20 September 2023
Budapest

Highlights:

# Best practices: how to scale and grow beyond CEE
# VCs and founders about the challenges of scaling
# Founders and investors of successful scaleups
# Scaling globally from CEE - lessons about market entry
# Sales, marketing, HR challenges of scaling
# Tech exits
# Workshops and main stage programs

The ScaleupFest

20th September 2023, Budapest

The ScaleupFest is much more than just yet another startup event.

It is aimed to create a friendly place to learn, atmosphere and time for all stakeholders in the ecosystem to meet, share, get inspired, network and build their own story of scaling and growing beyond CEE – together.

It is a place for startups, scaleups, investors and corporates where talented businesses, technology and innovation, international experience, best practices and capital can find and impact each other. You will hear founders telling their growth stories and real-life experience, real international case studies, investors revealing why one team succeeded and who they are looking for to invest.

The most relevant topics, 100% true experience, insights and straightforward take-aways from 30+ speakers will guide you through and answer your questions on the main challenges of growing internationally and scaling beyond the region. Not just scratching the surface but going into deeper details, facts & figures of stressing issues CEE startups / scaleups are facing on their journey.

The ScaleupFest is the 6th session of VCs in CEE event series, recognized and listed in “The definitive guide to European Startup Events in 2023” .

Who is it for?

For startups, scaleups

building a business, aspiring to become a regional or even global key player
raising / planned to raise capital and eager to meet regional and international VC investors
striving for true, first-hand experience, learnings and insights
to meet fellow founders to exchange learnings on struggling issues, and find cooperation opportunities
with the intention to share their pitch decks with the investor guests and speakers and have the opportunity of networking with them

For VC / PE investors

looking for talented teams, exciting tech companies from the region to invest
looking for best practices, case studies from the international playground
to get insights about the latest global VC/PE trends
interested in how and when to compete with VCs in CEE or from the US
to build their network with international investors
interested in the full landscape of the regional VC/PE industry, wanted to get the most of their stay in Budapest

For corporates

interested in the vibrant startup, scaleup hot scene
to learn about how talented teams disrupt their industry
to find game-changer solutions might shape the future of their company
looking for innovative startups, scaleups for partnering
looking for talented teams, exciting tech companies from the region to invest / buy

… and for other ecosystem players, interested in what is happening in the VC, startup, scaleup ecosystems in the region.

More about pitchdeck sharing and invite-only networking program, access to pitchdeck upload area

LET’S SEE

This year again, The ScaleupFest delivers you even more opportunity to get to know about the full investment landscape of the region, meet relevant ecosystem players and exchange experience / best practice from the CEE region and Europe by cooperating with partner events around the date & time of The ScaleupFest; via our special offers, you can get access to The AngelFest, the regional summit of angel investors and early stage startups (morning of 20^th September) and to the Annual Investment Conference of HVCA (Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association) the next day, 21^st September.

6 workshops

+ main stage programs

30+

speakers

70+

investors

to meet

100+

startups / scaleups

250+

attendees from

7+ CEE countries

Date, time, venue – Save the date!

Date: Wednesday, 20th September 2023
Time: 12.00 – 9.00 PM
Check-in: from 12.00
Buffet lunch with speakers*: 12.30 – 1.45 PM
Main stage opening, keynote: 1:45 PM
Main stage programs block 1: from 1:45 PM
Workshops: 3.30 – 5.15 PM
Invite-only investor networking: 3.30 – 5.00 PM
Main stage programs block 2: from 5.45 PM
Networking: from 12.30 – 1:45 PM and 7.00 – 9.00 PM + throughout the event
Venue: Akvárium Klub
Address: H-1051 Erzsébet tér 12.
Official language: English

*available with Early Access tickets only

VCs and PEs we proudly hosted so far

Topics we plan to cover

Main stage topics

Investment climate & valuations

How the regional VC market and startup fundraising climate changed in the last years
Availability of venture capital in Europe / CEE, what VCs currently look for
Trends in valuations by stages, from pre-seed to Series A – movement of medians, CEE benchmarks, key notes
Founder expectations vs. reality in valuations – how to align?

Tunya Irkad – VC investor – 500 Emerging Europe
Paweł Maj – partner – Warsaw Equity Group
András Molnár – CEO – PortfoLion Capital Partners

Keynote by Pekka Mäki – managing partner – 3TS Capital Partners

Case studies: How we did it?

Fundraising case studies from the recent past – first-hand experience of CEE founders
Challenges and learnings of transactions closed with international investors in turbulent times

When there are no easy answers

Managing a hardware + software startup
Manufacturing, supply chain, quality management, logistics, margin issues
Scaling, fundraising, growth challenges of such startups – how to tackle them?

Martin Basila – co-founder, CEO – Sensoneo

Further participants TBC soon

International growth: opening a new HQ in WE / US

How to start it, how long does it take?
What are the main challenges for non-residential companies?
Cost implications
Re-location, hiring, remote team management issues

Darren Glenister – co-founder, CEO – Material Exchange

Further participants TBC soon

Life after an exit

Integration or staying independent?

Ken Barragan – head of M&A – Vesta Software Group
Tamás Földi – SVP Data – HCL Technologies, former CEO and CTO of Starschema

Further participants TBC soon

My favourite startup memes explained

There are good videos and memes in social media that parodize typical situations among VCs / startups, e.g. about hiring, HR etc. But these memes/ jokes always have some valid arguments behind…

“Best of” selection from Enis Hulli, general partner of 500 Emerging Europe

Workshop topics

6 workshops of 45-50 mins will be organized during the event, with topics built around specific investment and scaling issues. Workshops will be delivered in 3 event rooms simultaneously at the Akvárium Klub.

To attend any of the workshops, you need to register each of your interest before the event.

Registration to workshops will be opened soon with detailed information about the given topics and speakers.

You will be notified by e-mail once workshop registration is available for you.

1. Life with an investor

How to work together and survive it?

Tatiana Balkovicová – senior investment director – Genesis Capital

Further participants TBC soon

2. The term sheet

Take it or leave it?

Pál Szabó – partner, head of M&A / Corporate Practice Group – Bird & Bird Law Firm

Further participants TBC soon

3. The top3 HR challenges in becoming a scaleup

Organizational / management / team issues
Process issues
Recruiting the best international talents, building an international team
What VCs expect in later stage (Series A/B/C,..) funding rounds

Sarah-Emily Oades – VP of People – SEON Fraud Fighters
Moqsood Ali – founder – WM | tech

Moderated by Márk Pálfalvi – principal, PortfoLion Capital Partners

Further participants TBC soon

4. Product pricing

Hacks & Tricks

5. Adopting to changing landscape: from growth at all cost to profitable growth

Pawel Sieczkiewicz – CEO – Telemedi
Borbála Farkas-Főzy – VC investor – UNIQA Ventures

Further participants TBC soon

6. Exit process step by step

Startups / scaleups and their investors at one point in the future needs an exit. This can be a full exit to a strategic investor, or a PE can make a majority buyout (and then later an IPO).

Exit routes – which is the right fit for your company?
What are the main phases of an exit process? How to prepare for that?
What are the main tasks for founders / owners and what do investors need to do?
Timeframe of an exit – when to start?

Jenő Nieder – deputy CEO – PortfoLion Capital Partners
Lénárd Horgos – partner – Absolvo

Further participants TBC soon

Program and topics

12:00 – 13:30

1-on-1 with AWS Startup Team – Part 1.

Available for startup / scaleup attendees only
Meeting pre-arrangement required

Fundraising, AIML, Technical Consultation, Architecture Review, Migration, Credits, Co-selling with AWS, GDPR, Building Your MVP, AWS Accelerators and more – get to know about what Amazon Web Services (AWS), the global leader cloud service provider offer for startups, scaleups!

Book a 15 mins slot with one of the AWS experts and raise your questions! Please indicate during your registration if you are interested, you will be contacted in e-mail with further information and calendar links to arrange your booking.

12:30 – 13:45

Buffet Lunch

Informal business and networking lunch in the Akvarium Bistro area with The ScaleupFest and The AngelFest speakers and investors.

Limited access – available only for attendees with Early Access ticket options!

13:45 – 13:55

Greetings and Opening

Lénárd Horgos – partner – Absolvo, host of the event
Gergely Tóth – founder of HR Fest, co-host of the event
Péter Csillag – president – Hungarian Business Angel Network (HunBan)

13:55 – 14:30

Investment climate & valuations

How the regional VC market and startup fundraising climate changed in the last years
Availability of venture capital in Europe / CEE, what VCs currently look for
Trends in valuations by stages, from pre-seed to Series A – movement of medians, CEE benchmarks, key notes
Founder expectations vs. reality in valuations – how to align?

Tunya Irkad – VC investor – 500 Emerging Europe
Paweł Maj – partner – Warsaw Equity Group
András Molnár – CEO – PortfoLion Capital Partners

Keynote by Pekka Mäki – managing partner – 3TS Capital Partners

Moderated by Lénárd Horgos – partner, Absolvo

14:30 – 14:55

How we did it?

Fundraising case studies from the recent past – first-hand experience of CEE founders
Challenges and learnings of transactions closed with international investors in turbulent times

Szabolcs Patay – CEO – Commsignia
Marko Bitenc – founder, CEO – GenePlanet
Csaba Kákosy – managing partner – Day One Capital

14:55 – 15:20

When there are no easy answers

Managing a hardware + software startup
Manufacturing, supply chain, quality management, logistics, margin issues
Scaling, fundraising, growth challenges of such startups – how to tackle them?

Martin Basila – co-founder, CEO – Sensoneo
Dániel Jogg – CEO – Enerhash
Dénes Szluha – head of startup division – Hiventures

Moderated by Maciej Skarul – partner, ff Venture Capital

15:20 – 15:30

Short break, move to workshop rooms

15:30 – 17:15

Invite-only investor networking

Private networking event-in-event for startups whose pitch deck raised interest among the investors, investor guest speakers of the event and other startups, scaleups, VC/PE investors based on private invitation.

Thematized workshops

6 thematized workshops of 45 mins, built around specific issues and challenges of investments and scaling.

3 workshops will run simultaneously in 3 different rooms of Akvarium Klub.

Pre-registration required! Attendees will be automatically notified about the registration opening.

15:30 – 16:15

Workshops – part 1.

1. The top3 HR challenges in becoming a scaleup

Organizational / management / team issues
Process issues
Recruiting the best international talents, building an international team
What VCs expect in later stage (Series A/B/C,..) funding rounds

Sarah-Emily Oades – VP of People – SEON Fraud Fighters
Katalin Ragályi – Chief People and Culture Officer – Commsignia
Moqsood Ali – founder – WM | tech

Moderated by Márk Pálfalvi – principal, PortfoLion Capital Partners

2. The term sheet

Take it or leave it?

Pál Szabó – partner, head of M&A / Corporate Practice Group – Bird & Bird Law Firm
Vojta Roček – partner – Presto Ventures
Szabolcs Nagy – co-founder, CEO – Turbine

3. Adopting to changing landscape: from growth at all cost to profitable growth

Martin Olczyk – managing director – Techstars
Pawel Sieczkiewicz – CEO – Telemedi
Borbála Farkas-Főzy – VC investor – UNIQA Ventures

16:15 – 16:30

Short break

16:30 – 17:15

Workshops – part 2.

4. Scaling with AWS

Fireside chat: AI for scaling startups with Credo Ventures

Manuel Gómez – solution architect – AWS
Albin Lindskog – solution architect – AWS
Guillaume Fournier – general partner – Credo Ventures

How AWS help startups scale

Jaime Nacher Pérez – account executive – AWS

5. Tech exits: non-cliché insights

How to sell your tech startup / scaleup / business is one of the most underexplored topics when it comes to building a great business.

In this workshop you will get rarely discussed points with the experience of 100+ deals about:

Why in fact you are NOT selling a company to a company?
InfoMemo, teaser, vendor DD, financial plan, valuation etc – and what really matters.
Do you want to close a great deal in ~ 12-18 months? Well, you may already be late with kicking off the „exit process”.
How to sell above the “fair value”?
Why it matters who the buyer is? (family business versus PE backed company versus scaleup versus corporate buyer versus financial investor)

Jenő Nieder – deputy CEO – PortfoLion Capital Partners
Balázs Tahy – partner – Crescendo Partners
Lénárd Horgos – partner – Absolvo

6. Life with an investor

How to work together and survive it?

Tatiana Balkovicová – senior investment director – Genesis Capital
Jan Stanek – founding partner – Purple Ventures
Zsófia Tóth – co-founder, CEO – Volteum

Moderated by Zsolt Mihály – principal, PortfoLion Capital Partners

17:15 – 17:45

Break, networking, snacks served

17:45 – 17:50

Welcome back – Main stage opening block 2.

Lénárd Horgos – partner – Absolvo, host of the event
Gergely Tóth – founder of HR Fest, co-host of the event

17:50 – 18:20

International growth: opening a new HQ in WE / US

How to start it, how long does it take?
What are the main challenges for non-residential companies?
Cost implications
Re-location, hiring, remote team management issues

Marius Istrate – venture partner – 3VC, fomer Chief People Officer at UiPath
Darren Glenister – co-founder, CEO – Material Exchange
Dominik Kovács – founder, CEO – Colossyan

Moderated by Zsolt Weiszbart – partner, Day One Capital

18:20 – 18:45

Life after an exit

Integration or staying independent?

Ken Barragan – head of M&A – Vesta Software Group
Tamás Földi – SVP Data – HCL Technologies, former CEO and CTO of Starschema

Moderated by Lénárd Horgos – partner, Absolvo

Further participants TBC soon

18:45 – 19:05

My favourite startup memes explained

There are good videos and memes in social media that parodize typical situations among VCs / startups, e.g. about hiring, HR etc. But these memes/ jokes always have some valid arguments behind…

“Best of” selection from Enis Hulli, general partner of 500 Emerging Europe

Moderated by Iván Gyurácz Németh – partner, Absolvo

19:05

Stage closing

19:00 – 20:30

1-on-1 with AWS Startup Team – Part 2.

Available for startup / scaleup attendees only
Meeting pre-arrangement required

19:05 – 21:00

Networking

Speakers who proudly confirmed so far

Pekka Mäki

managing partner
3TS Capital Partners

Enis Hulli

general partner
500 Emerging Europe

Tatiana Balkovicová

senior investment director
Genesis Capital

Paweł Maj

partner
Warsaw Equity Group

Ken Barragan

head of M&A
Vesta Software Group

Guillaume Fournier

general partner
Credo Ventures

Tunya Irkad

VC investor
500 Emerging Europe

Vojta Roček

partner
Presto Ventures

Marius Istrate

venture partner – 3VC, Chairman of the Board – TechAngels Romania
former Chief People Officer of UiPath

Jan Stanek

founding partner
Purple Ventures

Martin Olczyk

managing director
Techstars

Maciej Skarul

partner
ff Venture Capital

Pawel Sieczkiewicz

CEO
Telemedi

Marko Bitenc

founder, CEO
GenePlanet

Martin Basila

co-founder, CEO
Sensoneo

Darren Glenister

co-founder, CEO
Material Exchange

Sarah-Emily Oades

VP of People
SEON Fraud Fighters

Moqsood Ali

founder
WM | tech

Tamas-Foldi-HCL-Technologies-Starschema-single

Tamás Földi

SVP Data – HCL Technologies
former CEO and CTO of Starschema, acquired by HCL

Dominik Kovács

founder, CEO
Colossyan

Szabolcs Patay

CEO
Commsignia

Katalin Ragályi

Chief People and Culture Officer
Commsignia

Szabolcs Nagy

co-founder, CEO
Turbine

Dániel Jogg

CEO
Enerhash

Zsófia Tóth

co-founder, CEO
Volteum

Albin Lindskog

solution architect
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Manuel Gómez

solution architect
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Jaime Nacher Pérez

account executive
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

András Molnár

CEO
PortfoLion Capital Partners

Csaba Kákosy

managing partner
Day One Capital

Jenő Nieder

deputy CEO
PortfoLion Capital Partners

Balázs Tahy

partner
Crescendo Partners

Borbála Farkas-Főzy

VC investor
UNIQA Ventures

Dénes Szluha

head of startup division
Hiventures

Pál Szabó

partner, head of M&A / Corporate Practice Group
Bird & Bird Law Firm

Márk Pálfalvi

principal
PortfoLion Capital Partners

Zsolt Weiszbart

partner
Day One Capital

Zsolt Mihály

principal
PortfoLion Capital Partners

Lénárd Horgos

partner
Absolvo

Iván Gyurácz Németh

partner
Absolvo

Gergely Tóth

founder
HR Fest

Check out our speakers in 2022

Make the most out of your stay in Budapest!

Special offers for partner events

The ScaleupFest delivers you even more opportunity to get to know about the full investment landscape of the region, meet relevant ecosystem players and exchange experience / best practice from the CEE region and Europe by cooperating with partner events around the date & time of The ScaleupFest.

By joining The ScaleupFest, you will also have the opportunity to take the special offers:

from The AngelFest, the regional event of angels, early stage investors and startups (morning of 20th September, same venue). The AngelFest provides you 50% off its ticket price; promotion code will be e-mailed to you once your ticket purchase to The ScaleupFest event is completed.
from the Annual Investment Conference of HVCA (Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association), the regional summit of the VC/PE industry (the next day, 21st of September). HVCA Conference offers you 30% off its ticket price, referring to your attendance at The ScaleupFest at your registration and ticket purchase to the conference.

For more information about the partner events, programs, speakers and registration / ticket purchase please visit the event websites:

The AngelFest
HVCA Annual Investment Conference

Registration, ticket purchase

Ticket purchase platform is operated by TicketNinja, secure payment gateway is provided by OTP SimplePay.

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If you already have a TicketNinja account, you just simply need to check in to start the purchase process. Please check your billing details and update them if necessary!

Please make sure you choose from the right ticket options offered you based on your role in the ecosystem; thank you for understanding that we need to maintain the healty balance of different groups of ecosystem players attending the event!

For more ticket options please scroll through! 🙂

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Type your code in the “coupon code” area and check-in your coupon.
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Please scroll through the ticket options until you find the one you want to buy – the price appearing on your ticket is already your discounted price!

Check the feeling of The ScaleupFest!

Are you interested in last events’ program, topics, speakers or video releases?

Visit The ScaleupFest 2020 or The ScaleupFest 2022

What our guests say about the event

Interviews with guest speakers of The ScaleupFest in 2020, featuring Marcin Hejka – OTB Ventures, Julien Coustaury – Fil Rouge Capital, Colin Snead – Allpacka and Antal Karolyi – HunBan.