The jury evaluated the solutions presented by the participants based on the innovativeness of their ideas, the use of open data, the potential for competitiveness and influence, their progress during the hackathon, the presence of a strong team, and a high-quality presentation.

The winners are

• Strum, a career guidance platform for teenagers and parents. It has up-to-date information on the labor market, training, and internship opportunities, as well as a gamified algorithm to help with career selection.
• CrimeDataLab, a platform for analyzing official crime statistics. It helps evaluate the effectiveness of law enforcement and judicial bodies and combines interactive dashboards, an AI assistant for working with data and data science tools.
• Health HERE, an AI assistant in the form of a chatbot that helps users find a family doctor, free drugs under the “Affordable Medicines” program, and medical services.

The teams received an invitation to the Open Data Accelerator, where they will compete for a grant for the implementation of the project from the general fund of over 5.8 million UAH (over $143,000 at the current exchange rate).

About Open Data Hackathon

The Open Data Hackathon was implemented with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the “Support for Digital Transformation” project with the support of USAID and UK Dev, as well as the executive partner SocialBoost.

About the NATO Innovation Challenge

• The main goal of the 15th edition of the Innovation Challenge was to develop innovative solutions for remote reconnaissance and neutralization of explosive-contaminated areas to ensure the safe passage of civilians or military formations, and facilitate recovery efforts. According to the accelerator, the solutions were encouraged to prioritize speed, efficiency, safety, and minimal human intervention.
• Launched in 2017, the NATO Innovation Challenge is a brainstorming process that produces collaboration between the Alliance, Academia, Industry, and additional innovators. The NATO Innovation Challenge helps resolve operational problems for the Alliance, collecting and implementing innovative solutions. The Fall 2024 edition will be announced shortly.

Broswarm wins

• The startup was founded in 2023 by Ernestas Žvaigždinas, Karolis Žvaigždinas, and Mindaugas Talaikis. Broswarm leverages advanced multisensor fusion technology aiming to significantly increase the speed, safety, and efficiency of demining operations worldwide, saving lives and restoring land to safe use.
• Broswarm aims to address the critical challenge of mine detection in Ukraine by leveraging drones equipped with advanced sensors and ML technology, offering a cost-effective solution.

We are gearing up for our market launch, patenting a new technology to detect various sizes and depths of landmines, and preparing for our next funding round. And we will visit Ukraine to test the product further. Our goal remains to make the biggest possible impact in the real world by eliminating the threat of mines, and thereby enhancing safety and saving lives,

BROSWARM team shares its future plans on its LinkedIn page.

In March this year, Broswarm raised $100,000 investment from ScaleWolf to develop these landmine-detecting drones.

VisionOS 2

The new version of VisionOS 2 will allow you to convert 2D photos into 3D photos and share them with your friends in a panoramic format. There are also updates to the interaction with the interface. By moving your hand, you can view settings, time or battery life.

VisionOS 2 makes it easier for developers to create applications. There are new large APIs that allow you to run two applications at the same time, a new developer kit called TabletopKit for games, and new enterprise APIs. In addition, the PC experience will be improved and Canon will offer a new spatial lens for the EOS R7 camera that will allow you to create video with better quality than the iPhone 15 Pro.

VisionOS 2 will be available this fall.

iOS 18

• Desktop. You can place application icons and widgets anywhere on the screen. Change to the Dark Mode. You can change the color and size of icons. iOS can suggest colors based on your wallpaper palette.
• In iOS 18, you can lock individual apps so that anyone who tries to open them must authenticate with a PIN or FaceID. Data from those apps will not show up in search or in other apps. You can also hide the application from prying eyes.
• You can now reply to messages in iMessage with any emoji, rather than a limited set.
• iOS 18 also updates Mail. Apple organizes messages by sender and links them to an app on your phone. You can reorganize emails, archive them, or delete all messages from companies. Categorization will be available later this year.
• You can transfer money by placing smartphones next to each other — the Wallet application lets you exchange money without a recorded number or email.
• Added Gaming Mode, which optimizes smartphone operation for better game quality and slows down background applications.
• Updated Apple Wallet interface for tickets. Journal will display more statistics, show series of entries and other details.
• There are also new changes in the Photo category, which is said to be the biggest redesign in history. The grid with pictures has been placed at the top, and the application functions at the bottom. The update makes it easier to sort screenshots or search for specific photos.

iOS 18 will be available this fall.

Audio & Home

AirPods

Accessing Siri will get easier. Now, instead of answering with your voice (like when someone calls you and you’re wearing headphones), you just have to nod your head “yes” or “no.” AirPods Pro should also get a voice isolation mode for more comfortable conversations in noisy places.

tvOs

Subtitles will appear automatically if you mute the sound. Additionally, it now supports 21:9 video format.

iPadOS 18

The most expected thing was the addition of a calculator (yes, it finally happened). The “Mathematical Notes” feature has been added. This means you can take the Apple Pencil, write down a mathematical expression, click equals, and the calculator should solve it. But this is not just about math, it is also about physics.

Calculator properties will also work in Notes. By the way, the Smart Script feature has been added to Notes. When you add copied text to a handwritten document, it analyzes the handwriting and creates the text in its style. If it is crossed out, it is then deleted, or vice versa.

On the other hand, the interface of popular applications such as Notes has been refined. Remote access to other users’ iPads with their permission has been introduced.

With SharePlay, you can share your screen and draw on someone else’s iPad screen. You can also view their screen, but only after asking permission.

iPadOS 18 will be officially released this fall.

watchOS 11

The updated watchOS includes a new Workout Mode feature. It monitors the intensity of your workout and tracks your progress. Apple uses a new algorithm and data from its sensors to estimate how much effort you put into your workout.

watchOS 11 includes a new Vitals app that lets you check your most important health metrics, including your heart rate. The watch will alert you to abnormal activity, and it will also be possible to monitor the impact of lifestyle on health, such as smoking or drinking alcohol. A new health tracking feature for pregnant women has also been added.

The Smart Stack in watchOS will automatically add new widgets, such as rain alerts. In addition, the Check In security feature will appear, for example, to notify you when you return home. Thanks to a double click, it will be possible to start the distance.

Another update is the dials, which will use machine learning to automatically adjust the style to your photo.

macOS Sequoia

Many of the features we have seen in iOS and iPadOS will also be available in MacOS Sequoia.

A new Continuity application will appear. It lets you mirror the iPhone screen on a MacBook: just click the icon. Notifications from your iPhone will also arrive on your Mac and appear next to your Mac notifications. Clicking on them will instantly open the app in the iPhone mirror. The iPhone can remain locked all the time.

MacOS Sequoia makes it much easier to arrange open windows — in any order on the screen.

Passwords is a new application for storing passwords from across the Apple ecosystem. It works across multiple devices: macOS, iPadOS, visionOS and iOS — and Windows when accessed via iCloud.

The Safari browser is getting a redesign and a number of new features. In particular, it will now be able to help you get more information about a page when viewing it in Reader.

Apple promises that MacBook will now support the highest quality games. Game Porting Toolkit 2 will make it easier for developers to port games to the Mac. It will also improve the porting of large games to iPhone and iPad.

macOS Sequoia will be available this fall.

Apple Intelligence

• Apple Intelligence is coming to MacBook, iPad, and iPhone. Customize personal messages based on your needs. Edit the text you write.
• Create unique photos and sketch illustrations in Notes, Freeform, and Pages.
• Use your voice to perform hundreds of actions. For example, show photos of a familiar person, play podcasts, and more.
• Apple’s artificial intelligence is based on personal information, as it will receive data from the calendar, screen, messages. But they promise that this data will not be used and shared with other companies. Everything will be stored on the phone and the special personalized cloud service Private Cloud Compute.
• Apple Intelligence will be available on the A17 Pro and M family of chips.
• They will use the phone’s performance as much as possible. If the task requires additional resources, they will turn to cloud applications.
• Image Wand is a new tool that will allow you to create notes (such as sketches). It also lets you remove extraneous elements from a photo.
• Apple Intelligence will also help you select photos and videos, create clips based on themes detected in your photos, and add background music and transitions.
• Notes get instant transcription.
• Apple is making it easy for developers to integrate AI. If the developer is using SiriKit, it will be easier to take advantage of Siri AI’s capabilities.
• Generative AI is also coming to Xcode.

Apple Intelligence will be available in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia this fall.

Siri

Finally, Apple promises to make Siri more “livelike” and improve the user experience. The company promises that the voice assistant will now be able to understand mispronounced words. In addition, requests can now be made not only by voice, but also by writing a message.

You can also ask Siri how to use certain apps and programs. She will display instructions. In addition, the assistant can now interact with on-screen information, such as asking Siri to add an event to your calendar or an address to your map if it was sent to you by an application.

Thanks to Apple Intelligence, Siri will support actions in different applications. You can even ask Siri to extract the text from a photo (passport or driver’s license number) and paste it into the appropriate field.

Siri is also integrated with Mail. You can rewrite emails and get suggestions for different options and styles. Apple Intelligence makes it easier to prepare responses to letters. And your inbox will display a preview of each email with AI-generated summaries. It’s the same with notifications.

Priority notifications will be displayed and summarized at the top, so if you wake up to 100 Whatsapp notifications, you’ll see a condensed summary of the most important one.

Genmoji and Image Playground

Now you can create your own emojis by entering its description.

Apple also adds the option of generative AI — Image Playground, which allows you to instantly generate images in messages. You can also choose a style: animation, sketch or illustration. Images can be created based on your photos.

These features will also be available for KeyNote, FreeForm and Notion.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT has been integrated with Siri. It will also be able to interact with photos, documents or presentations. Can instantly rewrite something in notes or even generate text at your request, instantly generate images in applications.

ChatGPT is free to use and requires no authorization, or you can sign up to access its paid features. Apple promises that the chat will always ask for permission to process information.

ChatGPT will be available on iOS18, padOS18 and macOS Sequoia later this year. Apple also says that access will be available on other operating systems in the future.

The full presentation is available by the link.

LEGO Horizon Adventures

This is a long-announced game by the Dutch studio Guerrilla Games and the company Studio Gobo from Great Britain. The Lego adventure seems to be more family-friendly than Guerrilla Games’ main series. The game is expected to be released in winter 2024 and will be available on PlayStation5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions

Harry Potter fans can try a new game from this universe as early as September 3, 2024. This is the work of the American studio Unbroken Studios. It will be available on PC in the Epic Games Store, as well as on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox 3.

Star Wars Outlaws

It is an upcoming adventure game set in the Star Wars universe, developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft under license from Lucasfilm Games. It will be released on August 30 on all platforms, but more details will be available at the Ubisoft Forward presentation on June 10.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII

The developers announced that the long-awaited part of the cult strategy will be released on PC and consoles in 2025. The announced trailer did not show any gameplay, but in August of this year, the American developer Firaxis will hold such a demonstration, so players will not have to wait long for details.

Black Myth: Wukong

This is an upcoming role-playing game from Chinese developer Game Science, based on the classic novel Journey to the West. It should be released on August 20 this year on PC and PS5, with an Xbox Series X/S version still in development.

Batman: Arkham Shadow

This will be an exclusive VR game from Meta Quest 3. It is expected to be released in autumn 2024 and will only be available in Quest 3.

Cairn

This is a climbing and survival game from French developer The Game Bakers. The release is planned for 2025, should be released on consoles and PC.

Dune: Awakening

During the presentation, actually show a cinematic trailer of the game based on the cult novel by Frank Herbert. The developer is the Norwegian company Funcom. More details about the game should be revealed on June 20, the game will be available on PC via Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X | S.

Alan Wake 2 Night Springs DLC

Adventure game from the Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment. The company’s creative director Sam Lake announced that the Night Springs expansion will be released less than a day after the launch, so the game is already available on PC and consoles.

Of course, there also was a new gameplay trailer for “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl”

Three new Xbox Series X|S consoles will be released this autumn and winter

A total of three updated consoles were announced:

• Хbox Series X Digital Edition — white, no disc drive.
• Xbox Series X Galaxy Black Special Edition — with 2 TB of storage and a “starry” design.
• Xbox Series S Robot White — with 1 TB of storage.

You can learn more about the models on the Xbox website.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

This is already the 21st part of the Call of Duty series and the seventh part of the Black Ops sub-series. The events will unfold in the 1990s after the collapse of the USSR. The release is scheduled for October 25, 2024.

DOOM: The Dark Ages

The Dark Ages is part of the Doom series and a prequel to 2016’s Doom and 2018’s Doom Eternal. The release of the game is scheduled for 2025.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

This autumn, after a ten-year break, the fourth part of the Dragon Age series will be released. The game will be available for PC and Xbox.

Fallout 76: Skyline Valley

Already on June 12, an addition to Fallout 76 will be released. Skyline Valley will offer a new region, weapons and rewards. In addition, the developers promised that next year we will be able to play as Gul, a character from the Amazon series.

World of Warcraft: The War Within

On August 26, the tenth addition to World of Warcraft will be released. The War Within will introduce to the game world plenty of new features: a new maximum level of 80, a new allied race of earth dwarves, new locations, new dungeons and raids, a new system of heroic talents and dynamic flights in new locations.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater

A remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater is also being prepared. The original game was released in 2004. Details have not yet been disclosed.

Perfect Dark

Another great return is the reboot of the Perfect Dark franchise.

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred

A new addition to Diablo IV will be released on October 8. It will tell more about Neyrell.

Fable

The new part of Fable fantasy Fable will be released in 2025. Microsoft has not yet announced other details.

Mixtape

The new game from Annapurna Interactive (Stray, Cocoon, Open Roads) will be released in 2025.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure

On October 29 this year, a new part of the Life is Strange series will be released. In particular, it will feature the heroine of the first original game, Max Cofield.

Atomfall

A new post-apocalyptic game about survival after a nuclear disaster will be released in 2025.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed Shadows received a new gameplay trailer and will be released on November 15.

Who can participate?

Early-stage founders from Eastern Europe and beyond can apply to Spotlight by following the instruction on the How to Web website, by following the link.

Last year’s criteria featured:

• Early-stage startups, less than 5 years old.
• Average funds raised must not exceed a total of €700,000.
• The startups must have a launched product with some gained traction.

About the Spotlight competition

Spotlight is one of the most noteworthy startup programs and competitions in Eastern Europe, being dedicated to the most ambitious early-stage tech founders.

• The competition offers early-stage startups from Eastern Europe and beyond an opportunity to propel their ventures to the next level, culminating in a large-scale investment prize. Last year’s winner received a staggering €880,000, while the winner of Spotlight 2022 won €465,000.

Participating in Spotlight can equip founders for success in the following ways:

• Direct investor access: How to Web Conference attracts hundreds of prominent venture capitalists and angel investors.
• Learn from the best: Inspiring founder stories shared on the How to Web Conference stage provide invaluable insights into securing investment.
• Spotlight mentorship: The dedicated Spotlight program goes beyond the competition.
• Industry leaders insights: How to Web Conference features renowned marketing & sales leaders.

During this year’s event founders can interact directly with industry leaders and global investors such as: Staffan Helgesson, General Partner of Creandum, Ondrej Bartos, General Partner of Credo Ventures, David Peterson, Partner of Angular Ventures, Enis Hulli, General Partner of 500 Emerging Europe, Stefan Walter, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Cavalry Ventures, and many more.

The Precision hackathon focuses on:

• advanced targeting systems, including the development of targeting algorithms and innovations in machine learning models;
• integration of sensors and real-time data analysis to create a comprehensive and accurate targeting image;
• smart munition capable of adjusting their trajectory in flight to engage dynamic or partially concealed targets;
• simulators and educational software, specifically virtual and augmented reality (VR) applications, training military personnel in precision targeting, as well as simulators for practicing aiming skills;
• autonomous and semi-autonomous systems equipped with high-precision targeting capabilities;
• network-centric tools for combat operations, including instruments for improving data exchange for targeting and enhancing command and control systems.

Registration started on May 27 and will continue until June 8, via the registration form. Ukrainian and foreign developers, engineers, military, experts, scientists, students, startups, and others can participate.

The hackathon will be held in three stages. First, there will be an online session where teams will be formed and solutions will be proposed. Then an offline session where they will work through this solution with consultants. At the end — testing of solutions on the training ground and awarding of winners.

Startups can apply until June 7 via this link. According to the website of the organizers of the Darkstar project, they are looking for ten teams that have already had combat tests of products on the Ukrainian frontline or will have them there within six months.

We will help these teams grow, scale and accelerate their progress,

the organizers say.

In the questionnaire, the startups are asked to tell more about their offer, as well as to indicate how exactly this program can help it. The organizer promise that the teams will work together with some of the best European unicorn founders at the camp.

What is known about the organizers of Extreme Bootcamp

Darkstar is a coalition of over 20 founders, hackers and investors from Estonia, Ukraine, Germany, France, and the UK. The coalition says they all share one goal: the development of an ecosystem of European defense technologies.

Estonian entrepreneur Ragnar Sass act as the co-organizer of the bootcamp. He told DOU that all partners share common values, and assured that they had not raised any Russian money and help the Ukrainian army.

It was very easy for us to get consent from Estonian entrepreneurs, because in Estonia Russians constantly jam GPS signals. For us, victory over them is also a matter of national security,

he said.

The organizers are looking for not only Ukrainian startups, but also European ones that could cooperate with Ukrainians and be useful on the battlefield. Ukrainian companies can also be helped to open a representative office in Estonia.

Priority is given to everything related to electronics and software, and which can be easily scaled. According to Sass, it is not necessary to have a product already in production, demo versions are also suitable.

Tetiana Ladanova, Startup Programs Lead at TRMNL4 by Genesis, shared the main insights: the peculiarities of the Baltic tech industry, how venture capitalists perceive Ukraine, and which projects attract the most investment.

Paradigm shift: why the Baltic is no longer a region closed to other startups

The Baltic States are a group of countries that include Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. At the same time, in the context of the startup ecosystem, Finland is always close to them, as it maintains close ties with the Baltic States. What should we understand about this region? These countries have historically been among the most productive in generating unicorns and promising startups. This has been facilitated by a strong community, strong government support, a favorable investment climate, and a developed infrastructure. A few facts: 

• Estonia is a leader among European countries in the density of funded startups and unicorns. According to the State of European Tech 2023, there are 4.5 unicorns per 1 million people. 
• Finland, Lithuania, and Latvia also generate many successful startups, outpacing countries like Germany, France, Austria, and others in density.
• According to Dealroom, there are more than 5,800 startups in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. 

At the same time, the ecosystem of these countries was relatively closed: local venture capital funds invested mainly in their startups and rarely considered businesses from other regions. Now, the situation is changing. These four small countries, with a combined population of about 11 million in recent years, have accumulated significant capital. Large ecosystem funds have begun to enter the region; for example, Antler has opened an office in Finland, and Plug and Play has opened an office in Lithuania. 

However, the number of new startups ready to attract early investment is growing much slower than the investment market. For example, in neighboring Finland, the practice of investing not so much in startups as in talented founders with promising ideas has begun to spread. To solve this problem, the Baltic States invite CEE entrepreneurs to participate in programs and choose their jurisdiction to register businesses to invest in them later. Local investors also pay more attention to startups from non-EU countries, such as Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, etc. For example, in the past few months, New Nordic Venture (a fund based in Riga, Latvia) has invested in two startups from Ukraine and Georgia, both of which are participants in Startup Academy, an international educational program on scaling and managing technology businesses from Genesis and Meta. In general, the TRMNL4 ecosystem was fascinating for investors at TechChill, because we have a good understanding of local ecosystems and have many startups from there in the community. 

Fundraising, partnerships, and networking: Why Go to TechChill

TechChill is a platform that brings together investors and startups from over 40 countries. The organizers accumulate an increasingly large European IT resource at their location every year. 

Such conferences bring together different participants. Early-stage startups (pre-seed and seed) actively raising investments come here to pitch, get feedback, and build relationships with investors. The international community of funders operating in different markets also provides opportunities for strategic partnerships with complementary products.

Projects at the idea stage come to talk to different people and get feedback from the market. Series A+ startups are likelier to attend specialized events where their potential customers gather. However, such conferences are great opportunities to speak and develop their brand. 

The task of the TRMNL4 team was to communicate with investors and funds that are now discovering new markets in Eastern Europe. In addition, one of the focuses was to meet with representatives of Big Tech to enlist the support of strong partners who will develop the ecosystem with us and provide startups with their expertise, networking, or relevant software. Compared to WebSummit, TechChill is a smaller conference. Still, it was attended by such big players as Google, Snapchat, Deel, PayPal, HubSpot, and others, which indicates interest in the CEE region. For us, it was a productive trip: when you can personally talk to representatives of these companies about their needs, requests, and how they see interaction with startups, it provides a solid basis for further launching joint initiatives. 

TRMNL4 was a member of the jury that selected the top 50 startups among the 388 that made it to the semifinals of the Fifty Founders Battle competition. Each was presented on the TechChill stage, from which 10 finalists were selected. Among them, we have chosen one participant for this year’s Startup Academy 4.0 — Latvian startup Sorsera. The winner of the battle was Submerge LTD.

Defense Tech and attention to Ukraine

Recently, European leaders announced a “new era of defense technology” by announcing large-scale financial support for the sector. At the same time, Western venture capitalists are cautious about this vertical. In 2023, the number of defense technology deals remained at 2022. In addition to ethical reasons, these hardwired technologies require long-term development, testing, and significant investments. Instead, according to Sifted’s review, investors are keenly interested in dual-use projects — when the technology can be helpful in another segment.

At TechChill, there was a high demand for solutions in the Defense Tech niche. More and more projects are emerging in this vertical, some reaching the top ten finalists. For the first time, the Defense Tech product Submerge LTD, which develops underwater drones, won the conference’s startup battle, illustrating this trend. In general, this was the No. 1 topic in conversations with investors: almost every representative of the Ukrainian delegation was asked at least once for recommendations of Defense Tech startups or accelerators.The good news is that promising Baltic military projects are ready to cooperate with Ukraine actively. “The community has come together to show its support for Ukraine, to pool skills and resources in a defense technology industry that is stronger than ever,” said Annija Mežgailė, CEO of TechChill, in one of her speeches.

Three key startup trends

The top ten winners of the competition are very representative, as they demonstrate global trends. In addition to the high demand for defense tech, we see investors’ growing interest in B2B/SaaS products. Half the startup battle winners offer effective management, secure operations, cost optimization, and process automation solutions. Previously, B2B solutions for large corporations were trending, but now the focus is on projects aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. Thus, in 2021, the share of SaaS among the total number of venture capital investments in the Baltic States was 34%, and in 2023, it was 78%, according to Dealroom.

Another trend is Deep Tech. The world is returning to demand for technology and sophisticated solutions. For example, the top ten startups include two projects in the medical field: bright patches for treating complex wounds and capsules for internal diagnostics based on VR technology. These are complex technologies that require extensive clinical testing. At the same time, investors believe in their value.

Another interesting observation is that investors from Western Europe choose a clear vertical to work with. In the CEE region, most funds tend to invest in startups that have the potential to generate quick profits, regardless of sector or industry. Western investors who attended the conference chose specific segments with solid connections, partnerships, and expertise. This way, they offer startup funding and many other opportunities for developing expertise and networking.

The CEE startup ecosystem has every chance to change the perception from outsourcing or outstaffing to a product-driven region. Funders from these countries have experience working with large corporations worldwide that have been customers of services, so they understand their needs and problems well. As a result, they create B2B products that quickly find customers and meet their needs. For example, the founders of InputSoft, participants of the Startup Academy working in the aviation industry, at some point realized that there was no convenient modern software for airports that would provide management and logistics and created a corresponding product. Also, many specialists have gained experience and built careers in top product companies such as Spotify, Bolt, and Booking.com and are ready to apply their expertise to launch their startups.

Author: Tetyana Ladanova, Startup Programs Lead at TRMNL4 by Genesis

So, you have made an important decision and arrived at the conference to present your startup. Now the most productive and interesting phase begins: communication with attendees and networking. In the second part of the article, we have collected the opinions of repeated participants of large startup events that will help you build effective communication and keep focus in the whirlwind of events. 

How to get leads at a conference 

Each conference is not only about new technologies and new contacts, it’s also about leads that can help you grow your startup. We asked Alina Pendeshchuk, Business Development Lead at Datrics, a portfolio startup of Sigma Software Labs, about her experience in preparing for conferences. She shared the secrets of successful lead acquisition from a team that has traveled halfway around the world and attended such conferences as JICA conference in Japan, Nordic Fintech Week, Ukrainian delegation to London Tech Week, and European Blockchain Convention.

Preparing for a conference is probably the most important thing to plan. We choose only those events that are relevant to our track record, i.e., that will bring us the most benefit, or events where we are more likely to meet the right people. We don’t rule out the possibility of attending Web Summit, but specialized conferences are often more relevant to us,

Let’s go through the most important steps:

1. Book meetings in advance with interesting people, who will be attending the conference, through a special event app or direct contact via social media. The hottest time is 2–3 days before the conference. This way, you will get a plan of action & meetings and will be able to confidently follow it throughout the trip.
2. Put away your work and spend all your free time during the conference days communicating with people at the stands or in specially designated areas. However, remember that the main communication boom will take place at side events. Don’t forget that this is a big component of communication, albeit in a more informal style.
3. If you have a booth at the conference or are working as part of a delegation at a joint booth, make sure that your brand is well covered. Your startup’s identity, logo, and video should be visible everywhere. 
4. Instead of using paper business cards, merchandise, and handouts, use QR codes with a direct link to LinkedIn, your website, or a form to connect with visitors and all stakeholders you communicate with. 
5. Choose the relevant side events you want to attend, where you can establish personal communication with future clients, partners, and market players. 
6. Keep a record of each useful conversation in a special working chat or document that is available to your team for quick lead processing. After each important conversation, write down the main points:
   • the contact’s LinkedIn profile; 
   • a brief description of the meeting;
   • a photo of the person you’re talking to or a photo of you together; 
   • next steps for communication.
7. Get involved with the local community. When planning a visit to another country or city, schedule meetings with local clients or partners. This will help you adapt more easily to the city where the event is taking place and possibly get involved in the local community.

Business communication at conferences

To get the most out of a conference, you need not only to attend the event itself, but also to plan business meetings with participants. We talked to Daria Yaniieva, Investment Director at Sigma Software Labs, about business communication during events. Daria attended about 10 top international and many Ukrainian events last year alone. She participated as a member of Ukrainian delegations, as a speaker, and as a jury member in numerous startup pitches in many countries around the world. We asked Daria how proper communication affects the results of business trips.

The geography of our events is incredible — from a major summit in Lisbon to a technology conference in the heart of Morocco, from a VC event in Warsaw to a Ukrainian delegation in London. Over the year, we visited numerous locations for completely different types of events, and each one brought its results,

Daria Yanieva, Investment Director at Sigma Software Labs, says.

“Today, it is even more important than ever to maintain existing contacts and create new global opportunities. This opens up new horizons for business and great prospects for our portfolio companies. But it is not enough to be present at the heart of technology events. In addition to all the tips on how to prepare, we clearly got that learning about cross-cultural nuances is another major success factor. For example, the casual dress code for most European events should be set aside when you are packing a suitcase for a tech conference in Marrakech. Your personal agenda is also important. It’s better to check the locations, format, and invitees for the side events in advance. Ignoring the accepted formats will not add success points.

The optimal timing of follow-up communications requires special attention. From our personal experience, it is not always effective to follow up with potential contacts the day after the meeting, and sometimes a delay of a day can, on the contrary, make a negative impression. The first rule applies to large-scale events like Web Summit. Where the schedule of official and additional events takes a full day, except for a few hours of sleep. Firstly, in such a schedule, it is quite difficult to process all contacts effectively here and now, not to mention personal follow-ups. Besides, there’s a pretty high risk of losing emails among hundreds of notifications from networking apps, organizer emails, calendar reminders, and regular mail that never stops during your travels. Of course, you shouldn’t postpone communication in a super long box, but it seems optimal to process contacts within a business week after returning. At the same time, after more small events for 70–100 people, it is highly recommended to send follow-ups the very next day. Be sure that the number of emails will be ten times smaller and, with a high degree of probability, the scale of the event allows you to agree on more specific points to include in further communication. And in this case, there is no need to lose time and interest to continue the conversation in detail.”

What conferences are interesting to attend in the first six months of 2024

Yes, there are a lot of conferences, but not all of them can boast of a sufficient number of attendees, classroom impact, or the target audience that gathers there. We have prepared a shortlist of conferences worth attending in the first half of 2024:

Startup Grind Global Conference

• Date: April 23-24 
• Location: San Francisco, California, USA
• Topics: Startups, entrepreneurship, technology

TechChill

• Date: April 18-19
• Location: Riga, Latvia
• Topics: Technology startups

Latitude59

• Date: May 22-24
• Location: Tallinn, Estonia
• Topics: Innovations and startups

Infoshare

• Date: May 22-23
• Location: Gdańsk, Poland
• Topics: Technology and startups

GITEX AFRICA

• Date: May 29-30 
• Location: Marrakech, Africa
• Topics: Innovation and startups

London Tech Week

• Date: June 10-14 
• Location: London, England
• Topics: Innovations and startups, business

Collision

• Date: June 17-20 
• Location: Toronto, Canada
• Topics: Technology, innovation, startups

Author: Elvira Zhukovska, PR-Lead at Sigma Software Labs

The Ministry of Statistics of Ukraine shares the results of Ukrainian teams.

Results of the Ukrainian delegation at TechChill 2024:

• Generect received an agreement for $1.8 million, agreed on integrations with two companies and expanded their network of partner contacts.
• StackBooster held more than 15 meetings with investors and more than 40 product presentations.
• Knopka met two business partners and an association of entrepreneurs. Now, they plans to enter the Latvian hospital market, and later on to other countries.
• Uspacy conducted 12 meetings with investors, found 10 potential customers and attracted 2 partners.
• GetOrder found a partner who will sell the service in Latvia.
• Metatable.ai held 16 meetings with investors, potential partners and customers.
• Wantent held over 20 meetings with investors and several meetings with clients from Latvia.

This year, the Ukrainian delegation took part in the conference for the first time.

Who are the winners of TechChill 2024 Fifty Founders Battle:

• Salesforge from Estonia won the prize of €150,000 as syndicate funding from BADideas.fund and an additional €100,000 from DEPO Ventures;

• FleetFox from Estonia secured a total of €75,000 in funding from BADideas.fund and the Snap Inc. Excellence Award with €10,000 in advertising credit;
• Silo Team from Sweden seizing a remarkable €250,000 investment opportunity from Look AI Ventures.
• SUBmerge Baltic from Latvia received a €10,000 TechChill Community Cash Prize from Mintos, Lokalise, Gravity Team, eazyBI, TestDevLab;

Other finalists also received:

• Sorsera — a fast track to startup academy by Genesis and Meta provided by TRMNL4;
• Legal Nodes — 5,000 worth of outdoor advertising provided by JCDecaux Latvia;
• FleetFox — a startup Brand Development Kit worth 5,000 provided by idealers;
• RoboMed, Legal Nodes, EsaDres — Hero City at Draper University, Hero Program Tuition;
• Sorsera, Affire.ai, eID Easy — €2,000 for product health checks from TestDevLab.

The Fifty Founders Battle received 388 applications from 57 countries, a record amount of applications from around the globe.

What can the startups get?

The startups can compete in two tracks: in the main category and a special category for developments in the field of defense technology and cyber defense. While the total prize pool of the competition is $60,000, it will continue to grow. Participants who are selected will be able to get:

• cash prizes from $5,000 to $15,000 and awards from partners;
• mentoring from investors and mentors from Ukraine and the world;
• promotion of the startup to the audience of the conference and world media;
• professional networking.

What are the requirements?

The applications will remain open until June 6, 2024. The participating startups are required to:

• be founded no earlier than 2021;
• have a demo version of the product and first indicators;
• have attracted no more than $1 million in investments, excluding grants.

In addition, at least one representative must personally participate in the semifinals and finals of the competition on September 27-29 in Lviv.

About Startup Competition 2023 at IT Arena

Last year, the total prize fund of the Startup Competition was $489,000. The startups received investments immediately during the competition. The winners of the competition, S.Lab raised $100,000 from ZAS Venture, $10,000 from angel investor Sasha Reminnyi, and €100,000 from Vesna Capital. Defense tech startups Zvook, Falcons, Himera, Mantis Analytics, and Griselda received $200,000 in investment from an angel investor who wished to remain anonymous.

IT Arena is one of the largest technical conferences in Eastern Europe, which has been held in Lviv since 2014. More than 5,000 people from more than 40 countries of the world visit it every year. Over the past 10 years, IT Arena has held 10 events, attracting 25,000 visitors and 800 speakers from 53 countries.

Ukrainian startups can apply to the event until March 17, 2024.
The selection of startups at the final pitching will take place on March 20, 2024.

About TechChill

TechChill is one of the largest Baltic tech events that brings together entrepreneurs, investors and tech enthusiasts to discuss the latest trends, innovations, and opportunities in the technology industry. Every year, the conference gathers more than 2,000 people for 3 days in Riga.

The first Ukrainian delegation to TechChill 2024 will take place with the support of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Who will participate:

• Deep-tech startups at an early stage, which is registered, including in Ukraine, and positions itself as Ukrainian;
• A working prototype has been developed;
• Technology Readiness Level (TRL) – 5 and above;
• Startups that are ready to attract investments and/or are ready to implement pilot projects.

As part of the event, you can also perform on the TechChill main stage in front of investors and win €200,000 (syndicate investment prize) + €10,000 (no-strings-attached), by registering using the link.

We have selected the most important and largest IT events in Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland that will be held in 2024. Visiting these events will introduce you to the CEE technology scene, will help you find employees, clients, startups, investors, press coverage, useful acquaintances, and much more.

Have we missed any events? Let us know: news@ain.capital

• Nevomo was founded in 2017. It develops a technology for a MagRail system, a passive magnetic levitation train operating on existing railway tracks at speeds up to 550 kph. The technology makes an existing proven railway system more efficient and fully digital, adding capacity, frequency, and flexibility of operations and ultimately speed, to allow a major shift from road and air to rail.

“It was incredibly encouraging to receive such positive feedback from the esteemed jury at the most important EU cleantech summit TBB 2023 in Amsterdam about Nevomo’s MagRail, the only guided transport technology that can quickly drastically reduce emissions in line with Green Deal’s timelines, before other means like hyperloop are ready to become interconnected with it,”

Przemek Paczek, the CEO and co-founder

• Nevomo took the first place in the pitching sessions. Other finalists included: Elestor B.V., X1 Wind, HSL Technologies, and EcoBean, which recently secured €7 million in funding.

About The Business Booster 2023

The Business Booster is EIT InnoEnergy’s annual two-day international networking event that showcases 150+ sustainable energy technologies under one roof. This year’s event took place in Amsterdam and was focused on the transition to the new energy economy, defined by purpose, sustainable energy sources, and disruptive innovation.

The startups can apply for participation up until August 31, 2023, by following the link.

Who can participate?

How to Web Spotlight is dedicated to all early-stage startups in Eastern Europe. Founders can apply for the competition, if the startup meets the following criteria:

• Early-stage startups, less than 5 years old.
• Average funds raised must not exceed a total of €700,000.
• The startups must have a launched product with some gained traction.

Competition timeline

1. April 1 — August 31: Applications for Spotlight 2023 are open.
2. September 1 — 8: Forty startups will be selected to enter the matchmaking program.
3. October 4: Twenty startups will be announced before the conference if they enter the pitch competition on stage.
4. October 5: Meetings 1:1 (2/3h) following matchmaking with some of the top 40 startups.
5. October 5: Final pitch of top 5/6 startups on the main stage of the conference.
6. October 5: The grand winner is announced on the conference main stage.

About How to Web 2023

How to Web is a major yearly tech conference on entrepreneurship and innovation in the Central and Eastern European region, organized since 2009. The conference is the meeting point for young founders, expert investors, innovation and tech executives who are developing industry-changing solutions. During the event, the Spotlight competition is held, where 40 startups can compete for major prizes.