On September 21 and 22, at Face Convention Center Bucharest, 2.000 participants from Eastern Europe will meet at How to Web 2022, an event that will mark an important step for those who want to access exclusive business opportunities, connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, marketers, investors or team managers and meet the experts who have made history through their pioneering work methodologies, books or results in the industry.

The How to Web conference offers a complete experience to attendees, with dedicated meeting areas, four stages with industry leaders from around the world, the most intense competition for startups in the region, a dedicated party in collaboration with YouTube Music, and many more.

“Product innovation occurs in stages. There are several elements that make an idea turn into a scalable business, from the moment of launch, the capital attracted, the people in the team, and the project management in general. What excites me is that in recent years the ecosystem in Southeast Europe is undergoing accelerated development. There are more and more opportunities for mentoring, practice, and attracting funding for projects in IT, agriculture, e-health, and even the high-precision industry. All this effervescence of product development initiatives, testing of new business models, and transformation into scalable businesses, are the basis of the formation of a dynamic entrepreneurial community, with unlimited opportunities, according to the human talent of our region.”, says Lavinia Neagoe, Bucharest Technology Site Lead at Google.

The Complete Conference Agenda

The agenda is complete and showcases over 70 industry leaders, many of them for the first time in Romania. Bruce McCarthy, James Mayes, Alexandra Lung, and Matt Lerner are just a few examples of experts who have managed to propel global companies to success and will share their best practices this month, in Bucharest.

The How to Web agenda is mainly inspired by the startup culture, which is based on rapid and efficient decisions for businesses and the methods by which we can bring transformative results in the shortest time. Therefore, the topics will gravitate around this startup culture, putting the light on building high-performing teams, product development, marketing and growth, or the future of innovation.

The speakers’ line-up includes:

• Julia Steier, Product Manager at Google
• Mick Halsband, Founder of Lunar Ventures 
• Bogdan Ripa, VP of Product at UiPath
• Ivan Burazin, Chief Developer Experience Officer at Infobip
• Martin Olczyk, Managing Director at Techstars
• Sultan Seitbekov, Lead Product Manager at Miro
• Christoph Auer-Welsbach, Founder of Kaizo
• Ivan Kovalov, VP of Product at Payhawk
• Valentin Radu, Founder & CEO at Omniconvert
• Carlos Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp

The complete list and agenda of the conference can be visited on the dedicated page: howtoweb.co/agenda/

The Most Intense Competition for Startups in Eastern Europe

Following the annual tradition, the How to Web conference cannot take place without the competition dedicated to early-stage startups — Spotlight. Reaching a record award this year, probably the biggest in this region of Europe, the Spotlight competition is a not to be missed chance for founders who want to propel their startups to success.

With more than 100 renowned mentors and investors from Europe, unique opportunities for collaboration and scaling, an investment prize of almost half a million euros, and other surprises for founders from the event’s partners, Spotlight participants will be able to enjoy an unforgettable experience in their business life.

Following the evaluation of the investor panel, 40 startups were selected to enter the Spotlight 2022 matchmaking program: 121tribe, Adapta Robotics, Atlas Navi, Avo Cool, Avokaado, Beesers, Bitskout, Bloomcoding, Braight, Clastr, ClientZen, CPV Lab Pro, DEA Medicine, Directimo, dMonitor, Epic Visits, ExigoHealth, Eyelet, Fagura, Getpin, Gorilla Link, GuidefAI, Help2Go, Holoma, Hyperhuman, Hyperjob, INKI.TECH, INPUT SOFT, InRento, Licenseware, LINK, MediNav, NRGI.ai, Palmo, Prime Dash, Proofminder, SOLO, Synaptiq, Vestinda, Virbe and Voxa.

Of these, 20 will be selected as semi-finalists during the conference, entering the race for the grand prize and benefiting from multiple opportunities such as exhibiting the startup in the dedicated pavilion, mentoring sessions, meetings with investors, or other prizes from BRD – Groupe Société Générale or F6S, the platform dedicated to founders.

Last Days to Get Your Ticket

The event takes place between September 21 and 22 in the most modern event space in Romania, Face Convention Center Bucharest. Created to meet the needs of each type of participant, the event will be a complete experience with professional inspiration, business meetings, discovering the latest innovations, or spending quality time with the team or friends.

These are the last days when you can get your ticket and join the leading startup & innovation conference in Eastern Europe: howtoweb.co/tickets/

The event is created in partnership with Google for Startups, Mastercard Romania, BRD – Groupe Société Générale, Underline Ventures, and Orange Romania, and with the support of UiPath, Bitdefender, eMag Ventures, KPMG Romania, European Innovation Council, Tazz, Mobiversal, Fortech Investments, LAUNCHub Ventures, Endeavor, SeedBlink, Startup Wise Guys, Make IT in Oradea, Rubik Hub, and Vienna Business Agency.

About How to Web

How to Web is the leading startup & innovation conference in Eastern Europe.

Initiated in 2009, How to Web is one of the earliest influential European startup conferences, which has accelerated the adoption of the startup culture and innovation in Eastern Europe & Romania.

Our main focus has been to create a web of learning and networking opportunities that can empower the innovative minds in this region.

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The fifth edition of Launch Community Evenings will take place at Club Expirat, Bucharest, on September 20. Among the guests of the event you can find representatives from Fitbit, BCR, UiPath, TypingDNA, archbee, Flip.ro, The Recursive and FameUp.

Launch – the startup founders’ community – brings the meeting as a satellite event of the How to Web 2022 Conference, which takes place in Bucharest on September 21-22.

The event is moderated by Mircea Serediuc (Product Manager, FameUp) and comes as an opportunity to discover innovative products and projects, but also for networking with founders, company representatives and technology enthusiasts. Founders from top startups of the Launch community will pitch their products to the public and receive feedback from the evening’s guests:

• Daniel Rizea – Director Software Engineering, Fitbit
• Ionuț Stanimir – Director of Marketing & Communication, BCR
• Lavinia Cojocaru – Co-founder, UiPath
• Cristian Tamaș – Co-founder & CMO, TypingDNA
• Dragoș Bulugean – Founder, archbee
• Alex Burghelia – Co-founder, Flip.ro

The program also includes a talk with Cristian Tamaș (TypingDNA) and Dragoș Bulugean (archbee) about their journey in startup life, from the beginning to the present. The moment will be moderated by Elena Vrabie (Sales & Senior Content Manager, The Recursive) and is intended to help the founders of the community learn new ways to overcome their obstacles related to the development of their companies.

The meeting takes place five months after the launch of Launch Community Evenings event series, which has already gathered hundreds of founders, enthusiasts and actors of the technology and innovation industry from the local entrepreneurial ecosystems in the capital, but also in Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca and Iași.

Access to the event is free, and invitations are limited: https://bit.ly/launch-community-evenings-5

For over a year and a half, Launch – the community of startup founders – has been contributing to the increase of founder’s success chances, at the beginning of their journey, providing access to individual meetings with experts and representatives of companies from various industries, group activities together with other founders from the entire ecosystem in Romania. Currently, the community includes over 300 founders from over 100 startups, and registrations are always open. Launch is an initiative of How to Web, Google for Startups and InnovX-BCR.

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Spotlight, the leading startup competition in Eastern Europe, announces the investment prize up for grabs this year, reaching a record 465.000 euros. The award is syndicated by a group of the most active investors from the region: Tech Angels, Seedblink, Hellen’s Rock, GapMinder VC, Fortech Investments, Growceanu, V7 Capital, RocaX, Startup Wise Guys, and Transylvania Angels Network.

In addition to the big investment prize, participants can benefit from unique opportunities for collaboration, business, and scaling. On top of these, the conference’s main partners BRD – Groupe Société Générale and Mastercard will offer a prize in the form of a preferential package of banking services for all startups admitted to the program, and the prize from F6S Alpha, who will facilitate access to exclusive offers and opportunities, worth 1 million euros.

Dedicated to early-stage startups, the Spotlight program represents one of the best platforms for accelerating business growth, as founders have the opportunity to connect with over 100 internationally recognized mentors and some of the most active investors in Central and Eastern Europe, to present their innovations in front of more than 2,000 conference participants and compete with the best startups in Eastern Europe for the grand investment prize, worth almost half a million euro.

The application session is open until September 1st, and the organizers expect over 250 registrations. This competition invites all Eastern European technology startups with high scalability potential, a product with proper stability and traction, a business life of up to 5 years, and up to a maximum of 1 million euros in investment so far. Of the total of registered startups, 40 will be selected and will enter the Spotlight program on September 20.

During the program, happening pre-conference, and the 2-day competition, happening at How to Web conference, participants will interact directly with global experts in investment, innovation, or scaling, from companies such as Credo Ventures, Startup Core Strengths, Google, BRD – Groupe Société Générale, Orange Romania, Mind the Product, Infobip, UiPath, Point Nine Capital, Mastercard or Techstars. Moreover, most of How to Web’s speakers for this conference edition are also eager to take part in the mentoring program from Spotlight, enabling founders with access to numerous areas of expertise.

“BRD is involved in the development of a new generation of tech entrepreneurs, and How to Web Conference represents a context where they can enhance their business opportunities to learn and connect. We support innovation and entrepreneurship, and in the Spotlight competition, we contribute with mentorship, networking facilitation, and matchmaking for startups with potential. For us, BRD people, it is essential to stay connected to the latest trends and ideas in the world of technology and business, as we are interested in using and putting technology in the service of our customers, in an efficient and sustainable manner”, says Flavia Popa, Secretary-General of BRD – Groupe Société Générale

On September 21 and 22, during the How to Web 2022 Conference, 20 semi-finalist startups will enter the pitching competition, and the best 6 startups will enter the final stage of the competition, where they will present their business in front of over 2,000 attendees on the event’s main stage. The most innovative startup will go home with the record investment prize of 465,000 euros.

These are the last days in which startups can enroll in the program, the application session being open until September 1, on the How to Web website: howtoweb.co/spotlight/

The Spotlight program and competition, part of the How to Web conference, is created in partnership with Google for Startups, Mastercard Romania, BRD – Groupe Société Générale, Underline Ventures, and Orange Romania, and with the support of UiPath, Bitdefender, eMag Ventures, KPMG România, European Innovation Council, Tazz, Mobiversal, Fortech Investments, LAUNCHub Ventures, Endeavor, Seedblink, Startup Wise Guys, Make IT in Oradea, Rubik Hub, and Vienna Business Agency.

Launched in 2011 and organized as part of the How to Web conference, Spotlight is the best-known competition in the Eastern European region for technology startups that want to develop globally.

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Investor and founder Bogdan Iordache is launching Underline Ventures, a solo general partner venture fund targeting early-stage high-growth Eastern European startups with global ambitions, thus joining the ranks of solo VC managers emerging in Europe. Underline Ventures’ debut fund has raised €10m, with a final target of €20m.

Best known as the founder of How to Web, one of Europe’s top 10 startup conferences, started in 2010, Bogdan has also been the founder of Conectoo (exited in 2013) and a former investor for Gecad Ventures, 3TS Capital Partners, and MVP Academy.

”Our fund thesis is generational. We believe the Eastern European tech industry hit a critical mass of experienced founders and operators from scale-ups that are now starting or contributing to new startups, along with many young ambitious founders. While their expertise is excellent on the operational side, we believe Underline Ventures can help them understand the venture way and connect them with the world of venture capital, so they can build high-growth startups, not only successful companies“, Bogdan says.

Underline Ventures is backed by 20+ founders and early-stage operators from companies such as UiPath, Green Horse Games, Telerik, Elrond, MorphL, Smartbill, CleverTaxi, Tremend, and many others, along with professional investors in venture funds.

The fund is already a one-year effort, and the team includes experienced founders and operators from the tech world: Vlad Ionescu – Venture Partner, ex-UiPath, Iulian Circiumaru – Venture Partner, ex-7Card, Iulia Ghita – Investment Manager, ex-Bookster, Adriana Spulber, Sebastian Boureanu, Mihaela Ciobanu.

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How to Web organizes the first European online technology conference dedicated to remote work, RemoteCon, between June 30th and July 3rd 2020. The conference will bring together over 15 international experts, including company founders and remote teams coordinators, authors, trainers, consultants and other specialists in teams working remotely, with an expected audience of over 3,000 online participants.

Speakers and companies will present online, in front of an international audience, the most important challenges they faced in the organization and remote management of the teams, but also their solutions to these challenges: from leadership adapted to these new realities in modeling organizational culture in times of crisis, from moving to a new way of organizing teams and improving work processes, to demos of online tools that can successfully solve the problems that may arise from working remote in a company.

This first European edition of RemoteCon will gather world-renowned experts in the field of technology and innovation such as:

• Jason Fried, CEO and Founder of Basecamp – present in 32 cities around the world, also without physical office space, and author of bestsellers “Rework”, “Remote: office not required” and “It doesn’t have to be crazy at work”;
• Darren Murph, Head of Remote at GitLab – a company recognized for global teams with over 1,300 employees in 67 countries, without organization to own physical office space;
• Andreas Klinger, Remote advocate at CoinList and AngelList, former CTO of Product Hunt and founder of the Remote First Capital, an investment fund focused on remote work solutions;
• Bretton Putter, organizational culture expert, founder and CEO of CultureGene and author of “Culture Decks Decoded”;
• David Darmanin, CEO and Founder Hotjar;
• Sheeba Varghese, leadership expert for remote teams.

The full list of speakers, as well as the agenda of the event is available here.

RemoteCon is expecting over 3,000 online participants, who will have an interactive online content for the paid access option, but also the possibility to access the event for free by registering. The agenda of the event will include online presentations of good practices and actual practical advice from recognized experts in remote work, as well as presentations of digital products dedicated to the total or partial transition of a company to the style of remote work.

Even if the event is an online one, the networking element is an important pillar of the RemoteCon experience, being available to all over 3,000 participants at various times of the conference. All participants will be able to create new business relationships and discover new methods of remote collaboration through the online platforms during the event.

Alongside the How to Web team, several partners have joined this unique project on the European landscape of technology and innovation: KPMG Romania, Google Romania, but also other companies interested in the sustainable growth of the European business environment.

About How to Web

Launched in 2010, How to Web is one of Europe’s leading technology and innovation conferences, that lays out the methods, tactics, and mindsets of startups that started digital revolutions. At How to Web you have direct access to top international and local CEE experts, as well as successful examples of the new wave of startup mechanisms and hacks that made Central and Eastern Europe what it is today on the tech scene.

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During the How to Web 2019 conference held in Bucharest between 30-31 October, the jury of the 2019 UiPath Automation Awards CEE announced the winners of the competition aimed to support the best teams in the CEE region and Turkey, dedicated to building B2B non-manufacturing automation software. SmartDreamers from Romania was chosen the winner of the scale-up category, while Edward.ai from Poland won the startup category.

“We chose Edward.ai as the winner of the startup category because they’re solving a real automation issue related to sales people, with a mixture of technology and deep understanding of the sales process. They’re using an interesting combination of technologies, and they are very focused. The scale-up category winner, SmartDreamers, are an interesting case of automation, they’re automating not the recruiting process per se, but the search for candidacy process. They are automating it and optimizing it, and we thought they have good traction, already having a couple of marquee clients, like L’Oreal and Siemens. They’re also solving a real automation pain point with a novel approach.”, said Vargha Moayed, Chief Strategy Officer at UiPath, and the competition’s champion.

The winner in the startup category will receive €50,000 in cash, mentoring hours with UiPath experienced executives, tech and marketing support. The scale-up category winner will benefit from introduction to 4 international UiPath customers, tech and marketing support and the possibility to have their solution featured in the UiPath Immersion Labs around the world. 

For its first edition, the competition has attracted more than 100 entries in the two categories, with applicants coming from 12 countries. The jury assessed the submissions according to criteria such as the passion and vision of the founders, the value of their technology proposition and its potential to answer a market need, and the size of the market for their product.  

“The domain of automation is expanding with the combination of RPA that we’re now mixing with Artificial Intelligence, document understanding, cognitive decision making, chatbots. So we believe that this novel approach to automation is a new enterprise category and as you can see already through this contest, the number of company processes that can be automated it’s very big, from finding candidates to helping salespeople, and again and again the RPA provide very flexible solutions that can be deployed rapidly and have very short ROI. I think we’re coming to a generation of more agile tools that with a combination of Artificial Intelligence and deep understanding of a specific area of the company you can come up with very novel approaches.”, said Vargha Moayed, being asked where he sees the future of Process Automation.

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UiPath, the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) market leader, announced the six finalists of the 2019 Automation Awards CEE. Designed for software start-ups and scale-ups from the CEE region and Turkey, the competition aims to support the best teams in the region dedicated to building the best B2B non-manufacturing automation software.  

The finalists in the two award categories of UiPath’s 2019 Automation Awards CEE are: 

Start-up Automation Award  

• Bulletproof AI (Czech Republic) – Security for machine learning;
• Edward.ai (Poland) – AI powered assistant for sales representatives; 
• Nifty Learning (Romania) – Operational intelligence for training;

Scale-up Automation Award 

• Aggero (Romania) – AI-powered audience analytics and influencer intelligence for gaming; 
• Applica AI (Poland) – AI-based software that automates the scrutiny and comprehension of unstructured text in enterprises 
• Smartdreamers (Romania) – Recruitment marketing automation software for companies; 

The six finalists will pitch their ideas live on the stage of the How To Web conference in Bucharest, Romania, on October 30 for the two award packages up for grabs. The winner in the start-up category will win € 50,000 in cash, mentoring hours with UiPath experienced executives, tech and marketing support. The scale-up category winner will benefit from introduction to 4 international UiPath customers, tech and marketing support and the possibility to have their solution featured in the UiPath Immersion Labs around the world. 

Starting mid-June and until September 2, the competition received submissions for the two award tracks: the Start-up Automation Award, which recognizes existing teams that have already developed a technical minimum viable automation product and received no more than $1 million in funding; and the Scale-up Automation Award, which acknowledges companies that offer a functioning technology, have a solid team of at least four members, a portfolio of three paying customers and received a maximum funding of $3 million. 

“We are thrilled with the quality of the submissions for our first edition of the Automation Awards CEE. The finalists have made solid propositions and have convinced us that their technology and passion for their product have the potential to open up and make an impact on their chosen markets. We look forward to listening to their pitch on stage and seeing them compete for a chance to gain UiPath’s support and mentorship as they seek to scale up further and have a global impact.”, said Vargha Moayed, Chief Strategy Officer at UiPath, and the competition’s champion.

For its first edition, the competition has attracted more than 100 entries in the two categories, with applicants coming from 12 countries. The jury assessed the submissions according to criteria such as the passion and vision of the founders, the value of their technology proposition and its potential to answer a market need, and the size of the market for their product.  

The jury of the 2019 Automation Awards CEE includes: Elisabeta Moraru – Chief Executive Officer, Google Romania, Vargha Moayed – Chief Strategy Officer, UiPath, Boris Kumrey – Chief Robotics Officer, UiPath, Andrei Roth, Head of Cluj Campus, UiPath, Ondrej Bartos – Managing Partner, Credo Ventures, and Stephen Allott – Venture Partner, Seedcamp. 

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