This year three Cypriot start-ups have represented Cyprus at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
Web Summit is the largest technology event in the world. This year the organizers welcomed nearly 60,000 attendees, over 1200 speakers and 2600 journalist from more than 170 countries. Web Summit started in 2010 and it is organized annually since then. No other conference or summit has ever grown so fast. They had on stage speakers like, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX; Jack Dorsey, Co-founder of Twitter; Travis Kalanick, Co-Founder of Uber; Mike Krieger, Co-Founder of Instagram; Prof. Stephen Hawking Theoretical Physicist; Ed Catmull President of Pixar and Disney Animations; Brad Smith President of Microsoft; Drew Houston, Founder of Dropbox; Francios Hollande Former President of France and many more world-class speakers from the world’s most influential companies.
The founders and CEOs of the start-ups presented their products/services across Alpha, Beta and Start tracks where they had the opportunity for networking and to meet with potential investors. Web Summit represents the largest accumulation of VC funding in one place at the same time with 1400 tech investors.
The participation of the three Cypriot start-ups, Bandster, Video Brewer, Politica.io was funded by CIPA, the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency and by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation.
The representatives of the three start-ups presented their products and services during the Web Summit in separate booths. They had also the opportunity to attend the presentations by the above mentioned top executives of the world’s most successful businesses and to meet important international individuals.
Politica.io was selected as one of the 200 most promising start-ups among the 2000 businesses.
CIPA and CPRF representatives had a stand at the conference venue as well, where they were promoting the competitive advantages of Cyprus in the fields of research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Natasa Pilides, Director of CIPA said the following about the conference: “As part of our efforts to promote innovation, research and entrepreneurship, we have the honor to support the participation of leading Cypriot start-ups in Web Summit, the largest global forum of its kind. We hope that their participation will be catalytic in attracting investment in our country and we are confident that Cyprus will soon become an attractive center for the realization of ideas that have the capacity to create added value and to contribute to the acceleration of economic growth.”
Dr. Vassilis Tsakalos, Director of the CRPF said, that “The CRPF supports the start-ups because this enriches the Cypriot business ecosystem with dynamism and innovation. In this way, the shift to an economy based on high added value products and services is fostered and fosters research, application of new technology, innovation, extroversion and internationalization. ”
The Startup environment in Cyprus
Cyprus is rapidly developing as a centre for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Research and Development (R&D) and it provides an excellent environment for startups, including startup incubators, networks of startup entrepreneurs, R&D centers (both privately run and of universities), and startup angel investors. For more information about the main startup supporters and R&D center in Cyprus please read our respective article.