Startups Without Borders has announced a new edition of its annual Startups Without Borders Summit, which will take place on December 11th and 12th 2021 in a hybrid online-offline format streamed LIVE from Rome and Cairo simultaneously. With the theme “Reconnect the dots” the summit will bring together key players in the tech space, valiant founders, and international investors to rethink what ‘back to normal’ really means and reconnect the dots.

With two main stages, the summit will take place in Rome, at LVenture Hub, and Cairo, at the American University in Cairo through their startup accelerator AUC V-Lab. The summit – hosted in partnership with Meta, UNDP Egypt, Edventures, ZOHO, and AUC V-Lab, – will offer entrepreneurs and startups the opportunity to connect, learn, and get insights from the powerhouses and global giants including Microsoft, Meta, SAP, Nokia, and IBM. 

From the future of crypto, to the road to 2030, the summit will discuss five main tracks featuring panels, workshops, and masterclasses from key players in Europe, the USA, and the Middle East. 

The event will have a high-profile speakers lineup including Roberto Croci, Managing Director for Microsoft for Startups MEA, Stephen Ibaraki, Founder of AI for good, Amal Dokhan, Partner at 500 Global MENA, Sheraz Ahmed, Head of Business at Crypto Valley and Riad Hartani, author of Tech Nomads of the Universe.

“Steve Jobs once taught us to trust that the dots in our life will somehow connect. This year, as we move away from a pandemic that signaled the end of the world as we knew it, we want to invite the entrepreneurs, the misfits, and the changemakers to reconnect the dots and think differently. We will talk about cryptocurrencies breaking borders, the rise of NFTs, how teens in AI challenge education, and how diaspora artists are rising in the metaverse. That’s why we decided to host it in Rome and Cairo, two cities that represent the birth of civilization and for us, the hope for a new, more diverse startup generation.”, says Valentina Primo, Founder and CEO of Startups Without Borders. 

Alongside talks and panels with all-star speakers, the event will host exciting activities, including a masterclass for Creative Economy Entrepreneurs in diaspora, in partnership with Meta, and the EdTech Demo Day where startups will pitch to international VC, in partnership with EdVentures.

The summit will also be the launchpad for Startups Without Borders Chapters, which will offer young changemakers around the world the opportunity to launch their own chapter and build a diverse startup ecosystem in their community.

Startups can also apply to the Investor Room, where entrepreneurs can get selected to have a 101 meeting with investors from leading Angel Investment Networks in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Entrepreneurs will be matched with an investor according to industry, geography, and ticket size, and gear up to pitch one-on-one in a private room at the summit. 

One of the most exciting features of the summit is the Startup World Cup Europe-MENA Connect, a global competition taking place across 60+ countries, where top entrepreneurs will pitch for a chance to get $1,000,000 at the finals, in Silicon Valley.

Get your ticket to the summit here.

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Startups Without Borders has just announced the launch of Marketing Reloaded, its first event for digital and growth marketing, which will take place on April 9th in a hybrid online-offline format. Featuring powerhouse speakers from Europe, US, and the Middle East, the event will gather powerhouse names in the marketing industry, global PR experts, and storytelling to unveil actionable tactics, strategies, and channels to build, attract and convert your audience. 

“The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of businesses in an incredible way. Through our events, we realized that navigating digital marketing and finding new ways to connect with customers remotely is not only the biggest challenge for businesses today, but also the most impactful road to scale. We want to support our community of entrepreneurs by bringing in top experts at an international level to help them build a compelling brand story, and learn growth hacking techniques to scale in this brave new world.“, says Valentina Primo, founder and CEO of Startups Without Borders.

Building on the success of the Startups Without Borders Summit, which was listed as one of the world’s Top 60 startup events to follow, Marketing Reloaded will offer an immersive digital experience live streamed from Cairo, in partnership with the American University in Cairo’s startup accelerator AUC Venture Lab (AUC V-Lab).

“AUC Venture Lab is always happy to support Startups Without Borders on their mission to empower resilient entrepreneurs everywhere. This event is focusing on sharpening founders’ skills in digital marketing, skills which entrepreneurs need to master in today’s business world”, says Ayman Ismail, founding director of the AUC Venture Lab.

There will be very exciting activities, including Masterclasses and Focus webinars with key players in the Marketing Industry, as well as a gamified experience for attendees with surprise prizes.

Maha Abuelenein, founder of Digital & Savy and Chief Value Officer for Gary Vaynerchuck, will unveil how the rise of audio, from podcasting to the Clubhouse boom, can help startups; while Theodore Moulos, founder of Growth Rocks, will give a Masterclass titled “Growth Hacking, The Innovative Sales Approach to Drive More Leads Than You Can Handle.” 

Other speakers include David Wagoner, co-founder of New York-based P3 Media, who will give a Focus Webinar on “How to Win the eCommerce Arms Race,” and Akanksha Goel, founder of Dubai-based Socialize Agency, who will share a panel with Forbes journalist Jessy el Murr and Amy Mowafi on “The Rising Wave of Social Commerce: from influencers to trending apps.” 

The event will take place on April 9th virtually. Get your ticket here.

Startups Without Borders is a global platform connecting migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to opportunities and resources to build their businesses, wherever they are. Launched in 2018 in Cairo, with hubs across European and Middle Eastern countries, the platform aims to build the startup ecosystem for entrepreneurs on the move, not only changing perceptions on refugees and migrants, but also crystallising a growing entrepreneurial trend amongst refugees and migrants.

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The Startups Without Borders Summit 2020, which will take place on November 14th, is setting off to connect entrepreneurs on the move to startup ecosystems from 3 continents. The hybrid summit will be broadcast all over the world from three separate stages in Amsterdam, Cairo, and San Francisco, featuring high-profile speakers including The Netherland’s Prince Constantijn van Oranje, who is also an Envoy at techleap.nl.

The summit, launched in partnership with Facebook, GoDaddy, GIZ Egypt, the University of Nyenrode, Hult International Business School, and AUC Venture Lab, will highlight the tools, strategies, and success stories for entrepreneurs to take the lead on digitalisation and adapt to “the new normal.” 

“Nyenrode Business Universiteit was founded on entrepreneurship and the promotion of international business, that is why we strongly associate with the purpose of Startups Without Borders. Nyenrode was set up by renowned Dutch companies (including KLM, Shell, Unilever, Philips and AkzoNobel) right after WWII, to help rebuild the Netherlands. We also embrace the theme “Brave new world”, particularly in these unprecedented times with corona, strengthening our commitment to entrepreneurship by empowering ambitious refugee and migrant entrepreneurs with resources to grow their business. The joint purpose connects, the collaborative effort energizes!”, said Job Andreoli, Head of the Nyenrode Incubator in Amsterdam.

“The Startups Without Borders Summit recognizes that the way we live, work and shop has changed exponentially in 2020, paving the way for rapid digital growth and highlighting the importance of having a digital footprint for all businesses, large and small.  We are excited to be participating in this Summit, as GoDaddy supports small business owners and entrepreneurs around the world to launch, build and grow their online brand presence, with easy to use and affordable tools and solutions.”, said Selina Bieber, Senior Regional Director, MENA and Turkey.

The summit also includes a never-before-seen feature: The Startup Country Tours. Through a series of immersive workshops, experts from around the world will guide summit attendees on how to have a more borderless experience starting and registering startups in four counties: USA, The Netherlands, Cyprus, and Estonia.

Each of these tours will see industry leaders, CEOs and strategist join the summit to offer a unique perspective on starting up across ecosystems that offer fertile grounds for startups. For example, Anett Numa, Digital Transformation Adviser at the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, will offer a virtual tour for entrepreneurs who want to become e-citizens and launch a businesses in the European country. The summit will feature Chris Neumann, Founder and CEO of Commonwealth Ventures, for a talk titled: “How to fundraise and extract expertise from Silicon Valley without actually moving here.”

Another often-overlooked European country that is a startup community secret is Cyprus, an affordable, safe, and idyllic business destination for companies operating in the MENA region and Mediterranean. Changelabs’ founder Karim Samra will be taking to the stage for this tour. The impact-centered startup accelerator Changelabs he has founded – and which operates out of Cyprus – has launched a one-of-a-kind startup registration package in partnership with local attorney and entrepreneur Demos Katsis.

Alongside talks, workshops, and panels with all-star speakers, the event will also host the Investors Room, in partnership with GIZ, Berkeley SkyDeck, Cairo Angels, AUC Angels and MedAngels. The Investors Room becomes a truly unique experience for any hopeful startup to have quality one-on-one conversations with investors, get feedback and insights. 

Andreas Ruepp, Head of Project Access to Financial Services for SMEs, at GIZ Egypt said, “We believe promoting access-to-finance for aspiring entrepreneurs can address several issues facing refugees and migrants in Egypt. Through a holistic approach we aim to significantly increase financial inclusion especially during the current pandemic and the unprecedented times we live in.“ He went on to say, “We are happy to partner up with SWB on their great mission, and we hope this will contribute to the creation of better social and economic prospects for the Egyptian people in line with the Egyptian Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030.”

“AUC Venture Lab has gladly supported Startups Without Borders since the very beginning. Migrants are resilient and entrepreneurial by necessity and in this new normal, their resilience is what will help them survive and prosper as they create their new ventures. We are committed to work with those entrepreneurs to share the knowledge and support they really need.”, says Ayman Ismail, Director of AUC Venture Lab.

Among the speakers, the summit is featuring key figures in the startup and corporate landscape, including Ramez T. Shehadi, Managing Director of Facebook MENA, Lauren Maillian, CEO of digitalundivided, Christie Pitts, General Partner at Backstage Capital, Anja Monrad, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dell Technologies, Roberto Croci, Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups MEA, and Tey El-Rjula, blockchain entrepreneur and author of The Invisible Son. 

You can get your ticket for the summit here.

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Over a thousand startup founders, investors, enthusiasts and other members of the European startup ecosystem met in Barcelona for the EU-Startups Summit between May 2-3 2019. The summit was a good mix of startups at different stages, investors and corporates, clearly becoming one of the leading startup events in Europe. It was inspiring to see what’s happening all over Europe, while exploring a city as vibrant as Barcelona.

The agenda included fireside chats from accomplished European startup founders and workshops from top experts on subjects such as marketing, pitching, fundraising and venture capital, analysis of startup ecosystems, bootstrapping, EU funding opportunities, tips on exiting, how to differentiate your startup from competitors, how to create great customer experiences and more.

The event also hosted a pitch competition of the 15 of Europe’s most promising early-stage startups, with a prize package worth €75,000 which has been won by Tribe, a Berlin-based startup that brings conversational AI to life, giving it a face and human emotions, through realistic, lifelike 3D avatars.

Julian Hoelz is the co-founder and Managing director of Tribe, based in Berlin, Germany, the winners of the EU-Startups Summit pitch competition. We asked Julian to tell us a bit more about what they do and their experience with the summit.

“At Tribe, we believe machines need to learn to communicate like us, like humans.”, says Julian. “And for that, they need a face and the ability to express their emotions. And what is the most natural interface for that? A face. So that’s at the heart of what we do at Tribe. We bring conversational A.I. to life and give it a face and human emotions. Our animated realistic 3D avatars spark the human element in any application, from A.I.-powered customer support bots over virtual store assistants to the next generation of in-game characters.

“I really enjoyed the EU Startups Summit, not only for the pitch competition and its pleasant outcome, but for the great conversations that we had with companies both large and small, with potential investors and like-minded entrepreneurs.”

Most of the other startups we talked to found potentials partners and companies with whom to develop pilot projects and told us they have walked away with some great connections from all across Europe. One of their key understanding was how important EU networking is for an entrepreneur, instead of just networking in the country in which they are based.

Our heroes

One of the highlights of the event was the opportunity to meet the “unknown heroes” of the different ecosystems from across Europe, and we took the chance to ask some of the participants to share some thoughts about their experience with the summit.

Laura Cuddy is the founder of HERSTORM, based in Barcelona, Spain. HERSTORM is a women’s online fitness clothing brand with a growing community of empowered women. Through women-only events, content, ambassadors and charities they want to inspire women to face the storm, to never back down and achieve their full potential.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the summit, it was so beneficial for me and my business HERSTORM to be there.”, said Laura. “It was my first time attending and I have walked away with some great connections from all across Europe. I choose to come to this event mainly for the international networking opportunity. Currently my business is looking for funding to further grow and develop. This was the perfect opportunity to both meet and present HERSTORMs growth statistics and vision to potential investors. A key learning from this event was the realization of how important EU networking is for an entrepreneur, rather than just networking in the country in which you are based. The EU has such a diverse start up scene in each country. As a European entrepreneur, it’s important to have an open mind and to leverage contacts and supporting services in neighboring EU countries. Although I am Irish, I choose to set up HERSTORM in Barcelona. I choose Barcelona mainly for two reasons – for the lifestyle that I wanted to create and that inspires me every day and for the highly international start-up scene here. Saying that, with time and as the business grows, I hope to have my business also set up from Ireland!”

Andrei Ene is the co-founder of AntiFragile, based in Bucharest, Romania, one of the 15 startups which pitched in the summit’s competition. The Romanian startup offers multiple types of monitoring devices that give shippers the data they need at a price they can afford, so they can stop damage caused by impacts, vibrations or tilts – saving countless dollars in repairs, replacement, and reshipping, not to mention such indirect costs as troubleshooting and down time.

“Being an early stage startup, only 6 months old, it was pretty intimidating for us to be selected as a finalist.”, said Andrei. “There were 950 applicants and being in the first 15 was a huge responsibility but also gave us a sense that we are on the right path. Regarding the pitching competition, our goal was not winning the grand prize. We wanted to challenge our idea and get professional feedback from the jury, VC’s and other participants. Every team was on point, every presentation was good. Basically, a high level competition. During the networking sessions I have met a lot of potentials partners and companies with whom we can develop pilot projects.“

Valentina Primo is the founder of Startups Without Borders, based in Rome, Italy. Startups Without Borders connects the most ambitious refugee and migrant entrepreneurs with resources to launch their business, while providing investors with an entry-point to under-the-radar startups with disruptive potential.

“I was super excited to participate in the summit. Having been in the Middle Eastern startup scene for years, it’s super inspiring to see what’s happening all over Europe, especially in a city as vibrant as Barcelona. I got the chance to connect with people from Poland, Egypt, Netherlands, and places as far ad Mexico to explore ways to work together. This is the real spirit I’m looking for in a startup summit.”

Ovidiu Negrean is the founder of SocialBee, based in Cluj, Romania. SocialBee offers social media management tools, training, and teams to help you get more leads with less effort.

“Even though SocialBee is three years old already, the EU Startups Summit was the first time we’ve attended an event (and even had a booth and a social media workshop) with SocialBee. We treated this as an experiment to see if events could also be a good customer acquisition and awareness building exercise for us. Being our first time, we did not have any real expectations, but we were pleasantly surprised by the large participation and high interest in our tools and services. It’s still a bit too early to tell if this will turn out to be a positive event from a return on investment point of view, but we went away with excitement and a good feeling after a great event. On a personal level, I was happy to get positive feedback and see a large number of people attending my talk about Social Media for Startups.”

Heather Williams is the founder of Sourcing Play Ground, based in UK. Sourcing Playground is the online B2B global trading platform helping buyers & brands connect with trusted product manufacturers. Started only 18 months ago Sourcing Playground now has over 2000+ users from over 40+ countries and currently holds $3M worth of export opportunities on site.

“It was our first time at the EU Startup Summit and I found the event extremely helpful and provided some really interesting contacts and potential leads. The event as a whole was a great mix of inspiring European companies making some real headway with really interesting talks around everything start up: from fund raising, scaling up, industry insights etc. I would say the biggest benefit is that within two days you are able to save yourself weeks of networking, calls and pitches. You are among some of the top VC’s and investors and as a startup it’s fantastic exposure.”

Marion Korherr is the Chief Sparrings Partner at The Early Birds, based in Vienna, Austria, an advertising agency focused on positioning and brand development for startups and one of three astronauts of the “Moonshot Start Up” – an interactive boardgame.

“Someone told me once: if you need inspiration – travel! And what could be a better choice than traveling to an inspiring event – like the EU Startup Summit in beautiful Barcelona. 2 days full of inspiration, networking, brainstorming … I loved that you had the chance to connect with so many different people – all in a positive hands-on mood and going to change the world. Yeah that rocked!“

Barcelona’s startup ecosystem

Barcelona is one of Europe’s most dynamic and engaging ecosystem, especially in industries like mobility, food, travel and e-commerce making it Southern Europe’s most dynamic startup ecosystem. According to a newly launched report by Dealroom, Barcelona is the 5th largest European tech hub (by investment). Based on their data, Barcelona’s startup ecosystem consists of over 1,100 startups, 150+ scaleups and 30+ grownups & exits, totaling over 40.000 employees.

Dealroom was on stage during the EU-startups Summit, presenting insights about the venture capital in Europe and Spain. The event was also the occasion to announce the pre-launch of the Catalonia map powered by Dealroom’s Ecosystem Solution, part of a collection of crowd-sourced maps focused on specific cities, regions or countries.

Catalonia’s capital offers an incredible lifestyle to anyone living here. Between the beaches, the amazing weather and the very active social culture, Barcelona is attracting founders from all around the world and is ranking as the 3rd favorite founding site of entrepreneurs (according to Startup Heatmap Europe 2018). Although the salaries are lower than in other main European cities, the quality of life is higher and the cost of living is more affordable. Many founders actually choose to begin their startups in Barcelona because its vibrant lifestyle and its sunny weather.

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