Steen Rasmussen

Director of Data Innovation, Thought Leader, Co-Founder @ IIH Nordic

At IIH Nordic, Steen Rasmussen is driving and building a new understanding of how organizations can unlock higher returns from the data they already have. He does this through focus workshops, individualized training, and mentoring sessions that align teams, sharpen priorities, and turn accessible data into measurable results.

Andrew Mende

Senior Product Manager Machine Learning @ Booking.com

Andrew Mende is a Senior Product Manager Machine Learning at Booking.com, where he leads the team responsible the ML model powering the company's hotel search.

Alex Lim

General Partner @ IVP

Growth-stage investor at IVP, helping scale breakout companies into market leaders. Lim has a strong track record of investing in and supporting category-defining technology companies, such as Discord, UiPath or Slack.

Zoltan Vardy

B2B Sales & Growth Mentor @ The Launch Code

Helps B2B tech founders master high-ticket sales with 30+ years experience and $2B+ in closed deals. Former $150M revenue leader at NBCUniversal. Created The Launch Code blueprint trusted by 200+ founders in 26 countries.

Abdul Rahman

Senior Product Owner @ COGNIGY, ex-Porsche

CSPO-certified product manager driving enterprise AI development. Leads LLM integrations, RAG-based knowledge systems, and NLU product strategy. MBA in Operations Management with fintech background. Specializes in scalable GenAI solutions for enterprise clients.

Staffan Helgesson

General Partner @ Creandum

Staffan is a General Partner with early-stage VC at CREANDUM, always looking for amazing entrepreneurs with the ambition to disrupt global industries. He has invested in Bolt, Epidemic, Spotify, Monta, Enode, Twaice, just to name a few.

Julius de Gruyter

Investor @ Cherry Ventures

Investing in impactful startups at Cherry Ventures and co-founded krisenchat, a free 24/7 crisis counseling service for young people via WhatsApp. 500+ counselors helped in 150,000+ crisis situations since 2020.

Andrei Danescu

Founder & CEO @ Dexory

Founder & CEO @ Dexory Revolutionizing logistics with autonomous technology and real-time insights. Building the ultimate digital twin platform that gives companies instant access to their operations. Creating superintelligence in motion through AI, robotics, and supply chain innovation.

Iwona Anna Biernat

Legal Strategy Lead @ EU-Inc

Legal Strategy Lead @ EU-Inc Legal strategist empowering solo GPs and emerging funds across Europe. As a fractional operations partner and VC operator, Iwona bridges legal expertise with venture operations to accelerate fund growth

Aggelos Mouzakitis

Product Growth @ IBM

Aggelos Mouzakitis leads Product Growth at IBM Observability, specializing in SaaS monetization and customer-led growth. With over a decade of experience across startups and enterprise tech, he is known for his practical, no-nonsense approach to scaling revenue and optimizing product strategies.

Sitar Teli

Managing Partner @ Connect Ventures

Seed and early-stage investor focusing on $500k-$2M rounds in European internet and mobile companies. Backs product and design-led startups with global ambitions, helping founders scale from concept to market leadership.

Мary Ivanova

Business Journalist @ Capital BG

Mary Ivanova covers the latest developments in business, finance, and the startup ecosystem at Капитал, one of Bulgaria's leading economic and financial publications, bringing nuanced understanding of market dynamics and emerging trends in venture capital, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Xenia Muntean

Co-founder & CEO @ Planable

Xenia Muntean leads Planable, a content review and marketing collaboration platform that helps more than 15,000 creators coordinate social content for brands such as Hyundai, Christian Louboutin, Viber, and the United Nations.

Vlad Andriescu

Editor in Chief @ start-up.ro

Vlad is the editor-in-chief of start-up.ro, the main source of information on startups in Romania. Vlad has been following the local startup ecosystem for the past few years and is more interested in failures than success stories because he considers there’s more to be learned from the sincerity of a defeat.

Tobias Winczer

Investor @ Balderton Capital

Tobias Winczer is an accomplished venture capital investor at Balderton Capital, one of Europe’s leading technology investment firms. Based in London, Tobias covers the Nordics, Baltics, and Central & Eastern Europe, identifying and supporting ambitious founders across the continent.

Thomas Macaulay

Managing Editor @ TNW

Thomas Macaulay shapes the editorial vision at TNW (The Next Web), a leading technology media brand that delivers news, analysis, and thought leadership on global tech innovation to diverse audiences worldwide.

Tarek Reslan

Content Marketing Manager @ Sendcloud

Tarek is a former computer science graduate turned marketing expert, specializing in areas like landing page optimization, paid acquisition, and content creation, particularly video. Passionate about sharing his knowledge, he has created numerous online courses and trained over 1,500 professionals as a trainer at Growth Tribe.

Stefan Walter

Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Nap

Stefan holds degrees in finance, tax law and business administration, and supports founders in areas such as funding, fundraising strategy, financial modeling, and investor communications.

Romeo Mann

Founder & Customer Delivery Manager @ MAN.digital

Revenue Operations expert with 10+ years at TMI, DHL, Electrolux. Founded MAN Digital in 2016 to solve B2B sales and marketing challenges. Executive MBA graduate, podcast host, startup mentor. Speaks on RevOps and growth strategies.

Raya Yunakova

Principal @ LAUNCHub Ventures

Raya Yunakova leads early-stage investments at LAUNCHub Ventures, one of Central and Eastern Europe's leading venture capital funds focused on AI, SaaS, fintech, automation, and cybersecurity companies.

Rain Tamm

General Partner @ Siena Secondary Fund

Rain Tamm specializes in secondary market transactions at Siena Secondary Fund, providing liquidity solutions for early investors, founders, and employees of high-growth startups across Central and Eastern Europe and Nordic regions.

Ondrej Bartos

General Partner @ Credo Ventures

Ondrej is an early-stage investor, with investments in UiPath, PriceFX, Productboard, and many more. He supports innovative ideas to help entrepreneurs reach their goals, execute their visions, and boost the economy Ondrej experienced his first successful business endeavor before he graduated from college in 1996.

Oana Cosman

Startups & Investments Editor @ start-up.ro

Oana Cosman guides the Startups & Investments coverage at start-up.ro. She brings nearly two decades of experience in business journalism and has spent six years dedicated to the startup landscape—now shaping the conversation as the Unicorn Officer. She champions authentic storytelling across written features, documentary filmmaking (“Roaring Tigers of Europe”), multimedia content, and video scripting.

Mikita Martynaū

CEO & Co-Founder @ Skarbe

With deep SaaS product management background helping scale a unicorn from $10M to $100M in revenue, Mikita brings user-centric perspective to sales automation that eliminates administrative overhead for non-salespeople.

Mihai Stanciu

Head of Digital Innovation @ PPC Romania

Mihai Stanciu drives transformation through cutting-edge technology as Head of Digital Innovation at PPC Romania, combining strong management background with entrepreneurial spirit to deliver impactful projects that elevate brand presence and operational efficiency.

Léa Samrani

Director of Product Growth @ Aperture

Léa Samrani helps you grow your app through focused, test-driven experimentation. She ran over 30 high-impact experiments in five months and boosted MRR by 50 percent using tools like Purchasely and Amplitude — no custom infrastructure required.

Leonard Eldić

Founder @ SaaStanak

Built the largest SaaS community in Central & Eastern Europe. Organizes premier events featuring real founder stories of scaling from $0-10M ARR. Connects SaaS companies and leaders across the CEE region through community-driven experiences.

Laurin Class

Investment Team @ Earlybird Venture Capital

Laurin Class concentrates on early-stage enterprise software investments at Earlybird Venture Capital, specializing in developer-focused companies across DevOps, Data, AI, and Cybersecurity domains from his Munich headquarters.

Laurentiu Ghenciu

Founder @ HatHawk

With over 20 years driving revenue growth and scaling high-performing teams across SaaS, FinTech, security, and enterprise sales companies globally, Laurentiu Ghenciu combines deep domain expertise with AI automation technology to streamline sales operations for fast-growing companies.

Kate Ivanova

Senior Product Manager @ Booking

Kate Ivanova is a dynamic Senior Product Manager at Booking.com in Amsterdam, where she spearheads the creation of a pioneering AI-powered trip planning experience. With over eight years of expertise building and scaling both B2B and B2C SaaS products, Kate specializes in leading discovery, experimentation, and 0→1 product development—always anchored in measurable user satisfaction and business impact.

Karol Szubstarski

Partner @ OTB Ventures

Karol Szubstarski specializes in Series A funding for breakthrough deep tech companies at OTB Ventures, a leading pan-European fund managing over €300 million in assets across SpaceTech, Enterprise Automation & AI, FinTech Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity sectors.

Karol Lasota

Partner @ Inovo.vc

Karol Lasota is Partner at Inovo.VC, backing ambitious CEE founders. With roots in entrepreneurship and VC, he’s known for spotting high-potential startups early and driving proactive sourcing.

Iván Vaszkó

Senior Journalist @ Forbes Hungary

Iván Vaszkó shapes Forbes Hungary's coverage of e-commerce, business, technology, and entertainment through sharp, data-driven reporting that has established him as a respected voice in Hungary's media landscape since 2021.

Ioana Teleanu

Founder & Design Consultant, ex-Miro & UiPath @ AI-R Design Studio

Ioana is a design leader & speaker focused on the AI space, being also the creator of a thriving UX community of over 220k people. Her first AI designed product, Clipboard AI, won Time magazine's Best Invention of 2023 award.

Imran Ghory

Partner @ Blossom Capital

Imran Ghory co-founded Blossom Capital in 2018, helping build one of Europe’s standout Series A venture firms. He specializes in generative AI, developer infrastructure, and cybersecurity, backing promising companies such as Checkout.com, Tines, Spacelift, Pigment, and Cado Security. His technical background—from engineering to algorithmic systems—enables him to assess startups at both code and boardroom level.

Gyorgy Simo

Managing Partner @ Day One Capital

György Simó is a prominent figure in Central and Eastern Europe’s tech investment landscape, renowned for his deep understanding of both media and venture capital. As Managing Partner at Day One Capital in Budapest, he specializes in fueling early-stage, B2B software ventures across the CEE region, blending entrepreneurial instinct with investor experience.

Gillian Armstrong

Senior WW Builder Specialist Solutions Architect @ AWS

Gillian Armstrong is a Senior Solutions Architect on the Builder team at Amazon Web Services, specializing in Generative AI solutions. She brings extensive full-stack development and architectural experience to her role, supporting the design and implementation of scalable, cloud-native systems—often with a serverless-first approach.

Florian Schweitzer

Partner @ b2venture

Florian Schweitzer co-founded b2venture in 2000 to solve the problem that European entrepreneurs lacked access to experienced angel investor networks, transforming the firm from an online platform connecting entrepreneurs with business angels into one of Europe's most experienced and innovative VC firms.

Felix Martinez

Principal @ Seedcamp

Felix Martinez sources and supports early-stage startups at Seedcamp, Europe's leading seed-stage venture capital fund that has invested in over 490 companies including unicorns like UiPath, Wise, Revolut, wefox, Pleo, Sorare, Grover, viz.ai, and Synthesia.

Ervin Luga

Head of Venture Capital Investments @ EBRD Venture Capital

Ervin Iuga leads investment strategy across sectors and stages at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development VC team, dedicating his efforts to backing visionary entrepreneurs who have the ambition and technology to build world-class companies that become global leaders in their markets.

Eric Weber

CEO and Founder @ SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator

Eric Weber bridges the Central and Eastern Europe and DACH startup ecosystems through his passionate dedication to building connections that accelerate regional innovation. As founder of SpinLab Group and SIVentures, Weber has created and supported over 180 startups through award-winning programs including SpinLab – The HHL Accelerator and RootCamp while serving as active seed investor via Smart Infrastructure Ventures.

Emanuel Martonca

Founder, Pricing Strategist @ Soft Fight

Emanuel Martonca applies years of negotiation insight and pricing strategy to change how B2B software and IT services firms price their work. He’s led over 300 pricing and sales negotiations since 2012, representing both buyers and sellers, and helps companies shift from traditional time-based billing to value-driven pricing models.

David Peterson

Partner @ Angular Ventures

Invests in ridiculously early B2B and deep tech companies. Former early employee at Airtable where he built the growth team, bootstrapped founder, and seed investor at Founder Collective. Brings operator experience to early-stage investing.

David Cendón Garcia

News Editor @ EU-Startups

Leads daily content creation covering Europe's startup ecosystem for 300,000+ monthly readers. Manages breaking news, industry insights, and data-driven analysis. Based in Barcelona, reporting on European tech developments and startup community.

Cate Lawrence

Senior Writer @ Tech.eu

Tech journalist covering European startups and innovation. Experienced in content strategy, market analysis, and multimedia storytelling. Creates everything from articles to whitepapers while facilitating industry conferences and podcasts.

Bojan Stojkovski

Editor in Chief @ IT Logs

Award-winning tech journalist covering Balkans innovation for 10+ years. Featured in Foreign Policy, WSJ, and ZDNet. Currently exploring AI, defense tech, and fintech across Western Balkans. Avid storyteller and meme enthusiast.

Balazs Haszonics

Managing Partner @ Lead Ventures

Balázs Haszonics leads investment strategy at Lead Ventures, deploying over €100 million in capital to high-potential startups across Central and Eastern Europe in sectors including energy, mobility, retail, IoT, chemicals, and sustainability.

Alexandre Dewez

Partner @ 20VC

Backs ambitious founders across North America and Europe from Pre-Seed to Series A. Leverages 20VC's media platform to build innovative products that enhance investment capabilities and founder support.

Alexander McLeman

Strategic Solutions Architect @ Alibaba Cloud

Alex McLeman is a Strategic Solutions Architect at Alibaba Cloud in London, backed by more than nine years of deep expertise in cloud computing. He is passionate about building strategic customer relationships and applying advanced technologies like Generative AI to propel business innovation and sustainable growth.

Alexander Agureev

Investor @ Northzone

Alex focuses on growth-stage companies across enterprise, fintech, and infrastructure & developers both in Europe and on the East Coast. He is particularly interested in verticalized solutions that cater to underserved market niches and have the potential to disrupt sleepy market incumbents.