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An event that lasts for 3 days, but with results that will hopefully last forever. Although the Global Meetup 2019 ended yesterday, the startups, corporates, investors, and innovation professionals are left with the feeling that the connections they made during the event will result in innovative solutions that can solve several world issues.
This year we had a total of 150 startups and more than 300 corporates, investors and innovation professionals. 828 one on one meetings, with several promising conversations.
Opening dinner
The opening dinner, at Hofbräu Tavern, a traditional German restaurant, set the tone for the whole event. It was an informal gathering that allowed the guests to establish the first contact and build their relationship from there.
For FanSaves, one of the startups attending, this dinner was the ideal way to start off the Global Meetup. “The setting is really cool, the food is amazing, but the people are what makes this event really cool. We met so many different people from so many different nations and different startup industries We didn’t know what to expect but, so far, it exceeds any expectations and it’s only the first day”, said the founders Shannon Ferguson and Kris McCarthy.
Future Sessions
The Future Sessions were designed to bring startups, corporates, investors and innovation professionals together to explore different topics and create business opportunities. Cleantech, hightech, fintech, food and agri, health, mobility, workforce and enterprise software were the topics explored by the participants. After exploring together where these industries were headed, getting insights and discussing potential collaborations, startups had one on one meetings with the corporates.
For Manu Gupta, of SEETA Healthtech who got a potential collaboration with a corporate after the Future Sessions, joining the guests according to their industry was ideal. Talking about the benefit of the Future Sessions and tailored meetings, Manu said “one-on-one meetings are very interesting, very open, when you are discussing you can really bring that natural instinct in the conversation which may be interesting when you have multiple cultures talking together.”
Innovation tours
The innovation tour took the startups through Berlin on a visit to the cities’ buzzing hotspots, where they visited incubators, startups, and industry experts. The tours were designed with the goal of giving startups a chance to hear success stories of venturing into the unknown, and to give them a glimpse of activities outside of their comfort zone.
Final of Global Startup Competition
To end on a high, the ultimate crowning of the world’s most promising startups left all the guests eager for more. Dynaxion, Fiskaly and SpotDraft were the winners. Dynaxion is a deep-tech startup that provides a next-generation solution improving the accuracy and efficiency of security screening processes worldwide. Fiskaly, our Middleweight winner simplifies the constraints of financial systems, enabling businesses to be more flexible and dynamic than ever before. SpotDraft helps businesses negotiate, sign, manage and analyze their legal documents, allowing companies to put their contracts on autopilot through the power of AI.
The three people responsible for making this hard decision this year were Eline Vrijland-Van Beest, Tanja Emmerling and Jason Nadal. Speaking about what she is looking for as a Champion jury member, Eline Vrijland-Van Beest said “A winner is somebody that is extremely driven with a clear vision of where they want to go, so I look for that in teams that present. Do they have enough drive and composure to overcome the hurdles that you will encounter on your journey?” The 3 Global Heroes of the evening were clearly impressive.
Global Meetup 2020
Every year, Get in the Ring, a platform of the Unknown Group, organizes the Global Startup Competition. Next season will be the 7th edition of this worldwide competition that goes around the world selecting the most promising startups. In the end, 150 competition winners fly to one destination for the Global Meetup, an event where they will network, meet, create connections and unlock business opportunities with 350 investors, innovation professionals and corporates.
Startups can already apply for the Global Startup Competition here. Interested network partners and corporates, can send an email to yana@unknowngroup.com.
Tags: GM19