40+ of the most promising startups from Eastern Europe compete for the €880,000 investment prize on the How to Web Conference’ stage

40+ technology startups from across Eastern Europe have been selected to participate in this year’s edition of Spotlight, the program and competition dedicated to early-stage startups, part of the How to Web Conference.

[Bucharest, 23.08.2023] On October 4th and 5th, Spotlight will bring together in front of the 2,500 participants of How to Web conference, 40 promising tech startups. The founders of these companies will have access to the expertise of global industry specialists, gain visibility by presenting their product on the How to Web stage and compete for the region’s largest investment prize of €880,000.

The competition prize is syndicated by renowned investment funds in Europe: Credo Ventures, SMOK Ventures, Fiedler Capital, Startup Wise Guys, Underline Ventures, Fortech Investments, Seedblink, and angel investors like Iulian Cîrciumaru.

How does the startup selection process work? 

Over 300 startups from the region applied to be part of the Spotlight program and competition. 

The selection of participating startups was made by a specialized jury, including Ondrej Bartos, Credo Ventures; Borys Musielak, SMOK Ventures; Robert Hegedues, Fiedler Capital; Bogdan Iordache, Underline Ventures; Valentin Filip, Fortech Investments; Andrei Dudoiu, SeedBlink; Dag Ainsoo, Startup Wise Guys and a select few super angels and top-notch executives such as Iulian Cîrciumaru, Silvia Carasel, Google Romania; Cristian Pațachia, Orange România and Mihaela Pascu, BRD – Groupe Société Générale.

The selection criteria were based on market size, team experience, and product value and traction.

Who are the participating startups?

The 40 startups selected for the Spotlight program and competition are (in alphabetical order):

• ActionPoint
• Arcella Bio
• ArtMind AI
• Aspect Health
• BeDedicated
• Bluedot
• ClientZen
• Codejet
• Collabwriting
• cortexhub.ai
• CPV One
• Data Against Data
• DDD Invoices
• Digimans.ai
• Fams
• Gamio.GG
• gridaly
• Gyfted
• HeyReach
• LiGo
• MACHINERIC
• Nordensa
• Nordics.io
• OOVAL
• ORIGINi
• Persio
• RatePunk
• Rayscape
• RepsMate
• Localisr
• Salesforge
• Spacer
• SoSha
• Spark School
• Sumboard
• Talkery
• Topics
• Vaqat
• Vatis Tech
• WiseClean
• writeGPT
• Youni

These selected startups are developing products in industries such as e-commerce, healthcare, SaaS, edTech, mobility, gaming, or artificial intelligence.

They will compete for the grand prize and benefit from multiple opportunities, including exposure in the dedicated startup pavilion, mentoring sessions with global experts, and meetings with some of the most renowned investors.

Startups who applied but were not confirmed for Spotlight will benefit from 60% discounted tickets to the entire How to Web 2023 event directly by registering on the dedicated page. Thus, they will enter the deal flow process with investors such as Staffan Helgesson, General Partner at Creandum and investor in some of the most renowned companies such as Bolt or Spotify; Allen Taylor, Managing Partner at Endeavor Catalyst; Ondrej Bartos, General Partner at Credo Ventures; Dan Lupu, Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital; Irina Haivas, Partner at Atomico and many others. In addition to direct access to renowned investors, they will also benefit from two days of networking and discovering best practices from founders and global experts who developed Basecamp, HBO Max, Paddle, or Calendly.

About the Spotlight Program and Competition

Spotlight is part of the How to Web Conference, taking place within the event. During the two days of the event, on October 4th and 5th, participating startups will engage in one-on-one meetings with mentors and investors, present their products to the audience on the startup stage, and on the final day of the event, six finalists will compete for the grand investment prize on the main stage of the conference in front of over 2,500 participants. The competition winner will be determined by the jury during the event and announced at the final moment of the How to Web 2023 Conference.

The last 200 tickets for the How to Web conference can be purchased on the event’s website: Link.

The How to Web 2023 Conference, which hosts Spotlight, is built in partnership with Orange Romania, BRD – Groupe Société Générale, Underline Ventures, and Google for Startups, with the support of Bitdefender, HubSpot for Startups, European Innovation Council, Endeavor Romania, Vienna Business Agency, WIT Angels Club, LAUNCHub Ventures, Growceanu, Inovo VC and Infobip.