Seedstars World (SSW), the global community and platform for entrepreneurs in technology in emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, is hosting Seedstars Summit, the second of the annual CEE Summit that connects the most relevant players in innovation and technology with the world and between each other. Tickets are available now on seedstarscee.com

The Summit is organized by the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets Seedstars World and hosted by local ambassador organisation Creative Space Chasopys in strategic partnership with Omidyar Network in order to impact startup ecosystem in Ukraine and CEE. The event is also supported by Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.

After hosting competitions in 11 CEE countries throughout 2017, identifying the most promising startups and analyzing the local ecosystems, Seedstars World is now bringing together the best and most promising entrepreneurs with ecosystem players, mentors, investors, corporates and other entrepreneurs across the continent.

Last year, the conference took place in Astana, Kazakhstan and gathered 450 attendees, 18 startups, 38 mentors and speakers with 122 one-to-one meetings held during the event.

The CEE Regional Summit will last for 3 days and bring together over 600 attendees commencing with a bootcamp for the participating startups, an ecosystem tour, investor day and culminate with a Conference and Pitch event on December 7 that will feature the startup pitches, keynotes, and panel discussions that will engage a range of topics and ideas pertinent to entrepreneurs in the region.

“We have been on a long and interesting journey when it comes to entrepreneurship and technology in emerging markets. As part of the Seedstars DNA we want to be on the ground working directly with startups, corporates and other stakeholders. This is exactly the reason why we are travelling to 88+ ecosystems globally this year. We are very excited to be able to bring the entire network together in Ukraine in December and together look into some of the opportunities of the continent and explore how technologies can rapidly improve the current status quo in emerging markets worldwide,” says Igor Ovcharenko, Business Developer at Seedstars.

THE CONFERENCE – The summit will consist of number of keynote speeches, fireside chats and panel discussions addressing a wide range of emerging market specific challenges over a number of different industries (EduTech, EnergyTech, AgTech, Fintech, Healthtech, Civic Tech and more). These sessions are part of Seedstars’ global initiative to bring together the most prominent experts, entrepreneurs and industry leaders in CEE, and facilitate meaningful discussions leading to tangible outcomes that can be implemented across the region.

During the final ceremony of Seedstars CEE Summit, 10 of the most prominent entrepreneurs from the continent will be invited on stage to showcase their success stories and how they are using technology to solve local and regional issues. Other than the final pitches, top speakers will join us on the mainstage to provide valuable insights on their businesses,  investments, and will look into the success factors of the continent as well as the elements that still need to be improved in order to allow a CEE startup to scale and compete on a global stage.

Within CEE Summit will be held the national Ukrainian final where 12 selected startups from Lviv, Odesa and Kyiv will compete for the regional prize — opportunity to join other CEE winners in Switzerland and compete for up to $ 1 000 000 of investments.

THE BOOTCAMP – Prior to the the conference, Seedstars World will host a 2-day invite-only Bootcamp, where 22 startups will work with world-class local and international mentors on improving their business models, growth strategy and mastering the investor pitch. In addition to that, this year’s program will also give entrepreneurs the opportunity to be selected for the Seedstars Growth program, a seed investment that comes together with a 15-weeks acceleration program for early stage startups.

THE INVESTOR FORUM – The conference week also brings together the most prominent and active investors on the continent. Entrepreneurs will not only pitch in front of these investors, but also participate in one-on-ones that will allow them to get an in-depth feedback about their business models, as well as create potential future funding opportunities.

Globally, different summits will be organised in:

ABOUT SEEDSTARS
“They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds” – Mexican proverb

Seedstars is a Swiss based group of companies which has the goal of impacting people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Seedstars connects stakeholders within these ecosystems, builds companies from scratch with public and private partners and invests in high growth startups. Through different activities of startup scouting, company building and acceleration programs, the team has now access to entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, corporations and government officials from 80+ countries. The Seedstars group includes Seedstars World, a worldwide startup competition; Seedstars Growth, a four month virtual acceleration program; Seedspace, a network of coworking and co-living spaces, and Seedstars Academy, a six months program to train aspiring local entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses.