Lead: Participants from seven countries are already confirmed, the programme is built around four themes, and the whole thing takes place across Budapest rather than in one conference hall.
The ScaleupFest 2026 is happening on 16-17 September in Budapest, and while many of us were away for the summer, the room, the programme and the Budapest experience have been taking shape.
Participants from seven countries are already confirmed, with around 250 founders, scaleup leaders, investors and ecosystem players expected to join us. The ScaleupFest is invite-led, and direct invitations have already gone out across CEE and SEE. So if you have just returned from your summer break, check your inbox, there might be an invitation waiting for you.
Who you'll meet
This year's conversations will feature founders and senior leaders sharing their growth stories, including ElevenLabs, EnduroSat, Prezi, Paynetics, Orqa, Whalebone, Perciv.ai and Storyly.
And if you are coming to meet investors, you will find plenty of them around the same tables: PortfoLion, LAUNCHub Ventures, Credo Ventures, Sparking Capital, J&T Ventures, Neulogy Ventures, Day One Capital, 3TS Capital Partners and many more.
Four themes, the questions scaleups are actually facing
We are creating 60-90 minute deep-dive sessions, roundtables and masterclasses where founders, investors and operators can get into the questions that matter when you are trying to scale from CEE and SEE.
Scaling and go-to-market. How do you scale beyond your home market? Build an international sales engine? Use AI without simply bolting it onto yesterday's GTM playbook?
Transactions, funding and exits. What does today's funding and M&A market actually look like? Who is buying CEE tech companies? How is AI affecting valuations?
Founders, teams and organisation. What happens to culture, leadership and organisational structure as you scale?
Defence tech. Is defence tech really the new SaaS? And what does it actually take to sell, finance and scale in defence and dual-use markets?
It doesn't happen in one conference hall
Over two days, ScaleupFest moves between venues across Budapest, with the conversations continuing on the way.
A ScaleupRun in the morning, or a slower walk along the Danube. A specialty coffee on the way to your next session. Good food and more conversations over lunch. A chimney cake somewhere in between. And when the sessions are over, a proper Budapest ruin bar.
Serious content. The right people. And a taste of Budapest in between.
Confirm your place, apply to attend, or get one of the limited public tickets: https://luma.com/thescaleupfest2026