Alphabet's Eric Schmidt takes the stage at Startup Fest Europe

AMSTERDAM - April 11, 2016 - PRLog -- Apart from the spectacular lineup of keynote speakers that includes Tim Cook (Apple), Eric Schmidt (Alphabet, Google's parent company), Travis Kalanick (Uber) and Nathan Blecharczyk (Airbnb), the opening day on May 24th at the Beurs van Berlage will host Europe's most promising startups and the world's greatest Venture Capitalists.

During an eventful week, the Netherlands will transform into the center of the global startup community. Thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs, developers, hackers, investors and corporate innovators will get together to create tomorrow's economy. Startup Fest Europe takes place from 24 - 28 May and aims to bring the world together and help startups grow faster. More than 28 events will take place in 14 cities across 5 days.

VC selection

The world's leading VCs will meet the very best of what Europe has to offer. We're happy to announce that we can welcome: Vinnie Lauria (Golden Gate Ventures), James Wise (Balderton), Matteo Rizzi (Omidyar), Jeppe Zink (Northzone) and Elody Dupuy, Vice President at Insight Venture Partners. Flying in from London, Silicon Valley, Johannesburg, Mumbai, we have an extraordinary international top selection looking to invest in Europe. Their portfolio includes successful investments in companies such as Skype, Betfair and Takeaway.com, so you can rest assured they all are top-notch!

For more attending VCs check out our investor page.

Current highlights of the startup week

As part of Startup Fest, on May 26, Shell, DSM, Eneco, Rockstart, Sungevity and Salesforce are pleased to host Energy Fest; one exciting day of energy-related innovation featuring breakthrough solutions and disruptive technologies. Energy Fest explores cutting-edge technology and how innovators are tackling the biggest energy transition challenges that society is facing. Located at Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam, Energy Fest will see influential speakers (among others Maros Sefcovic - VP European Commission Energy Union, Yuri Sebregts - CTO Royal Dutch Shell and a range of entrepreneurial speakers), host pitch competitions with phenomenal prizes; a Startup Village; and facilitate matchmaking between startups, venture capitalists and potential customers.

On 25 and 26 May, F&A Next will shine the spotlights on Food and Agripreneurs. On Wednesday the 25th at the campus of Wageningen University, early stage startups in Food and Agri will pitch their business ideas in front of a jury of investors. On Thursday the 26th, later stage startups will take the floor and discuss some of the trending topics in the industry with focused investors: Accelerating innovation in Food and Agtech, Alternative Proteins and Producing More with Less. Inspiration guaranteed during F&A Next, with keynotes of a.o. Louise Fresco (President of Wageningen University), Hello Fresh founder Dominik Richter and UrbanFarmers' Mark Durno.

About Startup Fest Europe

For the past year-and-a-half StartupDelta, the initiative led by Neelie Kroes, former vice president of the European Commission for the digital agenda, has put the Netherlands on the map internationally as an attractive and full grown startup ecosystem, resulting in a #1 ranking in the Startup Nation Scoreboard.

Startup Fest Europe is initiated by StartupDelta, as a crown to the ambitious results that have been achieved. For a full week, the Netherlands will showcase the fields of expertise in which it excels: food and agriculture, health, energy, high tech and water technology. Chaired by Constantijn van Oranje and led by Jim Stolze, this world-class event brings the most exciting speakers to the Netherlands whilst facilitating worldwide matchmaking between funds, startups, talent and centres of excellence. The main goals: deals, deals and deals. Startup Fest Europe is an official EU presidency event, supported by the ministry of Economic Affairs and the ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences.

Startup Fest Europe has been made possible thanks to founding partners Deloitte, Google, Rabobank, Shell, Samsung and Ziggo. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture support the organization with a financial contribution. The organization is supported by Dutch scale-ups Adyen, Booking.com, Elastic and TomTom.

Further information

Startup Fest Europe takes place from the 24th to the 28th of May 2016. On www.startupfesteurope.com you can find an up-to-date overview of all the events that will take place.

Contact

For questions please contact Maarten Snijders at maarten@startupfesteurope.com +31 6 295 659 23 or Katrien Westendorp at katrien@startupfesteurope.com

+31 6 303 197 08