The Startup Spotlight matchmaking program and competition helps ambitious founders to turn their early stage startups into successful companies.
Selected startups get access to a well-curated network of founders, investors, experts and partners to help them reach their objectives. The program ends with the a private pitching event where the best startup will be awarded an €225.000 investment prize.
Startup Spotlight helps you prepare for the next stage of your startup. Here's the full list of benefits you'll get access to:
For the best startup from TechAngels, GapMinder and other investors, structured as a convertible note. Final value to be announced in late September.
We focus on helping you achieve your next business objectives by putting you in touch with relevant experts, investors and partners.
Because you focus on your startup, we'll ask for only 4 hours / week of your time. Minimum commitment, maximum impact.
You'll get a customised schedule of activities based on your needs and priorities, with no mandatory activities to attend.
All our mentors are highly experienced founders, investors and experts, including representatives of multiple A-list funds and successful unicorn founders.
Accessible via F6S Alpha Card that will bring you access to tools & resources.
submit your application
The first step is to submit your application, and give yourself the opportunity to connect with highly-relevant investors and mentors, access to amazing benefits and win our investment prize.
startups selected
The jury of the program will select from all the candidates 40 startups who will join the program, based on the potential of their business, quality of their products and experience of their teams.
top notch meetings
During the program you can sign for up to 25 1-to-1 meetings with investors and experts based on your requests and our recommendations, and continue to work outside the program with the ones you've clicked.
AMAs with world-class experts
You can also join up to 10 ask-me-anything private sessions with some of the world's top experts on building startups invited as guest speakers, where you can hear about their experience and ask whatever is relevant for you.
opinion on investment strategy
We'll help you refine your deck and investment strategy and get in the best shape when discussing with potential investors and partners.
investment pitch finalists
Best 10 pitching startups will qualify for Pitch Day, a private event for the finalists, investors, business partners and press representatives, where the jury will award the winner of the competition with a convertible note of €225K
Application
Aug 20 - Sept 27
Selection
Sept 28 - Oct 4
Program
Oct 5 - Nov 29
Pitch Day semi-finals
Nov 30 - Dec 3
Pitch Day + Awards
Dec 4
Application
Aug 20 - Sept 27
Selection
Sept 28 - Oct 4
Program
Oct 5 - Nov 29
Pitching semi-finals
Nov 30 - Dec 3
Private Pitch Day
Dec 4
Startup Spotlight is open to early stage technology startups from the 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.
Principal @ Day One Capital
Their fund is operational since 2018 with a capitalization of EUR 27M and still raising. Bernat is working on sourcing new deals, performing due diligence, and supporting portfolio company performance.
Counsel, Corporate & M&A @ DLA Piper Romania
She practices in the area of Corporate and M&A, with particular focus on mergers and acquisitions. Technology and healthcare are some of her strengths.
Country Managing Partner @ DLA Piper Romania
He leads a team of stars specialized in: mergers & acquisitions, equity and debt offerings, competition/antitrust, with particular focus on the energy, healthcare and IT / telco industries.
Founding Partner
@ Eleven Ventures
A pioneer in the venture capital in Bulgaria, cofounded in 2000 the first local seed fund.
VP Marketing @ 2Checkout (now Verifone)
She has over 15 years of Expertise in Marketing for Software Business (Commerce, Online Payments, Subscription Billing, SaaS/Cloud Services) and driving cross-functional teams.
Manager @ Mastercard
Experienced finance professional with background in consultancy.
Director, Commercial and Nontraditional Business Development @ Mastercard
She's a finance professional with more than 10 years of experience in the banking sector. She also works closely with lean practices and processes.
Engineering Agile Manager @ Tech 'n Trade by Metro Systems
Agile Transformation Coach & Trainer with 15+ years of IT experience and in leading multi functional teams. Active practitioner in Lean-Agile & Product Management.
Managing Director eMAG Ventures @ eMAG Group
Senior leader with 16 years of experience in tech companies, currently working as advisor with C-level executives and their teams to drive business growth through technology.
Co-Founder & Product Manager @ SmartBill
Product management expert turned into tech founder.
Product Manager @ Facebook
She built a product management community with 30+ thousand members and she's and active writer on product management expert topics.
CEO @ Swiss ICT Investors Club
Diverse professional background in business development, strategy, operations, and marketing.
Principal @ Market One Capital
VC investment professional with computer science background. Focused on Marketplaces (SaaS based) and B2B Software.
Partner @ Innovation Nest
VC based in Poland, focused on European early-stage SaaS companies. He's mostly interested in martech and vertical SaaS.
Startup Programs Manager @ Microsoft
Empowering startups to scale up and accelerate their businesses with Microsoft’s support.
Managing Partner @ BrightCap Ventures
Strong experience in finance, VC and PE in fintech, femtech, real estate. Co-founder of a B2B procurement start-up.
Director of Product @ Nike
10+ years of experience in growing technology companies. Background in new product initiatives, software product design and development. Figuring out gaps between product / engineering and business teams.
Partner @ Vitosha Venture Partners
Investor in early-stage scalable startups. Previous experience as entrepreneur in the legal field and investment banker.
UX Manager @ UiPath
UX Leader with experience in large companies like UiPath and ING Bank, as well as a solid body of work consulting and designing for early-stage startups. UX educator and mentor through UX Goodies and Mento Design Academy.
Senior Product Manager @ Spotify
Product expert, with expertise in: product management, UX, digital marketing, e-Commerce, digital strategy, digital advertising, client presentation & stakeholder management, agile methodology, project management, product roadmaps, product optimisation, product usage tracking.
Growth Specialist @ SaaS Accelerator
Helping SaaS companies to achieve scalable, predictive growth and to look for proven systems and frameworks they can implement into their business to increase revenue and build a scalable SaaS.
General Partner @ Velocity Partners
Investor with entrepreneurial background and a passion at the intersection of tech, culture and new media. He also serves as Co-Founder and General Partner at Velocity.Partners, a pre-seed and seed Venture Capital Fund active in Greece and SEE.
Partner @ GapMinder Venture Partners
Investor and adviser in early-stage technology companies. Recently invested in some of the newest high-growth tech startups from CEE - Deepstash, Soleadify, Machinations, Frisbo, Innoship.
Director of Marketing & Communication @ BCR
Internationally experienced professional with expertise across strategic areas of media relations, owing to extended professional record within the financial sector.
Co-Founder & CSO @ Intercom
Product strategy specialist, founder of Intercom, world's most used business messaging system.
Partner @ Atomico
High-growth investor in Europe's best companies from series A and beyond.
Co-Founder & CMO @ TypingDNA
Digital marketing expert on a mission to make online authentication effortless with typing based biometrics.
Design Manager @ Plaid
Product design expert, previously managing designers across several product areas at Dropbox. Angel investor.
Product Manager @ Orbit
Product and community strategist with multi-year experience in developer advocacy / evangelism, community management, and developer education.
Principal @ Notion Capital
Investor and adviser in technology companies. Sound educational background in ML and data science.
Founder @ Upgrade 100
Digital media expert with over 20 years of experience. He was the CEO a major Romanian digital and print media company, nowadays part of Mediafax Group.
Co-Founder & CEO @ SeedBlink
Founded the first equity crowdfunding platform in the region which helped 12 innovative startups to get total funding rounds of more than EUR 3.5 mil. Over 20 years of banking experience.
Co-Founder & CEO @ InnerTrends
500 Startups Alumnus, product expert creating top-notch on-boarding processes. Passionate about data algorithms designed to offer deep insights into customer success.
Founder & CEO @ Netopia
Serial entrepreneur in the mobile marketing and payments industry and angel investor.
CEO @ 2Performant
Serial entrepreneur in the digital marketing space with exit experience.
Co-Founder @ T-Me Studios
Entrepreneur & occasional Angel Investor. Big fan of edtech, data companies and B2C mobile apps.
Co-Founder & CEO @ SmartBill
Engineer turned into founder. Co-founded SmartBill and he's active also as business angel.
Managing Partner @ Connect Ventures
Investor in early-stage technology companies such as Incrediblue or Typeform and extensive board director experience.
Partner @ Accel
Early stage investor, interested in enterprise software, developer-oriented software, open-source, security, financial services.
Angel investor @ Typing DNA
Investor and adviser in early-stage technology companies, currently helping TypingDNA on their mission to make online authentication effortless with typing based biometrics.
Content Marketer @ The Content Habit
Content marketing specialist for cybersecurity companies, with over 10 years of experience, helping them drive organic growth.
CMO @ Wolfpack Digital
Marketing strategist fueled by helping tech products, SaaS companies, and startups grow to the next level through data-driven actions & optimization.
Founder @ Visionary Business Consultants
Angel investor and consultant for startups with over 25 years of experience in business and management.
Founder, Managing Partner @ ATNNOVATE
Vice-President of TechAngels Romania. Founder, mentor to startups and angel investor.
CRO Strategist @ UX Studio
Highly technical CRO strategist with 12 years of experience in User Experience (UX), Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) and Digital Analytics.
Co-Founder & CTO @ UiPath
Founder of startup turned to decacorn and pragmatic tech enthusiast with sound engineering background.
Partner @ Early Game Ventures
Investor and adviser in early-stage technology companies, skilled in Negotiation, Business Planning, E-commerce, Business Development, and Entrepreneurship.
General Partner @ Oktogon Ventures
Early-stage investor & startup ecosystems expert.
Partner, Head of Tax & Legal
@ KPMG Romania
Head of Tax & Legal at KPMG Romania and coordinator of the KPMG Romania Startup Grow Pad Program.
Founding Editor & CEO @ Netokracija
Digital media entrepreneur and specialist, with a knack for content marketing.
Growth strategist & angel investor @ 3VC
Investor, Growth Adviser, UiPath Alumnus, Venture Partner at 3VC
Founder & CEO @ Culture Gene
Leading expert on startup and high-growth company culture, helping companies to transition effectively to remote work.
Co-Founder & CSO @ Branch.io
Experienced marketer and evangelist, founder of Branch.io unicorn.
Startups Incubator Coordinator @ Tech 'n Trade by 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.
Founding Partner @ Gecad Ventures
Serial entrepreneur in the software and eCommerce space. Successful exits such as ePayment business by Naspers, Avangate by Francisco Partners and Vectorwatch technology by Fitbit.
Product Manager @ The Access Group
Product management and team alignment expert with a background in content, marketing, & communities.
Partner @ Catalyst Romania
Venture capitalist & PE investor in tech companies. Skilled in investment, negotiation, business planning, management, and corporate development.
Product Designer @ Dropbox
As a growth product designer, he focuses on creating experiences that are user-centered, performance-driven, and business-oriented. Previously he was leading design on the Growth team at Strava.
Partner @ LAUNCHub Ventures
South East Europe seed stage investor, passionate about entrepreneurship, technology investments and social impact.
President
@ TechAngels
Early stage business angel, investments including Symphopay, SmartDreamers and TypingDNA.
Founder & Managing Partner @ Early Game Ventures
VC with a background as a tech entrepreneur in Romania and the US (Seattle and Silicon Valley).
Product Manager @ Fitbit
Product expertise in building consumer software and hardware products for Fitbit and Vector Watch.
Founding Partner
@ GapMinder Venture Partners
Investor and adviser in early-stage technology companies. Recently invested in some of the newest high-growth tech startups from CEE - FintechOS, TypingDNA, DruidAI, Cartloop.
Global Roaming Mentor @ SOSV
Acceleration specialist, mentor at HAX, Food-X, Chinaccelerator RebelBio and IndieBio accelerators. Previously 5x founder.
Head of Intellectual Property and Technology @ DLA Piper Romania
An accomplished attorney and former Romanian judge with dual legal qualifications in the United States and Romania
Startup Programs Manager @ Orange
Manager of the Orange Fab Romania program, facilitating collaborations between innovative startups and Orange.
Founder @ Neobility
Serial entrepreneur with previous sucessful exit of CleverTaxi to MyTaxi (currently Free Now). Self-taught transportation and mobility expert.
CEO @ SeedBlink
Executive with extensive operational, general management, new products and markets, business partnerships, transition planning and execution, organizational development, product development.
Managing Director @ Techstars Berlin
Investor and supporter of the next wave of disruptive European startups.
Chief Product Officer @ Sotrender
Product management specialist, previously startup founder.
Partner
@ Dynamo Ventures
Investor in supply chain and mobility companies. Serial entrepreneur that pioneered the startup acceleration space in Europe and set grounds for Techstars London.
Chief Growth Officer @ Bitpanda
Full-stack product marketer and experienced project manager, previously leading the marketing efforts of Uber in Romania. Entrepreneur at heart.
Co-Founder & CEO @ TypingDNA
Techstars Alumnus (NYC '18), AI / ML expert building a revolutionary technology called “typing biometrics”. It is currently used in Cyber Security for 2-factor and multi-factor authentication, fraud prevention, and risk-based authentication.
Founder @ Software Promotions
SEO & Google Ads expert, helping businesses tap into all that Google offer, safely and efficiently.
Co-Founder
@ OUTCOME
Innovation and lean startup expert with entrepreneurial background. Worked with companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Bosch, Jaguar Land Rover, Bayer, John Deere or Allianz.
Co-Founder & CEO @ 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.”
Founder & 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.”
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!”
