On May 7-8, the EU-Startups Summit will celebrate its 2026 edition at the iconic Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta. As one of Europe’s premier startup events, this gathering promises two days of networking, inspiration, and learning, bringing together top founders, investors, corporates, and startup enthusiasts from across Europe.
With two stages, a jam-packed agenda, a vibrant exhibition hall, and an exciting pitch competition, the event will also welcome up to 300 investors eager to discover Europe’s most promising startups. Below, we’re thrilled to introduce you to 100+ investors who have already secured their tickets.
Aarish Shah: Founder at VC firm EmergeOne, providing CFO support for venture-backed tech startups from Seed to Series B and beyond. They help manage capital, extend runway, track metrics that matter, and stay investor-ready. Fundraising, M&A, exit prep, board reporting, strategic finance – without the full-time cost.
Aiman Al Zakwani: Co-founder and CEO at Madarek Innovation. With a background in technology, startups, and management consulting, he focuses on driving digital transformation and open innovation initiatives across the GCC region. Earlier in his career, he held finance leadership roles at Halliburton.
Alan Darmanin: As CEO at ISB Technologies Alan focuses on helping businesses adopt modern digital solutions in the property and logistics sectors. He is an occasional business angel and has helped develop the PropTech sector in Malta, supporting the digital transformation of the local real estate industry.
Alberto De Nova: Founder at Midas, a global investment matchmaker for corporate clients, family offices, and wealthy individuals. An entrepreneur and business strategist with +25 years of experience in real estate, international business development, and high-net-worth client services. His work centres on helping startups and companies secure funding, enter new markets, and build strategic partnerships.
Alex Farcet: Co-founder and lead at Raspberry Ventures, a private syndicate co-investing in ClimateTech and AI, mostly in VC-led Seed rounds, in Europe, the US and Africa. He previously co-founded Rainmaking, a corporate innovation and venture development firm. He was also the initial spark behind Startupbootcamp, a global accelerator network which has supported & invested in 1000+ startups.
Alexander Zemlyak: Principal at Geek Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in pre-Seed and Seed-stage startups across various sectors. With nearly a decade of VC experience, he brings expertise in B2B software, data, and scaling businesses. Previously, he led investments at LETA Capital and held key roles at Founders Factory and Magical Capital.
Ana Fernandez: Venture Capital Investor at Nauta, a European VC firm with over €550 million AUM focused on early-stage B2B software startups. Based in London, she supports founders across sectors like AI, FinTech, and enterprise software. Nauta invests in high-growth companies across Europe, leveraging its expertise and network to scale innovative technologies.
Angelo Burgarello: Managing Partner at Look AI Ventures, a venture capital firm specialising in pre-Seed and Seed investments in AI-driven startups tackling global markets. Angelo is also actively involved as an Investor Director and Board Member in several innovative ventures, contributing his expertise in business development, IT, AI, and automation.
Ann-Christine Roope: Active business angel, and also the founder and Partner at Ethan Partners, an executive search and talent advisory company supporting startups, private equity-backed businesses, and multinational corporations. The firm specialises executive recruiting, and global expansion hiring across more than 50 markets.
Anna Badurska: Managing Partner at 42 Global Ventures. She focuses on supporting companies in the HealthTech, Life Sciences, and AgeTech sectors by helping them secure capital, build strategic partnerships, and scale internationally. Her work centres on developing innovation ecosystems and supporting startups with fundraising, growth strategy, and deal-making.
Arjun Sirohi: Operations and Acceleration Director at Soulmates Ventures, specialising in optimising processes, enhancing productivity, and driving scalability for portfolio companies. With over 20 years of experience in strategy and operations, he collaborates with founders and executive teams to develop tailored solutions, maximising growth and impact.
Betul Yucel: Founding Director at IF Consultancy. With more than 20 years of experience as a consultant, mentor, and coach, she works at the intersection of organisational psychology, human-centred AI, and impact investing. Her work focuses on supporting organisations and startups in driving cultural transformation, sustainable innovation, and measurable social and environmental impact.
Bianca Panchetti: Founder of La Casa, a co-living project for Seed stage founders in Italy that offers mentorships, co-living spaces and community events for members. She is a polymer and materials scientist with an interest in entrepreneurship and in developing solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. She is focused on contributing to the growth of the Italian startup ecosystem.
Bjoern Schaettgen: Chief Growth Officer at Match-Maker Ventures. With more than 20 years of experience in international corporate environments, including roles at Samsung and Philips, he focuses on enabling successful collaborations between corporates and scale-ups. Over the years, he has helped enable more than 200 partnerships and influenced over €500 million in pipeline or revenue.
Bosco Amann: Head of Marketing & Business Development at Acurio Ventures, an early-stage VC. He leads brand strategy, business growth initiatives, and strategic partnerships across the firm’s European ecosystem. He works closely with founders, LPs, and corporate partners to strengthen collaboration, increase portfolio visibility, and support long-term value creation.
Charles Sidman: Founder and Managing Partner at ECS Capital Partners, investing in Seed and growth-stage tech companies. After an early career in tech and biomed research, he spent more than four decades working across fields including immunology, genetic engineering, genomics, and complex systems science.
Chrissie Masters: An entrepreneur and art market specialist with more than two decades of experience in the valuation and sale of 19th and 20th-century design, she has overseen transactions worth over £4 million. She is the founder of Palladium Vaults, a platform combining AI and expert insight to appraise and facilitate the sale of high-value tangible assets.
Clara Reich: Senior Associate | Platform & Investments at Antler, where she leads the Antler Platform and Investments in Denmark, and works across scouting, residency and portfolio. Antler is one of the world’s most active early-stage investors. They operate in 30+ cities worldwide and have supported over 8,000 entrepreneurs to date.
Clément Sauvage: Associate Principal at Aquilae Ventures, investing between €10k-50k 4 to 5 times a year in promising businesses all around the world. An entrepreneur and active business angel, he has more than 12 years of experience supporting startups in the design and development of innovative digital products, including mobile and web applications.
Dmitry Firskin is a Partner at the venture capital firm AltaIR Capital. Dmitry has 15+ years of experience in tech and venture capital and has been deeply involved in our investments across B2B SaaS, FinTech, and Future of Work, working closely with founders across the US, Europe, and Israel.
Elena Casolari: Co-founder and Executive President of the Fondazione Opes-Lcef, an early-stage impact fund providing patient capital investment. She previously served as CEO of ACRA for 10 years and spent over a decade working on emerging markets at investment banks, including HSBC, Dresdner Bank, and Nikko Securities.
Elie Zemmour: Founding Partner at Awake Partners, a consulting firm specialising in fundraising. They support startups in their growth journey through their expertise and network. They craft your fundraising documents (pitch deck and business plan) before connecting startups with a qualified network of VC firms and family offices.
Elisa Vrieze: Startup Lead at Lely, an AgTech company focused on dairy farm innovation. They focus on collaborating with startups developing solutions for the future of farming. Through partnerships that combine industry knowledge, funding, and access to testing facilities and a global network, they support startups in validating and scaling innovations for the dairy sector.
Elisabet Nyquist: General Manager at Opes-Lcef, an early-stage impact investor that provides patient capital and management support to social enterprises that improve the lives of low-income people. Opes-Lcef uses a gender lens investing approach in deploying capital. She previously worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Elna Bisha: She works in the Innovation Network Development team at Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Centre, supporting collaboration across startup ecosystems, corporates, and research institutions. Her work focuses on emerging technologies and innovation trends across sectors such as life sciences, the space economy, and the circular economy.
Emmie van Halder: Emmie is an angel investor and business development professional focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With more than 25 years of experience in foreign direct investment and international business development, she supports companies in accessing funding and expanding into new markets.
Ena Uffelmann: Investment Associate at G+D Ventures, a TrustTech fund investing predominantly in early-stage European TrustTech startups developing solutions for greater security and trust in the digital world. G+D shapes trust in the digital age, with built-in security technology in three segments: Digital Security, Financial Platforms and Currency Technology.
Ewa Chronowska: CEO and founder of Vestbee, a leading platform empowering startup founders, VC funds, angels, accelerators and corporates with the right community, infrastructure, and tools to succeed. Entrepreneur, startup mentor and investor with 15+ years of experience in consulting and investments.
Fabiana Pompermaier: EU Project Manager at EBAN – European Business Angel Network, the pan-European representative for the early stage investor community gathering over 150 member organisations in more than 50 countries. EBAN represents a sector estimated to invest €11.4 billion a year.
Florian Kandler: Startup fundraising consultant and educator at GetFunding.how. Florian has raised €3 million+ for two of his own startups. Since 2012, he has been teaching and advising 3000+ founders, who went on to raise over €1 million, on how to find the right investors, have better investor conversations, and raise faster.
Friedrich von Wulffen: Principal at Burda Principal Investments, providing long-term growth equity for fast-growing digital technology and media companies. BPI invests early growth capital (Series A, B, C) in scalable technology businesses with the potential to become global category leaders.
Hanim Dogan: Partner at Prime Advantage Capital Partners. She serves as a board advisor to startups, supporting founders with growth strategy, business planning, operational optimisation, and fundraising. Her work focuses on helping companies secure equity capital and scale successfully across sectors such as ClimateTech, health and wellness, consumer products, AI, FinTech, and EdTech.
Hans Peter Blahowsky: Startup catalyst at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria’s largest research and technology organisation. He works on supporting the creation and development of research-based spin-offs. The institute’s entrepreneurship programme helps transform R&D results into startups by guiding business models, market validation, and technology transfer.
Hynek Sochor: Founder at Soulmate Ventures, a sustainable innovations accelerator and venture capital firm. Their focus is on investing in Seed-stage companies with strong environmental, social, and governance values and global growth potential. The firm combines hands-on startup development with investment, committing up to €1 million per project and often leading funding rounds.
Igor Madzov: Investment Director and co-founder at Nest. He is an entrepreneur and angel investor actively supporting the development of the startup ecosystem in Southeast Europe. He has facilitated more than €25 million in investments across nearly 30 startups through angel syndication and community initiatives.
Iwona Safi: Founder at Niemeyer Heritage Foundation, Tripoli. A strategist, evaluator, and policy analyst with more than two decades of experience in international development and humanitarian programmes, she has worked with institutions including the EU and several UN agencies.
Iwona Anna Biernat: COO at Project Europe and Co-Lead at EU-INC. She works at the intersection of law, venture, and policy, focusing on improving the environment for startups and investors across Europe. Earlier in her career, she helped build global legal processes at Entrepreneur First and later advised emerging fund managers, family offices, and venture capital firms on fund operations and strategy.
James E. Mister: Venture Partner at Beyond Earth Ventures. With more than 15 years of experience across product, growth, and investment strategy, he advises VC firms, governments, and technology companies on applied AI, R&D partnerships, and scaling DeepTech innovation. He previously led the investment and innovation office of the Bavarian government in Silicon Valley.
Jaren Schippert: Associate at identity.vc, a fund backing LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. The €50 million impact fund invests in startups with LGBTQ+ representation in the leadership team, targeting early-stage companies across all sectors from pre-Seed to Series A in Europe and beyond.
Jens C. Schneiders: Managing Partner at Schneiders Ventures, an entrepreneurial management and investment platform to support selected companies in phases of transformation, growth, or realignment. An executive leader with more than 27 years of experience as CEO, COO, and Managing Director, he has led and scaled organisations across scale-ups, mid-sized companies, and corporate environments.
Joe Seager-Dupuy: VC Director at True, a consumer and retail sector-specialist investment and advisory firm. Joe’s focus is on investments from pre-Seed to Series A. His work centres on consumer and retail startups, particularly tech and tech-enabled business models. In addition to capital, he supports founders through sector expertise and access to a global network of more than 200 corporate partners.
Jonathan Ramaci: Managing General Partner at Great Product Ventures, accelerating client companies in the US by providing funding, governance and commercialisation services. With more than 20 years of experience in technology innovation, product design, and business development, he focuses on sectors including consumer products, IoT, green energy, healthcare, and micro-mobility.
Joseph Taliana: Director and Co-Founder at ISB Technologies. A systems engineer and ICT infrastructure strategist with more than 25 years in enterprise IT, he specialises in designing and managing complex technology environments. He has led ICT infrastructure projects for major hospitality groups and property developers, with a focus on improving operational efficiency and smart building integration.
Karmen Kutnjak: Director at Centar za poduzetništvo d.o.o., an organisation dedicated to supporting the development of SME in Croatia. The centre provides services such as business planning, mentoring, training, and support for national and EU-funded projects. It also manages a network of business incubators in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, helping entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.
Kim Balle: Co-founder and CEO of Global Startup Awards and XO group, driving global innovation by connecting startups, corporates, and governments. As an entrepreneur and investor (GSA Ventures), he specialises in strategic funding, ecosystem building, and brand development, helping startups scale and thrive.
Kirsten Borggreve: As the Head of her Family Office, she manages their existing investments while actively pursuing strategic opportunities for growth. They are an international family with deep roots in Germany and a longstanding history in the logistics industry in Ecuador. She brings over a decade of experience in the shipping sector, complemented by a background in startups.
Kyrylo Goncharuk: CEO and Founder at CheckEye, an AI-driven platform for mass screening of chronic diseases to enable preventive healthcare. With a background in IT, he focuses on advancing digital transformation in healthcare, particularly through initiatives aimed at the early detection and prevention of diabetes.
Leyla F Karaha: Founding Partner at Equisscore. An entrepreneur and social innovation advocate, she focuses on building ecosystems that support women-led technology ventures and social impact initiatives. Her work centres on empowering underrepresented founders, fostering global collaboration, and using technology as a force for social good.
Lia Hruby: Investor at Futury Capital. She focuses on investing in early-stage tech companies and supporting their development and growth. Launched in cooperation with the State of Hesse, the fund provides capital and strategic support to promising startups. Through the Futury Growth Fund, the organisation also backs scale-ups and international companies expanding into Germany.
Lianne Bergeron: Head of Global Industry Partnerships at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (Hogeschool Utrecht). An ecosystem builder with more than two decades of experience connecting founders, companies, and communities around emerging technologies. She has co-founded a tech startup and served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Antler in Amsterdam.
Lucas E. Roemer: Managing Director at Roemer Capital, a boutique investment and fundraising advisory firm dedicated to supporting early- and growth-stage founders. They have helped clients raise over $500 million. With a background in investment banking and private equity at firms, he also brings operational experience as a former CFO of an investor-backed startup and is active as an investor himself.
Lucas Paul: Investment Director at Redstone, a VC whose focused approach with specialised investment teams for each strategy has enabled them to develop strong sector expertise and networks. Lucas builds and manages Redstone’s early-stage Health & Education fund, with initial tickets between €500k and €1.5 million.
Maaike Doyer: Founder and Managing Partner at Epic Angels, a global community dedicated to making angel investing more accessible to women. The network focuses on early-stage startups, investing from pre-seed to Series A while strongly supporting female leadership. With a background in finance, she also trains investors worldwide on angel investing and supports startups with fundraising and financial strategy.
Maarten ter Keurst: Managing Partner at Natural Ventures. He focuses on investing in technology companies addressing global water and food security challenges. The firm supports portfolio companies with capital as well as access to a network of industry experts and partners across the Middle East and Asia.
Maja Križan: COO at Business Angels of Slovenia, an angel investment club that connects local startups with angel investors and VC’s both at home and internationally. With more than two decades of experience in sales and procurement development for major Slovenian companies, she focuses on building strong partnerships between startups and investors.
Marcel Dridje: GCC Ambassador at EBAN – European Business Angel Network, the pan-European representative for the early stage investor community gathering over 150 member organisations in more than 50 countries. EBAN represents a sector estimated to invest €11.4 billion a year.
Marcus Haberstroh: Managing Director (COO/CFO) at SpinLab – the HHL Accelerator, supporting startups with mentorship, investment, and scaling strategies. He is also the founder of BITROAD GmbH, focusing on innovation and digital transformation. With extensive experience in business development and organisational transformation, he helps startups optimise their growth and operational structures.
Marlieke Lingmont: Head of Startup Innovation at Lely, an AgTech company focused on dairy farm innovation. They focus on collaborating with startups developing solutions for the future of farming. Through partnerships that combine industry knowledge, funding, and access to testing facilities and a global network, they support startups in validating and scaling innovations for the dairy sector.
Massimiliano Sulpizi: Founder and CEO at EquityMatch. A serial entrepreneur with experience founding six companies and achieving three successful exits, he has advised businesses across sectors, including finance, energy, infrastructure, technology, and real estate. He serves as an advisor and board member to multiple startups and SMEs.
Matei Dumitrescu: Head of Romanian operations, Venture Partner at Fil Rouge Capital. As an impact-focused angel and venture capital investor with more than 15 years of experience, he has backed over 50 startups across various sectors. He is also Vice President of TechAngels and serves as a jury member for the European Innovation Council Accelerator.
Matthieu Valettas: Business Incubator Manager at AVRUL-incubateur, helping emerging growth companies to survive and grow. Its main offerings include business plan elaboration, marketing training, network building, and expert advice. As a true interface between the research and business worlds, AVRUL provides support in establishing partnerships.
Mehmet Boyaci: Managing Director at SCC Investments. An entrepreneur and active investor with nearly four decades of experience across sectors, including retail, finance, and education, he focuses on supporting early-stage startups with strong growth potential. Having built and scaled multiple businesses himself, he brings practical insight into the challenges founders face.
Michal Sikyta: Investment Director at Soulmates Ventures, leading investments in bold, green innovations with a focus on sustainability and long-term impact. He plays a key role in identifying and supporting startups that drive environmental and social change, acting as a bridge between entrepreneurs and investors to accelerate growth.
Michiel de Jongh: Founder and CEO of Valorem Management, an investment and advisory firm focused on AgTech, digital trading, and strategic investments. Valorem supports high-potential early-stage companies, leveraging Michiel’s global expertise to drive innovation and growth in agriculture and adjacent industries.
Miguel Borg: CEO of Malta Venture Capital, a VC that manages a €10 million fund by investing in startup companies operating within the digital economy and innovative economic sectors that contribute to the Maltese economy. Miguel brings a wealth of knowledge from his diverse career in finance and risk management, alongside his academic role as a lecturer at the University of Malta.
Milana Dovzhenko: Angel Investor at AngelsWay. Her primary focus is on pre-Seed investments, targeting startups from ideation to initial funding rounds. The primary requirement is that the company must be formally established, allowing it to support entrepreneurial ventures right from their foundational stages.
Monika Uziel: Startup Scout & Assistant to the Management Board at Startup Angels Alb-Bodensee, connecting early-stage startups with investors and mentors. She supports founders in securing funding, refining business models, and navigating the startup ecosystem to drive innovation and growth.
Necati Gunkan: Director at BGFS Capital. Based out of Cyprus and active since 2007, BGFS Capital is made up of financial advisers that provide comprehensive Financial Planning and Wealth Management advice to high-net-worth individuals and Portfolio and Risk Management advice to institutions.
Noémi Szabó: Based in Vienna, Noémi is a Senior associate and key player at Elevator Ventures, the venture arm of Raiffeisen Bank International. The firm backs growth-stage fintech and deeptech startups, and Noémi actively looks for European founders with scalable solutions and cross-border ambitions.
Oriane Yehoshua: Senior International Investment Advisor at FIT – Flanders Investment & Trade. In this role, she supports international business development and investment relations between the UK and Flanders. Earlier in her career, he worked as an Audit Supervisor at KPMG, focusing on financial reporting, treasury processes, and regulatory compliance.
Paulo Andrez: Advisory Board Member at ESNA. Paulo is an angel investor, serial entrepreneur, and author of the book Zero Risk Startup. He is a former President of EBAN and has been involved in numerous successful investments, including Sword Health, which became a unicorn in 2022.
Peter Kovacs: Co-founder of IseeQ and an active business angel. A serial entrepreneur, global connector and angel investor known for challenging the status quo through unconventional strategies – fostering an exceptional network that unites entrepreneurs, experts, and investors across tech and innovation ecosystems worldwide.
Piotr Godzinski: Partnerships Director, EMEA at Techstars. Techstars helps entrepreneurs succeed. Through the Techstars Worldwide Network, founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow.
Purvi Munot: Co-founder and CEO of SAV, where she focuses on building next-generation financial services infrastructure at the intersection of open finance, AI, and consumer behaviour. Her experience centres on launching and scaling innovative consumer financial products and FinTech solutions.
Radoslaw Wierzbicki: CEO at Unsung Heroes – Ventures For Humanity, which has supported and accelerated more than 200 social entrepreneurs from over 20 countries. In addition to his work in social innovation, he is a co-founder of several startups. He is also active as a mentor for social startups and researchers, focusing on the impact of development aid and entrepreneurship.
Robert Timms: Director at Earth Capital. An entrepreneur and advisor focused on strategy and sustainable growth, he was previously Managing Director and co-founder of Translate Plus. The company grew into a top language service provider before being acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2017. He now advises businesses and non-profit organisations on growth strategy and international expansion.
Ruben Devogelaer: Head of Unit, Cleantech Equity and Growth Capital at European Investment Bank (EIB). His team focuses on supporting growth-stage ventures, typically from Series A onwards, helping them scale technologies that contribute to Europe’s decarbonisation and competitiveness goals.
Severine Obertelli: Founder and Director at Conscious Ventures Global, a firm that supports founders and entrepreneurs through venture building and ecosystem development. Its work aims to support founders, companies, and investors in building businesses that achieve sustainable and regenerative growth.
Silvia Lupu: Founder and CEO at FounderSquare. She focuses on building founder and investor communities that foster meaningful collaboration and long-term partnerships. She is involved with and invests in sectors such as AI, semiconductors, private credit, and real estate. Her work centres on connecting capital, community, and high-growth opportunities.
Simina Berceanu: VP of People at the Barcelona-based scale-up Immfly. A technology people leader with extensive experience building scalable HR infrastructures for global companies across EMEA, APAC, and the United States. Also, Simina is an active business angel and a member of Women2Invest.
Sophie Ehrlich: Head of Startup growth at EIT Health, she is a healthcare investment and business development professional with more than 20 years of experience across digital health, HealthTech, and MedTech. Her background combines operational roles in industry with experience in startup banking and funding, supporting companies from the seed stage to pre-IPO.
Stefano Magnoni: Vice President at Opes-Lcef, an early-stage impact investor that provides patient capital and management support to social enterprises that improve the lives of low-income people. Opes-Lcef uses a gender lens investing approach in deploying capital. He holds a PhD in Environmental Physics and has been active in the fair trade and social economy movement since 1990.
Susana Santos Nogueira: Advisor for Social Innovation and Health at Amadora Innovation. She supports the development of startups focused on social innovation and healthcare. With more than 20 years of experience in public administration, she has specialised in public policy management and the coordination of multidisciplinary teams.
Susanne Rost: Senior Grants Manager at SpinLab – the HHL Accelerator, supporting startups with mentorship, investment, and scaling strategies. Since 2014, startups participating in this accelerator programmes have raised more than €650 million in funding with a survival rate of 87%.
Talia Rafaeli: General Partner at KOMPAS VC, a venture capital firm focused on backing startups that drive digital transformation and sustainability across major industrial sectors. She plays a key role in identifying and investing in early-stage companies that are reshaping manufacturing, energy, and the built environment with innovative and sustainable technologies.
Tarek R. Besold: Representative of Trust Tech Ventures, a VC backing the ‘trust stack’ for transformative AI. An R&D and innovation executive with experience across digital health, AI testing and certification, and AI for scientific discovery, he has worked in both corporate and startup environments, leading advanced research and product development teams.
Thando Mazomba: Venture Development Manager at Oceanhub Africa. She works at the intersection of sustainability and the ocean economy, focusing on collaborative initiatives that support marine conservation and climate action. Her work centres on promoting inclusive sustainability while contributing to the development of solutions that address environmental challenges in the marine sector.
TJ Jackson:Partner at GSD Venture Studio, inviting resilient teams to establish partnerships that ensure organisations grow the right way. Based in Helsinki, he is also a Business Coach and Business Adviser for various companies, offering business coaching services and a variety of training programmes and resources for entrepreneurs, large corporations and startups.
Tomáš Kabeláč: Sustainability and Innovation Manager at Soulmate Ventures. He focuses on sustainability-driven investments across sectors such as energy, mobility, health, and digital technologies. In his role, he evaluates and supports innovative startups addressing environmental and social challenges, having reviewed thousands of ventures and met more than 500 sustainability-focused startups.
Vanesa Arroyo Nares: Startup Director at Andbank. With more than 20 years of experience across life sciences, research, and entrepreneurship, she works on designing and evaluating innovation and startup systems for founders, corporations, and institutions. Her focus lies in assessing startups beyond pitch decks, identifying execution-ready teams, and supporting decision-makers.
Vazil Hudak: Vazil is an investor with extensive experience in finance and public policy across both government and international institutions. Former minister, VP of EIB and senior banker skilled in Corporate Social Responsibility, Political Science, Analytical Skills, Banking, and Government. Earlier in his career, he worked in senior banking roles at JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.
Vera Uvarova: Marketing and Communications Lead at CAAN Alternative Asset Management, where she leads end-to-end brand, design, and marketing execution across digital and offline touchpoints. At the investment firm CAAN her work focuses on creating user-centred digital experiences that combine artistic vision with functional design.
Volker Hirsch: Partner at Brainworks Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm for AI-native founders. A technology entrepreneur and investor with experience across AI, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, enterprise SaaS, and digital health. He has founded and scaled multiple ventures, contributing to early mobile entertainment and gaming platforms and building large-scale mobile content distribution networks.
Xènia Colomer Martin: EU Projects Manager at EBAN – European Business Angel Network, the pan-European representative for the early stage investor community gathering over 150 member organisations in more than 50 countries. EBAN represents a sector estimated to invest €11.4 billion a year.
Youssef Boughlem: General Director at AVRUL, helping emerging growth companies to survive and grow. Its main offerings include business plan elaboration, marketing training, network building, and expert advice. As a true interface between the research and business worlds, AVRUL provides support in establishing partnerships.
Zeynep Koruturk: Founding & Managing Partner at Firgun Ventures, a VC firm investing in Series A and B quantum computing, sensing, and communications scale-ups worldwide. Previously, she co-founded the Goldman Sachs Tech Initiative. Over the years, she has engaged with more than 2,000 startups and has been involved with several companies as an angel investor, board member, or advisor.
Malta Enterpriseis Malta’s economic development agency, facilitating economic growth, investment, and innovation by offering a range of support services for local and foreign enterprises setting up a productive presence in Malta. As a key player in Malta’s economic landscape, it contributes to the nation’s prosperity by attracting investments, supporting businesses, and driving innovation, thereby reinforcing Malta’s position as an attractive destination for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Malta Enterprise actively cultivates a vibrant startup ecosystem, playing a pivotal role in fostering a conducive environment for startups and offering tailored support and incentives to empower emerging businesses.
M. Demajo Groupis a leading business player in Malta, with a successful history spanning 115 years. The Group’s growth and diversification have resulted in a wide coverage of business sectors through a commitment to long-term results. M. Demajo Group’s workforce is 500 strong and their various activities have been developed through organic growth, acquisitions, partnerships, and startups. Its strong financial situation and ethical standards, its business reputation, and its renowned track record as a business partner are all key factors in its continued expansion.
The IONOS Cloud Start-up Program provides young companies with up to €100,000 in cloud credits for up to five years after their founding. Start-ups benefit from a sovereign IT infrastructure “Made in Germany,” offering 100% GDPR compliance and full legal certainty. IONOS Cloud guarantees technological freedom without vendor lock-in. Long-term support is also ensured: exclusive discounts after the first year enable a seamless transition into the IONOS Cloud ISV Partner Program. In this way, digital sovereignty becomes a strategic competitive advantage from founding to scaling.
Clément Sauvage: Associate Principal at Aquilae Ventures, investing between €10k-50k 4 to 5 times a year in promising businesses all around the world. An entrepreneur and active business angel, he has more than 12 years of experience supporting startups in the design and development of innovative digital products, including mobile and web applications.
Elena Casolari: Co-founder and Executive President of the Fondazione Opes-Lcef, an early-stage impact fund providing patient capital investment. She previously served as CEO of ACRA for 10 years and spent over a decade working on emerging markets at investment banks, including HSBC, Dresdner Bank, and Nikko Securities.
Stefano Magnoni: Vice President at Opes-Lcef, an early-stage impact investor that provides patient capital and management support to social enterprises that improve the lives of low-income people. Opes-Lcef uses a gender lens investing approach in deploying capital. He holds a PhD in Environmental Physics and has been active in the fair trade and social economy movement since 1990.
