Startup Events

Top 10 Startup Events on Marketing Tech in 2027

Marketing tech founders sell to marketers who see a new tool every day: there are more than 15,000 martech products on the market. These are the ten best marketing tech events of 2027 for startups, from London, Brighton, Brno, Hamburg, Winterthur, Cannes and Cologne to Singapore, Anaheim and Boston.

We picked events with a start-up programme, a pitch or a crowd of marketing buyers, with Europe first when quality is equal. We checked every date on the organiser's own website and mark each one as Confirmed (date on the official site), Announced (reliable second source only) or Expected (based on past editions only). All ten below are Confirmed for 2027. Two big names have changed: HubSpot's INBOUND is now UNBOUND, and Social Media Marketing World has moved from San Diego to Anaheim.

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

Top 10 Marketing Tech Startup Events of 2027 at a Glance

#	Event	Dates	Where	Best for	Status
1	The MarTech Summit Asia	2–3 Mar 2027	Singapore	Asia-Pacific martech buyers	Confirmed
2	Advertising Week Europe	22–24 Mar 2027	London, UK	Adtech and media networking	Confirmed
3	Social Media Marketing World	1–3 Apr 2027	Anaheim, USA	Small-business marketers	Confirmed
4	brightonSEO	15–16 Apr 2027	Brighton, UK	Search and AI search	Confirmed
5	Marketing Festival	20–21 Apr 2027	Brno, Czech Republic	Learning, no sponsored talks	Confirmed
6	OMR Festival	3–5 May 2027	Hamburg, Germany	Women-led start-up pitch	Confirmed
7	Swiss MarTech Summit	2 Jun 2027	Winterthur, Switzerland	Martech pitch award	Confirmed
8	Cannes Lions	21–25 Jun 2027	Cannes, France	Start-up pass, brand buyers	Confirmed
9	UNBOUND (formerly INBOUND)	8–10 Sep 2027	Boston, USA	SMB marketing and sales tools	Confirmed
10	DMEXCO	22–23 Sep 2027	Cologne, Germany	Start-up stage, adtech	Confirmed

The 10 best marketing tech events of 2027

1. The MarTech Summit Asia: 2–3 March 2027, Singapore

📅 The MarTech Summit Asia 2027Confirmed

Dates	2–3 March 2027
Where	Raffles City Convention Centre, 80 Bras Basah Rd, Singapore
Type	Martech summit
Who it's for	Senior brand marketers and martech buyers in Asia-Pacific
Tickets	Super Early Bird sale (save 40%) on themartechsummit.com
Official site	themartechsummit.com

The MarTech Summit is a series of small, senior summits, and the Singapore edition is the one for Asia-Pacific. Founders who sell marketing software to big brands get a room full of the people who sign the contracts. The same organiser runs Berlin on 25 February and Paris on 21 April 2027. See our list of startup events in Singapore.

2. Advertising Week Europe: 22–24 March 2027, London

📅 Advertising Week Europe 2027Confirmed

Dates	22–24 March 2027
Where	180 Studios, The Strand, London, UK
Type	Advertising and marketing conference
Who it's for	Brand leaders, advertisers, agencies, media owners and adtech companies
Tickets	2027 prices not published yet
Official site	advertisingweek.com

Advertising Week Europe brings the London advertising, media and adtech crowd together for three days at 180 Studios. It has no start-up programme, so treat it as a networking week: book meetings with agencies and media buyers before you arrive. See our list of startup events in London.

3. Social Media Marketing World: 1–3 April 2027, Anaheim

📅 Social Media Marketing World 2027Confirmed

Dates	1–3 April 2027
Where	Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92802, USA
Type	Social media marketing conference, with a virtual option
Who it's for	Small-business marketers who handle social, email, ads and content
Tickets	2027 prices on socialmediaexaminer.com
Official site	socialmediaexaminer.com

Run by Social Media Examiner, this conference moves from San Diego to Anaheim in 2027. Its audience is the small-business marketer who does everything, which makes it a good place to test a tool built for small teams. See our list of startup events in Los Angeles.

4. brightonSEO: 15–16 April 2027, Brighton

📅 brightonSEO UK April 2027Confirmed

Dates	15–16 April 2027
Where	Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK
Type	Search marketing conference and training
Who it's for	SEO, content and performance marketers; search tool vendors
Tickets	From £330 plus VAT; prices rise on 3 December 2026
Official site	brightonseo.com

brightonSEO is the big gathering of search marketers, now with a lot of content on AI search. Tickets are cheap for a conference of this size, and it is the right crowd for founders of SEO, content and analytics tools. The organiser also runs brightonSEO San Diego on 9–10 September 2027.

5. Marketing Festival: 20–21 April 2027, Brno

📅 Marketing Festival 2027Confirmed

Dates	20–21 April 2027 (talks 20 April, workshops 21 April)
Where	Janáček Theatre, Brno, Czech Republic
Type	Single-stage marketing conference with workshops
Who it's for	Marketers who want practical talks
Tickets	2027 prices not published yet
Official site	marketingfestival.cz

Marketing Festival has one stage, a curated programme and no sponsored talks, so you come to learn rather than to be sold to. It is a good event for founders who do their own marketing, and a way to meet marketers from Central Europe.

6. OMR Festival: 3–5 May 2027, Hamburg

📅 OMR Festival 2027Confirmed

Dates	3–5 May 2027
Where	Hamburg Messe, Hamburg, Germany
Type	Marketing festival, conference and expo
Who it's for	Marketers, agencies, martech vendors and founders
Tickets	€539 instead of €649 for a limited time (early bird)
Official site	omr.com

OMR is Europe's big marketing festival. For women founders it has a special door: the OMR 5050 Gründer*innen Pitch for early-stage start-ups whose founding teams are equally or mostly female. The best three of the 2026 round appear on the OMR Festival stage on 4 May 2027; the organiser says the next call follows in 2027, with no dates yet. See our guide to startup events in Germany.

7. Swiss MarTech Summit: 2 June 2027, Winterthur

📅 Swiss MarTech Summit 2027Confirmed

Dates	2 June 2027
Where	Aula, Volkartgebäude, St.-Georgen-Platz 2, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland
Type	Martech summit with a pitch award (in German)
Who it's for	Swiss marketers, martech start-ups, scale-ups and agencies
Tickets	Early bird CHF 100 until 31 December 2026
Official site	zhaw.ch

The summit is organised by the ZHAW Center for Marketing Technology. Its Swiss MarTech Award is open to start-ups and scale-ups with marketing technology products: apply by 30 April 2027, the three finalists are named on 17 May and pitch live on 2 June, and every entrant gets two free tickets. See our guide to startup events in Switzerland.

8. Cannes Lions: 21–25 June 2027, Cannes

📅 Cannes Lions 2027Confirmed

Dates	21–25 June 2027
Where	Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France
Type	Creative marketing festival, awards and conference
Who it's for	Brands, agencies, platforms, adtech companies and start-ups
Tickets	Start-Up pass €1,395 plus 20% sales tax
Official site	canneslions.com

Cannes Lions is where the world's biggest brands and agencies meet each June. The Start-Up pass is for independent companies with less than €5 million in funding, incorporated on or after 25 June 2022, and passes are limited. See our guide to startup events in France.

9. UNBOUND: 8–10 September 2027, Boston

📅 UNBOUND 2027Confirmed

Dates	8–10 September 2027
Where	Boston, USA
Type	Marketing, sales and AI conference
Who it's for	Marketers, sales teams and small-business operators; HubSpot partners and app developers
Tickets	General Admission $1,699; the presale sold out, registration reopens on Cyber Monday (30 November 2026)
Official site	unbound.hubspot.com

HubSpot's annual conference, INBOUND, is now called UNBOUND. It is the place to meet HubSpot's partners, app developers and customers. See our list of startup events in Boston.

10. DMEXCO: 22–23 September 2027, Cologne

📅 DMEXCO 2027Confirmed

Dates	22–23 September 2027
Where	Koelnmesse, Messeplatz 1, 50679 Cologne, Germany
Type	Digital marketing and adtech expo and conference
Who it's for	Brands, agencies, adtech and martech vendors, start-ups
Tickets	2027 visitor prices not published yet
Official site	dmexco.com

DMEXCO is Europe's biggest digital marketing and adtech fair. Its Start-up Area includes curated pitches on the Start-up Stage; the 2027 terms are not published yet. Walk the halls on the first day to see who is buying before you decide on a stand next year.

Also worth a look

The MarTech Summit Berlin, Grand Hyatt Berlin, 25 February 2027, and Paris, 21 April 2027. themartechsummit.com
SMX Munich, ICM Munich, 6–7 April 2027 (workshops 5 April): early bird €1,299 plus VAT until 4 December 2026. smxmuenchen.de
POSSIBLE, Miami Beach, 5–7 April 2027, and the new POSSIBLE Europe, Carlos Lopes Pavilion, Lisbon, 12–14 October 2027. possibleevent.com
Business of Apps London (formerly App Promotion Summit), The Brewery, 22 April 2027, and New York, 16 September 2027: app growth and user acquisition. businessofapps.com
Digital Marketing World Forum Europe, London, 5–6 May 2027. digitalmarketing-conference.com

Dates not announced yet

Festival of Marketing, London: the organiser says October 2027, with no day yet.
Content Marketing World: the organiser says November 2027, with no day yet.
MAD//Fest London, Advertising Week New York and The MarTech Summit London: no 2027 dates yet.
Gone: Programmatic I/O's site still points to its 2023 edition, and PIRATE Summit now runs only a PIRATE NIGHT.

Why marketing tech events matter: the numbers

The martech market has stopped growing in product count: 15,505 products in 2026, up just 0.79%, while 1,488 were added and 1,367 removed, according to chiefmartec. A crowded market means buyers meet you in person before they trust you.
US internet advertising revenue reached a record $294.6 billion in 2025, up 13.9%, according to IAB and PwC.
In Europe, 1,307 start-ups with at least one woman founder raised €7.5 billion in 2025, 13% of all venture capital, according to Female Foundry's Female Innovation Index reported by Startups Magazine.

Before you spend on a stand, write a startup marketing plan. Raising for a martech company? Read our guide to venture capital for women founders.

How to choose a marketing tech event

Pitch or sell? The OMR 5050 pitch, the Swiss MarTech Award and the DMEXCO Start-up Stage put you on stage; Cannes Lions, Advertising Week and DMEXCO's halls are for meeting buyers.
Women-led team? Watch for the next OMR 5050 Gründer*innen Pitch call: the best three of each round appear at the OMR Festival in Hamburg.
Pick your buyer. Big brands go to Cannes Lions and The MarTech Summit; small businesses go to Social Media Marketing World and UNBOUND; search and content teams go to brightonSEO and SMX Munich.
Watch the early birds. brightonSEO prices rise on 3 December 2026, SMX Munich's early bird ends on 4 December and the Swiss MarTech Summit's on 31 December.
Check the new names. INBOUND is now UNBOUND, the App Promotion Summit is Business of Apps, and POSSIBLE adds a Lisbon edition in October 2027.

List your event

Do you organise a marketing tech summit, pitch competition, demo day or hackathon in 2027? Send us the name, dates, city and official link, and we'll check whether it fits this list.

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

More startup event lists

FAQ

What are the best marketing tech events for startups in 2027?

Our top picks are The MarTech Summit Asia, Advertising Week Europe, Social Media Marketing World, brightonSEO, Marketing Festival in Brno, OMR Festival in Hamburg, the Swiss MarTech Summit, Cannes Lions, UNBOUND in Boston and DMEXCO in Cologne.

When is DMEXCO 2027?

On 22–23 September 2027 at Koelnmesse in Cologne. It has a Start-up Area with curated pitches on the Start-up Stage.

When is OMR Festival 2027?

On 3–5 May 2027 in Hamburg. The best three teams of the OMR 5050 pitch for women-led start-ups appear on stage on 4 May.

When is Cannes Lions 2027 and is there a startup pass?

Cannes Lions runs on 21–25 June 2027. The Start-Up pass costs €1,395 plus 20% sales tax, for independent companies with less than €5 million in funding incorporated on or after 25 June 2022.

What happened to HubSpot INBOUND?

It is now called UNBOUND. The 2027 edition runs on 8–10 September 2027 in Boston; General Admission costs $1,699 and registration reopens on Cyber Monday.

Which marketing tech events have startup pitch competitions?

The OMR 5050 Gründer*innen Pitch in Hamburg, the Swiss MarTech Award in Winterthur (apply by 30 April 2027) and the Start-up Stage at DMEXCO.

How big is the martech market?

chiefmartec counts 15,505 marketing technology products in 2026, almost the same as in 2025. US internet ad revenue reached $294.6 billion in 2025, according to IAB and PwC.

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.

Violetta Bonenkamp, F/MS founder

2026-10-30 12:29 By type