Startup Spotlight

Competition

30 – 31 October 2019 | Bucharest, Romania

Startup Spotlight is the leading competition for startups in CEE, where we invite ambitious founders of early stage startups to turn them into successful enterprises.

You bring the product and team, and hopefully a bit of traction, we provide you with access to some of the best investors, experts and journalists on the planet.

Apply now

PRIZES & AWARDS

Startup Spotlight is all about pushing forward your startup! Thus we have set up benefits that give you international exposure and growth opportunities.

€ 125K investment prize

from TechAngels, GapMinder Venture Parteners and RocaX. VC funds & angel networks come together to co-invest in the next rising tech startup

TC Disrupt Berlin

1 day expo booth at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin, including conference full-passes and wildcard for the Startup Battlefield competition, for the winners of the Best Startup, Best Pitch and Best Innovation awards

€ 1M in free benefits

from F6S that will bring you international exposure, valuable PR, mentorship and business development opportunities to all 20 selected startups

Best
STARTUP

Best
PITCH

Best
INNOVATION

How does it work?

1st

submit your application

The the first step is to submit your application. Startup Spotlight Competition gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their ideas in front of the most relevant audience, win amazing prizes, visibility and networking opportunities.

20

semi-finalists selected

The top 20 selected startups will pitch their products on stage, showcase them in the startup expo area, meet investors, relevant experts and potential business partners, and receive the public exposure they need.

6

finalists
selected

Best 6 startups will qualify in the competition final, where a panel of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and operators will review their pitches and reward the best ones.

The application process

Schedule

Application period:

Jul 1 - Oct 10

Judging period:

Oct 11 - Oct 19

Notification of selected teams:

Oct 20

Pitching rehearsal:

Oct 29

Event days:

Oct 30 & 31










Application period:

Jul 1 - Oct 10

Judging period:

Oct 11 - Oct 19

Notification of selected teams:

Oct 20

Pitching rehearsal:

Oct 29

Event days:

Oct 30 & 31


WHO IS IT FOR?

Startup Spotlight is opened to all early stage technology startups in CEE, which are less than 5 years old and up to 1m EUR in financing.

The jury will positively evaluate the experience and complementarity of the team, the added-value of the solution developed, the target market size and the growth opportunities.

Jurors & Mentors

Of the Startup Program

  • All topics
  • Jurors
  • Mentors
  • Investors

Dan
Mihaescu

Founding Partner @ GapMinder

He has an excellent track record as CEO in IT&C, multiple M&A missions, various Non-Exec Board and Advisory roles

Malin
Stefanescu

President
TechAngels

Entrepreneur & Business Angel. He invested, from their early stages, in some of the most promising startups as Symphopay, SmartDreamers and TypingDNA.

April
Dunford

Positioning Expert & CEO @ Ambient strategy

Product positioning expert with 16 products launched, author of “Obviously Awesome”

Sean
Sheppard

Founder @ GrowthX and GrowthX Academy

Product/market fit expert in a wide variety of markets

Michael
Perry

Director of Kit
Shopify

Director of product, marketing Shopify Product expert and founder of Kit

Calin
Fara

Senior Product Designer @ Adobe

Extensive expertise in the UX field & broad experience in enterprise/B2B solutions.

Anca
Bundaru

Product Marketing Lead @ Bitdefender

Product Marketing professional and a startup consultant, relatively obsessed with technology.

Rumen
Iliev

Partner @ LAUNCHub Ventures

Passionate about Entrepreneurship, Startups, Venture Capital, Technology investments & Social Impact.

Radu
Georgescu

Investor @ Gecad Ventures

Radu has over 20 years of experience in founding and developing companies - Software, Internet, eCommerce.

Trevor Hatfield

Founder & CEO
Inturact

SaaS Growth Marketing & Data Analysis

Alan
Clayton

Global Roaming Mentor @ SOSV

Supporting early-stage teams from multiple accelerators in the US, EU, and Asia

Cristiana Fernbach

Partner @ KPMG Legal

Attorney-at-Law with substantial expertise mainly in the areas of Technology, Media and Telecom as well as Data Protection & Privacy Law and in technology related Competition and Antitrust and Intellectual Property in international context.

Laura
Mihaila

Head of Marketing @ BCR

Economist and Political Science Analyst, dabbling in the world of finance and organizational development before focusing on the dynamic pastures of marketing.

Radu
Fertonea

Head of operations for PTP services @ Societe Generale & Founder of Paid Analytix

People Manager with practice in leading and growing global teams, reaching valuable results in succession planning and management coaching & development

Marcin
Grodzicki

Chief Product Officer @ Sotrender

Product leader with deep expertise in product metrics

Marius
Nicolae

Head Of Technology @ EY

Strong management background with senior level local / international experience and relevant history of working in IT&C industry.

Marius
Ghenea

Partner @ 3TS Capital Partners

Venture & PE investor in tech companies, entrepreneurship professor and business angel

Andrei Pitis

VP Product & Head of European Development Centers @ Fitbit

Entrepreneur, angel investor and business advisor with 4 successful international exits.

Udit
Batra

Product Owner @ Booking.com

Product specialist at Booking.com, a top 10 internet company

Daniel
Rizea

Director Software Engineering @ Fitbit

Managing 6 teams with 50+ engineers that deliver next generation of features and platforms for the Fitbit ecosystem

Marton Medveczky

Investor @ Flashpoint

There is always something to do. You just need to look harder, be creative, and be a little flexible

Mehmet
Selcuk

Early stage tech investor @ Earlybird Venture Capital

Part of Digital East Fund since its inception in Istanbul, he covers companies based in Turkey and Eastern Europe. It's one of the largest VC firms in the region with fund size of $150M.

Ana-Maria Andronic

Head of Intellectual Property and Technology @ DLA Piper

An accomplished attorney and former Romanian judge with dual legal qualifications in the United States and Romania

Adriana Iordan

Vice President of Product @ 2Checkout

VP of Product Management at 2Checkout, all-in-one monetization platform.

Alexandru
Bogdan

Investor @ ROCA X

Helps startups grow their businesses.

Paolo
Ertreo

Product Designer @ Dropbox

Product designer with a passion for user-centered design

Monica
Obogeanu

Startups Program Manager @ Orange

Startup programs manager with a passion for creating products

Cristian
Munteanu

Founder & Managing Partner @ Early Game Ventures

Tech entrepreneur with a marketing and creative background.

Ondrej
Bartos

General Partner
Credo Ventures

Venture capitalist with a passion for finding outstanding founders and great talent

Jag
Singh

Managing Director @ Techstars Berlin

Investor and supporter of the next wave of disruptive European startups

Valentin
Radu

Founder & CEO @ Omniconvert

Data-driven marketer and growth hacker

Silviu
Sofronie

Partner @ Bitdefender

Silviu is a certified offensive security expert with 10+ years of cybersecurity background.

Dan
Mihaescu

Managing Director @ GapMinder Venture Partners

Venture capitalist with a high understanding of High Tech and its trends

Rene
Schob

Head of Tax & Legal
KPMG

Helps companies to create value by expanding in new territories and embracing new technologies.

Razvan
Todor

Product Management Director @ Bitdefender

Product and UX expertise in B2B and B2C security products

Laurentiu
Ghenciu

VP of Sales
2Checkout

Senior sales leader, with 10+ years expertise in building sales teams, processes and customer success

Georgios
Gatos

VP of Growth
Workable

Established sales development at Workable, the leading SaaS hiring platform. Startup Spotlight alumni

Mihai
Frentiu

Product Owner @ Metro Systems

Tech’N Trade was launched from the company’s desire to appeal to the young talent category with dynamic ideas from the Cluj region and to build digital retail solutions for the future.

Jon
Bradford

Founding Partner
Dynamo VC

Experienced seed investor and corporate innovation expert, Europe 1st acceleration expert

Guido
Jansen

Customer Experience Optimisation Specialist @ Vaimo

Optimising customer and product experince through data and cognitive psychology

Enis
Hulli

Partner
500 startups Istanbul

Early stage investor helping Eastern European entrepreneurs to succeed at the global stage

Jeroen
Corthout

Founder & CEO @ Salesflare

Product and sales experience in building the most popular CRM on ProductHunt

Alma
Balas

Senior Department Manager @ METRO Systems

She started as software developer and enhanced her knowledge and skills in many other areas as management, leader, trainer and coach.

CHRIS
MASSEY

Experienced product specialist & co-curator @ Mind the Product

Product manager, community builder, coach, general enthusiast

Carmen
Sebe

Partner
Gecad Ventures

Extensive experience with new products and markets, transition planning and execution, organizational and product development.

Florin
Vasilica

Partner @ EY

Head of Central and Southeast Europe Capital and Debt Advisory

Alexandru
Burciu

Support Organization @ RIST

He runs an Applied AI Research program for startups and companies. Interested solving hard ML challenges and investing in data-driven startups.

George
Hagivreta

Co-Founder & COO @ MEDIjobs

MEDIjobs is a recruitment platform dedicated exclusively to medical recruitment.

Dan
Toma

Co-Founder
OUTCOME

Lean startup and innovation specialist, author of The Corporate Startup

Previous winners

and notable participants

Raul Popa

CEO and Data Scientist @ TypingDNA

“Startup Spotlight was a great opportunity to interact with other entrepreneurs and with seasoned professionals who could provide guidance for growing our company. We have incorporated many of the things we learned through the HTW experience into our business and believe that it brought us an extraordinary launching opportunity.”

Valentin Radu

CEO @ Omniconvert

“The How to Web team has put together a great concept where not only are startups brought into contact with investors, but the guidance from mentors and networking helped us understand better the SaaS game that we are in and also gave us more knowledge about how to tackle the channel market fit phase that Omniconvert encountered.”

Georgios Gatos

Co-founder @ Incrediblue

“We had the chance to meet awesome people, some of which later become our investors and got featured in some of the biggest tech outlets in the world. Highly positive experience, great business outcome!”

Your turn

Apply as soon as you can - Applications are reviewed periodically.

Apply now

With the support of