Investment Partners
Spotlight 2024
Spotlight is the leading startup program and competition in Eastern Europe, organized by How to Web Conference.
*Applications for Spotlight are closed. Apply for Startup Tickets to join us 🚀
Spotlight is How to Web Conference’s matchmaking program and competition for the most promising Eastern European startups.
Every year, more than 300 startups apply to join the leading startup program and competition in the region and compete for investment prizes and opportunities.
This year, Spotlight finalists can win a €350k investment prize syndicated by Underline Ventures, Startup Wise Guys, and Gapminder VC or decision-level meetings with top-level European funds.
The Spotlight Experience
Matchmaking & Mentoring
Imagine connecting with experienced mentors, savvy business minds, and forward-thinking investors who know the ins and outs of Eastern Europe. These mentors are your secret weapon for gaining insights, avoiding pitfalls, and making strategic moves.
Investor Meetings
We’re lifting the curtain on the world of investment. Discover what investors really want to hear, get tips on perfecting your pitch, and open doors to funding rounds that can catapult your startup forward.
Seasoned investors from leading European funds such as Credo Ventures, Creandum, Atomico, Early Bird, SeedCamp and many more are joining How to Web Conference.
Expo Area
Grab your spot in the Expo Area and show your stuff. This is your chance to present your product, gain exposure, and make connections with the right people who can help your startup soar.
What better way to get feedback on your product than from a tech-savvy audience?
Pitch on Stage
Bold entrepreneurs and their startups that change the world really glow in Spotlight. Seize the stage and get your company off the ground, as all eyes will be on you.
Step on stage and pitch for the grand investment prize. Leading European investment funds and investors join forces to award the most talented Eastern European founder. Spotlight’s investment prize can play an immense role in your startup journey 🏆
The Spotlight main winner will access €350,000 in funding from Startup Wise Guys, Underline Ventures and Gapminder VC.
Applications for Spotlight 2024 are closed. Apply now for Startup Tickets to join us! 🚀
Apply for Startup TicketsCriteria
Spotlight is dedicated to all early-stage startups in Eastern Europe that have the eagerness to take their business to the next level. If you meet the following criteria, apply for the most engaging startup competition:
✅ Stage of Business
You have an early-stage startup, less than 5 years old and with less than €700k fundraised.
✅ Stage of Product
You have launched the product and it gained some traction.
✅ Attending Startups
In order to be eligible for Spotlight, you must have a Startup Ticket for How to Web Conference 2024. You can do this either before your pre-application or after.
Steps
1
Apply
⌛ Jun 1 - September 1
Applications for Spotlight 2024 are open throughout the summer.
2
Announcing selected startups
⌛ September 16
Announcing the 40 selected startups to enter Spotlight
3
Semifinals
⌛ October 2
All 40 startups selected will pitch on the Startup Stage of the conference
4
Top 5 finals
⌛ October 2
Final pitch of top 5 startups on the main stage of the conference
5
Win the investment-prize
⌛ October 2
The grand winner is announced on the conference main stage
6
Matchmaking
⌛ October 3
Curated 1:1 meetings between 40 startups and mentors.
Jurors & Mentors
Els
Aerts
Co-Founder @ AGConsult
Els helps companies better understand their customers and generates improved online experiences for them, relying on User Research and solid data. Over time, Els has moderated over 3,500 Usability tests for companies such as AtlasCopco, Orange, Daikin, Yoast, and Bridgestone.
Csongor
Biás
Managing Director @ Startup Hungary
Csongor Biás is the Managing Director of Startup Hungary, spearheading efforts to invigorate the local startup ecosystem. Before this role, he founded two coworking spaces and gained experience with venture capital firms and accelerators. He also contributed to launching Vacuumlab's operations in HU
Eva
Arh
Venture Capital Investor @ 3VC
Eva Arh is a venture capital investor. Prior to 3VC, she was a startup consultant in Austria’s biggest high-tech incubator INITS, supporting early-stage tech companies with business modelling, fundraising and business development. She has been also part of management teams at tech startups.
Iulia
Porneala
Product Advisor @ MyGenie
Iulia is passionate about product management, solving problems and bringing people together. Customer-centric and entrepreneurial-minded product leader, she has a proven track of success in 0 to 1 setups. Iulia is driven by customer excellence and innovation, and high-quality results.
Remus Radvan
Head of Venture Strategy @ Wayra UK
Remus helps high-growth ventures scale by investing capital and facilitating commercial and distribution opportunities with corporates. He is part of the teaching staff of the venture capital module at UCL, offering future entrepreneurs and VCs a hands-on and insightful experience about the venture
Bojan
Stojkovski
Editor-in-Chief @ IT Logs
Bojan is a versatile reporter, currently exploring AI, defense tech and fintech, but always open to covering diverse and exciting topics in the Western Balkans countries. Currently Editor in Chief at IT Logs, his work has been featured in magazines, journals, and outlets such as Foreign Policy, WSJ.
Silviu Homoceanu
CTO & Founder @ Deltia.ai
Silviu Homoceanu is the Founder and CTO of Deltia, where he leads the development of AI-driven solutions to optimize and digitize manual processes in industrial settings. With a Ph.D. in computer science, Silviu is an expert in machine learning and computer vision. His career includes leading the development of a robot taxi service at Volkswagen and founding a startup in the security industry.
Moritz Daan
Partner & Founder @ Phiture, Soundcloud
Moritz Daan is the Founder & Partner at Phiture, a leading mobile growth consultancy. With over a decade of experience, Moritz specializes in app store optimization (ASO) and mobile growth strategies. He's the co-author of "Advanced App Store Optimization" and a recognized thought leader in the industry.
Alain Abou-Atmeh
Growth Marketing Strategist @ Growth Tribe
Growth Marketing Strategist and Public Speaker at Growth Tribe, with more than 10 years of experience in the digital marketing arena. His career journey started with social media marketing and gradually expanded to include email marketing, customer support, performance marketing, and SEO
Arielle Kilroy
CEO @ Dado
Arielle is a co-founder and CEO at Dado, an Employee Experience Management startup. Previous to founding Dado, Arielle has been a Webby Honoree Product Leader at a variety of different orgs from Epic Records to Sierra Club to Small Improvements. She's a conference speaker and mentor as well as a trainer at Practical Product.
Botty
Dimanov
CEO & Founder @ Tenyks
Botty Dimanov is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tenyks, a groundbreaking startup initiated at the University of Cambridge. With a PhD in Explainable AI, Botty has pioneered technology that transforms how machine learning engineers interact with AI, making their work more efficient and less stressful. Under his leadership, Tenyks has developed a platform that significantly improves data quality, accelerates development cycles, and enhances AI model performance, all while aiming to make AI safer and more accessible.
Costin Busuioc
Product Manager @ Snyk
Costin Busioc is an experienced Product Manager at Snyk, where he is instrumental in developing security products tailored to developers. His expertise spans across multiple facets of developer-centric technologies, focusing on enhancing user experience while promoting secure development practices.
Sorin Sfetcu
Industry Manager @ Google
Experienced digital marketing professional with a strong background in performance marketing, analytics, and education, having trained over 3,000 individuals. Extensive experience across B2C and B2B sectors, including telecom, banking, and e-commerce, with proficiency in Adobe and Google tech stacks
Aleodor Tabarcea
Engineering Manager Developer Experience @ Snyk
Aleodor leads efforts to enhance developer workflows and improve the overall product experience. Snyk, a developer security platform, focuses on empowering development teams to find, prioritize, and fix security vulnerabilities in real-time, covering areas like code, dependencies, containers, and cloud infrastructure.
Georgi Mitov
Managing Partner @ Bright Cap
Georgi Mitov is a co-founding Managing Partner at BrightCap Ventures, an early-stage fund based in Sofia. With over 20 years of experience in software, entrepreneurship, aviation, and venture capital, Georgi has a proven track record in investing, co-founding, and advising startups. Georgi is passionate about product ideas that can transform our lives and enjoys helping such startups grow.
Vojta
Rocek
Partner @ Presto Ventures
Vojta is an exited founder of Stories.bi, where he transformed his long-standing expertise in business intelligence, data analytics, and applied AI into a B2B enterprise SaaS company – one that Gartner recognized as one of the most innovative players in the augmented analytics space.
Adam Csuhai
Principal @ Lead Ventures
Ádám Csuhai is a Principal at Lead Ventures, where he brings over five years of M&A experience, specializing in advising on successful capital market deals. With a strong background in corporate finance, Ádám has played a pivotal role in selling private companies in Hungary and continues to leverage his expertise to drive growth in the investment landscape.
Adriana Iordan
VP of Product and Marketing @ SeedBlink
Adriana Iordan is the Chief Product & Marketing Officer at SeedBlink, where she combines her passion for building great products with a knack for growing companies internationally. With deep expertise in eCommerce, payments, and SaaS, Adriana leads teams with a hands-on, collaborative approach, always focused on delivering measurable results.
Dan Mihai Dinu
Engineering Manager @ Bolt
Dan Mihai Dinu is an Engineering Manager at Bolt, where he leads the engineering efforts behind Bolt Food, focusing on scaling the platform’s operations across Eastern Europe. With extensive experience in hyper-growth startups and a passion for building teams from the ground up, Dan is dedicated to fostering talent and driving product innovation.
Nikola
Velkovski
CEO & Founder @ HeyReach
Nikola Velkovski is the CEO and Co-Founder of HeyReach, the leading agency-first LinkedIn Outreach Tool. Nikola has a deep passion for scaling outreach strategies, empowering agencies to maximize their LinkedIn engagement with HeyReach's innovative multi-account outreach capabilities.
Dusan Zabrodsky
Investment Partner @ Rockaway Capital
Dušan has been with Rockaway since 2014, focusing on Mall Group, Heureka, and various startups. His deep expertise in scaling startups and transforming large portfolio companies drives his investment strategy. Prior to Rockaway, Dušan consulted for international startups on market expansion and hel
Bogdan Batog
Software Engineer @
Bogdan Batog co-founded Sailo.com and was the first engineering hire at Stellar Health, where he played a pivotal role from prototype to Series B and beyond. Bogdan is known for his contribution to a key dividend distribution algorithm dubbed the “billion-dollar algorithm” by Paradigm Research.
Roger Blott
Founding Partner @ Fil Rouge Capital
Roger Blott is the Founding Partner at Fil Rouge Capital, where he leverages his extensive 30-year career in telecommunications, technology, and investment to support early-stage businesses. With a global leadership background, he has managed and grown companies across the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia, contributing to more than $2 billion in transactions.
Tarik Dutkuner
Associate @ 500 Emerging Europe
Tarık Dutkuner is a Venture Capitalist at 500 Emerging Europe, where he focuses on investing in and supporting early-stage startups across Eastern Europe and Turkey. With a keen eye for identifying high-potential companies, Tarık leverages his expertise to help founders scale their businesses and drive innovation in the region.
Thomas McSorley
General Counsel @ NATO - Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)
Thomas McSorley serves as General Counsel for NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), where he focuses on legal aspects of cutting-edge technology and national security. With a strong background in law, including previous roles at SpaceX and Rebellion Defense, Tom has deep expertise in information security, export controls, and international trade law.
Phil
Hornby
Product Expert, Founder and Director @ for product people
Phil is a product leader with a strong technology and business background. He is a strong believer in working cross-functionally, where Product takes ownership and creates a bridge between all parts of the business, supporting, empowering and providing direction for all.
Jessica Bartos
Principal @ Salesforce Ventures
Jess Bartos is a Principal at Salesforce Ventures, where she focuses on investments in EMEA, specializing in areas like AI/ML, developer tools, and B2B fintech. With a background in investment banking and a passion for supporting the next generation of technology companies, Jess brings a wealth of expertise in both finance and tech to her role.
Dmitri Liberman
COO @ Port
Dmitri is the COO at Port, driving mobility transformation through e-hubs. With over 10 years of leadership at Uber, Bolt, and Delivery Hero, he's scaled businesses and led strategic growth. Dmitri also invests in emerging tech, focusing on innovation in the U.S., Israel, and Europe.
Alumni
RAUL POPA
CEO and Data Scientist @ TYPINGDNA
“Startup Spotlight was a great opportunity to interact with other entrepreneurs and with seasoned professionals who could provide guidance for growing our company. We have incorporated many of the things we learned through the HTW experience into our business and believe that it brought us an extraordinary launching opportunity.”
Sandra Idjoski
Co-Founder @ Collabwriting
“The whole experience was amazing, especially as it was our first time attending How to Web. We didn’t know what to expect, but by far the most valuable were all the networking opportunities. The whole team was incredibly diligent and dedicated, everything was set up so that we as startups could get the most value from the event and connect with the right people.”
Lisa Popovici
Co-founder @ Cartloop
“ Winning Spotlight brought us an extra validation that the product is working and people believe in our vision and roadmap. We are really grateful for the opportunity to make amazing connections and gain valuable feedback which came at the right time and boosted the growth of Cartloop over the following months.”
See you at How to Web Conference 2024!
Applications for Spotlight are closed. Apply for Startup Tickets to be part of the most electrifying event 🚀
Apply for Startup Tickets