the winner to come to Switzerland to compete for over $1mn in investment.
• PIRATE SUMMIT, Cologne, Sept. 6 & Sept 7.
You have to love a six-year-old gathering that bills itself as “Europe’s craziest startup conference.” And it’s being held in a scrapyard. BUT, if you can get your concept past the Pirate Summit crew, they’ll send you two free tickets to come pitch to about 200 investors. It appears there are 600 slots open for 1,200 attendees.
It doesn’t appear there’s a speaker, but they’re open for suggestions.
Here’s the agenda:
Dates & Times:
Official start: Tuesday, Sept. 6th 2016 at 9am
Official end: Wednesday, Sept. 7th 2016 at 18:00h
There will be a get-together for participants who arrive early and those that stay longer.
Contents & Sessions
In 2015 we changed our formats a bit. There were less keynotes and less panels, in 2016 we’ll try to make it even more interactive. There will be more focus on intense hands-on breakout sessions with experienced session leaders. Furthermore, on the first day there will be mentor sessions, the Walk the Plank semi-finals and the Burning Man ceremony.
The mentor sessions are an exclusive opportunity for selected VCs and startups to interact with and learn from each other. For the Walk the Plank pitch competition the hottest 80+ startups from around the globe will present their startup in a 3min pitch followed by a 2min Q&A.
In the run up to Cologne, there are Pirate Summit Global Tour stops across Europe including Paris (May 9), Barcelona (May 10), Amsterdam (May 24), Rotterdam (May 25) and Zurich (June 6).
Here’s the background on Pirate Summit from the website:
So far we have organized more than 50 Pirates On Shore events in 30+ countries in 2015 alone. We have been to cities such as Tehran, Beirut, Minsk, Tirana, Moscow and Cluj to find the most promising startups from Europe and the Middle East. In 2016 we’re going to increase the number of events for our POS-tour and bring the Pirate spirit to as many places as possible + and at least one startup from each city to the Pirate Summit.
And to quote the Pirate Summit website, good luck and aarrghh!
