We track 433 organisations in this sector across 6+ countries.
433 entries.
Deep-tech firm building AI-powered smart glasses that replicate guide-dog function for the visually impaired, using pedestrian autonomous-driving perception and haptic head-steering. Tested with 300+ blind users across ~30 countries.
10xDNA is a Munich-based deep-tech venture capital firm founded by serial entrepreneur and Die Hoehle der Loewen judge Frank Thelen. The fund focuses on disruptive technologies across artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space technology, synthetic biology, and energy. It targets companies whose technology has the potential to scale by an order of magnitude versus incumbents, backed by Frank Thelen's three decades of operating experience across consumer software, mobile, and deep tech.
360 Capital is a French-Italian venture capital firm founded in 2006, with offices in Paris and Milan. The firm manages approximately EUR 700M and invests from seed through growth stage, focusing on deep tech, industrial automation, cybersecurity, and enterprise software. 360 Capital has backed unicorns including Exotec (warehouse robotics), as well as Sigfox, Believe, and Scality. Led by partners with deep operational backgrounds, the firm provides strategic support in scaling hardware-software businesses and navigating European industrial ecosystems.
3Lateral is a Novi Sad-based deep-tech studio that builds some of the most advanced digital human technology in the world, including high-fidelity facial rigging, performance capture, and AI-driven character animation pipelines used across games, film, and virtual production. Founded in 2004 by Vladimir Mastilović, the company became a go-to technical partner for AAA studios pushing the boundary of believable CG faces, and was acquired by Epic Games in 2019 to anchor what would become the MetaHuman Creator — the feature inside Unreal Engine that lets any developer ship production-grade photorealistic characters in hours instead of months. Even after the acquisition, 3Lateral continues to operate out of Serbia as a core R&D center for Epic's digital-human stack, making it one of the clearest examples of world-class computer-graphics IP built entirely in the former Yugoslav space and now shipped into tools used by hundreds of thousands of developers globally.
4YFN 2027 runs alongside MWC Barcelona at Fira Gran Via, connecting founders, investors, and corporates focused on turning early-stage innovation into real business outcomes. The event draws thousands of startups and investors from across Europe and beyond, with structured matchmaking, a pitch competition, and the 4YFN Awards. It operates as an independent but deeply integrated event within the broader MWC ecosystem.
ABC Accelerator was founded in 2015 and is the largest private startup accelerator in South Eastern Europe, based at BTC City in Ljubljana. It runs a three-month programme accepting up to 12 startups per cohort, offering a €25,000 convertible loan and an option for €100,000–€250,000 follow-on investment. To date it has accelerated over 130 startups from 30 countries and helped them raise approximately €30 million in funding. It has been recognised as the best accelerator programme by the Central European Startup Awards.
Founded 2003. Lower Austria's high-tech incubator providing 18-24 months of pre-seed funding, intensive coaching, and training sessions to build regional deep-tech companies. Alumni examples include Greenwood Power and Cyan Cycle. Support: grants, business coaching, advisor network. Scope: Regional (Lower Austria).
ACT Venture Capital is Ireland's most established and most active venture firm, founded in 1994 and headquartered in Dublin. Over three decades it has backed more than 140 Irish and European technology companies, raising over €600M across six funds — including its largest, a €140M fund closed in 2022 — and generating dozens of exits with a combined enterprise value of around €4.6bn. Its limited partners include the European Investment Fund, Enterprise Ireland, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and AIB, several of whom have backed the firm for more than twenty years. Led by Managing Partner John Flynn alongside General Partners Debbie Rennick and John O'Sullivan, ACT invests from seed to expansion stage with cheques up to €10M across software, AI, deep tech, health tech, energy and fintech in Ireland and the UK. Landmark outcomes include the $400M sale of UWB semiconductor company Decawave to Qorvo (2020), the acquisition of digital-mental-health platform SilverCloud Health by Amwell (2021), and SoftBank's €473M investment into connected-vehicle company Cubic Telecom at a €900M+ valuation (2024). Recent active deals include AI pathology company Deciphex and energy-optimisation platform GridBeyond.
Southeast Europe's leading security industry event at Zagreb Fair bringing together 3,000+ professionals and 150+ exhibitors across physical security, cybersecurity, IoT and smart technologies.
Aerones is the world-leading provider of robotic wind turbine maintenance and inspection services. Founded in 2015 by Dainis Kruze and Janis Putrams, the company deploys rope-suspended robots guided by AI software to perform blade cleaning, leading-edge erosion repairs, lightning protection checks, and autonomous visual inspections — completing tasks up to four times faster than manual methods. A Y Combinator W18 graduate, Aerones has raised $115 million in total including a $62 million Series B in 2025, serves customers representing over 50% of global wind power capacity, and operates in 30+ countries.
Organizer of Aerospace Tech Week Europe, a specialized B2B conference and exhibition covering aerospace connectivity, avionics, and operations technology. Held annually in Munich since 2017, the event draws hundreds of aerospace engineers, OEMs, and suppliers to discuss next-generation aircraft systems and digital transformation in aviation.
B2B aerospace technology conference in Munich focused on digital aviation systems, avionics, connectivity, flight operations software, and testing workflows. High-value venue for deep-tech founders in aviation software, satellite communications, drones, and aerospace manufacturing partnerships.
Aerospacelab designs, builds and operates satellites end-to-end, offering versatile platforms (150 kg–1 t), payloads spanning earth observation and telecom, and full mission operations. Founded in 2018 by ex-NASA and ESA engineer Benoît Deper, the company is 90% vertically integrated and ITAR-free. It raised a €94 M Series B in August 2025 (including €37.5 M from the EIB) and is completing a Megafactory in Charleroi — Europe's largest satellite plant, targeting 500 units per year by 2026. Aerospacelab is one of two finalists competing to build the LEO layer of the EU's IRIS² secure-comms constellation.
Aerska is a Dublin-based RNA medicines biotech company that uses proprietary brain shuttle technology to overcome the blood-brain barrier and deliver RNAi therapies for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Founded in 2025 by Jack O'Meara, Dave Hardwicke, and Stu Milstein, the company emerged from stealth in October 2025 with a $21 million seed round, then closed a $39 million Series A in February 2026 led by EQT Dementia Fund and age1, bringing total funding to $60 million.
Agoranov is a Paris-based public incubator founded in 2000 by a consortium of universities and research institutions. It supports science- and technology-intensive startups, often spun out of academic labs, and has backed 400+ startups that raised €1.5B+ and created 10,000+ jobs. Program: office space in central Paris, a 6-month renewable incubation program with tailored mentorship, research access, grant support, and investor introductions. As a public-interest incubator, Agoranov is equity-free and funded by French public institutions and the City of Paris. Unicorn alumni: - Doctolib - Alan - Criteo
Eastern Europe's largest AI conference at Radisson Blu Bucharest with 100+ speakers, 59+ international exhibitors, and 81+ workshops; covers AI applications across education, healthcare, legal, urbanism, art, and the future of work.
An execution-focused AI deployment and investment forum at Hualing Expo Plaza, covering AI strategy, healthcare AI, fintech, and cybersecurity, with a developer track, a 72-hour hackathon, and a startups and funding track. Strong fit for founders building AI-native products.
The United Nations' flagship AI-for-good event, organized by the International Telecommunication Union. It convenes governments, technology companies, startups, academia and UN agencies around applied AI for the Sustainable Development Goals, with a large exhibition, robotics demos and a startup and innovation track. It is one of the largest AI gatherings in Europe, relevant to founders seeking visibility, partners and policy context.
Two-day AI conference at Cubex Centrum focused on real-world AI implementation, investment, and regulation, with five technical workshops on day one and three parallel tracks (Business, Technology, Public Sector) on day two.
A high-altitude AI conference at the Galaaxy venue above Laax, convening decision-makers from business, politics, and science to shape the Swiss digital agenda. Good for AI founders who want concentrated executive and policymaker access in an intimate setting away from the usual circuit.
Invite-style AI & Data summit at Hotel Histria for 200 senior leaders across banking, telecom, healthcare, retail and public sector, with 50+ speakers focused on business value of enterprise AI.
Positioned as one of Europe's biggest AI events, with 10,000+ attendees, 200+ speakers, 50 side events across an AI Week, and a 500-builder hackathon. For AI founders and developers it concentrates investors, talent, and enterprise buyers in one week.
An annual AI summit at the Evoluon in Eindhoven, organised by the Eindhoven AI Systems Institute with Brainport Development. Focused on applied and industrial AI — strong fit for hardware-aligned and deeptech founders in the Brainport ecosystem.
Central Europe's largest AI conference, hosted at Magyar Zene Háza and Néprajzi Múzeum in Városliget. 12 sections and 100+ speakers cover AI across business, healthcare, employment, creative, and ethics.
Turkey's main AI summit, organised by the Artificial Intelligence Policies Association at JW Marriott Ankara, bringing together AI researchers, policymakers, enterprises, and startups. A notable flagship in the capital rather than Istanbul.
A two-day London AI conference for senior decision-makers in AI and robotics innovation at the Kensington Conference and Events Centre. Relevant for an AI founder seeking enterprise customers and a senior-level audience.
AIDAQ is one of Europe's largest conferences on artificial intelligence, data and quantum technologies, convening thousands of attendees, hundreds of speakers and many sessions across multiple tracks. It brings together business, policy and science leaders. It is highly founder-relevant, featuring a DeepTech Pitch, a free startup showcase area for selected AI and quantum startups, and a deep-tech founder network.
AIKO develops flight-proven AI software that enables satellites and spacecraft to operate autonomously — detecting anomalies, replanning missions, processing payload data, and executing maneuvers without ground intervention. Founded in Turin in 2017 by Lorenzo Feruglio, AIKO became the first European company to demonstrate deep learning algorithms in orbit. The company's modular product suite (GENE for anomaly detection, OLIVER for onboard planning, CLEAR for payload processing, DANA for maneuvering) serves commercial operators and space agencies. With offices in Turin and Toulouse, AIKO has raised €7 million and is leading the ASIMOV proximity-operations project funded by the Italian Space Agency.
AImotive (originally Adasworks) is a Budapest-based deep-tech company building a full-stack automated driving platform — perception, prediction, planning, and control — designed as vendor-neutral software that OEMs and tier-one suppliers can integrate alongside their own hardware rather than buy as a locked Nvidia or Mobileye stack. Founded in 2015 by László Kishonti, AImotive also develops aiSim, a production-grade simulation environment used by automotive customers to validate ADAS and self-driving stacks, and its own NPU IP (aiWare) aimed at efficient neural-network inference for automotive workloads. The company has partnerships with Volvo, Bosch, and other tier-one automotive players, and was acquired by Stellantis in 2024 to become part of the group's in-house software and AD stack — one of the most strategically significant European automotive AI exits of the decade and a capstone story for Hungarian deep-tech.
A network of private investors associated with NOT (Federation of Engineering Associations), supporting early-stage high-growth companies. AINOT runs a structured support program from idea scouting and pre-incubation to equity investment (up to €200k) and follow-ons. How to apply: submit your idea via the online application form on the AINOT website (open intake). Notable focus: deep innovation and engineering-heavy startups, leveraging NOT’s technical expertise to vet and mentor projects.
Agent-native AI platform for go-to-market execution, founded by ex-DeepMind researchers (formerly Glyphic). Autonomous agents act on commercial context across calls, emails, tickets and CRM to update systems, flag risks and generate follow-ups for revenue teams.
Austria's largest non-university research institution, focused on applied research in energy, mobility, health, digital safety and security and innovation systems. It organizes Technology Talks Austria, a flagship innovation conference convening leaders from politics, industry and academia on technological sovereignty and resilience.
Aktantis is a world-class European deeptech competitiveness cluster founded in 2005 and based in Sophia Antipolis, France, federating an innovation ecosystem focused on digital transition across microelectronics, IoT, cybersecurity, AI, and photonics. With over 300 member organizations, Aktantis supports companies through project financing, growth acceleration, international expansion, and cybersecurity protection, with member startups collectively raising over 500 million euros in funding and investing 1.5 billion euros in R&D. The cluster participates as a partner in SIDO Lyon as part of its European deeptech ecosystem development mission.
Developed a proprietary biomaterial made from albumin — fully biocompatible and biodegradable — engineered for next-generation drug delivery and tissue engineering, with natural tumour tropism and built-in imaging visibility. Founded 2023.
Co-founding partner of Vastpoint Ventures, a 2025 seed fund investing in AI, B2B SaaS and techbio. She was an early employee at ElevenLabs, where she built the AI-safety team and led core partnerships during its rise to unicorn status, and previously co-founded a Cambridge deep-tech startup.
Co-founder and General Partner of PSV (PreSeed Ventures) Tech. He backs technical founders at the earliest stage and supports them through the journey from research and prototype to first institutional venture rounds across the Nordic region.
Algalíf is an Icelandic biotechnology company founded in 2012 that produces high-grade natural astaxanthin from microalgae using 100% renewable geothermal energy in a fully enclosed indoor photobioreactor system. The company is certified carbon-negative, binding 75 tonnes of CO2 annually, and holds over $50M in cumulative investment. In 2025 Algalíf launched Astalíf 15, the world's first 15% natural astaxanthin oleoresin, and broke ground on the world's largest natural astaxanthin facility (12,500 m²). The board initiated IPO preparations for 2025 and appointed new leadership following the departure of long-serving CEO Orri Björnsson.
Quantum software company relocated its global headquarters from Helsinki to Milan in May 2026, marking Italy's largest-ever quantum computing investment round of €18M. Develops quantum algorithms and classical-quantum hybrid software targeting drug discovery and industrial optimisation, with a focus on near-term quantum hardware.
Amena Ventures is a Dublin-based early-stage venture and venture-partner firm incorporated in 2021, co-led by Managing Directors José Sousa and Sukhdev Hansra, whose backgrounds span investment banking, corporate finance and business transformation across Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. It focuses on seed and pre-seed investments in hardware-intensive sectors — robotics, autonomous systems, IoT and space-tech connectivity — primarily across the EMEA region. Beyond capital, Amena positions itself as a hands-on operating partner, supporting founders on business development, fundraising, governance and talent. Its portfolio — concentrated in Portugal — includes Connect Robotics (autonomous drone delivery), Ethiack (AI-powered ethical hacking, €4M seed 2024), Xpectraltek (multispectral imaging) and Connected (NB-IoT satellite connectivity, acquired by Open Cosmos in 2025).
Founder and Managing Partner of PSV Hafnium, Denmark's first dedicated deep-tech venture fund, which closed at €60M in 2025. He invests in science-rooted spinouts across quantum computing, cleantech, new materials, biotech and new space, primarily from Nordic technical universities.
Munich program operator for Antler's pre-seed founder residencies and investment cohorts. Antler Munich is an event organiser based in Munich, Germany. Organising events in the Accelerator Programs, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Tech space.
Pre-seed accelerator and VC program for founders in AI, data, and deep tech. The spring 2026 application cut-off passed on February 27, 2026 for a March 9 cohort start; applications continue on a rolling basis for subsequent 2026 cohorts. Typical Antler offer includes early investment and startup-building support from day zero.
A deep-tech and hardware focused co-investment network founded in 2014 under the APER Ventures fund. APER Angels connects private angel investors with VC funds to pool capital for high-tech startups. They typically invest PLN 250k–5M in early-stage companies, and have backed over 24 startups with ~PLN 50M total. Notable focus: hardware, IoT, and deep-tech startups (often syndicating with APER Ventures).
Apex Ventures is a Vienna-based seed-stage venture capital firm launched in 2017 by Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, Wolfgang Berner, and Ulrich Gall, focused on deep tech, AI, medical devices, and digital health. The firm manages over EUR 50M and invests EUR 250K-1.5M in science-driven teams with defensible intellectual property, often emerging from leading European research institutions. Apex has backed companies including Prewave, Ribbonfish, and contextflow, and provides hands-on support in technology commercialization and clinical market access.
Aqemia is a Paris-based pharmatech company building an AI-driven drug discovery platform that combines quantum-inspired physics and machine learning to generate and prioritise novel drug candidates at scale. Founded in 2019 by quantum physics researcher Maximilien Levesque and former BCG consultant Emmanuelle Martiano, the company aims to design new molecules faster and cheaper than traditional methods. It raised a 60M euro Series A and later a $38M round led by Cathay Innovation in December 2024, bringing total funding past $100 million as it moves toward clinical trials and global expansion, including a London office.
ArcticStartup is a Helsinki-based media and events organization covering the Nordic and Baltic startup ecosystem since 2007. It produces NORDEEP, positioning it as Northern Europe's first and only deep tech conference with a business focus, with the mission to unlock deep tech potential by connecting startups, researchers, investors, and corporations. The organization runs the annual NORDEEP Nordic Deep Tech Business Summit in Espoo, Finland, expecting 750+ attendees and 200+ startups at each edition.
Arena Tehnologij is Slovenia's central event dedicated to science, innovation and creativity — a full-day, free public exhibition of the latest Slovenian technologies with interactive demos, talks and workshops on artificial intelligence, security and the digital future. The 2026 (3.0) edition is held at Technology Park Ljubljana and promises more exhibitors than the roughly 50 technology actors who took part in 2025.
Armenia's flagship engineering, science and art forum, organized annually since 2017 by the Enterprise Incubator Foundation and the Engineering Association at Engineering City in Yerevan. The 2026 edition runs under the theme "Physical AI: Engineering Intelligence for the Real World", with talks and discussions spanning robotics, embedded systems, sensors, electronics, semiconductors and manufacturing. It gathers 1,000+ engineers, researchers, students, tech companies and industry leaders.
Armilar Venture Partners is a Lisbon-based venture capital firm that spun out from Portugal's Novabase group in 2016, building on a venture investment track record dating back to 2001. The firm invests from seed through growth stage in deep tech, enterprise IT, and healthcare, with a focus on Portuguese and Iberian founders with global ambitions. Armilar manages over EUR 200M and has backed companies including Feedzai (AI fraud detection unicorn), Outsystems, Sword Health, and Codacy. The team provides strategic support in US market entry and international scaling.
Five-day festival on art, technology and society in downtown Linz under the theme 'Future Begins — Negotiating Humanity'. Combines exhibitions, conferences, performances, workshops and tours across three venue clusters: OK Quarter, Med Campus and Danube Triangle.
Co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, the open-weight large-language-model company that became Europe's flagship AI lab. A former DeepMind researcher, he co-founded Mistral in 2023 and raised some of Europe's largest AI rounds.
Co-founder and Partner at Movens Capital. Serial tech entrepreneur and investor; founder and CEO of NetSprint (2000–2018), a Polish search engine that grew into a CEE adtech/martech group. Led Movens Fund 1 (2020–2023) to invest roughly €14M across 20 CEE startups before co-anchoring Fund 2 (€60M, 2025). Board roles and angel investments across fintech, e-commerce, and SaaS in Poland and CEE.
Develops a patented near-infrared fluorescent coating (NICE) for surgical instruments, letting surgeons visualise tools inside the body during minimally invasive procedures. Spun out of Strasbourg's Laboratory of Bioimaging and Pathologies.
Builds laser optical communication terminals (ATLAS series) for secure space-to-ground, space-to-space and ship-to-ship data links. Selected for NATO's DIANA accelerator and works with the Lithuanian navy.
Developing an AI-based multichannel earthquake forecasting system providing predictions at 14-day, 5-day, 3-day and 1-day horizons with magnitude and location estimates. Founded in 2019; completed ESA BIC Poland and raised over €640k.
Atlantic Bridge is a Dublin- and London-headquartered growth-equity firm founded in 2004 by Brian Long, Elaine Coughlan, Gerry Maguire and Peter McManamon. It manages over €1.2bn across eight funds, including flagship growth vehicles (Atlantic Bridge III at €140M, AB IV at $317M), two China-Ireland Technology Growth Capital funds, and two University Bridge Funds (€65M + €80M) seeding deep-tech spinouts from Irish universities. Its defining 'Bridge Model' accelerates the internationalisation of European technology companies via the partners' US networks. The firm invests at expansion and growth stage — typically €10–20M cheques — across AI, next-generation semiconductors, cybersecurity, enterprise software, quantum computing and digital health. It has recorded 50+ exits worth over $7bn, including Movidius (Intel), Decawave (Qorvo), NUVIA (Qualcomm, $1.4bn) and the Nasdaq listing of Navitas Semiconductor. Active holdings include SambaNova, Vectra AI, Equal1 and Cambridge Mechatronics. The team is led by co-founders Brian Long and Elaine Coughlan with Managing Partner Kevin Dillon.
Atlas Aerospace is a Riga-based UAV manufacturer founded in 2015 by Ivan Tolchinsky that produces lightweight reconnaissance drones for military and civilian use. Its flagship drone weighs under 2 kg, is man-portable, and carries a camera for real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Atlas is a NATO supplier and has delivered over 200 drones to Ukrainian armed forces for battlefield reconnaissance. Beyond defence, the company's systems are used by Norwegian mountain-rescue teams and firefighting services worldwide. Atlas is a member of MilTech Latvia, the national defence industry cluster.
Atmonia is developing a breakthrough electro-catalytic process for synthesising ammonia directly from air, water and renewable electricity at ambient temperature and pressure — with zero carbon emissions. Its precious-metal-free catalyst technology, protected by multiple patents, could disrupt the conventional Haber-Bosch process that accounts for roughly 2% of global CO2 emissions. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $3M in equity alongside $10M in non-dilutive funding from sources including the Icelandic Research Fund, Technology Development Fund and Horizon Europe. Atmonia collaborates with Fujitsu on AI-accelerated catalyst development and leads the EU-funded VERGE project.
Develops Semi-Permeable Capsule and droplet microfluidics partitioning technology enabling multi-step, multi-omic single-cell analysis workflows for research and high-throughput screening.
Axelera AI is a semiconductor and software company headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands, founded in July 2021. It develops AI acceleration hardware and software for inference workloads, spanning edge devices and edge servers. Its flagship Metis AI Processing Unit and next-generation Europa AIPU are paired with the Voyager SDK for model deployment, built on the company's proprietary digital in-memory computing and RISC-V dataflow architecture. The company targets sectors including security, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare, positioning its products as high-performance, power-efficient alternatives to GPUs. In March 2025 it was awarded a EuroHPC grant of up to 61.6 million euro for the DARE project.
The Azerbaijan Innovation Center (AIM) is a 1,250 m² urban innovation hub on Atatürk Avenue, Baku, managed by the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA). Opened in October 2024, it provides 18 dedicated desks, development programs, networking events, and investor roadshow access for resident startups. IDDA reports supporting 750+ startups cumulatively across its programs, with ecosystem assets under management of approximately $15.6 million.
BADideas.fund is a Riga-based early-stage syndicate and pre-seed/seed fund whose 200+ members are operators and founders from CEE unicorns including Wise, Veriff, Printify, and Bolt. The fund is backed by Latvian development bank Altum under the EU ERDF-supported programme, with a total fund size of €20.67 million, active from 2024 to 2029. It focuses on globally ambitious founders from Latvia and the broader CEE region.
A large-scale international innovation trade show at Baku Expo Center, targeting 25,000+ visitors and 350+ exhibitors from 20+ countries. Useful for founders with a product to showcase and those seeking regional distribution or investment connections.
Bek Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm backing exceptional founders with roots in Europe, with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey. Founded in 2013 as the Earlybird Digital East Fund and rebranded to Bek Ventures in late 2024, the firm manages roughly $600 million across its funds, including a $250 million Fund III closed in 2024. Led by managing partner Cem Sertoglu and with offices in Istanbul, London, and New York, the Turkish-founded team has generated billions of dollars in returns over the past decade and is associated with one of the greatest venture investments in European history. Bek Ventures backs technical founders building global category leaders, with around half of its portfolio companies operating from the United States.
Southeastern Europe's leading tech and innovation exhibition at Metropolitan Expo Athens, themed 'AI: Digital to Physical' for 2026, with focus on AI, cybersecurity, smart cities, ESG applications, digital governance and startups; targeting ~30,000 attendees.
10th edition with 60+ talks and hands-on workshops on Big Data, ML, Generative AI, Quantum Computing, Ethical AI, and DataOps. Workshops kick off Nov 24, main conference Nov 25-27 at Multikino, ~700 attendees from 35+ countries.
Big Pi Ventures was founded in 2018 by Marco Veremis, Alex Eleftheriadis, and Aristos Doxiadis, all seasoned entrepreneurs with exits to Splunk, Meta/Facebook, and global PE. The firm manages approximately €250M in AUM across an early-stage fund (Big Pi II, €50M, 2023) and a growth fund (€130M first close, targeting €200M). It follows a tech-first investment thesis focused on AI, deep tech, biotech, and IP-heavy companies built by founders with a Greek nexus — whether based in Greece or part of the global diaspora. Notable portfolio companies include TileDB, Numan, and Accusonus (acquired by Meta).
Synthetic biology company using generative AI to design novel proteins and enzymes from scratch, creating custom biomolecules for industrial, pharmaceutical and biotech applications.
One of Europe's largest biotech partnering events, in its 13th edition and run by industry association AseBio, known for its high volume of one-to-one investor and company meetings. Essential for biotech and life-sciences founders raising capital or seeking pharma and research partners.
Black Forest Labs is a German AI research lab focused on generative visual intelligence, describing itself as a frontier lab for models that understand, reason, and act in the world. It is best known for the FLUX family of image generation models, offered via a playground, an API, and open-weights releases on platforms like Hugging Face and GitHub. The FLUX models have been widely adopted across open-source and enterprise platforms. In December 2025 the company raised a $300M Series B at a $3.25B post-money valuation, co-led by Salesforce Ventures and AMP, with participation from a16z, NVIDIA and others.
Black Pearls VC was a Gdansk-based early-stage venture capital firm that invested in deep-tech and B2B software startups across the Baltic and Central and Eastern European region. It concluded its active investment period at the end of 2023, and its team has continued supporting founders under a new identity, Balnord.
Creates carbon-negative materials using biomineralisation — permanently storing CO2 as a limestone filler derived from cement-industry waste. Founded in 2024 at the LSCE in Paris-Saclay, targeting industrial decarbonisation.
BIG (Bpifrance Inno Génération) 2026, billed as Europe's largest business gathering, takes place on Thursday 8 October 2026 at the Accor Arena in Paris under the theme 'place au culot' (audacity). Organized by Bpifrance, France's public investment bank, it brings tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, SME and corporate leaders, researchers and investors together for hundreds of conferences, masterclasses, expert clinics and networking, free to attend.
Ukraine's flagship defense-tech summit, organised by the Brave1 cluster with the Ministry of Defence & Ministry of Digital Transformation. 5,000+ participants; 2025 edition closed $100M in deals. 2026 focus is global scaling and joint US/EU production.
Co-founder and Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge, the Dublin- and London-based growth-equity firm. A serial semiconductor and technology entrepreneur, he leads the firm's transatlantic 'Bridge Model', helping European deep-tech companies scale into the US market.
BSV Ventures (formerly Baltic Sandbox Ventures) is an early-stage VC firm focused on deep tech, life sciences, and dual-use technologies across the Baltic region, with offices in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland. It was founded in 2018 and offers both an incubation program and direct investment, writing pre-seed cheques up to €125,000 and seed cheques up to €400,000. In 2024 the firm closed a €15 million fund backed by NATO Innovation Fund and the Lithuanian national development institution ILTE. It has made over 27 investments.
Engineering company that designs and licenses precision miniature actuators using patented Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) technology for smartphone camera autofocus/OIS, AR/VR, wearables and medical devices; shipped in 75M+ devices.
Built around the Cambridge deep-tech cluster, with a 2026 theme of how deep tech changes the world. It features an Innovation Alley exhibition for deeptech startups and scaleups, plus sessions on scaling, regulation, and access to capital — high value for science-led founders seeking investors and corporate partners.
Carbfix dissolves captured CO2 in water and injects it into basalt rock formations, where it permanently mineralises into solid carbonate stone in under two years. Founded in 2007 as a joint research initiative by Reykjavik Energy, the University of Iceland, CNRS France, and Columbia University's Earth Institute, the company operates at the Hellisheiði geothermal power plant. In 2023 it secured a $117M EU grant and became the first company to receive an EU permit for onshore carbon capture & storage, with capacity for ~106,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. It was a WIPO Global Awards 2025 finalist and partners with Climeworks on the Mammoth DAC plant.
Carbon Recycling International (CRI) designs, licenses and sells its proprietary Emissions-to-Liquids (ETL) process technology for producing green methanol from captured CO2 emissions and green hydrogen. Founded in 2006 and operating at industrial scale since 2012, CRI is globally recognised as a leader in CO2-to-methanol technology. The company raised $30M led by Equinor Ventures and counts Geely, Methanex and Eyrir Invest among its major shareholders. CRI's technology has been deployed in commercial projects in China, including one of the world's most efficient CO2-to-methanol plants built in partnership with Jiangsu Sailboat.
Founded in 2015 as the National Innovation Fund (Fondo Nazionale Innovazione) and wholly owned by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, CDP Venture Capital SGR is the largest venture capital operator in Italy and one of the biggest in Europe, deploying capital through a family of direct and fund-of-funds vehicles with a combined target allocation of over €3.3 billion in its 2024–2028 business plan. It operates across the full lifecycle — from seed (Italia Venture I/II) through growth (Large Ventures, target €700 million) and ecosystem development (VenturItaly II FoF, target €700 million) — covering deep tech, life sciences, digital transition, and sustainability. The portfolio spans 246+ companies, with notable names including Everli and Arduino; its fund-of-funds arms back virtually every significant Italian VC manager. As a state-backed anchor LP and direct co-investor, CDP acts as the cornerstone of the national innovation ecosystem.
Established 2015 (building on earlier university incubation). Venture builder and fund for tech startups from Chalmers University using an Encubation model; provides pre-seed funding, business coaches, and lab access. Notable spin-offs include Minesto and KomboSat. Scope: Regional (West Sweden).
Co-founder and CEO of H (formerly H Company), the Paris AI lab building frontier agentic models. He launched it in 2024 with one of Europe's largest seed rounds, backed by Xavier Niel, Accel and others.
Co-founder and General Partner at PSV and CEO of PSV Foundry, the Technical University of Denmark's investment and incubation arm. She works at the intersection of university research and venture creation, helping turn deep science into fundable Nordic startups.
Co-founder and General Partner of Earlybird Venture Capital (founded 1997). Based in Berlin, he invests across deep tech, fintech and enterprise software and has been a board member and backer of multiple European category leaders over Earlybird's 29-year history.
Christine Leurquin is CEO Belgium and Senior Director of European and Public Affairs at Aldoria, a French space safety and sustainability startup specializing in space debris tracking and collision avoidance services. Aldoria operates a ground-based radar network dedicated to monitoring objects in low Earth orbit, providing commercial and institutional clients with conjunction analysis and space traffic alerting services. Her dual role combines executive leadership for Belgian operations with EU-level public affairs activities, making her a key interface between the space sustainability startup ecosystem and European policymakers.
Cloudberry Ventures is a Nordic venture capital firm investing in early-stage technology and deep tech startups across the Scandinavian region, with a focus on backing founders building companies in software, hardware, and emerging technologies. The firm has a particular focus on the Norwegian and broader Nordic startup ecosystems and maintains an investment team managing funds for institutional and corporate limited partners. Cloudberry Ventures participates in the NORDEEP Nordic Deep Tech Business Summit as an investor.
Comand AI is a Paris-based defence-tech startup founded in 2023 that builds AI software to support military command and decision-making. Its product, Prevail, helps command-centre officers plan and execute manoeuvres under time and resource constraints, using AI simulations and analysis of operational data to speed up planning. CEO and co-founder Loïc Mougeolle previously spent nearly a decade at Naval Group, and the team includes people from companies such as Palantir and OpenAI as well as the French armed forces. The company raised 8.5M euro in seed funding in December 2024 led by Eurazeo, and has worked with the French and German militaries.
University-hosted startup and innovation day bringing together student founders, academic spin-offs, and local investors in Bratislava. Features pitch sessions, workshops on EU funding, and demos from Slovak deep-tech projects. Free for students and early-stage founders.
Commercialization Reactor is a deep-tech venture creation platform and accelerator established in 2009 in Riga, ranked among the most experienced science-commercialisation programmes in Europe. It pairs scientists and researchers with entrepreneurial co-founders to build deep-tech startups, and provides up to €50k in pre-seed investment through a six-month programme focused on market and customer development. In 2024 it launched ESA BIC Latvia as the national ESA incubation centre operator, and has supported over 40 portfolio ventures across biotech, cleantech, materials, and space.
Commsignia is a Budapest-based V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communications company that builds the hardware, stacks, and testing tools that let cars, road infrastructure, and roadside units talk to each other using ITS-G5 and C-V2X standards — the technology layer that sits underneath cooperative driving, smart intersections, and safety-critical traffic use cases. The company sells DSRC/C-V2X OBUs and RSUs, a protocol stack used by automotive tier-ones, and a conformance-testing toolset that has become one of the most widely adopted quality-assurance environments for V2X implementations globally. Commsignia has partnered with major automotive players, smart-city deployments, and government road-safety programs in Europe and the US, and is one of the most internationally respected examples of a niche but strategically important European deep-tech company built entirely from Hungary. It pairs naturally with AImotive as the 'cars that see each other' half of the autonomy stack.
Two-day 5-in-1 conference at Eiffel Art Studios covering AI/ML, engineering leadership, product management, UX, and data engineering. Theme: 'From idea to impact: building successful products in the AI era.' Expected 1,300+ attendees.
Contrarian Ventures is a pan-European seed-stage climate tech fund founded in 2017 and headquartered in Vilnius, with a secondary office in London. The fund exclusively backs startups targeting the sources of 77% of global greenhouse gas emissions — energy, transport, buildings, and heavy industry — deploying €1–4 million per initial ticket. Its second fund closed at €100 million in 2022, making it one of the largest dedicated climate VC vehicles out of the Baltics. The portfolio spans over 28 companies across 11 countries and skews 60% software-first, with the remaining 40% split between hardware-enabled software and deep tech hardware.
Creathor Ventures is a pan-European venture capital firm founded over 30 years ago, managing more than €230 million across funds with offices in Bad Homburg and Zurich. The team has financed over 200 companies as lead or co-lead investors, with more than 20 portfolio companies reaching international stock exchanges. It focuses on deep tech and digital health, investing in areas such as AI, IoT, precision medicine, medtech, and cloud technology, primarily in Germany and Switzerland.
CuspAI is a frontier AI company building a generative-AI search engine for materials that accelerates the discovery and design of new molecules and engineered materials. Users specify desired properties (for example, selective CO2 binding for carbon capture), and the platform generates, evaluates, and optimises synthesisable candidate structures. It combines generative foundation models, deep learning, and molecular and scientific simulation, targeting applications across carbon capture, water purification, energy storage, catalysis, and industrial chemistry. The company was co-founded in 2024 by Dr Chad Edwards (CEO) and Prof Max Welling (CTO), and is headquartered in Cambridge.
Switzerland's largest blockchain, AI and digital-assets business conference at Kongresshaus Zurich. Two days, four stages, 3,000+ attendees and 250 speakers spanning Web3, AI and tokenized finance for founders, investors, institutions and policymakers.
18th International Conference on Cyber Conflict by NATO CCDCOE, themed 'Securing Tomorrow'. Multidisciplinary tracks across legal, strategy, policy, and technology drawing 600+ decision-makers from ~50 countries.
Daniel Metzler is Co-founder & CEO of the orbital-launch company Isar Aerospace. A founder in the German startup ecosystem, Daniel leads the orbital-launch company Isar Aerospace.
Daniel Wiegand is Co-founder & CEO of the eVTOL air-mobility company Lilium. A founder in the German startup ecosystem, Daniel leads the eVTOL air-mobility company Lilium.
DANTE Fusion ApS is a Denmark-based fusion company developing compact tokamak systems as high-flux neutron sources for industrial and medical applications. The company targets near-term deployment to address critical shortages in medical isotope production and fusion-relevant materials testing. As a spinout from the Technical University of Denmark, DANTE Fusion focuses on engineering and system integration to deliver practical neutron infrastructure.
Builds eco-friendly data centres using direct chip liquid cooling and hermetic server enclosures, recovering up to 98% of waste heat for building heating or grid re-injection. Cuts data-centre CO2 emissions by up to 82% while reducing energy costs.
Reinforcement-learning pioneer who led the AlphaGo and AlphaZero projects at DeepMind, and a founder of Ineffable Intelligence. He is one of the most cited researchers in modern AI.
David Sonnek is the CEO of Navigare Ventures, a Nordic venture capital and ecosystem development organization focused on supporting deep tech startups across Scandinavia and Finland. He has played a significant role in building cross-border collaboration between Nordic startups, investors, and research institutions, and is a regular participant in the Nordic technology conference circuit. Sonnek is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Invite-driven summit at Monte Kristo Estate bringing frontier AI labs, decentralised AI networks, and policymakers together around AI governance and regulation. Positioned as the global inflection point for the DeAI ecosystem.
Organizer of Deep Tech Momentum, a Berlin-based marketplace event pairing deep-tech founders with specialist investors and corporate innovation teams. The curated format focuses on sectors like quantum computing, advanced materials, and AI, offering structured matchmaking sessions to accelerate fundraising for science-driven startups.
Deep-tech marketplace event at Wilhelm Studios Berlin covering AI, Web3, photonics, and advanced manufacturing, culminating in Berlin's Deep Tech Award ceremony. Especially relevant for R&D-heavy startups seeking patient capital and strategic industrial backers.
CEE's flagship deep-tech marketplace, with an Investor Day followed by the main summit. Built specifically for deep-tech founders raising capital: structured investor matchmaking, a startup challenge, and access to deep-tech-focused VCs and corporates.
DeepDrive is the Munich startup that convinced major automakers to rethink the electric motor itself. Its core innovation is a patented dual-rotor motor architecture. In a traditional motor, a single rotor spins inside a fixed stator. DeepDrive's design spins both the internal and external rotor simultaneously, delivering higher torque density and substantially better efficiency. The practical outcome is compelling: EVs can achieve roughly 20% more range with 50% less motor weight, while reducing bill-of-materials costs. By 2026, DeepDrive has moved beyond impressive prototypes to industrialization. The company has reportedly secured series nominations with eight of the top ten global automakers for platform launches in 2028–2029. That level of OEM validation is rare at this stage and signals confidence in both the performance and manufacturability of the design. The company is now focused on building automated production lines in northern Munich to scale output for fleet testing and pre-series runs. A particularly strategic application is the in-wheel motor. Because the dual-rotor unit is compact and lightweight, it can fit inside the wheel hub, freeing up interior volume and enabling fully flat skateboard platforms. That creates new possibilities for autonomous shuttles and urban delivery vehicles where maximizing passenger or cargo space is paramount. It also allows for advanced vehicle dynamics such as torque vectoring without complex drivetrain components, improving both safety and handling. DeepDrive is a classic spin-out from the UnternehmerTUM ecosystem at TU Munich, with early validation support from the XPRENEURS incubator. Its investor base blends strategic automotive capital with deep-tech venture funding: Leitmotif led the Series B, BMW i Ventures provides rare early-stage OEM participation, Continental's corporate VC is a strategic partner for braking and chassis integration, and UVC Partners and Bayern Kapital anchor local support. In 2026, DeepDrive is one of Europe’s most promising hardware deep-tech bets: a motor breakthrough with clear OEM pull, manufacturability momentum, and the potential to reshape EV platform design.
A deep-tech summit powered by Technoport that brings together Europe’s lab-to-market actors, including research institutions, technology-transfer offices, funding partners and entrepreneurs, to co-create structured deep-tech pathways. The invitation-only event features pre-arranged one-to-one matchmaking, an exhibition showcase and a demo zone of breakthrough technologies.
Tehnopol-run opener of Estonian Defence Week at Kultuurikatel Creative Hub. Brings dual-use startups, NATO defence companies, end-users, and investors together with pitches and a dozen-plus booths. Free with mandatory registration.
DefendEye is a Kraków-based deep-tech startup building fully autonomous, AI-powered tube-launched UAV systems for dual-use perimeter security and defence. Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur James Buchheim with a multinational team, its core product is a sub-250g drone stored in a sealed launch tube that deploys in under ten seconds via motion-triggered radar — with no trained pilot — climbs to altitude, performs AI human detection in milliseconds, and streams encrypted video to a cloud command centre before returning autonomously. The system is dual-use by design: civilian applications cover search-and-rescue and critical-infrastructure inspection, while security variants address perimeter breaches, border surveillance and active-shooter response. With an IP65 airframe, night-vision camera, onboard neural processor and optional Starlink connectivity, DefendEye targets NATO-facing procurement and is building an NDAA-compliant supply chain. It raised ~PLN 4.8M (~€1.1M) in a May 2025 seed round led by Polish deep-tech VC Hard2beat with Sunfish Partners, to finalise its commercial product and begin EU and US certification.
Deep-tech company using Deep Eutectic Solvents — non-toxic, low-energy salts — to recover critical and precious metals from e-waste and industrial waste via a modular, distributed platform. Backed by EU Horizon, EIC Accelerator, SPRIND, Innovate UK and a Mitsubishi partnership.
Europe's largest community-driven developer conference at Kinepolis Antwerp, themed 'From Developer to Builder'. Five days covering Java, architecture, GenAI agents, Model Context Protocol, security and modern development practices for thousands of developers worldwide.
The largest tech conference in Central & Eastern Europe at Romexpo Pavilion B1, with 14 stages on AI, machine learning, cloud, DevOps, cybersecurity, quantum, and dev leadership; 100,000+ developers, tech leaders, and IT decision-makers.
Diffusion Capital Partners (DCP) is Istanbul's leading deep-tech focused venture capital fund manager, with a team that began operations in 2007 and the fund formally established in 2015. DCP closed its first fund at €37M and launched a second fund targeting €35M, backing startups in BioTech, AgroTech, CleanTech, Robotics, Material Science, and Nanotechnology across Turkey and the broader region. The firm has made over 44 investments, primarily at Seed and early Series A stages with initial tickets typically below €500K. DCP's cumulative team experience spans over 70 years in high-tech sectors, offering portfolio companies business development, legal, and operational support alongside capital.
Digital Innovation Hub Düsseldorf/Rheinland, a regional ecosystem builder connecting startups, corporates, SMEs and universities. It organizes Future Tech Fest (formerly Digital Demo Day), the centerpiece of Düsseldorf Startup Week, plus matchmaking, accelerator and venture-clienting programs across North Rhine-Westphalia.
Denmark's largest digitalisation and deep-tech conference and expo at Øksnehallen, with 100+ sessions across multiple stages including startup pitches, drawing around 4,700 specialists, leaders, and researchers.
International naval defence conference connecting Nordic & EU industry with Ukraine's frontline maritime expertise. 30+ military, government, and industry speakers plus 40+ manufacturers of unmanned naval systems, with Day 2 dedicated to live demonstrations.
German politician serving as Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, and previously Minister of State for Digitalisation. A long-standing advocate for Germany's digital and deep-tech agenda, she is an announced speaker at the 2026 AI, Data & Quantum Summit in Berlin.
DTU Skylab is the innovation hub of the Technical University of Denmark, providing students and researchers with prototyping facilities, mentoring, and startup support. The space includes electronics labs, workshops, and maker facilities that help teams build hardware, robotics, and deep tech prototypes. Skylab runs courses, hackathons, and incubation programs that turn student projects into real ventures. It is one of the most important feeders of new engineering startups in Denmark.
A week-long programme powered by the Dutch Society for Precision Engineering, spanning the System Engineering Conference, the Dutch International Precision Conference, and the Precision Fair. Relevant for hardware and deeptech founders in precision engineering and photonics.
Early Game Ventures is a Bucharest-based venture capital firm that launched its first fund in 2019 focused on Romanian tech startups, achieving a reported 45% IRR on Fund I with 4 exits from 28 portfolio companies including Bunnyshell and Profluo. In April 2024 the firm launched Fund II targeting €60 million to invest in early-stage startups across CEE — primarily Romania (60–70%), with the remainder across Europe — at ticket sizes up to €6 million. Focus sectors include SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, fintech, and deep tech.
26th EBAN Congress brings hundreds of European business angels, VCs, and ecosystem leaders to Vilnius for keynotes, an awards gala, and a Lithuanian startup study visit, with focus on Space & Defence Tech, BioTech, and CleanTech.
Organizer of Ecosummit Berlin, a climate-tech investor and founder matchmaking event focused on decarbonization and deep tech. Active since 2010, Ecosummit brings together 500+ climate-tech founders, VCs, and corporate sustainability officers for curated deal-flow sessions, making it one of Europe's longest-running green innovation conferences.
Climate-tech and green economy matchmaking event at Flussbad Campus (Reethaus), focused on AI-accelerated decarbonization across energy, sustainable buildings, green mobility, and deep tech. Startup Pitch tickets are typically around EUR 600 + VAT and include a guaranteed short on-stage founder pitch in front of active climate investors.
Eelume is a Trondheim-based deep-tech company spun off from NTNU and SINTEF that develops snake-like autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for subsea inspection, maintenance and repair. Its flexible, modular robots can be permanently stationed at seabed docking facilities at depths up to 500 metres, performing tasks without surface support vessels. In July 2025 the company launched its M-Series AUVs for deep-sea operations, and in September 2025 Equinor acquired the Eelume S vehicle following successful field demonstrations. Eelume also formed a strategic partnership with Maritime Robotics in October 2025 to advance ocean exploration.
The annual conference of the EGI Federation, gathering digital and research-infrastructure providers, data scientists, and innovators to advance data-intensive science. Relevant for deeptech and research-spinout founders building on European compute infrastructure.
EIT Digital Accelerator is a pan-European programme backed by the EU's European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), supporting deep tech scaleups with tailored business development, investor introductions, and international customer acquisition since 2012. It operates across 18 European cities and a San Francisco hub, and has supported nearly 300 startups that collectively raised €1.5 billion, with over €100 million directly facilitated by the Accelerator. Focus areas include AI, cybersecurity, digital industry, digital health, and fintech.
Elaia is a Paris-based venture capital firm founded in 2002, specializing in deep tech, AI, and enterprise software with strong ties to French and European research institutions. The firm manages over EUR 1B across multiple funds and invests from seed to Series B, with typical initial tickets of EUR 1-5M. Elaia has built a portfolio of 100+ companies including Criteo (IPO), Mirakl, Shift Technology, Dental Monitoring, and Lifen. The team maintains close relationships with labs at INRIA, CNRS, and leading universities, making Elaia a go-to partner for research spin-offs commercializing cutting-edge technology.
Co-founder and Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge, based in Dublin. A chartered accountant and veteran technology-finance executive who took several companies through IPOs and acquisitions, she has helped build Atlantic Bridge into a €1.2bn+ growth-equity platform.
Munich-based startup deploying turnkey battery energy storage systems for German commercial and industrial SMEs. Its full-service model covers planning, financing, installation, and operations, enabling clients to cut electricity costs and earn additional revenue through energy arbitrage. Raised €25M seed in June 2026.
EnduroSat is a satellite manufacturer and space services company founded in 2015 by Raycho Raychev. The company designs and builds CubeSats and microsatellites, and offers turnkey satellite missions from design through to on-orbit operations. EnduroSat has over 80 satellites in orbit and more than 3,500 avionics modules deployed, serving over 400 customers globally. It is one of the most prominent deep-tech startups to emerge from Southeastern Europe.
Luxembourg-based AI company specialising in neural network compression and optimisation for autonomous driving and computer vision applications. Its technology maintains model accuracy while dramatically reducing power consumption and inference costs, enabling deployment of advanced AI on edge devices in vehicles and robotics.
Entrepreneur First (EF) is a London-headquartered talent-first investor founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, both former McKinsey consultants. EF pioneered the concept of Talent Investing — recruiting exceptional individuals before they have a co-founder or idea, then supporting them to form teams and build companies — across offices in London, Paris, Bangalore, New York, and San Francisco. The firm manages a fund of $158 million and has helped create over 600 companies with a combined portfolio value exceeding $11 billion. EF's standout portfolio companies include Tractable (AI for accident repair, valued at ~$1 billion), Cleo (personal finance AI), and Magic Pony Technology (acquired by Twitter).
EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) is Switzerland's second federal technical university, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva. Ranked among Europe's top research universities, EPFL has become one of the continent's most prolific generators of deep-tech and life-sciences startups, producing over 400 spin-off companies since 2000. Notable alumni companies include Nexthink, SOPHiA GENETICS, Astrocast, and Distalmotion. EPFL Innovation Park, located adjacent to the main campus, houses hundreds of startups and bridges academic research with commercial application across quantum photonics, precision health, robotics, and digital finance. The park includes an ESA BIC Switzerland programme that incubates space-tech startups. For founders in the Lake Geneva region, EPFL provides a uniquely dense combination of technical research infrastructure, institutional support, venture-ready talent, and direct access to EPFL's technology transfer office.
EPIC is the startup incubation and entrepreneurship center of the American University of Armenia (AUA), providing workspace, mentorship, prototyping facilities, and investor access to early-stage ventures. Since its founding, the center has engaged over 400 entrepreneurs and supported more than 120 startup launches across technology and health-science disciplines. Programs include a 10-week pre-incubation track (STRIVE), a structured incubation cohort, and the EPIC Jam ideathon.
Equal1 is a University College Dublin spin-out that builds rack-mounted, silicon-spin quantum computers using standard semiconductor manufacturing processes, making quantum computing practical for data centres without cryogenic infrastructure. Its Bell-1 server, named after Belfast physicist John Stewart Bell, is already deployed by the European Space Agency. The company raised $60 million in January 2026, led by Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Atlantic Bridge, bringing total funding to $85 million. Equal1 has also partnered with NVIDIA to develop quantum-classical hybrid solutions.
eQventure is an Austrian venture capital firm founded in 2014 and headquartered in Graz, with a second office in Vienna. It specializes in early-stage and growth investments in deep technology, industrial tech, digital health, and consumer technology companies, primarily in Austria. Behind the firm are experienced entrepreneurs who contribute hands-on operational support and access to a global network spanning Austria, Germany, the UK, Israel, the US, and China.
ESA BIC Latvia is the official European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre for Latvia, operated by Commercialization Reactor, opened in November 2024 at Riga Technical University. Over five years the centre aims to support 12–18 startups with free financial assistance, two years of business coaching, technical training, access to ESA expertise and satellite data, and legal consultations. It is part of the pan-European ESA BIC network and focuses on space-tech applications and downstream services.
ETH Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich) is one of the world's leading technical universities, consistently ranked in the global top ten for engineering, computer science, and natural sciences. Founded in 1855 by the Swiss federal government, ETH Zurich has produced 22 Nobel laureates and is the academic origin of many of Europe's most important deep-tech companies, including Scandit, Planted, and Araris Biotech. Its Technology Transfer Office (ETH Transfer) manages IP licensing and supports spin-out creation, having enabled over 500 spin-off companies. ETH Zurich's Pioneer Fellowship and Student Project House programmes provide early-stage support to founders still on campus. For founders in the Swiss ecosystem, ETH Zurich is the deepest single source of engineering talent, research partnerships, and institutional credibility across fields from quantum computing and robotics to materials science and food technology.
A multi-day Ethereum festival with 2,500+ attendees and 100+ speakers, blending conference, culture, and a paired hackathon. For web3 founders and developers it offers protocol-level networking, builder-community access, and a hackathon to prototype and recruit.
ETHGlobal's flagship Ethereum hackathon returns to Lisbon. 36 hours of building with hundreds of Web3 developers, sponsor bounties, workshops & mentorship from leading protocols, closing with judged demos and prizes for the best on-chain projects.
European Commission-backed flagship telecoms conference at FYCMA Málaga combining EuCNC's 35th edition and 6G Summit's 8th edition, drawing close to 1,000 delegates from 40+ countries to discuss Beyond 5G and 6G networks, with a 50+ exhibitor floor.
Founded 2009. One of Europe's largest incubators, hosting 200+ startups annually with multi-stage programs from incubation to acceleration, plus labs and funding access. Ranked a top French startup hub; alumni include fintech scaleups and AI firms. Scope: Regional (Hauts-de-France) with international reach.
Week-long deep-tech programming across Paris with major sessions at Station F and Bpifrance-linked venues, designed to connect science-based founders with industrial buyers and patient capital. Includes deep-tech summit programming across SpaceTech, quantum, robotics, and advanced manufacturing.
The 6th edition of a Brussels policy-and-business forum at the intersection of the European space industry and EU institutions. Relevant for NewSpace founders navigating funding, regulation, and procurement.
Exeger is a Stockholm-based deep-tech company that manufactures Powerfoyle, a patented, silicon-free dye-sensitised solar-cell material that converts both indoor and outdoor light into electricity. Founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Giovanni Fili and scientist Dr Henrik Lindström — joint winners of the European Inventor Award in 2021 — the company spent a decade developing and patenting the technology before scaling commercial production at two factories in Kista, Stockholm. Powerfoyle is integrated as a thin, flexible film directly into product surfaces, removing the need for charging cables or disposable batteries. Shipping products span headphones and earbuds (Urbanista, adidas), cycling helmets (POC), professional hearing protection (3M Peltor), digital shelf labels (VusionGroup), remote controls (Philips, Hama) and IoT sensors. Exeger has raised over €169M from backers including SoftBank, Swedish pension fund AMF, the European Investment Bank (€35M InvestEU loan) and Fortum, and in late 2025 secured a SEK 130M grant from the Swedish Energy Agency and was selected for the NATO DIANA defence accelerator.
Exein is an embedded IoT cybersecurity company headquartered in Rome, Italy, founded in 2018 by Gianni Cuozzo. The company develops solutions that integrate security directly into device software (firmware), using edge AI to detect and respond to threats in real time on the device itself. Its technology is used to protect connected devices across sectors including industrial, automotive, aerospace, and critical infrastructure. The company has expanded internationally with operations beyond Italy as part of a global growth strategy.
EXIST is the German federal government's flagship programme for promoting university-based entrepreneurship, operated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Running since 1998, EXIST provides two main grant instruments: the EXIST Business Start-up Grant (up to EUR 3,000/month per team member for one year) for student and researcher teams developing a business plan, and the EXIST Research Transfer grant (up to EUR 250,000 plus materials) for deep-tech spin-offs from universities and research institutions. Over 4,000 startups have received EXIST funding, and the programme has become a cornerstone of Germany's academic entrepreneurship infrastructure. EXIST also supports universities in building entrepreneurial cultures through its EXIST Potentials programme, which funds entire university startup ecosystems.
A Radboudumc spin-off developing a patented AR projector that overlays anatomical data — blood vessels, muscles, nerves — directly onto a patient's skin during surgery, without screens or headsets. Used in 400+ surgeries.
AI-driven materials-discovery platform spun out of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) that accelerates identification of novel materials by up to 90%. Clients including Audi, Airbus and Infineon use it to focus R&D on the most promising candidates.
Faber is a Lisbon-based venture capital firm investing in early-stage deep-tech startups across Southern Europe and selectively across the wider continent. It concentrates on two theses, applied science and digital transformation, and climate and ocean tech, backing technical teams and supporting them through a dedicated network of expert advisors.
Fil Rouge Capital was founded in 2014 in Zagreb and is the most active early-stage VC fund exclusively dedicated to Croatian startups, having deployed capital into over 170 companies. Its second fund, Fil Rouge Capital II (€45 million), was co-funded by the European Investment Fund with €32.55 million under the Croatian Venture Capital Initiative. Founding Partners Julien Coustaury and Roger Blott, joined by Partner Stevica Kuharski, focus on pre-seed, seed, and Series A across all sectors, with notable portfolio outcomes including participation in the ecosystems around Infobip and Rimac. The fund has recorded 2 unicorns and 12 acquisitions across its portfolio.
The annual flagship event of Finland's quantum ecosystem, organised by InstituteQ, with keynotes, policy discussion, and a quantum pitching competition. Relevant for quantum and deep-tech founders and researchers.
FIRE1 is a Dublin-based medtech company developing the NORM heart failure management system, a remote monitoring implant designed to enable patients to control their fluid volume at home, similar to how continuous glucose monitors transformed diabetes care. The device received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and has been successfully implanted in the first Irish patient at University Hospital Galway. FIRE1 has raised $210 million in total funding, including a $120 million round led by Polaris Partners and Elevage Medical Technologies.
FIRSTPICK is a Vilnius-based pre-seed and inception-stage VC fund founded in 2022 by Dmitrij Sosunov and Andra Bagdonaitė. It backs early-stage founders from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia with initial cheques of €100,000 to €500,000 and follow-on capacity up to €1 million, focusing on AI-enabled software. In 2026 the fund raised a second €25 million vehicle, bringing total AUM across two funds to €45 million. Portfolio companies gain access to a network of 100+ operators and 250+ founders.
Founders Factory is a London-based venture studio and accelerator founded in 2015 by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox, and George Northcott. The firm co-builds and accelerates pre-seed and seed stage startups across fintech, health, climate, media, and consumer sectors, operating sector-specific programmes with corporate partners including Aviva, L'Oréal, and Deutsche Telekom. Since launch, Founders Factory has backed over 300 companies globally, which have collectively raised more than $800 million in follow-on funding. Its venture studio model — co-founding businesses from day zero — distinguishes it from conventional accelerators and gives it a distinctive builder-investor role in the European ecosystem.
The flagship summit of the French quantum ecosystem, held at Station F for its 5th edition. For deeptech founders and researchers it concentrates the country's quantum hardware and software players, corporates, and specialist investors into one day of conferences and demos.
Francesco Sciortino is Co-founder & CEO of the stellarator fusion-energy startup Proxima Fusion. A founder in the German startup ecosystem, Francesco leads the stellarator fusion-energy startup Proxima Fusion.
Frank Thelen is one of Germany's most recognized tech investors and serial entrepreneurs, widely known for his role as a judge on the TV show Die Hoehle der Loewen (the German equivalent of Shark Tank). Thelen founded several technology companies before launching 10xDNA, his deep-tech venture capital fund focused on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space tech, and synthetic biology. As an angel investor, he has backed dozens of early-stage German and European startups, bringing operational experience from building and scaling software companies since the late 1990s. He is a vocal advocate for bolder tech ambition in Germany and frequently speaks on digital transformation policy.
Defence startup founded 2024 by ex-MoD secretary Kusti Salm, building low-cost, mass-manufacturable guided interceptor missiles; its Mark I achieved a live-fire drone intercept in Latvia. Raised EUR 30M Series A.
Community hub bridging France and Germany with market-access programming and the Franco-German Tech Lab. Strong focus on deep tech and Industry 4.0 partnerships with German corporates.
La French Tech Munich is one of three German chapters of the global French Tech network, connecting French and German entrepreneurs, investors, and corporates in Bavaria. Its programs focus on helping French companies enter the Bavarian market and German companies expand into France, offering mentoring, networking workshops, and recruiting events. The community operates alongside French Tech Berlin and La French Tech Düsseldorf as part of the French government's international startup promotion initiative.
The flagship showcase of the Bordeaux and Nouvelle-Aquitaine tech ecosystem at Stade Atlantique, in its 5th edition with 50 startup stands and 700+ decision-makers. For regional founders it is the key local visibility and networking event with investors and corporate leaders.
Frumtak Ventures is Iceland's oldest active venture capital firm, founded in 2008 with a mandate to back local innovation with global potential. The firm takes a concentrated, high-conviction approach from seed through later growth stages, partnering closely with founders across AI, healthcare, logistics, energy, climate, and ocean-tech. Its fourth fund, closed in July 2024 at $87 million and oversubscribed, is primarily backed by Icelandic pension funds. The portfolio of 34 companies includes notable companies such as Controlant (pharma cold-chain) and Sidekick Health (digital therapeutics).
Furthr VC (rebranded from DBIC Ventures in 2022) is a Dublin-based early-stage fund investing EUR 100K-500K at pre-seed and seed in Irish software, deep tech, and sustainability startups. The firm manages the DBIC fund with backing from Enterprise Ireland and focuses on IP-rich companies emerging from Irish universities and research centers. Portfolio includes companies in SaaS, climate tech, and medtech. Furthr provides hands-on mentoring and leverages its base at the Digital Hub in Dublin's Liberties.
Future Tech Fest, the rebranded Digital Demo Day, bills itself as Germany's largest B2B startup expo and conference and is the highlight of Düsseldorf Startup Week. It brings hundreds of national and international tech startups together with corporates, SMEs, investors and universities for an expo, pitch battles, curated matchmaking, venture-clienting and workshops, drawing several thousand attendees.
Generative Bionics builds intelligent humanoid robots designed for real industrial environments, spinning out of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa where over 20 years of robotics R&D underpins the company's technology. Founded in July 2024 by Daniele Pucci, Alessio Del Bue, Marco Maggiali, and Andrea Pagnin, the company raised €70 million in December 2025 — one of Europe's largest humanoid robotics rounds — led by CDP Venture Capital's AI Fund with AMD Ventures, Eni Next, and Tether. Its robots, built on the iCub and ergoCub programs, are targeting deployment in manufacturing, logistics, and hazardous environments.
GESDA Summit convenes 1,000+ scientists, diplomats, policymakers and innovators at Palexpo Geneva to translate anticipated scientific breakthroughs across quantum, neurotech, AI, climate and global health into actionable coalitions and governance.
Genki Instruments is a Reykjavik music technology hardware company that creates expressive wearable controllers for musicians and producers. Its flagship product, the Wave MIDI ring, lets performers control sound, effects and DAW parameters using natural hand gestures including tilt, pan, roll, vibrato, tap and click — compatible with Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools and more. Founded in 2015 by Daniel Gretarsson, Haukur Ragnarsson Isfeld and Jón Helgi Holmgeirsson, the company won the Icelandic Design Prize in 2019. In 2026 Genki shipped the Katla, a new hybrid polyphonic synthesizer, confirming the studio's ongoing hardware output.
British-Canadian computer scientist and cognitive psychologist widely regarded as a godfather of deep learning, a 2024 Nobel laureate in Physics and Turing Award winner for his work on neural networks. He is an announced speaker at the 2026 TEDAI Vienna conference.
George Malliaras is the Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge, a leading researcher in bioelectronics and the use of organic electronic materials for medical devices and neural interfaces. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Georges Hadziioannou is a professor at the University of Bordeaux and a pioneer in organic and polymer electronics, conducting research on functional materials for energy, displays and flexible devices. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Invitation-only Clinical Accelerator summit on cardiovascular and interventional medical devices, gathering physicians, medtech founders, and investors. Includes a Shark Tank pitch competition with a $25,000 prize for early-stage MedTech startups.
State agency established in 2014 under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development to build Georgia's innovation ecosystem. GITA operates Tech Parks in Tbilisi and several regional cities offering co-working, labs, and maker spaces. It runs competitive startup grant programmes and has invested in more than 400 startups, deploying over 30 million GEL in public financing. GITA is also the government counterpart in the 500 Global Eurasia partnership.
ESA BIC-backed startup that aggregates satellite, spatial and statistical data to deliver property location risk reports in under a minute, covering flood exposure, noise, transport access and 60+ other indicators for buyers and real estate investors.
Inaugural Türkiye edition of the global GITEX brand at Istanbul Expo Center, convening AI, cybersecurity, fintech, cloud, e-commerce, and data-center leaders, backed by Türkiye's Ministry of Industry & Technology and Dubai World Trade Centre.
Berlin edition of the global GITEX brand focused on sovereign AI, cybersecurity, and digital finance, connecting European startups with international buyers and investors. The event uses tiered passes (from low-cost expo tickets to premium access) and features Supernova startup competitions, with reported equity-free funding prizes up to EUR 100,000.
A city-wide festival in its third year, with 40+ events and 3,000+ attendees across keynotes, workshops, and community-led sessions. For a Scottish founder it is a low-cost way to plug into the Glasgow innovation ecosystem, meet investors, and showcase a startup across multiple verticals.
Virtual pitch competition for deep-tech startups aligned with the CES spotlight, organized by the Austrian startup ecosystem. Features international jury panels and exposure to global investors and corporate innovation teams. Strong entry point for hardware, biotech, and frontier-tech founders seeking international visibility beyond Europe.
Basque Country medical robotics company developing AI-powered exoskeletons for neurological rehabilitation. Its devices combine neuromodulation techniques with wearable robotics to help patients with stroke, spinal cord injury, or multiple sclerosis regain walking ability under clinical supervision. Featured at VivaTech 2026 in Paris.
Develops MADE (Microwave Assisted DEpolymerisation), chemical recycling for PET plastics and polyester textiles able to process PET unrecyclable by mechanical methods. Closed a €15.5M Series B to build an industrial-scale microwave PET recycling plant in Spain.
Founded in 2013 by Manuk Hergnyan, Pierre Hennes, and Yervand Sarkisyan, Granatus Ventures is a Yerevan-headquartered deep-tech VC with ~$40M AUM and offices also in London and Singapore. The firm focuses on university spinouts across AI, biotech, advanced computing, robotics, industrial automation, and climate tech, sourcing deals from Oxford, Cambridge, and Berkeley. Notable portfolio companies include BlueQubit (quantum software), Gecko Robotics (industrial inspection unicorn), and Zoundream (infant cry analysis). As of 2025 the fund remains actively deploying capital across its global deep-tech mandate.
Graphcore is a Bristol-based semiconductor company founded in 2016 that designed the Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU), a processor architecture built from the ground up for machine learning and AI workloads. The company raised over $700 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, BMW, Microsoft, and Samsung, reaching a valuation above $2.5 billion. Graphcore developed both hardware and a Poplar software stack to compete with NVIDIA in the AI accelerator market. Its IPU technology represented one of Europe's most ambitious attempts to build a homegrown AI chip ecosystem.
Gravity Ventures is a deep-tech startup incubator and venture builder based in Nicosia, operated by the Cyprus Research and Innovation Centre (CyRIC). Founded in 2016, it is described as the only deep-tech incubator in Cyprus, supporting startups in robotics, AI, IoT, photonics, advanced manufacturing, and MedTech. The programme covers idea validation, product design, prototyping, mentoring, commercialisation, IP protection, and funding access. Gravity Ventures has incubated 18 startups and invested over €10 million across its portfolio.
Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Mistral AI, leading model research. He previously led the LLaMA project as a research scientist at Meta AI before co-founding Mistral.
Handwave is a Riga-based biometrics-as-a-service startup founded in 2021 by Janis Stirna and Sandis Osmanis-Usmanis that replaces cards, phones, and apps with a palm scan for payments, age verification, loyalty activation, and access control. The platform captures both surface palm lines and subdermal vein structures to build a unique encrypted biometric ID backed by two-factor authentication. Handwave has raised €4.3 million in total funding, including a €3.6 million seed round in 2025 led by Practica Capital with participation from FirstPick and Inovo.vc, and is piloting with live retailers across Europe and the US.
Hard2beat is a Wrocław-based pre-seed and seed venture fund founded in 2024 by Maciej Zawadziński — a serial entrepreneur with three exits including Piwik PRO (sold to Kirk Kapital in 2023) — alongside Maciej Frankowicz and Konrad Trzyna, who previously ran Shape VC's BRIdge Alpha programme. The fund closed at 84M PLN (~€20M), with PFR Ventures providing 56.5M PLN under the FENG programme and 30 private investors contributing the rest. Hard2beat backs Polish deep-tech founders from pre-revenue to early revenue with 1–3M PLN initial cheques and follow-on up to 8M PLN, targeting teams with a genuine technical moat in cybersecurity, medtech, biotech, devtools, dual-use/defence, gamedev, robotics and spacetech — explicitly avoiding B2C and shallow AI. By mid-2026 it had made seven investments including the open-source cybersecurity platform Defguard, autonomous UAV startup DefendEye, Alzheimer's wearable developer Neuromedical, neuroprotection biotech Pikralida, Unreal Engine AI copilot Ludus AI, and devtools company Graftcode (€2.1M, led with DigitalOcean Ventures, 2026).
A global deep tech innovation platform known for its annual Global Summit in Paris and Deep Tech Pioneers program. Founded in 2011, Hello Tomorrow has built a community of 15,000+ researchers, founders, and investors, identifying and supporting science-driven startups across biotech, energy, AI, and new materials through competitions and mentoring.
Selection process for deep-tech startups seeking curated access to Investor Day matchmaking during Amsterdam Deep Tech Days. Deadlines for Pioneer status typically close in early spring 2026 ahead of June programming.
Amsterdam deep-tech flagship structured across Investor Day (June 10) and Global Summit (June 11-12), with LP/GP and founder-investor tracks. Startups targeting curated Investor Day access typically apply via Deep Tech Pioneer selection, with deadlines usually in early spring 2026.
Co-founder and General Partner of Earlybird Venture Capital, which he started in 1997. One of Europe's most experienced venture investors, he focuses on deep tech, fintech and insurtech and has helped build Earlybird into a ~€2.5bn multi-fund platform backing companies such as N26, Isar Aerospace and Aleph Alpha.
Austrian-British technology entrepreneur and investor, co-founder of the Cambridge-based venture firm Amadeus Capital Partners. He earlier co-founded Acorn Computers, the company whose work led to the ARM processor architecture, and has spent decades backing deep-tech, semiconductor and life-science startups across Europe.
Deep-tech commercialization program and successor to the I.E.C.T. Summer School, running since 2015. It delivers an intensive week of mentorship for science-driven founders preparing a pre-seed or seed raise, culminating in a Demo Day where teams pitch to a curated group of investors and corporate partners.
A one-week intensive deep-tech commercialization program, successor to the I.E.C.T. Summer School, for ambitious founders preparing a pre-seed or seed raise within the next year. The week of mentorship and collaboration culminates in a Demo Day where founders pitch to a curated group of investors and corporate partners. In 2026 the program is hosted in Styria.
High Tech Campus Eindhoven is one of Europe's most concentrated technology innovation ecosystems, hosting over 300 companies and 12,000 researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs on a single 100-hectare campus in the south of the Netherlands. Originally developed by Philips as its corporate research campus in the 1990s, HTCE was opened to external companies in 2003 and has since evolved into a thriving open-innovation community often called 'the smartest square kilometer in Europe.' The campus specializes in hardware, semiconductors, photonics, medtech, AI, and IoT, anchored by the presence of NXP Semiconductors, Philips, and ASML nearby. Startups on the campus benefit from shared R&D facilities including cleanrooms, prototyping labs, and testing equipment that would otherwise be inaccessible at early stages. HTCE also operates the HighTechXL accelerator on-site, providing deep-tech startups with structured programs, ESA and CERN technology transfer partnerships, and investor introductions.
Dresden-based deep-tech ecosystem builder and organizer of HighTech Venture Days, an invitation-only investor matchmaking event pairing selected European hardtech and deep-tech startups with international venture capital, corporate VCs and family offices across semiconductors, robotics, energy and advanced materials.
HighTech Venture Days is an exclusive, curated matchmaking event pairing selected European deep-tech and hardtech startups with international VCs, corporate VCs, family offices and industry leaders. Focus areas span semiconductors, robotics, advanced materials, renewable energy, mobility, space and defense. It emphasizes one-on-one investor meetings over a traditional trade-fair format, built directly for capital-seeking founders.
Deep-tech venture builder at High Tech Campus Eindhoven (est. 2015). Runs a 9-month venture-building program turning advanced tech from CERN, ESA, and others into startups; exits include Accerion. Support: co-founding teams, seed funding, R&D ecosystem access. Scope: International.
Hiventures is Hungary's largest state-backed venture capital firm, operating under the Hungarian Development Bank Group with approximately €258 million under management. Founded in 1999, it is the most active VC in Central and Eastern Europe by deal count, with over 420 investments made to date. The firm focuses exclusively on Hungarian startups and invests across all stages from pre-seed through growth, with a current thematic emphasis on AI, DeepTech, MedTech, and GreenTech. Its co-investment model and patient capital approach make it the primary first institutional money for Hungarian founders.
A 6,000 m² campus in Luxembourg City's station district that federates the country's main incubators, accelerators, and startup support organisations under one roof. Opened in June 2018, it hosts between 150 and 200 startups and is home to Luxembourg-City Incubator, LHoFT, Le Village by CA, and the International Climate Finance Accelerator. Backed by the City of Luxembourg and Chamber of Commerce.
Invite-focused networking and portfolio event hosted by High-Tech Gruenderfonds at STATION Berlin under the 2026 theme 'Next European Tech Renaissance.' Known for high-efficiency 1:1 investor-corporate-startup meetings and strong syndication opportunities.
Hystar is an Oslo-based green hydrogen company founded in 2020 as a spin-off from SINTEF. The company manufactures PEM (proton exchange membrane) electrolysers with membranes 90% thinner than conventional alternatives, significantly cutting electricity consumption and the levelised cost of green hydrogen. Hystar raised $36 million in a Series C round in May 2025 co-led by Nysnø Climate Investments and Orlen VC, building on a $26 million Series B in 2023. The company also secured €26 million from the EU Innovation Fund in late 2024 to support construction of a 1.5 GW automated gigafactory in Høvik, Norway, targeting 4.5 GW capacity by 2031.
The 25th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, held in Zakopane in the High Tatras with proceedings published by Springer. A research-heavy gathering of AI scientists and engineers, relevant for deep-tech and AI founders scouting cutting-edge methods, recruiting research talent and exploring research-to-startup spinouts.
Icebreaker.vc was founded in 2017 in Helsinki by Aleksi Partanen, Lasse Lehtinen, Riku Sepälä, and Teddie Wardi to address the pre-seed funding gap in Finland, Estonia, and Sweden. The firm targets idea-stage companies with tickets of €150,000–€1.5 million, with Fund III targeting €30 million. Portfolio standouts include Hoxhunt (raised $40M Series B), Aibidia ($28M Series B), and ReOrbit (€45M Series A). Icebreaker is known for its diversity focus, backing 3.5× more immigrant founders than the Finnish VC average.
City-wide innovation festival returning to Reykjavik for its next edition, bringing together founders, investors, creatives and policymakers from across the Nordics and beyond. The week spans climate and energy transition, ocean tech, foodtech and deep tech, pairing a main-stage program with dozens of satellite events, startup pitch formats and investor matchmaking. Ideal for impact founders seeking Nordic investors, pilot sites and partners.
ICEYE operates the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, providing persistent Earth observation data regardless of weather or daylight conditions. Founded in 2014 as an Aalto University spin-off, the company builds its satellites in-house in Espoo and serves defence, insurance, disaster response and environmental monitoring customers. By 2026 it had launched over 35 satellites with a valuation of $2.8 billion, and signed contracts with the Finnish, Polish and Swedish armed forces for national SAR satellite programmes.
ICU Ventures is the venture capital arm of ICU Group, Ukraine's largest independent asset management and investment banking firm, established in 2006 by former ING senior professionals. The venture arm, active since 2018, focuses on late seed and Series A investments of $200K–$5M in tech companies with strong Ukrainian ties across fintech, deep tech, mobility, and enterprise software. With 40+ investments to date, the portfolio includes Respeecher (AI voice technology) and Khazna (fintech), with the most recent disclosed investment made in February 2025. ICU Ventures operates from Kyiv and continues to actively back Ukrainian-rooted founders building global businesses.
IDEA Innovation Center is the largest non-profit incubator-accelerator for startups in Cyprus, established in 2015 by the Bank of Cyprus and partner organisations. Its nine-month Startup Program provides participants with €20,000 in seed capital, structured business training, mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs, and professional services in legal, accounting, and ICT. Since its launch, IDEA has supported over 82 startups, trained more than 5,000 entrepreneurs, and invested over €4 million into the Cyprus innovation ecosystem. It was recognised as the European Winner in the 2019 European Commission Enterprise Promotion Awards.
identifAI builds AI-powered deepfake and synthetic media detection technology, using 36 proprietary de-generative models to analyze images, videos, and audio for manipulation at pixel-level probabilistic patterns rather than superficial artefacts. Founded in 2024 in Cesena and Milan by cybersecurity veterans Marco Ramilli and Marco Castaldo, the company serves insurers, healthcare providers, HR departments, financial institutions, and government agencies for KYC verification and fraud prevention. Processing millions of checks daily, identifAI has raised €7.2 million (including €5 million led by United Ventures), was named a sample vendor in Gartner's 2026 Emerging Tech report, and counts Experian and KPMG among its clients.
Idoven is a Madrid-based digital health startup that uses AI to transform ECG analysis and cardiovascular diagnostics. Its Willem™ platform analyses 50,000 heartbeats in 60 seconds, identifying 86 electrical heart conditions that represent 90% of common cardiac problems — reaching 96.4% accuracy for atrial fibrillation detection. Founded in 2019 by Manuel Marina Breysse, José María Lillo Castellano, and Íñigo Juantegui, the company raised €18.5M Series A co-led by Insight Partners and Northzone with Wayra participation. Idoven operates B2B through hospitals, pharmaceutical trials, and healthcare systems, and employs 71 people as of early 2026.
Developed Voltage Induced Reverse Osmosis (VIRO), a pressure-free desalination technology that uses a low-voltage panel to drive water through standard RO membranes, removing the need for high-pressure pumps. Spun out of ENS-PSL Paris.
Launched 1999 by Institut Mines-Telecom. Incubator for tech startups from students and researchers with programs like START@IMT and SCALE'Up; focuses on AI, big data, and VR with early-stage funding options. Scope: Regional (Ile-de-France).
Indico Capital Partners is Portugal's first and leading independent early-stage venture firm, founded in Lisbon in 2017 by Stephan Morais and Ricardo Torgal (both ex-Caixa Capital) and Cristina Fonseca (co-founder of Talkdesk). Since its first fund close in 2019 it has built a >€244M multi-fund platform spanning six vehicles, including VC Fund I (€54M), an Acceleration Fund, an Opportunity Fund, the €50M Indico Blue ocean-economy fund, VC Fund II, and the newly launched VC Fund III (€125M target with a €30M EIF anchor, 2025). The firm invests from pre-seed to Series B with €100K–€10M cheques, focused on Portugal, Spain and Italy and the Southern European diaspora, across enterprise SaaS, AI, deep tech, fintech, cybersecurity, spacetech and the blue economy. Backed by the European Investment Fund, Banco Português de Fomento and Draper Esprit (now Molten), Indico bridges Southern Europe's talent to global capital. Its portfolio includes unicorns Anchorage Digital, Sword Health, TIER Mobility and Remote, with exits including Unbabel (TransPerfect, 2025) and Cargofive (cargo.one, 2026).
Industrifonden is one of the Nordics' longest-established venture capital firms, an evergreen fund based in Stockholm that invests in early-stage Nordic technology and life-science companies. Founded in 1979, it takes a long-term, evergreen approach, recycling returns into new investments and backing deep-tech, industrial and health startups.
London-based AI research lab founded by David Silver, former lead of DeepMind's reinforcement-learning team, aiming to build a self-improving AI that discovers knowledge entirely from experience without relying on human-labelled data. Raised a record $1.1B seed round at a $5.1B valuation, backed by Sequoia, Lightspeed, Nvidia, Google, and the UK's Sovereign AI Fund.
Warsaw-based AI biotech founded in 2023 by the team behind Applica (acquired by Snowflake), building a Biological Reasoning Engine that fuses multimodal biological data to accelerate oncology drug discovery. Raised €13M led by Sofinnova Partners.
Founded 2002. Academic incubator supported by University of Vienna, TU Wien, and Vienna Business Agency. Helps research-driven startups commercialize IP via START:IP and SCALEup, with funding up to EUR 100K and lab access. Scope: Regional (Vienna).
Inka Mero is the Founder and Managing Partner of Voima Ventures, a Finnish deep tech venture capital firm focused on science-based startups in quantum computing, synthetic biology, and advanced materials. She is one of Finland's most prominent venture investors and a vocal advocate for translating Nordic academic research into globally competitive companies. Mero is a regular keynote speaker at deep tech and innovation events across Europe and is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Innosuisse is the Swiss Federal Innovation Agency, established in 2018 as a public law institution succeeding the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). It promotes science-based innovation in Switzerland by co-funding research and development collaborations between academia and industry, and supporting startups through coaching, training, and mentorship programs. Innosuisse serves as a Principal partner of the Top100 Swiss Investor Summit 2026.
InnoTrans is the world's leading trade fair for transport technology, held biennially in Berlin. It showcases rail vehicles, infrastructure, public transport, tunnel construction and mobility software to tens of thousands of trade visitors and thousands of exhibitors from over 100 countries. It is a key venue for mobility and rail-tech founders seeking OEM and operator partnerships.
The organisation behind Copenhagen Science City that connects universities, research institutions and industry across the Danish capital. It organises the Nordic Innovation Fair, a deep-tech and research-commercialisation matchmaking event linking startups, researchers and industry across the Nordics.
Uppsala's premier innovation-ecosystem gathering, organised by UIC, with a startup hub exhibition, a Disruptor of the Year pitch competition, and 10+ side events bringing together startups, investors, academia, and industry.
Ukraine's largest popular-science and deep-tech conference, with 50+ speakers from 15+ countries, held in person in Kyiv despite wartime conditions. Relevant for deep-tech and science-driven founders looking for research collaboration and talent.
InstituteQ is Finland's national quantum research and innovation hub, a consortium of seven leading institutions: Aalto University (coordinator), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Universities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Tampere and Oulu, and CSC-IT Centre for Science. It operates three pillars — InnoQ (innovation and ecosystem development), ResQ (fundamental and applied research), and EduQ (education and talent) — and hosts the Finnish Quantum Flagship, an eight-year initiative jointly funded by member organisations and the Research Council of Finland. InstituteQ organises the annual Finnish Quantum Days conference and publishes it on its domain instituteq.fi.
The 19th International Invention and Innovation Show at the Katowice International Congress Centre, under WIPO and IFIA patronage. Connects inventors, deep-tech founders and R&D teams with investors and institutions around intellectual property, funding and commercialisation. Useful for hardware, cleantech and university-spinout startups seeking partners, awards and grants.
B2B matchmaking event focused on France-Bavaria innovation partnerships, connecting French deep-tech startups with German industrial corporates. Features structured 1:1 meetings and panel discussions on cross-border collaboration. Particularly valuable for startups looking to enter the German market through industrial partnerships and joint R&D projects.
Inventure was founded in 2005 in Helsinki by Timo Tirkkonen, with Tuomas Kosonen (ex-Nokia, ex-Rovio CFO) joining shortly after; the firm manages approximately €377 million in assets under management across four funds, with Fund IV closing at €144 million. The firm backs Seed and Series A companies across the Nordics and Baltics with tickets of €300,000–€5 million, focusing on deep tech, B2B SaaS, consumer internet, health tech, and AI. Its portfolio includes Wolt, Swappie, and Stravito. Inventure is one of the most established and prolific seed-stage investors in the Nordic ecosystem.
IQM Quantum Computers is a full-stack quantum computing company founded in 2018 as a spin-off from Aalto University and VTT. It designs and manufactures superconducting quantum processors sold as on-premises systems to research institutions, supercomputing centres and enterprises. By early 2026 IQM had delivered 21 quantum systems to 13 customers globally and secured over €600 million in funding, including a €275 million Series B. The company reached unicorn status in September 2025 and announced plans for a public listing at a $1.8 billion valuation in February 2026.
Iron Wolf Capital is Vilnius-founded deep tech and AI fund established in 2018, with additional offices in London and Tallinn. Its second fund, closed at €100 million, is the largest seed-stage deep tech fund in Baltic history, targeting 25 early-stage companies across AI, photonics, robotics, and space innovation built by Baltic founders and diaspora globally. The team combines backgrounds from Deutsche Bank, YPlan, and early Lithuanian VC history; initial tickets run €0.5–2 million and the fund typically leads or co-leads rounds. Iron Wolf has backed over 20 startups covering sectors from agritech and pharma to defence-adjacent AI.
IST cube is an early-stage, deep-tech venture capital firm and incubator connected to the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) near Vienna. It invests seed capital in science-based startups, particularly in artificial intelligence, life sciences and other frontier technologies, and supports founders spinning research out of academia into companies.
Ukraine's largest tech conference held at Lviv's Arena convention center, attracting 3,000+ developers, founders, and investors from across CEE. Features startup pitching competitions, tech talks on AI, product management, and deep tech, plus strong support for Ukrainian tech diaspora networking.
Turin's flagship technology festival (7-9 October 2026), rebranded for 2026 as Wave by Vento and organized by Vento, the early-stage venture program of Exor. It gathers 1,500+ startups, 1,500+ investors and global tech leaders for keynotes, networking and pitch sessions at the OGR Torino, making it Italy's premier stage for founders to raise and connect internationally.
imec's flagship technology forum, bringing the global semiconductor and nano-electronics value chain to Antwerp. Founders in chip design, AI hardware, quantum, and sensing get direct exposure to imec research roadmaps and corporate R&D leads.
Jacob Fellman is a Partner at NGP Capital, a global venture capital firm with Nordic roots that originated from Nokia's venture investment program and now invests independently in technology companies across Europe, the United States, and Asia. He focuses on deep tech and software investments with a strong presence in the Nordic startup ecosystem. Fellman is a confirmed investor speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Jan Goetz is the CEO and Co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers, a European leader in superconducting quantum computing hardware headquartered in Espoo, Finland. IQM designs and manufactures quantum processors for research institutions, national supercomputing centers, and commercial users across Europe and beyond. He is a central figure in the European quantum technology ecosystem and a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Debuting Business Angel of the Year 2024 and CEO of Luma Automation, Jarosław brings industrial operating experience into startup investing. He backs founders applying AI and automation to legacy sectors where measurable efficiency gains matter most. His focus spans deep tech, industrial IoT, and Industry 4.0 solutions for manufacturing and logistics.
Head of Quantum Technologies at Airbus, where he leads the aerospace group's research and application of quantum computing and quantum sensing for aviation and space. He is an announced speaker at the 2026 AI, Data & Quantum Summit (AIDAQ) in Berlin.
A German investor (ex-TechStars London) who launched Angel Invest (a micro-fund), Jens was awarded Poland’s 2022 “Best Foreign Investor” for actively investing in Polish startups. He has made quick, small angel investments in Polish SaaS and deep-tech companies, often as one of the first foreign checks in. Associated startups: Satellite imaging startup KP Labs, various B2B SaaS in Poland.
Senior Director of Research and Engineering at Google DeepMind, leading research teams working on foundational machine learning and applied AI. She is an announced speaker at the 2026 AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.
Managing Partner of ACT Venture Capital, Ireland's most established venture firm, which he joined in 1996. A former chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association, he has led ACT through six funds and exits including the sale of Decawave to Qorvo and SoftBank's investment in Cubic Telecom.
John Martinis is a distinguished quantum computing physicist and professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He previously led Google's quantum hardware team as chief scientist and spearheaded the landmark 2019 demonstration of quantum supremacy using Google's 53-qubit Sycamore superconducting processor. He is a confirmed keynote speaker at Finnish Quantum Days 2026 in Jyväskylä, Finland, in September 2026.
Joost Elstak is SVP Missions at ICEYE, a Finnish space technology company founded in 2014 that operates one of the world's largest commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellations. ICEYE is widely regarded as one of the most prominent European space startups and a unicorn, providing near-real-time Earth observation data for disaster management, insurance, maritime, and government applications. In his role, Elstak oversees mission operations and delivery for ICEYE's growing customer base across both commercial and government sectors globally.
Founded in 2016 by Kristjan Laanemaa, Margus Uudam, and Tommi Uhari, Karma Ventures is one of Estonia's most prominent deep-tech venture capital firms. Its €70M Fund I and €100M Fund II back late-seed and Series A European deep-tech software startups, with tickets up to €5M. The firm is particularly active in AI, cybersecurity, health tech, and enterprise software across Europe. Notable portfolio companies include Starship Technologies, Tuum (formerly Modularbank), Sonarworks, Infermedica, and CybExer Technologies, establishing Karma as the go-to Tallinn-based partner for hard-tech European founders.
Partner at Inovo Venture Partners specialising in data science, AI and deep tech. He built the firm's internal AI-powered sourcing tooling and was promoted to Partner in 2025, leading investments in machine-learning and science-driven startups across CEE.
Managing Partner at Atlantic Bridge based in London. With an operating background at Microsoft and Digital Equipment Corporation, he leads growth-stage investments across enterprise software, semiconductors and deep tech in Europe and the US.
Kinisis Ventures was co-founded in 2018 by Andreas Panayi and Yiannos Georgiades as a Cyprus-US bridge accelerator and investment firm, with its registered office in Nicosia. Its regulated KV Kinisis Ventures Fund RAIF VCIC (KV Fund I and II), managed in partnership with AIFCAP Managers and licensed by CySEC, is the first CySEC-registered early-stage VC focused exclusively on Cypriot technology companies targeting US market expansion. The fund writes seed tickets of €1.5M–€4M in cybersecurity, fintech, AI-enabled platforms, and energy-tech, with portfolio companies including Threedium (3D imaging), Phase3D (metal-printing quality assurance), and Autonomics Tech (autonomous industrial robotics).
Kiutra is a Munich-based deep tech startup developing cryogenic systems and services for quantum technologies. The company manufactures helium-3-free cryostats that reach sub-kelvin and millikelvin temperatures, including the L-Type Rapid, X-Type, S-Type, and T-Type product lines, and offers cryogenic characterisation lab services for quantum device development. Kiutra serves leading quantum computing companies and research institutions globally and is a sponsor of Finnish Quantum Days 2026.
KLAK is a non-profit accelerator and entrepreneurship support organization founded in 2000, formed through the 2013 merger of Klak and Innovit. It is owned by the University of Iceland, Reykjavík University, the Kría Innovation Fund, and the Federation of Icelandic Industries. KLAK runs three to four sector-specific accelerator programs annually, operates the Gulleggið startup competition (Iceland's largest, with over 3,000 ideas submitted since 2008), and provides mentorship and international growth support to early-stage Icelandic companies.
Founder and Chairman of Lakestar, the Zurich-based venture capital firm he founded in 2012, which manages over 2 billion euros across early- and growth-stage funds. A German venture capitalist, he was an early backer of Skype, Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb, Revolut, Klarna and Coinbase, and also founded the NATO Innovation Fund.
AI platform that maps, documents and modernises legacy enterprise software entirely on-premises, keeping source code and data inside the customer's environment. Built for regulated banking, insurance and energy; raised a $6.6M seed led by VentureFriends.
Koen Vandewal is a professor at Hasselt University researching organic semiconductors, photovoltaics and optoelectronic devices, with a focus on charge-transfer states and solar energy conversion. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
An annual technology festival that takes over central Kongsberg with hundreds of free debates, exhibitions, and talks on technology and value creation, spanning space and defence tech.
Managing Partner and co-founder of Hard2beat, where he leads legal and structuring with over a decade of experience on €100M+ transactions. He previously worked alongside the founding team at Shape VC and supports Hard2beat's deep-tech portfolio.
German engineer and technology executive serving as Chief Technology Officer of NXP Semiconductors, a leading global semiconductor company, with deep expertise in automotive, IoT and edge computing. He is an announced speaker at the 2026 Technology Talks Austria conference.
Kultuurikatel-hosted summit with 3,500+ attendees and 600+ investors. The Latitude59 Pitch Competition can reach EUR 1M in syndicate investment and the program heavily features digital-state and defense-tech themes.
Co-founder and former CTO of H and a deep-learning researcher who previously worked at Google DeepMind on AlphaGo and AlphaZero, bringing frontier-model expertise to the Paris AI startup.
One of Europe's longest-running immersive technology events, focused on practical XR deployment across healthcare, manufacturing, and defense. Strong venue for spatial-computing founders building B2B hardware and software products.
Lifeline Ventures was founded in 2009 in Helsinki by Petteri Koponen and Timo Ahopelto and has grown into Finland's largest VC focused on unlisted growth companies, raising its €400 million Fund VI in 2025. The firm invests at the angel and seed stage with tickets of €100,000–€2 million, backing sector-agnostic founders from day one across Europe. Lifeline has seeded most of Finland's best-known unicorns, including Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $8.6B), Wolt (acquired by DoorDash for $8.1B), Oura, ICEYE, and Aiven. With over 115 portfolio companies and more than a dozen exits, it is the benchmark early-stage firm in the Finnish ecosystem.
The Laboratory for Thin Films, Nanosystems and Nanometrology (LTFN) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki organises NANOTEXNOLOGY, an annual deep-tech research, networking and matchmaking event covering nanotechnologies, organic electronics and nanomedicine, including an international exhibition, summer schools and a startup-focused Business Forum.
European curated dealflow event at Luxexpo The Box, hosting ~3,400 attendees, 330+ investors and the Fit 4 Start and Fit 4 Scale closing pitches. Connects high-potential startups and scaleups with VCs, family offices and angels across digital, healthtech and space.
Luxembourg's national innovation agency, operating as a public-private partnership since 1984. Luxinnovation supports startups, SMEs, and research organisations through its Fit 4 programme suite (Fit 4 Start, Fit 4 Scale, Fit 4 Innovation, Fit 4 Digital, Fit 4 AI) and acts as the Enterprise Europe Network contact point. In 2024 it supported 891 companies and administers the Fit 4 Start accelerator programme, which offers up to €150,000 in equity-free grants.
Lydia Kavraki is the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science at Rice University, internationally recognised for her work in robotics, motion planning, artificial intelligence and computational biomedicine. She is a plenary speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
A Luxembourg deep-tech startup founded in 2018 by a team with backgrounds in ESA space missions. Maana Electric builds the TerraBox, a mobile factory that produces solar panels from sand and electricity using in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) technology. The company signed a multi-million-euro contract with the European Space Agency in 2021 and received first commercial orders worth €100 million in 2023. Its LunaBox variant is designed to manufacture solar panels and generate oxygen on the Moon.
Managing Partner and co-founder of Hard2beat. He previously ran the Shape VC BRIdge Alpha programme (36 portfolio companies, 2019–2023) and now invests in early-stage Polish deep-tech startups across cybersecurity, medtech, biotech and dual-use technologies.
Founding partner at Hard2beat VC and serial entrepreneur with multiple exits. Maciej is known for building Piwik PRO, a privacy-first analytics platform, and Clearcode, an AdTech/MarTech software company. His transition from founder to deep-tech investor was featured in Forbes Poland (March 2026) in the profile Mistrz exitow na inwestycyjnej sciezce by Krzysztof Domaradzki. Notable outcomes include the 2023 exit of Piwik PRO and the acquisition of Clearcode by ARICOMA Group.
Maki.vc was founded in 2018 in Helsinki by serial entrepreneur and Slush Chairman Ilkka Kivimäki and former F-Secure executive Pirkka Palomäki, and now manages €260 million across three funds. Its November 2024 Fund III of €100 million targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies across the Nordics and Northern Europe, with tickets of €300,000–€3 million, focusing on deep tech, AI-native, quantum computing, green tech, and brand-driven consumer startups. The fund is backed by LPs including founders of Skype, Wise, RELEX Solutions, Aiven, and Supercell. Portfolio includes IQM Quantum Computers (unicorn 2025) and Enfuce.
Manish Chhowalla is the Goldsmiths' Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, a leading researcher in two-dimensional materials, nanomaterials and their applications in electronics and energy. He is a plenary speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Manna is Europe's largest drone delivery operator, having completed over 250,000 regulated commercial UAV deliveries across Dublin, Cork, and expanding US and European markets. Founded in 2018 and built entirely in Ireland, the company raised a $50 million Series B in April 2026 from investors including ARK Invest, ISIF, and Coca-Cola HBC, bringing total funding to $110 million. Manna is expanding to 40 new US bases and has partnered with Uber Eats for European aerial delivery markets.
Manta Ray VC is the technology venture arm of Kulczyk Investments, founded by Sebastian Kulczyk to back globally scalable Polish-rooted startups. The fund invests in growth-stage technology companies and has been associated with high-visibility outcomes such as ICEYE (SAR satellites) and Iceye-affiliated deep-tech bets. It complements the broader Kulczyk Investments ecosystem and the InCredibles founder programme.
Co-founder of Snowflake and one of the most successful Polish founders globally, Marcin is active as a deeptech angel focused on data infrastructure and enterprise AI. Following Snowflake’s landmark NYSE IPO, he expanded his investment activity into European high-growth technical startups. Notable investments include Respo.Vision, Nomagic, and Mirai.
Founder and Managing Partner of PSV Hafnium, the Nordic deep-tech fund she co-launched in 2024. She focuses on industrial biotech, energy, robotics and future-of-compute spinouts, helping technical founders commercialise research with patient venture capital.
Austrian venture capital investor and General Partner at Speedinvest, one of Europe's most active early-stage funds, with a focus on deep tech, industrial technology and hardware startups. She is an announced speaker at the 2026 Technology Talks Austria conference.
Co-founder and CEO of Terra Quantum, the St. Gallen-based quantum-as-a-service company he co-founded in 2019. Pflitsch built Terra Quantum to bridge near-term quantum hardware with practical enterprise problem-solving in finance, pharma, logistics, and energy using hybrid quantum-classical algorithms. He previously worked in finance and technology entrepreneurship. Terra Quantum raised a Series A backed by Lakestar and Investcorp and has established research partnerships across European academic institutions.
Fusion energy company founded in 2019 in Munich developing laser-based inertial fusion using nanostructured proton-boron fuel targets, backed by over $400M with partners including Siemens Energy.
Materialise is a pioneer in additive manufacturing, operating one of the world's largest 3D printing facilities alongside a suite of industrial and medical software. Its Mimics software suite supports surgical planning, personalised implants and medical device design for hospitals and MedTech firms globally; its industrial arm serves aerospace, automotive and consumer goods. Founded in 1990 in Leuven by Fried Vancraen and Hilde Ingelaere as the Benelux's first rapid-prototyping bureau, the company listed on NASDAQ (MTLS) in 2014. As of Q1 2026 it reported $302 M trailing revenue and a $335 M market cap, and in May 2026 spun off its eyewear division to focus on core manufacturing and healthcare software.
Ninth edition of Europe's second-largest medical device design and manufacturing show at Galway Racecourse. Features a conference programme, Women in MedTech Forum and German Pavilion across 300+ MedTech companies in Ireland's MedTech capital.
Flagship European medtech gathering at the Mediterranean Conference Centre with 2,000+ delegates across two stages, connecting health-tech startups with investors, clinicians, and regulators. Strong startup pitch and investor matchmaking tracks.
Early-stage VC fund (EUR 50M+ AUM) investing pre-seed to seed+ (EUR 200K-1.5M) in tech startups with strong Greek ties across AI, deep tech, fintech, healthtech and maritime. Portfolio includes Useberry and FerryHopper.
Co-founder of CD Projekt (the studio behind The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077), Michał is a tech millionaire who has diversified into angel investing. He tends to support deep-tech and science-driven ventures, including wellness startups, with patient capital. Associated startups: Early backer of Polski Bank Komórek Macierzystych and other science-driven projects; also funds meditation and sustainability initiatives.
Microamp is a Warsaw-based deep-tech company developing resilient 5G mmWave wireless solutions. Its Any-G mmWave AI-RAN platform is a fully reconfigurable, software-defined system that adapts across evolving 3GPP standards, frequency bands, network modes and 6G features. The company, led by co-founder and CEO Dawid Kuchta, positions itself as one of the first to commercialise 5G mmWave networks.
Midas (Midas Software GmbH) is a Berlin-based fintech building infrastructure for tokenised real-world assets and composable on-chain investment products. It lets strategy managers turn institutional investment strategies into compliant, blockchain-based tokens (mTokens) that aim to give investors transparency, instant redemptions, and composability across DeFi protocols. Its first product, mTBILL, tokenises US Treasury bills as an ERC-20 token so holders can earn yield on-chain. The company describes itself as a German, BaFin-regulated and MiCA-compliant entity.
AI researcher working on self-supervised learning and world models, contributing to advances in machine perception and representation learning at a leading AI research lab. He is an announced speaker at the 2026 TEDAI Vienna conference on AI and world models.
Minalogic is a French competitiveness cluster dedicated to digital transformation in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, microelectronics, IoT, and photonics. With approximately 450 member organizations spanning startups, SMEs, large corporations, and research institutions, Minalogic has facilitated more than 1,040 labeled and funded innovation projects since 2005 and generated over 16,300 B2B meetings since 2012. The cluster is an ecosystem partner of SIDO Lyon and a connector between industry and innovation communities in the region.
Polish-Ukrainian defence startup developing tactical radar systems for detecting low-altitude, slow-moving UAVs at the frontline. Raised €1.5M from Front Ventures as part of a €2M round at a €15M valuation.
Warsaw-based multi-stage venture capital firm backing Central and Eastern European tech founders with global ambitions. Movens Capital runs a €60M Fund 2 (launched 2025) and writes first checks of €250k–€3M at pre-seed through Series A+. Focus areas: fintech, edtech, healthtech, deep tech, climate tech, enterprise software, and e-commerce enablement across Poland, the Baltics, the Balkans, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova. Founded in 2018 by Artur Banach and Michał Olszewski. Fund LPs include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), PFR Ventures, and 80+ tech founders, operators, and family offices. Notable exits include MEDICAlgorithmics (IPO) and Fenige.
Naco Technologies develops proprietary PVD nano-coatings that replace expensive platinum-group metals in hydrogen electrolysers and fuel cells, reducing the cost of green hydrogen production at scale. Founded in 2010 by Aleksandrs Parfinovičs and Raivis Nikitins, the company secured €8 million in equity plus a €2.3 million EIC Accelerator grant in 2023, followed by a further €2.5 million pre-Series A round in 2025. Naco's coatings target bipolar plates, gas diffusion layers, and membrane electrode assemblies.
NanoSci is a Warsaw-registered Polish deep-tech startup, founded in 2020, that develops photocatalytic air-purification technology licensed to manufacturers of ventilation, lighting and transport equipment. Its core IP — researched at the University of Gdańsk under Prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medynska — is built on porous titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanolayers and nanotube arrays activated by UV-LED light. The photocatalytic reaction generates hydroxyl radicals that continuously decompose volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, odours, bacteria, viruses and fungi into harmless CO₂ and water vapour, with no replaceable filters and very low energy use. Rather than selling finished consumer devices, NanoSci provides modular photocatalytic engines to OEM and white-label partners; an early collaboration with bus maker Solaris demonstrated the technology in public-transport air conditioning. Two branded lines are now visible: Jupitair, targeting food and greenhouse environments (with deployments in Singapore and the Philippines and a place in Thailand's SPACE-F accelerator), and Airchanger, a decentralised heat-recovery ventilation unit with integrated purification. The company has raised early equity alongside Polish state grants and support from accelerators including AcceliCITY and Estonia's Beamline.
NANOTEXNOLOGY is an annual deep-tech research, networking and matchmaking event described by organisers as one of Europe's largest in its field, gathering over 2,000 professionals across nanotechnologies, organic electronics and nanomedicine. It runs seven concurrent conferences plus an international exhibition, summer schools and a dedicated Business Forum (July 7-9) where startups, spin-offs and SMEs deliver pitch presentations and business-development meetings.
Navigare Ventures is a Nordic deep tech venture capital firm and fully owned subsidiary of Wallenberg Investments AB, investing at seed and Series A stages in science-driven companies across the Nordic region. Its core investment themes span future of computing, advanced materials, and life science, with a portfolio covering AI, quantum computing, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology. Navigare Ventures is a long-standing partner of the NORDEEP Nordic Deep Tech Business Summit and plays an active role in the broader Nordic innovation landscape.
A Luxexpo The Box conference on the commercial space sector, covering market trends, emerging technologies, and the next generation of space companies. Relevant for spacetech founders given Luxembourg's space-investment ecosystem.
Neulogy Ventures is one of the leading deeptech venture capital funds in Central and Eastern Europe, established in 2014 and operating from Bratislava with a Luxembourg fund structure. It manages €65 million in assets under management across approximately 30 portfolio companies in 10 countries, writing cheques of €200,000–€3 million primarily at Seed and Series A stages. The fund targets mission-driven Slovak and CEE technology companies addressing climate change, healthcare, and industrial automation. Institutional co-investors include the European Investment Fund, Slovak Investment Holding, and Tatra banka.
NEURA Robotics is a German high-tech company founded by David Reger that develops cognitive robots combining integrated sensing with artificial intelligence for human-robot collaboration. Its product lineup includes the 4NE-1 humanoid robot, the MAiRA cognitive collaborative robot with integrated 3D vision and voice recognition, the LARA lightweight robotic arm, the MiPA service robot, and the MAV autonomous mobile robot. The company designs and manufactures its intelligent robots in-house. In June 2026 NEURA announced a record Series C of up to $1.4 billion at roughly a $7 billion valuation, led by Tether with backers including Nvidia, Amazon and Qualcomm.
Neurent Medical is a Galway-based medtech company developing the NEUROMARK device, which uses proprietary Impedance Controlled Radiofrequency technology to target overactive posterior nasal nerves and treat chronic rhinitis — a condition affecting over 500 million people globally. Founded in 2015, the company closed an oversubscribed €62.5 million Series C in February 2026, led by MVM Partners with participation from Sofinnova Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Atlantic Bridge, and Enterprise Ireland, bringing total funding to over €100 million.
Grows wood from tree stem cells in bioreactors without logging, producing material far faster than conventional forestry. Founded in 2023 on Wageningen Campus, it raised an oversubscribed €2.1M pre-seed to advance cultured-wood technology.
newcleo develops Generation IV lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs) fuelled by recycled nuclear waste, targeting a closed-fuel-cycle that dramatically reduces long-term radioactive waste. Founded in 2021 by Stefano Buono — previously founder of NASDAQ-listed nuclear medicine company Advanced Accelerator Applications, acquired by Novartis for $3.9 billion — newcleo has raised over $755 million to date, including $85 million in early 2026. The company is building PRECURSOR, a 10 MW non-nuclear lead-cooled test system at ENEA's Brasimone Research Center in Italy, with a full demonstration reactor planned for France by 2032 and €28 million invested in Turin research facilities.
Luxembourg's flagship tech and innovation conference at Luxexpo The Box, positioned as a bridge between the Greater Region's corporates, the Luxembourg fund industry, and international deep-tech founders. Programming spans AI, space tech, fintech, and sustainable finance with 4,000+ attendees and an exhibition floor featuring Luxembourg-based scale-ups like Paul Wurth, Gcore, and LuxAI. The 2024 edition launched with ministerial support and has since become the country's primary innovation showcase. Tickets EUR 100-400.
NGP Capital is a global venture capital firm that originated from Nokia's venture investment program and now operates independently, investing in technology startups across Europe, the United States, and Asia. The firm focuses on software, deep tech, and digital infrastructure investments and has maintained a strong presence in the Nordic startup ecosystem since its founding. NGP Capital has offices in Helsinki, Menlo Park, and Beijing, making it one of the Nordic region's most internationally active VC funds.
Niklas Zennstrom is a Swedish-born serial entrepreneur and investor, best known as the co-founder of Skype and Kazaa. After selling Skype to eBay for USD 2.6B in 2005, Zennstrom founded Atomico (listed separately as VC), one of Europe's most prominent growth-stage venture funds. Beyond Atomico, Zennstrom makes personal angel investments in early-stage European startups, particularly those working on climate tech, sustainability, and deep technology. He co-founded the Zennstrom Philanthropies and is a driving force behind efforts to position the Nordics as a global hub for impact-driven technology. His combination of entrepreneurial credibility, global network, and climate focus makes him one of Europe's most sought-after angel backers.
Noctiluca was founded in 2019 in Toruń as a spin-out from Synthex Technologies to commercialise thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter materials for OLED displays. The company designs and produces next-generation OLED emitters and maintains a commercial presence in Asia and the US. It raised roughly PLN 10M before its 2022 IPO on Poland's NewConnect market and graduated to the main Warsaw Stock Exchange in December 2024.
Flagship gathering of the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium at the National Museum in Oslo, summarising Norway's leading AI research, innovation, and education initiatives.
The Nordics' largest deep-tech business summit, in Espoo's Otaniemi hub, connecting deep-tech startups with funding, experts, talent, and clients. Built around commercialising research-based innovation.
A two-day Nordic deep-tech and research-commercialisation matchmaking fair at Industriens Hus in Copenhagen under the 2026 theme of defence, resilience and safety. Tracks cover quantum, AI and digital, greentech and food, biotech and pharma, and medtech and diagnostics, connecting startups, researchers and industry across the Nordics.
The premier Nordic life-science partnering event organised by SwedenBIO, rotating to Stockholm in 2026. Brings biotech, pharma, medtech, and digital-health players together for partnering meetings, panels, and company presentations.
Cambridge, UK battery company developing extreme fast-charge technology using tungsten-based anode chemistry. Its cells recharge to 80% in under five minutes, targeting industrial EVs, power tools, and consumer electronics. Raised a $60M Series C in 2024 at a reported $1B valuation.
Founder and chairman of OVHcloud, the European cloud and hosting provider he started in 1999 and built into the region's largest independent cloud, taking it public on Euronext Paris in 2021.
Molecular diagnostics company developing next-generation sequencing assays and software for HLA typing in transplantation, including the Holotype HLA and NanoTYPE systems for clinical labs.
A major global energy forum at Stavanger Forum with 70,000+ visitors and 1,100+ exhibitors, including an ONS Scale-Ups programme connecting energy scale-ups with the industry. Relevant for energy-tech founders.
Origin Robotics is a Latvian defence-tech company founded in 2022 by Agris Kipurs and Ilja Nevdah in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company develops advanced autonomous UAV systems combining AI computer vision with cost-effective hardware. Its flagship BEAK system is a man-portable, mid-range precision-guided weapon with a 15 km reach already deployed by Latvian and Ukrainian armed forces, while BLAZE is an autonomous counter-UAS interceptor using radar and AI vision. Origin has raised €4 million in pre-seed funding led by Change Ventures and secured an additional €4.5 million European Defence Fund grant.
OTB Ventures is a Warsaw-based deep-technology venture capital firm founded in 2017 that invests across Europe in early-growth companies working on space technology, AI and automation, fintech infrastructure and enterprise software. It targets capital-efficient deeptech businesses with proven technology and early revenue, and has backed companies such as ICEYE. It is one of the largest deeptech-focused funds in Central and Eastern Europe.
Overkill Ventures is a pre-seed B2B tech fund founded in 2017 and headquartered at Dzirnavu iela 105 in Riga, Latvia. The firm backs founders it calls 'overkillers' — operators who work smarter and challenge conventions — primarily across the Baltics, Nordics, CEE, and CIS regions. Overkill focuses on helping startups reach product-market fit and has made over 40 investments to date. It is registered as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) in Latvia under the entity Overkill Ventures AIFP.
Builds a Rust-based secure operating system and toolchain for safety-critical automotive ECUs, aiming to cut development time while improving memory safety and security for car software.
OXO Ventures is the venture capital arm of OXO Group, a Budapest-based multi-stage technology investment platform founded by former Hungarian Finance Minister Péter Oszkó. Established in 2017 with a €50 million EIF-backed fund, the firm takes a sector-agnostic approach to early and growth-stage tech investments across the CEE, DACH, Benelux, and Nordic regions. OXO Group combines an accelerator (OXO Labs), an angel network (OXO Angels), and the VC fund under one roof, enabling investment from the earliest stages. Notable portfolio exits include Commsignia, which raised a Series B from LG Electronics, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Qualcomm Ventures.
Three-day tech, business and arts festival across Athens with 10,000+ attendees, 250+ speakers, a startup competition, Founders' Day and Investors' Day, plus 70+ side events spanning AI, defense, fintech and deep tech.
Pasqal is a French quantum computing company founded in 2019 and spun out of the Institut d'Optique that builds quantum processors based on neutral atoms held and arranged with optical tweezers. Co-founded by researchers including Nobel laureate Alain Aspect, it develops full-stack hardware and software for applications in chemistry, finance and optimisation, and raised a 100 million euro Series B round in 2023.
Spanish serial deep-tech entrepreneur. He co-founded and was CTO of Devo (formerly Logtrust), the data analytics and security platform, and later co-founded and led Onum, the real-time telemetry-pipeline company acquired by CrowdStrike in 2025.
Pekka Laurila is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of ICEYE, the Finnish company that pioneered commercial SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite technology for earth observation. ICEYE has grown to operate one of the world's largest commercial SAR satellite constellations, serving customers in insurance, government, and disaster response globally. Laurila is a well-known figure in the Nordic space technology and deep tech ecosystems and is a keynote speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
PFR Ventures is the venture capital arm of the Polish Development Fund (Polski Fundusz Rozwoju), wholly owned by the Polish state, established in 2014 and based in Warsaw. The firm operates as the largest fund-of-funds manager in the Central and Eastern Europe region, managing over PLN 3 billion in assets across 80+ private VC funds that have collectively supported more than 900 startup investments. PFR Ventures co-invests alongside private LPs to leverage EU structural funds and catalyse private capital into the Polish venture ecosystem, backing early-stage through growth-stage funds in sectors including deep tech, SaaS, fintech, and life sciences. Its Innovate Poland programme launched in November 2025 with at least PLN 4 billion earmarked for the next investment cycle.
PhysicsX applies machine learning and generative AI to advanced engineering simulation across aerospace, automotive, and energy systems. The platform accelerates design loops by reducing simulation time for fluid, thermal, and structural modeling, helping industrial teams move from concept to validation faster.
Pierre Limouzin leads venture capital investment activities for the EIC Fund at the European Investment Bank (EIB), focusing on breakthrough and deep tech companies across Europe including in the space sector. The EIC Fund is the equity arm of the European Innovation Council, deploying equity and quasi-equity investments into high-potential European startups and scale-ups commercializing frontier technologies. His role makes him a key figure in the European public venture ecosystem and a significant source of institutional capital for space entrepreneurship and new space ventures.
Deep-tech and innovation conference at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, bringing together 2,500+ founders, investors, and corporate innovators. Known for its startup pitch competition, investor matchmaking, and focus on frontier technologies.
Business Angel of the Year 2021 and former PwC partner, Piotr combines corporate finance expertise with deep-technology investing. He focuses on high-potential international projects, especially biotech and complex fintech products. His portfolio includes early-stage investments in biotechnology initiatives and specialized fintech tooling.
Elche-based private launch company developing the Miura family of reusable rockets. Miura 1 completed Spain's first private suborbital rocket flight in October 2023, making PLD Space the first European private company to successfully fly a rocket. Miura 5, a small orbital launcher, targets commercial payloads for the global new-space market.
Portugal Ventures is Portugal's principal state-backed early-stage venture firm, established in 2012 through the merger of Inovcapital, AICEP Capital Global Ventures and Turismo Capital. Headquartered in Porto with a Lisbon office, it operates within the Banco Português de Fomento group and manages roughly €288M across 16+ funds. Its mandate is to stimulate Portuguese entrepreneurship with risk capital at pre-seed, seed and Series A, writing tickets of €50K–€1.5M across digital and technology, industry, healthcare and tourism. Since inception it has deployed over €230M into 256+ companies. Its portfolio has produced unicorns including BitSight (cybersecurity), Fever (live entertainment, exited 2026 at 15x) and Glovo, alongside exits in OutSystems and Farfetch (NYSE IPO, 2018). Other notable holdings include Feedzai, Aptoide, Codacy, JScrambler and Sword Health. New leadership for the 2025–2027 term is led by CEO Marco Neves.
Practica Capital is the most established venture capital firm in the Baltics, founded in Vilnius in 2011 and managing four funds totalling over €130 million in assets under management. The firm invests at pre-seed, seed, and selected Series A stages in marketplace, SaaS, and deep/industrial tech startups originating from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and now has partners on the ground in all three Baltic capitals. Its portfolio of 70+ companies includes CGTrader, TransferGo, PVcase, Interactio, Eneba, and Ovoko, with one IPO and six acquisitions to date. The €80 million third fund, closed in February 2024, is the largest seed fund ever raised in the Baltic region.
Primo Ventures (operating entity: Primomiglio SGR), led by chairman Gianluca Dettori and founded in 2016, is a Milan-based VC managing approximately €530 million in assets across digital and space-focused funds. It launched the first Italian venture capital fund dedicated to space technologies — Primo Space Fund (target €80 million, first close €58 million) — in partnership with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and Fondazione E. Amaldi, backing deep-space logistics, propulsion, and AI for spacecraft. Portfolio investments include D-Orbit (space logistics, Series C co-lead) and AIKO (AI for autonomous spacecraft operations). Beyond space, its digital fund invests in B2B SaaS, cybersecurity, and fintech at seed and early-growth stages.
Develops AI radar-perception software (Software Defined Radar, 5D Perception) for automotive safety and autonomous driving, offering a LiDAR-free ADAS alternative plus off-road, smart-city and drone-detection uses. Founded 2019.
Proxima Fusion is a deep-tech fusion energy company spun out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in 2023. It is developing quasi-isodynamic stellarator systems designed for stable, commercial fusion power generation and is targeting a demonstrator pathway toward net-energy performance in the next decade.
Second edition of the joint PyData and PyCon conference at the American University of Armenia, organized with NumFOCUS and PyData Global as partners. Two-day program brings together engineers, researchers, and founders across data science, machine learning, AI, and the broader Python ecosystem.
QuantrolOx is a quantum computing software startup headquartered in Espoo, Finland, with additional offices in Oxford, Delft, and Bengaluru. The company develops Quantum EDGE, an automation platform that tunes and optimises superconducting quantum computers, reducing characterisation times from days to seconds and enabling a single expert to manage multiple quantum systems simultaneously. QuantrolOx is a sponsor of Finnish Quantum Days 2026.
Rafel Jorda Siquier is the CEO of Open Cosmos, a UK-based space startup founded in 2015 that designs, builds, and operates small satellites and provides end-to-end mission services for governments and commercial customers. Under his leadership, Open Cosmos has grown into a notable player in the New Space sector, securing contracts with the European Space Agency and other institutional clients across Europe and beyond. Jorda Siquier is a recognized figure in the European commercial space ecosystem and advocates for democratizing access to space through low-cost, rapidly delivered satellite solutions.
A large-scale AI leadership summit at the Carrousel du Louvre with 9,000+ attendees, 350+ speakers, and 2,000+ companies, centred on enterprise AI adoption and ROI. Useful for AI and SaaS founders targeting enterprise buyers and seeking visibility with corporate innovation teams and investors.
Co-founder and CEO of PLD Space, the Elche-based company developing the Miura family of reusable launch vehicles. He co-founded PLD Space in 2011 to give Europe sovereign access to space for small satellites.
Ravi Silva is the Director of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, an expert in nanotechnology, carbon-based electronics, photovoltaics and energy materials. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Inventor, futurist and best-selling author known for his work on artificial intelligence, pattern recognition and predictions about technological singularity, and a principal researcher at Google. He is an announced speaker at the 2026 AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.
Redalpine is a Zurich-based multi-stage venture capital firm founded in 2006 by Michael Sidler and Peter Niederhauser, and has grown into one of the most active Swiss VCs by number of early-stage checks across the DACH and wider European technology landscape. The firm invests from seed through Series B across digital health, fintech, deep tech, climate tech, and software, and is best known as an early backer of N26, Taxfix, Inkitt, 9fin, and Proxima Fusion. Redalpine closed its sixth fund at EUR 300+ million in 2023 and has built one of the larger Swiss-based venture teams, typically writing checks between EUR 1-15 million into companies it then follows through multiple rounds. It is a reference fund for Swiss and DACH founders looking for a locally anchored lead investor with international reach.
Offers a Sand-as-a-Service model using patented modular sand reclaimers to regenerate and recycle foundry sand on-site, enabling near-100% reuse. Expanded its Norion Bank facility to €25M following new contracts in Germany and Slovenia.
Overview: Respeecher is a cutting-edge AI voice synthesis startup that enables one person's voice to be transformed into the voice of another specific person, with uncanny realism. In other words, it's known for its voice cloning technology. Respeecher's system takes in an actor or user's speech and outputs audio that sounds like a target voice - be it a famous actor, a historical figure, or anyone for whom it has trained a model. This technology has huge applications in entertainment: filmmakers can revive voices of actors from years past, game developers can have characters speak in iconic voices, and creators can produce content where, say, a celebrity appears to narrate (with permission). What makes Respeecher stand out is the high fidelity of the cloned voices - they are nearly indistinguishable from the real person, capturing emotion and intonation accurately. Respeecher provides its tech via a software interface; typically, a voice model is trained on recordings of the target voice, and then a voice actor provides performance which is converted. Importantly, Respeecher emphasizes ethical use: it requires consent from the voice owners and has gained a reputation for an "ethics-first" approach in the emerging synthetic media field. Founding Story (2018): Respeecher was founded in February 2018 in Kyiv, Ukraine by Alex Serdiuk, Dmytro Bielievtsov, and Grant Reaber. Serdiuk and Bielievtsov are Ukrainian, and Reaber is an American speech technologist - the trio met through mutual research interests in speech processing. They realized that recent advances in deep learning could make high-quality voice conversion possible, and they set out to create a system far beyond the rudimentary voice changers of the past. In 2018-2019, they went through the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator (powered by Techstars) in the US, which gave them industry connections. Early on, Respeecher got a lucky break: it was approached to work on a high-profile but secret project - which turned out to be Lucasfilm's The Mandalorian (Season 2 finale in 2020). The task was to recreate the voice of a young Luke Skywalker as he would have sounded in the 1980s, using Mark Hamill's old recordings. Respeecher delivered successfully, astonishing Hollywood sound engineers. This successful debut put Respeecher on the map in the film industry. In subsequent months, they also worked on a Super Bowl commercial voicing Vince Lombardi (AI-cloned from archival audio). The Ukrainian team, working under NDA, built these groundbreaking demos which then led to word-of-mouth referrals in Hollywood. Product and Use Cases: Respeecher's core product is delivered as a service to content creators. A client provides audio of the target voice (e.g., recordings of a person) and Respeecher trains a custom voice model. Then the client (often a voice actor or the person themselves) provides the new dialogue, which Respeecher's system converts into the target's voice. One notable use case was the documentary short film "In Event of Moon Disaster" - Respeecher recreated President Nixon's voice to simulate him reading a speech that was written in case Apollo 11 failed, and this project won an Emmy Award in 2021 for Outstanding Interactive Media (Respeecher's team was credited for the voice work). Another big use case: Darth Vader's voice in 2022's Obi-Wan Kenobi series - James Earl Jones, aged 91, could no longer perform with the same power, so Lucasfilm used Respeecher to generate Vader's lines using Jones' archival voice data. This was done with Jones's consent (he effectively authorized the AI recreation of his iconic voice). The result was so good that audiences thought Jones had recorded the lines himself. Outside of film/TV, Respeecher has been used in video games (e.g., to recreate voices of deceased voice actors so characters can return), and in music - in 2022, it enabled artist Aloe Blacc to perform a song where his voice was converted to sound like the late Avicii's voice, as a tribute. Researchers and archivists have also shown interest in using it to restore voices for people who lost theirs (like throat cancer patients), although that's still experimental. Traction and Achievements: Though a B2B company, Respeecher gained public fame because of the high-profile nature of its projects. By 2022, virtually every Star Wars fan and many industry professionals had heard of Respeecher due to media coverage of its involvement in resurrecting Luke Skywalker's youthful voice and Darth Vader's classic tones. The company has a relatively small number of clients (dozens of studios, game companies, etc.), but each project is high value. Its technology earned it an Engineering Emmy Award in 2021, and it won TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield (audience choice) at CES in 2020. In terms of funding, Respeecher raised about $1.5M in early 2020 (around the Techstars time), and as of 2021 it had raised over $3M in total from investors including Techstars, ff Venture Capital, and Acrobator Ventures. The team remained fairly lean (under 50 people) but comprised specialized AI researchers and sound engineers. Financially, Respeecher's revenue grew with each Hollywood contract; while not public, one can infer that by 2022 it was profitable or close, given the repeat work from Disney/Lucasfilm and others. One of Respeecher's achievements is also on the ethical front: in 2023 it was one of ten companies (alongside OpenAI and TikTok) to sign the Partnership on AI's framework for responsible media, committing to practices like obtaining consent, watermarking AI content, etc. This proactive stance has made them a trusted partner in an area often seen with suspicion (deepfakes). The war in Ukraine did pose a challenge - much of Respeecher's team was Kyiv-based, and during the Russian invasion in Feb 2022, the team amazingly continued working (the Obi-Wan Kenobi Vader voice project was completed in the spring of 2022 while Kyiv was under threat). This dedication further earned them respect in the industry. Key Partnerships: Respeecher's notable partnerships are with major studios like Disney/Lucasfilm, and with game studios such as CD Projekt Red (who used Respeecher in 2023 to voice a character in Cyberpunk 2077 in Polish, whose original actor had passed away). It also collaborated with the creative team of the documentary "Val" to recreate actor Val Kilmer's voice, which he lost due to cancer (Kilmer and his son provided the training data). Each successful partnership validates the tech and leads to more clients. On the academic side, Respeecher worked with medical research to explore giving people who lost their voice (e.g., ALS patients) a chance to speak in their own reconstructed voice - a heartwarming application of the tech. Future Outlook: Respeecher sits at the forefront of AI in media. The demand for voice cloning is likely to increase - whether to dubbing movies in a star's own voice across languages, bringing historical figures' voices to life for museums, or personal uses (with permission, someone might license their voice). The company's focus will be to maintain quality leadership as big players (like Microsoft or Google) also invest in voice AI. Respeecher's Ukrainian origin is a source of pride: it shows that despite adversity, Ukrainian tech can lead globally in innovation. The founders have expressed interest in eventually developing real-time voice conversion (currently it's not instant, it takes some processing time) and making the tech more accessible perhaps in creator tools. But they tread carefully to avoid misuse. In summary, Respeecher is a Ukrainian deep-tech startup that achieved what was once sci-fi - lending voices across time and space - and has done so responsibly. By powering some of Hollywood's most iconic moments with AI, it has cemented itself as a trailblazer in synthetic audio. As long as movies and games want to push creative boundaries, Respeecher's technology will likely be in the credits, helping the impossible become possible in voice. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, failory.com, techcrunch.com, youtube.com.
Revoize, founded in 2023 and headquartered in Warsaw, develops real-time speech-to-speech AI infrastructure for programmable human voice. It is building an end-to-end transformer model that runs locally on devices to enable translation, accent transformation and audio-quality enhancement without cloud processing. Its low-latency, on-device approach targets use cases from real-time translation to accent normalisation for call centres and studio-grade voice reconstruction.
Rimac Technology is the engineering and technology arm of Rimac Group, building high-performance electric drivetrain components, battery systems, and vehicle technology for major automotive OEMs worldwide. Founded in 2009 by Mate Rimac in a garage near Zagreb, the company has grown into a global leader in EV hypercar engineering (Rimac Nevera) and supplies technology to Porsche, Hyundai, Koenigsegg, and others. Rimac also took majority ownership of Bugatti through a joint venture with Porsche. With its new campus on the outskirts of Zagreb employing over 2,000 people, Rimac is Croatia's most valuable technology company and one of Europe's most impressive deep-tech success stories.
Two-day high-tech expo and forum at the Karen Demirchyan Complex where Armenian R&D companies, engineering teams, and research centers showcase products across cybersecurity, defense, and engineering. Organized by the Union of ICT Employers with the Ministry of High-Tech Industry, with three thematic forum tracks and 50+ exhibitor booths.
Risto Siilasmaa is a Finnish serial entrepreneur and corporate board leader, best known as the founder of WithSecure (formerly F-Secure), one of the most recognized cybersecurity companies to emerge from the Nordic region. He served as Chairman of Nokia from 2012 to 2020, steering the company through its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent and its transformation into a major 5G infrastructure provider. Siilasmaa is a frequent keynote speaker on technology leadership and board governance and is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
Co-founder and former CTO/CPO of Improbable, where he led development of the SpatialOS distributed-simulation engine. He met co-founder Herman Narula at the University of Cambridge.
Develops grain-of-rice-sized microrobots designed to navigate inside the human brain to deliver therapeutic molecules, implant electrodes or collect cellular data, aiming to make neurosurgery safer and more precise for conditions including glioblastoma.
Robovision provides Industrial Vision Intelligence Infrastructure — a no-code platform that governs AI vision systems at scale across food & beverage, packaging, semiconductor and horticulture manufacturing. Rather than building one-off vision models, customers deploy Robovision to monitor, adapt and standardise all vision inspection points across multi-site operations as production conditions change. Founded in 2013 in Ghent by Jonathan Berte and Tim Waegeman, the company raised $42 M in Series A funding in 2024 led by Target Global, Astanor Ventures and Red River West, bringing total funding to $65 M. Robovision employs 130+ people and is expanding in the US and Europe.
Rijswijk-based robotics startup that automates EV charging for commercial fleets with a soft robotic arm guided by AI computer vision. Its M1 system serves up to ten robotaxi bays from a single overhead unit, eliminating the need for human cable connection in depot and industrial port operations. Raised $56M total, latest $13M from Capricorn Partners.
Runware is an AI inference infrastructure company offering unified developer access to AI models for image generation, video generation, and audio synthesis through a single API endpoint. It aggregates hundreds of model classes and many model variants, letting developers switch between models with minimal friction. Its core technology is the proprietary Sonic Inference Engine, a custom-built hardware-and-software stack optimised for AI inference across different hardware and cloud providers. Runware evolved from an earlier consumer image tool called PicFinder and operates from offices in London and San Francisco.
Austrian executive and Chief Executive Officer of Infineon Technologies Austria, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, and a prominent advocate for research, innovation and industrial competitiveness in Europe. She is an announced speaker at the 2026 Technology Talks Austria conference.
Sabrina Manisalco is the CEO and Co-founder of Algorithmiq, a Helsinki-based quantum computing startup developing quantum algorithms for pharmaceutical and life sciences applications. She is also a Professor of Quantum Information at the University of Helsinki, making her a prominent academic-entrepreneur bridging fundamental research and commercial deep tech. Manisalco is a recognized figure in the European quantum ecosystem and a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026.
ScanReach is a Bergen-based maritime IoT company founded in 2015 that provides wireless connectivity inside vessels and offshore installations. Its platform overcomes the challenge of wireless data transmission through complex steel environments, enabling real-time Personnel On-Board tracking for search and rescue, plus asset monitoring, fuel consumption analytics and equipment health data. The company raised NOK 40 million from Norwegian investor Sigurd Steen Aase and secured NOK 18.5 million from Innovation Norway for development milestones. ScanReach partnered with NAVTOR in 2024 to integrate onboard IoT data into the NavFleet ship operations platform.
Science Park Graz is a high-tech startup incubator in Graz, Austria, linked to the city's universities, that supports early-stage deep-tech and science-based founders. It provides incubation programmes, coaching, workspace and access to research and investor networks to help spin technology out of academia into companies.
Owner of Kulczyk Investments and founder of Manta Ray VC, Sebastian is a prominent growth and technology investor supporting globally scalable startups. Through both direct investment and ecosystem initiatives such as InCredibles, he has helped position Polish founders on international markets. His wider portfolio context includes involvement around major outcomes such as Base (acquired by Zendesk), and investments including Iceye and Brainly.
SemiQon is a Finnish quantum computing hardware startup pioneering silicon-based quantum processors. The company develops silicon quantum dot devices (SemiQit), cryo-CMOS transistors optimised for cryogenic environments, and quantum integrated circuit chips, with the stated goal of making quantum computers more affordable, scalable, and sustainable through standard silicon manufacturing techniques. SemiQon is a sponsor of Finnish Quantum Days 2026 and has partnered with the European Space Agency on space technology applications.
Builds real-time plant intelligence hardware for professional greenhouse growers. Its Sensie Omni device combines direct plant feedback with root-zone and micro-climate data to optimise irrigation, ventilation and climate strategy.
SIDO Lyon is Europe's leading B2B show for IoT, AI, robotics, and XR, organised by Infopro Digital Trade Shows at the Cité Internationale de Lyon on 16–17 September 2026. The 2026 edition gathers 300+ exhibitors and around 210 speakers across some 70 conference sessions, with dedicated zones for sustainable tech (Impact by SIDO) and collaborative robotics (Innorobo by SIDO).
Singular is a Paris-based venture capital firm focused on deep tech and frontier technology investments across Europe. Founded in 2014, the firm invests from seed through growth stages in companies building breakthrough technologies in AI, quantum computing, space, robotics, and advanced materials. Singular manages several hundred million euros and has backed notable European deep tech companies. The firm differentiates itself through deep technical expertise and a network of scientific advisors that help evaluate highly technical investments.
Synthetic data generation platform for computer vision AI. SKY ENGINE AI lets teams train and validate vision models on physics-based synthetic 3D datasets for defence, industrial inspection, retail, and autonomous systems, without the cost of collecting and labelling real-world data. Backed by Movens Capital.
One of the world's largest and most iconic startup and investor events, held at Messukeskus Helsinki. Attracts 13,000+ attendees, 4,000+ startups, and 2,500+ investors for curated matchmaking, founder stages, and side events. A must-attend for any European founder seeking Series A-B funding. Tickets from EUR 500.
SmartGateVC is a pre-seed and seed deep-tech venture fund co-headquartered in Yerevan and Glendale, California, founded in 2018. It focuses on AI applied to healthcare, biotech, security, and IoT, and manages a portfolio of over 40 companies. The fund is backed by Tim Draper and One Way Ventures, and the majority of its portfolio companies leverage Armenia for R&D operations.
Sofia Tech Park is Bulgaria's first state-owned science and technology park, incorporated in 2012 and officially opened in December 2015. It provides a business incubator supporting 40+ startups, 11 high-tech laboratories across ICT, life sciences, and clean energy, and the John Atanasoff Innovation Forum. The park hosts over 300 events annually and attracted more than 9 million BGN in company investment in 2023. It serves as a knowledge-economy hub for Bulgaria and the wider Balkan region.
The UK's space-industry expo and conference at ExCeL London, connecting space companies, defence, and the broader supply chain. For spacetech and deeptech founders it is the main UK venue to meet agencies, primes, and investors active in the space economy.
Speedinvest is one of Europe's most active pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firms, founded in 2011 in Vienna by Oliver Holle. The firm manages over EUR 600M across sector-focused funds covering fintech, deep tech, marketplaces, and industrial tech, with offices in Vienna, Berlin, London, Munich, and San Francisco. Speedinvest invests EUR 500K-2M initially and follows on to Series A, having backed 300+ companies including Bitpanda, GoStudent, Tier Mobility, Open, and Wefox. The firm operates a 40-person platform team providing hands-on support in hiring, legal, growth, and US market entry.
The 5th edition of Southeast Europe's flagship deep-tech and science-to-business conference, gathering 400+ speakers and around 40 breakthrough spinoff teams. It pairs university and research-spinoff founders with investors, clusters, and policymakers — strongly relevant for science-based founders raising early capital.
Spiros Anastasiadis is a professor at the University of Crete and a researcher at the FORTH Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, working on polymers, soft matter, nanostructured materials and surfaces. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Spore.Bio is a Paris-based biotech developing AI-driven microbiology testing for the food, beverage, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Its technology uses spectroscopic analysis combined with machine learning to detect, quantify and identify micro-organisms directly from a sample without traditional culturing, enrichment or staining, reducing testing time from days to minutes. The approach is intended to let manufacturers identify contamination risks quickly on or near the production line. The company raised a $23M Series A in February 2025 led by Singular, building on an earlier pre-seed round, and in January 2026 announced multi-million funding from the Google.org Fund for AI in Science.
Deep-tech firm manufacturing precious-metal-free alkaline electrolyser stacks (0.5-5 MW) and containerised green-hydrogen systems for refineries, steel and ammonia. Opened a Tallinn factory in 2025; backed by Repsol.
Student-run summit at Olma Messen with 7,000+ attendees, 1,000+ investors, and 1,500+ startups. Highlights include the START Summiteer pitch competition and high-volume investor-founder matchmaking.
Innovation hub and accelerator supported by Microsoft, nurturing deep-tech startups in biotech, nanotech, and digital sectors. Provides acceleration, access to University of Minho labs, and corporate partners; backed 120+ companies. Scope: Regional (Northern Portugal).
Startup festival at the University of Tartu Sports Hall with 3,500+ attendees, 350+ investors, and 400+ startups. Includes the sTARTUp Pitching competition (often with a EUR 300k+ syndication pool) and Brella-powered 1:1 matchmaking.
GU Ventures is the incubator and holding company of the University of Gothenburg and one of Sweden's longest-running university incubators. It helps researchers and entrepreneurs commercialise ideas from the university, providing seed funding, business-development support and workspace to build science- and technology-based startups.
The biggest startup event in Switzerland, returning to Eulachhallen Winterthur and joining the Swiss Startup Association umbrella in 2026. Targets ~9,500 changemakers across health tech, sustainability and deep tech with pitches, exhibitions and ecosystem networking.
Steady Energy develops the LDR-50, a simplified small modular reactor (SMR) delivering 50 MW of thermal output for zero-carbon district heating. Founded in 2023 as a spin-off from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the company raised €32 million and in February 2026 poured first concrete for a full-scale non-nuclear pilot plant inside Helsinki's former Salmisaari coal power station. Fortum and Finnish energy utility Helen are strategic partners. Steady Energy is also expanding to Sweden, targeting district heating decarbonisation across the Nordic region.
STEP Ri is a science and technology park established in 2008 by the University of Rijeka, together with the City of Rijeka and Primorje–Gorski Kotar County. It bridges academia and industry by providing business advisory, entrepreneurship training, office space, and access to the Enterprise Europe Network. The park supports university spin-offs and knowledge-based startups from concept to market.
Managing General Partner and co-founder of Indico Capital Partners, Portugal's leading independent venture firm. Formerly an executive at Caixa Capital, he has built Indico into a >€244M multi-fund platform and is one of Southern Europe's most prominent early-stage investors, backing companies such as Sword Health and Anchorage Digital.
Sting (Stockholm Innovation & Growth) is Sweden’s leading startup accelerator and incubator, founded in 2002 and based in Stockholm. Over two decades, Sting has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most successful support programs for high-tech startups. Each year, ~25 startups participate in Sting’s programs, which are tailored to ICT, sustainability, and deep tech ventures. Sting offers two main tracks: the Accelerate program (a shorter, intensive accelerator with investment) and the Incubate program (a longer incubation with office space and coaching). Startups benefit from SEK 400,000 (≈€35,000) in pre-seed investment via Sting’s Propel Capital angel fund, as well as hands-on mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs. Sting is notable for its extensive network in the Nordics – participants get access to 80+ industry mentors and introductions to a broad investor pool in Sweden and internationally. The results speak volumes: Sting has supported 270+ startups since inception, with a survival rate over 70% and multiple high-profile alumni. Success stories include Yubico (security keys unicorn), Sellpy (fashion recommerce, acquired by H&M), and ClimateView (climate planning SaaS). In addition to funding and coaching, Sting offers free office space at A House in Stockholm, product development labs, and perks from partners. The program emphasizes key performance indicators (KPIs) and growth milestones – Sting aims to help companies reach first customers, significant revenues, or Series A readiness within 6–18 months. Beyond individual companies, Sting has played a crucial role in Stockholm’s ecosystem: it co-founded SUP46 (Start-Up People of Sweden) co-working space and hosts Sweden’s annual Startup Demo Day. Sting alumni have collectively raised over €600 million. With the Swedish ecosystem maturing, Sting remains a cornerstone – providing new founders with structured support, an entrepreneurial community, and that all-important first investment to turbocharge their growth.
Sting Demo Day is the flagship pitch event of Sting (Stockholm Innovation & Growth), one of Sweden's leading startup accelerators. Carefully selected high-potential founders from Sting's climate, health, AI, and deep-tech programs each deliver a 3-minute pitch of their vision and growth plans. The invite-only audience gathers 200+ handpicked investors and ecosystem allies, making it a prime fundraising and networking moment in the Stockholm ecosystem.
Swave Photonics has developed the world's first true holographic display chip — the HXR spatial light modulator with sub-300 nm pixels — enabling AR smart glasses, heads-up displays and 3D video walls without waveguides or varifocal lenses. Spun out of imec in Leuven in 2022 by Theo Marescaux and Dmitri Choutov, the company closed a €27 M Series A in January 2025 co-led by imec.xpand and SFPIM Relaunch, followed by a €6 M Samsung Ventures-backed follow-on in June 2025, bringing total funding to over €43 M. The chip leverages CMOS manufacturing for mass-market cost structures, targeting OEMs in AR wearables and automotive HUDs.
Switzerland's national innovation conference in Basel, connecting Swiss corporates, ETH/EPFL spin-outs, deep-tech startups, and cantonal economic-development agencies. Content spans pharma innovation, precision manufacturing, quantum computing, and sustainable finance. 1,500+ attendees. Tickets CHF 300+.
The national robotics gathering, organised by ETH Zurich's RobotX at the StageOne Convention Center, showcasing Swiss robotics research, spin-offs, and live demos. For a robotics or hardware founder it concentrates the Swiss robotics talent pool, lab spin-offs, and industrial partners into one day.
The nationwide Swiss deep-tech catalyst event at Kursaal Bern, bringing startups, investors, corporates, and enablers together for one high-density day of 1-to-1 matchmaking, pitch sessions, and a curated deep-tech newcomers cohort. The single best day to compress months of Swiss investor and corporate introductions into a few hours.
Swisscom Ventures is the strategic corporate venture arm of Swisscom, Switzerland's largest telecom and ICT operator, and is one of the most active corporate venture investors in the Swiss ecosystem. Founded in 2007 and operating with offices in Bern, Zurich, and Silicon Valley, the firm invests in early- and growth-stage technology companies across cybersecurity, digital health, cloud infrastructure, AI, and network-adjacent deep tech, with particular interest in startups that can leverage Swisscom's distribution, data, or network assets. Portfolio companies have included Cato Networks, Mirakl, Scandit, Digital Asset, and Exeger. Swisscom Ventures pairs well with the traditional Swiss financial-VC bench by providing strategic commercial partnerships, regulatory navigation, and European telecom channel access alongside capital, which is particularly valuable for founders in regulated infrastructure categories.
Sybilla Technologies is a Bydgoszcz-based space-tech company specialising in space situational awareness, space traffic management and orbital safety. It designs, builds and operates robotic optical observatories and the software that automates data acquisition, analysis and scheduling across sensor networks. Its space domain awareness data serves national space agencies in Poland, Italy and France, as well as the European Space Agency.
International startup summit co-organized by the Turkish Presidency's Investment Office, bringing 5,000+ attendees from EMEA and Central Asia. Features the Take Off Pitch Contest with cash prizes, B2B matchmaking, and strong government support. Free for selected startups and investors.
TAKEOFF is a business incubator operated by the University of Malta's Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation (CEBI). It provides early-stage entrepreneurs with workspace, expert coaching, mentoring, and networking support at the Dar Ġużeppi Zahra building on the University of Malta campus. The programme works alongside Malta Enterprise and Business First to guide founders through a structured business-building process.
Tangent Line is a Warsaw-based venture capital firm that provides capital and hands-on business partnership to breakthrough industrial and deep-technology startups. Acting as a contact point between founders and investors, it backs companies with global ambitions and defensible technology from seed through expansion over a long-term horizon.
Helsinki-based decentralised social coding platform built on the AT Protocol, the same open standard powering Bluesky. Provides federated Git hosting, pull-request workflows, and social discovery for developers, positioning itself as a European alternative to GitHub. Raised €3.8M seed from byFounders with participation from GitHub's ex-CEO.
Tartu Hydrogen Days is a two-day international conference convening hydrogen-technology experts, entrepreneurs, scientists and policymakers to accelerate the hydrogen economy in Estonia, the Baltics and beyond. The 2026 edition, themed 'Future Energy Today', features international and local presentations, panels, workshops, an exhibition area and networking, drawing participants from Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.
Tech-Park Kaunas (rebranded from Kaunas Science and Technology Park in 2022) is Lithuania's largest science-business cooperation park, originating from the country's first business incubator established in 1998 and formally reorganised into a science park in 2006. Located at K. Petrausko g. 26 in Kaunas, it hosts over 100 companies working in IT, engineering, health technologies, social innovation, future energy, and sustainable chemistry. The park provides co-working space, a business incubator, soft-landing programmes for international companies, and access to KTU academic resources.
tech2b is a startup incubator in Upper Austria, based in Linz, that supports innovative, future-oriented founders in building and scaling their businesses. It runs structured incubation and pre-seed programmes, offering coaching, funding access and connections across the regional innovation ecosystem.
Baltic startup conference at Hanzas Perons with 2,300+ attendees and 250+ investors. Known for the Fifty Founders Battle (EUR 200k+ syndicate prizes) and strong Day 0 networking side events.
France's flagship B2B innovation matchmaking day at Parc Floral de Paris, organized around pre-scheduled 20-minute meetings between startups and industrial buyers. Designed for high meeting density and fast enterprise business development in Industry 4.0 and industrial transformation.
Technology Park Ljubljana (TP LJ) was established in 1995 and is one of the largest innovation ecosystems for the commercialisation of technology in South East Europe. It spans two locations with over 75,000 m² of workspace and hosts more than 300 companies and 1,500 employees, including notable Slovenian tech companies such as Cosylab and XLAB. The park provides incubation, mentoring, acceleration through its BALI programme, and networking for early-stage and growth-stage tech ventures. It is regarded as the foundational pillar of Slovenia's startup support infrastructure.
A two-day flagship innovation conference themed around technological leadership for a resilient Europe, organized by AIT. It convenes international experts and decision-makers from politics, industry and academia for keynotes, plenary debates, in-depth workshops and networking on technological sovereignty, resilient infrastructure and turning research into industrial strength. A strong fit for deep-tech founders and R&D-driven startups.
Luxembourg's national technology incubator, established in June 2012 by the state as a merger of the former Technoport incubator and the Ecostart business support infrastructures. Located at the Belval Innovation Campus, it hosts around 40 companies at any given time across ICT, health, space, and industrial sectors. Services include a business incubation programme, a fabrication laboratory, and coworking space. More than 150 companies have passed through since inception.
Connectivity and digitalization forum at ATTA Centre with 600+ speakers and guests covering digital sovereignty, AI adoption, 5G/6G, defence tech, digital identity, satellite connectivity and European data centres under the theme 'Security and Prosperity Through Digitalization and Connectivity'.
The 10th-anniversary edition of Northern Greece's flagship two-day tech event at the Port of Thessaloniki, bringing together young scientists, executives, startups, and investment funds. A dedicated startup platform focuses on climate tech, deep tech, and AI.
The island of Ireland's flagship tech-innovation conference, running in Belfast for the first time. Founders get a full-day programme of keynotes and panels, a startup pitch competition and showcase, and 600+ attendees mixing startups, enterprise, and investors — a good wedge into the Northern Ireland ecosystem.
Ted Persson is a Partner at EQT Ventures, the venture capital arm of EQT Group, one of Europe's largest and most active private equity firms. EQT Ventures employs an AI-driven sourcing approach through its proprietary Motherbrain platform to identify and back early-growth technology companies across Europe. Persson is a confirmed speaker and investor participant at NORDEEP 2026.
Local organizing team behind TEDAI Vienna, the official TED conference dedicated to artificial intelligence, produced in collaboration with TED. It curates three days of TED Talks, panels and workshops at the Hofburg for executives, AI builders, researchers and decision-makers from dozens of countries.
The official TED conference dedicated to artificial intelligence, featuring three days of TED Talks, panels and workshops on AI's future at the Hofburg in Vienna. It draws over a thousand guests from dozens of countries and hundreds of organizations, roughly a third of them executives plus AI builders, researchers and decision-makers. A premium, high-signal venue for founders engaging with global AI thought leaders.
Founded in 2016 by Andrus Oks and partners, Tera Ventures is a Tallinn-based early-stage VC that invests in born-global digital startups across Estonia and the broader Nordic-CEE corridor including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Czech Republic. The firm invests €200K–€1.5M from its €45M Fund II with substantial reserves for follow-on. Tera has been backing AI-powered innovations for over 15 years, spanning Enterprise SaaS and Robotics/DeepTech, and maintains offices in Tallinn, Helsinki, and Los Angeles. The fund has made 65+ investments across its lifetime, with a portfolio spanning fintech, network security, and AI.
Terra Quantum is a St. Gallen-based quantum technology company co-founded in 2019 by Markus Pflitsch to develop quantum-as-a-service algorithms and hybrid quantum-classical computing solutions. The company bridges near-term quantum hardware with practical enterprise use cases in finance, pharma, logistics, and energy by developing quantum algorithms that run on today's noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. Terra Quantum raised a Series A backed by Lakestar and Investcorp and has established research partnerships with academic institutions across Europe. It is one of the few European quantum software companies focused on customer-facing problem-solving rather than hardware development, and a key player in Switzerland's emerging quantum technology ecosystem.
Thomas Anthopoulos is a professor at the University of Manchester specialising in printed and large-area electronics, semiconductors and optoelectronic devices for energy and sensing applications. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Wrocław-based deep-tech company developing next-generation satellite communications payloads, SATCOM ground terminals and flexible telecom systems. Backed by ESA's HummingSAT programme; launched a pre-IPO targeting 30–35M PLN ahead of a NewConnect debut.
Tilde is a European AI-driven language technology company founded in Riga in 1991, with 150+ professionals across offices in Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn. The company specialises in neural machine translation, multilingual virtual assistants, and speech technologies for low-resource European languages. In 2025 it released TildeOpen LLM — a 30-billion-parameter open-source large language model covering 34 European languages, trained on the LUMI supercomputer after winning the European Commission's Large AI Grand Challenge with a €250,000 prize and 2 million GPU hours.
Venturelab's Top100 day combines a curated investor summit — handpicked startups raising their next round pitching to Swiss VCs — with the evening Top100 Swiss Startup Award ceremony. For a fundraising founder it is one of the highest-signal investor-matching days in Switzerland.
An international space-industry summit in Toulouse, Europe's space capital, organised by Novaspace with the Occitanie region. For spacetech and deeptech founders it is a focused venue to meet space agencies, primes, and investors shaping the resilient-space agenda.
Deep-tech transfer forum connecting research, startups, investors, and public sector partners. Price: about EUR 22 (visitor) to EUR 190 (full networking pass). Ideal for university spin-offs seeking tech transfer partners, grants, and R&D pilots.
Treble Technologies has built the world's first cloud-based sound simulation and synthetic audio data generation platform, enabling architects, engineers, car manufacturers, and tech companies to simulate acoustic environments up to 1,000x faster than legacy software. Founded in 2020 by acoustic engineers Dr Finnur Pind and Jesper Pedersen following nearly a decade of research, the Reykjavik startup raised €11M in a Series A round in September 2024, led by KOMPAS VC with participation from Frumtak Ventures, the European Investment Bank, and strategic partners Saint-Gobain & L-Acoustics. Its platform is used by three of the world's five largest tech companies and major global engineering consultancies.
Three-day tech and innovation festival organized by NTNU, SINTEF, and the City of Trondheim, showcasing the research-driven technology cluster of central Norway (robotics, ocean tech, autonomous systems, energy). Features deep-tech exhibitions, investor matchmaking, and startup demos from the Trondheim Tech Port cluster. Tickets NOK 500-2,000.
UMNAI is a Malta-based deep-tech AI company founded in 2019 by Dr. Angelo Dalli and Ken Cassar. The company has developed a neuro-symbolic Hybrid Intelligence framework that combines neural networks with symbolic reasoning, enabling AI systems to make consequential decisions that are explainable, auditable, and compliant with EU AI regulation. UMNAI's technology is deployed in financial services, healthcare, insurance, and justice, where regulatory accountability is non-negotiable. The company has been granted 30 patents with a further 22 pending, and Cassar represents Malta at the CEN/CENELEC JTC 21 AI standards committee.
Uni.Fund was founded in 2018 in Athens by Katerina Pramatari (Professor at Athens University of Economics and Business), Panos Lioulias, Sotiris Papantonopoulos, and Stelios Eliakis, with backing from the EquiFund programme. Fund I deployed €30M into 23 pre-seed and seed companies commercialising research from universities and research institutions across Greece and Europe. Uni.Fund II launched in 2023 with a €50M target, extending the same thesis to spin-offs and deep-tech startups at pre-seed through early Series A. Focus sectors include IoT, fintech, healthcare, robotics, and SaaS.
UniLab is Latvia's university-backed startup accelerator, jointly run by Riga Technical University, the University of Latvia, Riga Stradinš University, and the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. Its programmes include UniLab Elevate (incubation for technology-based university spinouts), Venture Catalysts (a commercialisation course for scientists), and UniLab Defence (co-led with NATO DIANA). Active since 2020, UniLab has supported more than 53 emerging startups with personalised mentoring and financial grants.
Founded in 2013 by Massimiliano Magrini (former Google Italy MD) and Paolo Gesess, United Ventures is one of Italy's leading independent technology-focused VC firms, with cumulative AUM approaching €500 million across three funds including a €150 million early-stage Fund III (launched 2023) and a dedicated growth vehicle, UV T-Growth. The firm targets software, fintech, cybersecurity, cloud, IoT, and marketplace companies predominantly at Series A, co-investing across Italy and Europe. Its portfolio of 51 companies has generated 10 acquisitions and 2 IPOs; landmark investments include Musixmatch (10x+ return on exit to TPG), Everli (Series C lead, €22 million), and Cleafy (Series B, 2026).
Valérie Bures is Partner and Managing Director for DACH at XAnge, a French institutional venture capital firm backed by La Banque Postale that invests in early-stage technology and deep tech companies across Continental Europe. She leads the firm's expansion and investment activities in the German-speaking European markets, covering Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Bures is a confirmed speaker at NORDEEP 2026, representing the Franco-German deep tech investment perspective.
Varjo designs and manufactures industrial-grade virtual and mixed reality headsets used in professional simulation, defence training, and engineering visualisation. Founded in 2016 in Helsinki by Nokia and Microsoft alumni, the company has raised over $200 million and pivoted strongly toward military and defence customers. In 2026 it launched ready-to-deploy XR systems for air-gapped and secure environments, backed by a €40 million R&D programme co-funded by Business Finland, and attracted a €5 million strategic investment from defence technology firm THEON.
Venionaire Capital is a Vienna-based boutique venture capital and advisory firm founded in 2012 by Berthold Baurek-Karlic. The firm manages venture funds focused on DACH-region technology startups, investing at seed and Series A in fintech, IoT, and entertainment tech. Venionaire combines direct fund investments with corporate innovation advisory services, helping connect startups with strategic corporate partners. The firm also organizes the ViennaUP conference track and provides M&A advisory for tech companies, positioning itself as a bridge between the Austrian startup ecosystem and international capital markets.
Venture to Future Fund (VFF) is a state-backed venture capital fund established in 2019 through a joint initiative of the European Investment Bank, the Slovak Ministry of Finance, and Slovak Investment Holding. It launched investments in June 2020 with an initial €40.4 million mandate, subsequently expanded by €15.3 million from the Slovak Recovery and Resilience Plan in 2024, extending its investment period through 2026. VFF focuses exclusively on Slovak innovative SMEs and EU companies with capital ties to Slovakia, deploying €400,000–€7 million per company. Since inception it has backed 16 companies including Photoneo, Sensoneo, Fuergy, and Powerful Medical.
Deep-tech B2B data vendor (formerly Soleadify) providing AI-curated firmographic and supplier data via APIs for sourcing, risk, underwriting and market intelligence across tens of millions of companies.
Industrial robotics company building autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and fleet-management software for warehouses and factories. VersaBox's platform coordinates mixed AMR fleets across intralogistics tasks and integrates with WMS/MES systems. Backed by Movens Capital.
Voima Ventures was founded in 2019 in Helsinki by Inka Mero, a serial entrepreneur and investor, and specialises exclusively in science-based deep tech spin-outs from universities and research institutions across the Nordics and Baltics. The firm raised its third fund of €90 million in 2023, bringing total assets above €100 million, and invests €200,000–€3 million at the earliest stages in biotech, quantum, AI, energy, climate, and life sciences. Over 70% of its 51 portfolio companies originate directly from academic labs, including Solar Foods. Voima is one of the few female-founded and female-led VC funds in the Nordics.
Luxembourg deep-tech startup developing heated polymer filaments using advanced nanocomposite materials for surface heating applications in electric vehicles and smart buildings. Its ultra-thin conductive wire enables efficient in-cabin and battery heating for EVs, reducing range loss in cold weather. Founded in 2022 by Vlad Batkhin.
Biopharma R&D company using AI-driven protein engineering and wet-lab directed evolution to design highly selective miniprotein therapeutics targeting disease mechanisms resistant to small molecules and antibodies.
Walerud Ventures is a Stockholm-based venture firm that backs Nordic deep-tech companies at the pre-seed and seed stage, working hands-on as investors, advisers and part-time operators rather than passive backers. Founded by members of the Walerud family, it focuses on 'planet-positive' science and technology and has helped build early Nordic deep-tech companies.
WeedBot builds autonomous laser weeding machines for organic vegetable farming, using computer vision and directed laser beams to destroy weeds without chemicals or manual labour. Founded in 2020 out of research at the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, the company raised €425k in a round led by Overkill Ventures in 2023. Its Lumina Laser Weeder is initially targeted at carrot cultivation, with plans to expand to other row crops.
Large-scale AI conference at the Palais des Festivals with 10,000+ attendees, 320 speakers, and 220+ exhibitors expected for 2026. Program tracks include AI for Business, AI Governance, and Health AI, making it a high-value venue for founders seeking enterprise pilots and investor visibility.
The 10th-anniversary edition of one of the world's largest AI summits, near Amsterdam, centrepiece of World AI Week with 100+ side events. Strong investor and big-tech presence for AI founders, with enterprise-AI and AI-engineering tracks.
XAnge is a French-German early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2003, with offices in Paris, Berlin, and Munich. Part of the Siparex Group, XAnge manages over EUR 600M and invests EUR 1-10M at seed and Series A in deep tech, impact, and digital transformation. The firm is particularly active along the Franco-German corridor and has backed companies including Lydia, Akeneo, Talend, and Studitemps. XAnge differentiates with a strong focus on sustainability and B2B software, and its bi-national positioning helps portfolio companies expand between France and the DACH region.
YES!Delft is a renowned tech incubator in the Netherlands, focused on turning university research and technical inventions into successful startups. Founded in 2005 by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) – one of Europe’s top engineering schools – YES!Delft has grown into a deep-tech startup ecosystem supporting hardware and high-tech software ventures. The incubator offers a 3-4 month validation program for idea-stage teams, longer-term incubation for growth-stage startups, access to specialized labs and maker spaces, and connections to TU Delft’s extensive research facilities. Over the past 20 years, YES!Delft has incubated nearly 500 startups, collectively valued at over €1.2B. Notable alumni include Ampelmann (offshore access systems, now a global marine company) and E-nevia (electric mobility). The sectors span AI, robotics, medtech, aerospace, clean energy, and more – reflecting Delft’s engineering strengths. The incubator actively leverages partnerships: it works with corporates like KLM (aviation) and NS (railways) for pilot opportunities, and with government initiatives for grants. Startups at YES!Delft benefit from an entrepreneur-centric approach; the incubator was twice ranked a global top 5 university incubator by UBI Index. It offers an in-house venture fund (UNIIQ) that provides proof-of-concept funding (~€100k) to the most promising teams, bridging the gap to seed rounds. YES!Delft’s campus in Delft has co-working, an auditorium for events, and proximity to cutting-edge labs (e.g., quantum computing labs at QuTech). It has expanded with satellite branches in Rotterdam (focused on port and logistics tech) and The Hague (focused on AI and security) to tap regional industries. The name YES stands for “Young Entrepreneurs Society,” underscoring its community vibe: seasoned mentors, many of whom are TU Delft alumni entrepreneurs, guide newcomers. With continued support from TU Delft and the city, YES!Delft is a cornerstone of the Dutch innovation ecosystem – ensuring that inventions from classrooms and labs (like next-gen drones, solar cars, or medical devices) find their way to market via robust startups.
Professor at the Université de Montréal, Turing Award laureate and a founding pioneer of deep learning, and Co-President of the LawZero AI-safety initiative. He is an announced speaker at the 2026 AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.
Zeabuz is a Trondheim-based maritime autonomy startup founded in 2019 as a spin-off from NTNU. It develops autonomous, zero-emission electric ferry systems for urban waterways, combining advanced sensors, navigation and AI to operate without a crew. In 2023, Zeabuz and Torghatten launched Estelle in Stockholm — the world's first commercial autonomous passenger ferry. In 2025 the company signed a Letter of Intent with Haugesund municipality for Norway's first autonomous city ferry, connecting three urban waterfront locations, and is providing autonomy solutions to additional Scandinavian ferry operators.
Zagreb Innovation Centre (ZICER) is a publicly supported hub offering incubation, acceleration, and coworking services for tech startups. It runs four acceleration tracks (Startup Factory, Growth, Global, Deep Tech) backed by a EUR 300,000 investment fund, and provides access to ZICERLab for hardware and product development. The centre houses roughly 80 companies across sectors including AI, IoT, greentech, and electronics.
IEEE Zooming Innovation in Consumer Technologies conference at University of Novi Sad, themed 'Outsmarting the Narrative: People, AI, and Technology' — applied research and industry talks on AI, trust, and consumer tech.