Europe's founder calendar has two peaks: November, with Web Summit in Lisbon and Slush in Helsinki in the same month, and May to June, when the EU-Startups Summit, South Summit, London Tech Week and VivaTech run back to back.
This guide lists the most useful startup and founder events in Europe from October 2026 to the end of 2027, with a focus on early-stage, bootstrapped and women founders. We checked every date on the organiser's own website and mark each event as Confirmed (date on the official site), Announced (date from a reliable second source) or Expected (based on past editions only). For events in one country, see our country guides, listed by region under "Startup events by country" below.
This article is regularly updated with new events. Do you know about an event that needs to be added? Send us some info and we will see if it's a fit.
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Best Startup Events in Europe 2026–2027: Calendar from November 2026 to October 2027
November 2026: Lisbon, Helsinki and the women-founder events
Web Summit and Portugal Tech Week: 6–15 November 2026
Europe's largest tech event. Around it, Portugal Tech Week lists more than 265 free events in Lisbon and 25 other places from 6 to 15 November, which is a cheap way into the scene if you can't buy a Web Summit ticket.
Slush: 18–19 November 2026
Europe's biggest founder-investor meeting. The Slush 100 pitch competition offers €500,000 with no equity taken, and the European Innovation Council hosts a women's leadership networking breakfast on 18 November.
IMPACT Festival: 25–26 November 2026
Germany's main meeting point for impact businesses and their investors, now at Messe Frankfurt instead of Offenbach.
Also in November: the free Great British Business Show at ExCeL London on 11–12 November, with practical seminars for small business owners, STATION F's free public evenings in Paris, such as the Paris Tech Forum on 16 November (STATION F events), and the women-founder events listed below.
Spring 2027: Barcelona, the Alps and the Baltics
4YFN: 1–4 March 2027
The 4YFN Awards give the top 20 startups €1,500, a free exhibition pod and four passes, and the winner €20,000, all in front of the Mobile World Congress crowd.
SKInnovation, TechChill and START Summit: March 2027
Three smaller events with good investor access: SKInnovation's pitch takes place on a ski lift, TechChill is the main Baltic founder event, and START Summit's pitch formats suit first-time founders.
Wolves Summit and Iceland Innovation Week: April 2027
Wolves Summit is the main founder-investor matchmaking event in Central and Eastern Europe; Iceland Innovation Week is affordable and has a pitch slot.
May and June 2027: the busiest weeks of the year
EU-Startups Summit: 13–14 May 2027
Fifteen early-stage startups pitch for a prize package worth €1 million; applications open in December 2026. See our Malta guide for the other events that week.
ViennaUP, PODIM, Infoshare and Latitude59: May 2027
Four strong regional events in one month. ViennaUP is mostly free; PODIM and Infoshare (with a 30,000 PLN startup contest) have open startup calls; Latitude59 is Estonia's flagship.
AI Growth Summit Europe, Dublin Tech Summit and Startup Days: late May 2027
AI Growth Summit Europe is the new name of SaaStock Europe, now in London. Dublin Tech Summit is expected again in late May 2027 at the RDS in Dublin, but its official website is offline and the organiser hasn't confirmed dates, so check before you book.
Hello Tomorrow and South Summit: 2–4 June 2027
Hello Tomorrow has moved from Paris to Amsterdam; applications to its challenge close on 30 November 2026. South Summit is Southern Europe's biggest founder-investor event.
London Tech Week, WMF and VivaTech: June 2027
Three very different June events: London's fringe programme, Italy's biggest innovation fair (see our Italy guide) and VivaTech's corporate challenges, which put startups in front of big buyers.
Arctic15 and Startup Olé Marbella: 16–17 June 2027
Two of the cheapest ways into a founder-investor room in Europe: Arctic15's startup ticket starts at €49, and Startup Olé Marbella's sessions are free.
Summer and autumn 2027
sTARTUp Day has moved from January to August. TechBBQ is the biggest Nordic founder event after Slush, Bits & Pretzels is Germany's largest founder festival, and How to Web is the main founder conference in Eastern Europe. Sifted Summit returns to London in October 2027 for scaleups, with launch tickets at £99 plus VAT.
Events for women founders in Europe
- Women in Tech EMEA Summit, 29–30 October 2026, smartvillage Berlin: a conference for 1,200+ women in tech, run by FemTechConf. femtechconf.com
- WEConnect International Europe & MENA Summit, 9–10 November 2026, Seville: one-to-one meetings between women-owned businesses and corporate buyers. weconnectinternational.org
- Female Founders Bootcamp, ending in a summit on 10 November 2026 in Berlin: a four-week programme for women-led tech startups that ends with an investor pitch; €500 excl. VAT. female-founders.org
- EIC women's leadership breakfast at Slush, 18 November 2026, Helsinki.
- FFX Zurich, 23 November 2026: a curated, application-only day of investor matchmaking for about 120 people. An FFX Barcelona follows in early 2027. FFX
- EIT Women and Girls in STEM Forum, 26 November 2026, Prague.
- One Tech World, 15 April 2027: a free virtual conference by WeAreTechWomen.
- Women in Tech Global Conference, 18–21 May 2027: virtual, with in-person satellite events and a startup and innovation day on 21 May. womentech.net
- Perspektywy Women in Tech Summit, 16–17 June 2027, Warsaw: one of Europe's largest women-in-tech gatherings, more career-focused than founder-focused.
- Women in AI Global Summit, 11–12 November 2027, London: a hybrid summit for women working in AI, from £499. womeninaiglobalsummit.com
Two EU funding calls for women are open now:
- European Prize for Women Innovators (EIC and EIT): applications close on 1 December 2026 at 17:00 CET; the top prize is €100,000, with a Rising Innovators category for women under 35. Details
- Women TechEU: €75,000 in non-dilutive funding for women-led deep tech startups, with deadlines on 14 January, 1 April and 8 July 2027. Details
Read more about how women founders in Europe are closing the funding gap, and if you organise an event for women founders, send it to us.
Events that changed, moved or ended
Many events from earlier versions of this guide have changed. What we found:
- Moved: Hello Tomorrow from Paris to Amsterdam; TNW Conference from Amsterdam to London (no 2027 dates yet); IMPACT Festival from Offenbach to Messe Frankfurt; sTARTUp Day from January to August.
- Renamed: SaaStock Europe is now AI Growth Summit Europe; SEE ITS is now SEE FORWARD Summit; Startup Fair Pulse is now Startup Fair (Vilnius); START Global's event is START Summit.
- No longer in Europe: Startup Grind has held no European conference since 2021, and TechCrunch's early-stage event has only ever run in the US.
- Ended: Pioneers Vienna (last festival 2019) and the Future of Climate Tech competition (last held 2021).
- Could not be found: Reboot Conference Berlin, InnoTech Expo Brussels, Fintech Europe Frankfurt and Hellobrain Startup Festival.
- Still running, 2027 dates not yet published: Slush 2027 and Web Summit 2027 (both expected in November), TNW Conference in London, GITEX Europe in Berlin (now called GITEX AI Europe), Tech.eu Summit, Entrepreneurship Avenue, Innovation Week Prague, SET Tech Festival, the EIC Summit (expected in June) and Startup Europe Week (expected in late May).
- Not real or paused: there is no Lisbon Startup Week or Paris Startup Week, and STATION F's Founders Program, which ran its demo days, is on pause.
EU funding dates to plan your event year around
- EIC Accelerator: the last full-proposal cut-off of 2026 is 4 November at 17:00 Brussels time, and short proposals can be sent at any time. A draft of the 2027 work programme proposes four cut-offs instead of six; the dates are not final. EIC Accelerator
- EIT Awards: 2 December 2026 in Budapest, with prizes of €50,000, €30,000 and €20,000 per category.
- EU Inc.: in March 2026 the European Commission adopted its proposal for a single EU company form (the "28th regime") as part of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy. It still has to pass Parliament and Council.
Before you apply, read our guide to writing an EU grant application, and see the top startup accelerators in Europe and the largest European VC firms.
How to choose European startup events
- Pick one big event and two small ones. Web Summit, Slush or VivaTech for reach; a regional event like TechChill, PODIM or How to Web for real conversations.
- Apply for startup programmes. Web Summit, Slush, 4YFN, EU-Startups and South Summit all select startups for cheaper tickets, stands or pitch slots. See more startup competitions.
- Use the cheap tickets. Arctic15 (from €49), Iceland Innovation Week (€110), How to Web (€119) and sTARTUp Day (€127) cost a fraction of the big conferences, and ViennaUP and Startup Olé Marbella are largely free.
- Combine trips. Lisbon in November (Portugal Tech Week and Web Summit), and May to June, when ten events run within six weeks.
- Go where your investors are. Check which funds attend before you buy; our list of startup media outlets in Europe helps you follow event news, and our guide to the best cities for startups in Europe helps you pick a base.
List your event in this guide
Do you run a startup, tech or investor event in Europe? Send us the name, dates, venue and official link, and we'll check whether it fits this guide. We list events for founders, with a real date and an official page.
This article is regularly updated with new events. Do you know about an event that needs to be added? Send us some info and we will see if it's a fit.
🔗 Add an awesome event
Startup events by country
Our country guides list every verified startup, tech and investor event in each country, with dates, venues and tickets.
FAQ
What are the biggest startup events in Europe?
Web Summit (Lisbon, 9–12 November 2026), Slush (Helsinki, 18–19 November 2026), VivaTech (Paris, 16–19 June 2027), South Summit (Madrid, 2–4 June 2027) and 4YFN (Barcelona, 1–4 March 2027).
What are the cheapest startup events in Europe?
Arctic15 startup tickets start at €49, Iceland Innovation Week at €110, How to Web at €119 and sTARTUp Day at €127. Most ViennaUP events, Portugal Tech Week events and Startup Olé Marbella sessions are free.
Which European startup events have pitch competitions?
Slush 100, the EU-Startups Summit pitch, the 4YFN Awards, South Summit's startup competition, Hello Tomorrow's challenge, PODIM, Infoshare, TechBBQ, Wolves Summit and How to Web's Spotlight pitch, among others.
Are there events for women founders in Europe?
Yes: the Female Founders Bootcamp summit in Berlin (10 November 2026), FFX Zurich (23 November 2026), the WEConnect summit in Seville (9–10 November 2026) and the Women in Tech Global Conference in May 2027.
What happened to TNW Conference and SaaStock?
TNW Conference has moved from Amsterdam to London, with no 2027 dates yet. SaaStock Europe is now called AI Growth Summit Europe and takes place in London on 24–26 May 2027.
When is the next EIC Accelerator deadline?
The last full-proposal cut-off of 2026 is 4 November at 17:00 Brussels time. Short proposals can be submitted at any time; the 2027 cut-off dates are not final yet.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
