Startups

London fintech Outpost raises $17.5M Series A led by Ribbit Capital to scale its AI-powered merchant-of-record platform, simplifying cross-border payments, tax, and compliance for global merchants.

The European fintech sector continues to attract early-stage capital, with AI-powered financial modelling emerging as a particularly active frontier for investor interest. As finance teams across high-growth organisations grapple with the limitations of static spreadsheets and fragmented planning tools, a new generation of startups is building intelligent infrastructure to replace legacy workflows. Stockholm-based Galdera Labs has now entered this space with a €1.5 million pre-seed round to develop an AI-native financial modelling platform designed for growth-stage finance teams. The funding will support platform development, reasoning infrastructure buildout, and an initial customer rollout targeting fast-growing companies with complex financial operations. Galdera’s platform combines a high-performance calculation engine with a semantic memory layer that links financial data directly to underlying business context, assumptions, and strategic decisions — enabling finance teams to query models in natural language and simulate complex scenarios in minutes rather than weeks. Klarna Veterans Back AI Financial Modelling Vision The pre-seed round was led by J12 Ventures, with participation from Antler and a roster of angel investors drawn from notable European technology companies including Klarna, DeepL, Stripe, and Plata. The investor composition reflects strong confidence in the founding team’s pedigree and the market opportunity for intelligent financial planning infrastructure. Galdera’s three co-founders — Evan Rumpza (CEO), Mattia Scolari (CFO), and Giovanni Casula (CTO) — met at Klarna during the fintech giant’s most intensive growth phase. Responsible for financial planning across 26 markets, the team experienced first-hand how manual processes and fragmented Excel models struggled to keep pace as business conditions shifted faster than traditional models could be rebuilt. To manage the complexity, they built an internal system at Klarna that replaced the static planning cycle with a continuously updated model — enabling what previously required large analyst teams to be handled by just three people, supporting the company through both capital raises and IPO preparations. The lessons learned from that experience became the foundation for Galdera Labs. “We’ve personally sat with 50 spreadsheets at two in the morning using tools that were supposed to solve the problem but didn’t. That is the infrastructure we are building with Galdera,” said Evan Rumpza, CEO and co-founder of Galdera Labs. Building AI Finance Tools for the Next Generation of CFOs The market for AI finance tools and financial modelling software is evolving rapidly as organisations demand more dynamic planning capabilities. Traditional spreadsheet-based approaches, while flexible, often create fragmented workflows where assumptions become outdated and institutional knowledge is lost between budget cycles. Galdera’s platform addresses this gap with a two-layer architecture: a powerful calculation engine capable of handling large data volumes, paired with a semantic memory layer that preserves the reasoning behind financial decisions over time. The platform is designed to function as an always-on financial forecast that automatically updates as business conditions change. Users configure scenarios once, and the model recalculates impacts across revenue, costs, margins, and other key metrics in real time. This approach positions Galdera within a growing wave of European fintech startups applying artificial intelligence not merely as an overlay on existing tools, but as a foundational redesign of how financial planning operates. With the launch, Galdera is opening its platform to its first customers: fast-growing companies and organisations with complex operations where the pace of decision-making has outgrown the tools finance teams traditionally rely on. Early adopters already include companies such as DeasyLabs, Unify, and Counsel. The pre-seed round positions Galdera Labs at an early but promising stage in a sector where demand for intelligent, context-aware financial infrastructure is accelerating across European markets. As AI continues to reshape enterprise workflows, the intersection of financial modelling and machine reasoning represents a significant opportunity for startups capable of delivering genuine operational value to scaling businesses. Summary

The sustainable consumer goods sector is witnessing growing investor appetite as environmentally conscious brands prove they can combine purpose with profitability. East London-based Allday Goods, the cult kitchen knife brand that transforms plastic waste into chef-quality blades, has raised £765,000 in a seed round led by FIGR Ventures to scale its operations from artisan favourite to mainstream kitchen staple. Founded in 2021 by ex-chef Hugo Worsley, Allday Goods manufactures kitchen knives with handles crafted entirely from recycled plastic waste — sourced from Maldon Salt buckets, milk bottle handles, discarded plant containers, and fishing nets washed up on British shores. The brand, which started in Worsley’s parents’ shed using a repurposed toastie maker, has already achieved profitability with minimal external investment. Products consistently sell out within minutes during online drops, and queues have formed at London pop-ups, reflecting a level of consumer demand that few sustainable brands can match at this stage. FIGR Ventures Leads Seed Round with Sustainability-Focused Backers The £765,000 round was led by FIGR Ventures, with participation from Anotherway Ventures, Machroes Holdings — the family office of Lord Mervyn Davies — and angel investor Tom Gozney, founder of the premium pizza oven brand Gozney. The investor mix signals confidence in Allday Goods’ ability to bridge the gap between sustainable manufacturing and scalable consumer product design. Allday Goods’ knives pair handles made from 100% recycled food-grade polypropylene with British and Japanese steel blades. The company collects, cleans, shreds, and remoulds plastic waste into distinctive, colourful handles that carry visible traces of their former lives — a design choice that has become central to the brand’s identity. Each knife effectively diverts plastic from landfill whilst delivering professional-grade performance. Worsley commented on the raise, noting that the team had built the brand slowly and intentionally, and that securing backing from investors they genuinely admire represents a significant milestone for the next chapter of growth. From Cult Following to Mainstream Market Opportunity Allday Goods has already demonstrated significant commercial traction without substantial marketing spend. The brand’s high-profile collaborations with Ottolenghi, Soho House, Maldon Salt, Kerrygold, and Paul Smith have positioned it at the intersection of culinary craftsmanship and design culture. Features in The World of Interiors and Esquire have further cemented its reputation among discerning consumers who value both aesthetics and environmental responsibility. The fresh capital will be deployed to scale production capacity, expand the product range, and accelerate the transition from limited-edition drops to consistent retail availability. The challenge for Allday Goods will be maintaining the artisan quality and brand mystique that fuelled its cult status whilst meeting the demands of a broader consumer base — a tension that many direct-to-consumer brands have struggled to navigate. The broader sustainable kitchenware market continues to attract both consumer interest and investor capital across Europe. As regulatory pressure on single-use plastics intensifies and consumers increasingly seek products that align with their environmental values, brands like Allday Goods that demonstrate genuine circularity in their manufacturing processes are well-positioned to capture meaningful market share. Summary Company: Allday GoodsHeadquarters: East London, United KingdomFounded: 2021Founder: Hugo WorsleyRound: SeedAmount: £765,000Lead Investor: FIGR VenturesOther Investors: Anotherway Ventures, Machroes Holdings, Tom GozneyUse of Funds: Scale production, expand product range, transition to mainstream retail availability

Europe’s space technology sector is experiencing a strategic shift as the continent moves to reduce its dependence on toxic propellants and build sovereign capabilities in satellite operations. Amid tightening EU regulations on hydrazine-based systems and growing demand for sustainable orbital infrastructure, a new generation of deeptech startups is emerging to fill critical gaps in the European space supply chain. Arkadia Space, the Castellón-based propulsion startup, has secured €14.5 million through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator — one of the EU’s most competitive deeptech funding instruments. The package comprises a €2.5 million grant, €6 million in equity from the EIC Fund, and €6 million in private investment. Arkadia is the first Spanish space company to access EIC Accelerator funding, selected from 923 applications as one of just 61 startups in this round. EIC Accelerator backs hydrogen peroxide propulsion The funding signals the European Commission’s recognition of hydrogen peroxide propulsion as a strategically important technology. Arkadia’s flagship product, the DARK propulsion system, is a hypergolic bipropellant engine that combines high-concentration hydrogen peroxide with a proprietary green fuel. The system ignites spontaneously upon propellant contact, eliminating the need for complex ignition hardware and reducing operational and refuelling costs by more than 60 per cent compared with conventional hydrazine-based solutions. Founded in 2020 by Francho García (CEO) and Ismael Gutierrez (CTO), the company has spent five years developing alternatives to the toxic propellants that have long dominated satellite manoeuvring. The cost differential is striking: filling a satellite tank with hydrazine typically costs around €2 million, whereas Arkadia’s hydrogen peroxide-based operations run under €50,000 — including all ground equipment. Arkadia achieved a critical milestone in March 2025 when its DARK system became the first hydrogen peroxide-based propulsion technology to fly in orbit from Europe. Launched aboard a D-Orbit ION Satellite Carrier on SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, the system successfully completed in-orbit test firings that matched ground test data, confirming its viability for commercial satellite operations. “This recognition confirms that we are on the right path and gives us a tremendous boost to commercialise the technology as early as next year,” said Francho García, co-founder and CEO of Arkadia Space. European spacetech builds momentum with strategic partnerships The EIC backing comes as Arkadia deepens its ties with the European space establishment. The company holds four contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA), including work under the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme. Perhaps most notably, Arkadia has secured a supply agreement with MaiaSpace, the ArianeGroup-backed reusable launch vehicle programme, to provide 250-newton reaction control thrusters — a contract that positions the startup within Europe’s next-generation launch architecture. The company has also developed ARIEL, a 250-newton monopropellant thruster that reached technology readiness level 6 within two years, further demonstrating the versatility of its hydrogen peroxide platform across both satellite and launcher applications. Arkadia previously raised a €2.8 million seed round in October 2023, led by Draper B1 with participation from Expansion Ventures. The latest EIC funding brings total capital raised to approximately €17.3 million, providing a substantial runway to move from demonstration to commercialisation. The company plans to expand its testing infrastructure at Castellón Airport and targets production of 300 to 400 propulsion systems annually, with a view to becoming a vertically integrated European supplier of green propulsion technology. Summary Company: Arkadia SpaceHeadquarters: Castellón, SpainFounded: 2020Round: EIC Accelerator (grant + equity + private)Amount: €14.5 millionLead: European Innovation CouncilPrevious funding: €2.8M seed (Draper B1, 2023)Use of funds: Commercialisation of green propulsion, R&D expansion, testing infrastructure, scaling operations

Europe’s residential energy landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation as households seek alternatives to volatile grid prices and fossil fuel dependence. At the heart of this shift lies a persistent technical challenge: how to bridge the seasonal gap between summer solar abundance and winter energy demand. Oslo-based Photoncycle believes it has the answer, and has just secured the capital to prove it at scale. Photoncycle has raised €15 million in a Series A round co-led by NordicNinja and Voima Ventures, with continued participation from existing backers Lifeline Ventures, Eviny Ventures, Luminar Ventures, and Momentum. The funding will support the commercial rollout of the company’s solid-state hydrogen energy storage system in Denmark, followed by expansion into the Netherlands ahead of the country’s planned phase-out of net metering. NordicNinja and Voima Ventures back long-duration energy storage play The investor syndicate reflects a strong Nordic conviction in deep-tech climate solutions. NordicNinja, backed by major Japanese corporates, has increasingly focused on European sustainability infrastructure, whilst Voima Ventures brings deep expertise in science-based ventures from its base in Finland. The participation of all existing investors in the round signals continued confidence in Photoncycle’s technology roadmap. Founded in 2020 by CEO Bjørn Brandtzaeg, a visiting fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where the company was incubated, Photoncycle has developed a system that converts surplus summer solar electricity into hydrogen via a reversible fuel cell. The hydrogen is then processed into a solid state and stored in an underground unit capable of holding up to 10,000 kilowatt-hours of energy — approximately 20 times the density of a comparable lithium-ion battery system. When energy is needed during winter months, the hydrogen is converted back into electricity through a fuel cell, with recovered heat available for space heating or hot water via a heat pump. The storage material itself costs around $1,500 for 10,000 kWh of capacity, a figure that positions Photoncycle’s technology well below conventional long-duration energy storage alternatives designed for residential applications. Europe’s seasonal energy gap creates a substantial market opportunity The residential storage market remains dominated by lithium-ion batteries, which excel at short-duration cycling but are not economically viable for storing energy across seasons. This leaves a significant gap in the European energy transition, particularly in northern countries where solar generation peaks in summer whilst heating demand surges in winter. Denmark represents Photoncycle’s initial commercial beachhead, and for good reason. The country has some of the highest household energy prices in Europe, and approximately 300,000 homes still rely on gas-based heating systems that are scheduled for phase-out by 2035. Photoncycle reports a growing waiting list of Danish homeowners keen to adopt the technology. The company intends to offer its system under a subscription-based model, in which the seasonal storage unit is installed at the customer’s property and operated as part of an integrated energy solution. The model can incorporate existing solar panels or include new installations, and covers maintenance, system operation, and access to energy trading markets. Looking ahead, Photoncycle’s industrialisation plan is ambitious. An industrial plant is set to go live in 2027 as the first phase of a planned 1.4 terawatt-hour annual manufacturing capacity expansion. At full scale, the facility could provide seasonal storage for an estimated 140,000 homes. After Denmark, the Netherlands is next in line, where the impending end of net metering is expected to drive strong demand for residential storage alternatives. The round positions Photoncycle among a growing cohort of European climate-tech ventures tackling the energy storage challenge beyond lithium-ion, in a market segment that is attracting increasing attention from both institutional investors and policymakers focused on energy sovereignty. Summary Company Photoncycle Headquarters Oslo, Norway Founded 2020 Founder & CEO Bjørn Brandtzaeg Round Series A Amount €15 million Lead investors NordicNinja, Voima Ventures Other investors Lifeline Ventures, Eviny Ventures, Luminar Ventures, Momentum Use of funds Commercial rollout in Denmark and Netherlands; first phase of 1.4 TWh annual manufacturing capacity

The application of AI in clinical trials is rapidly reshaping the pharmaceutical development landscape, as biotech companies and contract research organisations grapple with spiralling data complexity and mounting pressure to accelerate drug approvals. Zurich-based Rivia has secured €13 million in Series A funding to scale its agentic data platform, which aims to transform how clinical trial operations teams manage the vast volumes of data generated during modern drug development programmes. The round, led by European venture capital firm Earlybird through its dedicated health fund, brings Rivia’s total funding to approximately €16 million following a €3 million seed round in 2024. New investor Defiant joined the round alongside returning backers Speedinvest, Amino Collective and Nina Capital. The fresh capital will be deployed to expand Rivia’s teams in Zurich and Boston, and to accelerate the rollout of its suite of embedded AI agents designed to automate clinical trial workflows. Earlybird Health leads investment in agentic AI for clinical trials The Series A was led by Earlybird Health, the healthcare-focused arm of pan-European venture firm Earlybird, which manages a dedicated €173 million health fund backing companies that are transforming patient outcomes through technology. The investment underscores growing investor confidence in AI-powered infrastructure for the life sciences sector, particularly platforms that address the operational bottleneck of clinical data management rather than drug discovery alone. Founded in 2022 by Erik Scalfaro and Tiago Kieliger, Rivia was born from first-hand frustration with the fragmented data landscape in pharmaceutical development. Scalfaro, who spent a decade in the pharma industry, has spoken of clinical operations as a world dominated by manual spreadsheet work — downloading hundreds of Excel files, formatting data, and consolidating information rather than focusing on patient outcomes. Kieliger, previously a cybersecurity engineer for the Swiss defence department, brought deep technical expertise in building secure, scalable data infrastructure. Rivia’s platform serves as what the company calls a reusable intelligence layer for clinical trials. Its data engine integrates thousands of heterogeneous data files in real time, applies trial-specific scientific logic through a proprietary library of reusable configurations, and feeds harmonised data directly into operational review workflows. The company currently supports 40 clinical trials across Europe and the United States, handling data volumes that have grown over 400 per cent in the past decade. From data engine to agentic AI in clinical trial operations On this data foundation, Rivia is now launching a suite of embedded AI agents designed to automate high-impact clinical workflows. The company’s first agent, Spark, converts natural-language queries into publication-grade clinical visualisations instantly, eliminating the manual effort traditionally required to produce trial analytics. Additional agents are being deployed for proactive data quality monitoring and oversight workflows, enabling earlier detection of deviations and intelligent prioritisation of issues across trial sites. The broader market opportunity is substantial. The global AI in clinical trials market is estimated at approximately $1.5 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $18–20 billion by the end of the next decade, driven by increasing data complexity and regulatory pressure for faster, more efficient trial execution. Rivia’s ambition is to reduce clinical trial costs by up to 50 per cent by replacing manual processes with scalable agentic systems — a proposition that resonates strongly in an industry where the average cost of bringing a new drug to market continues to exceed $2 billion. The strategic decision to build the data infrastructure layer before deploying AI agents is central to Rivia’s thesis. As co-founder Kieliger has noted, AI and agents can deliver significant value for clinical trials, but the limiting factor remains the underlying data infrastructure. By establishing a robust intelligence layer that aggregates data across sources and models the specific scientific logic behind each trial, Rivia has created the foundation upon which its agentic capabilities can operate with precision and reliability. With this latest funding, Rivia is well-positioned to capitalise on the accelerating adoption of AI in clinical trials across Europe and the United States. The combination of a proven data platform, embedded AI agents, and backing from specialist healthcare investors suggests the Zurich-based company is building for long-term impact in a sector where efficiency gains translate directly into faster patient access to life-saving therapies. Summary

When I started working in VC, conferences were treated as a nice extra. Something you sprinkled on top of a sourcing strategy that lived elsewhere, often in a partner’s address book. Being an investor meant you mainly had to spend a few days out of the office per week for dealflow meetings, you attended the occasional panel slot if you had a friend on the programme team, shared a few tweets and that was it. But today conferences are part of the core marketing infrastructure that keeps the firm in the flow of founders, operators, LPs and peers. These events act as a pretext to re-engage with warm or cold leads, whether a fund is at the beginning of their investment cycle or deep in fundraising for their next flagship fund.  Every tech city has its own flagship event. If you are a generalist VC, chances are you can easily identify 20 conferences that you are expected to show up at, and 40 that you could attend.  So, where do you start? How do you really decide whether it’s a good reason to attend? Most investors only see the tip of the iceberg: the logo of the headline conference. They rarely see the resource constraints that come with executing the field work. That tension creates too familiar operational dramas for marketing teams, including last-minute “Where is my ticket?” message, partner demands for main-stage slots, and the flurry of FOMO driven interest because another prestigious fund has been announced as a partner. And yet, despite common belief, investors don’t attend conferences for the parties.  When I look at the 100 plus conferences I have attended over my career, I tend to group the real reasons into 10 buckets. 1. Qualified dealflow Good conferences act as magnets. They pull in the startups that are relevant for a specific thesis, geography or stage. For generalist VCs, niche events are a way to see a concentrated sample of the market in two days. For more specialist firms, these events are a way to go deeper into a vertical, and to be visible in that niche. 2. On-the-shelf networking Conferences provide “on the shelf networking”: the infrastructure of meetings, lounges, apps and social events is already built. You simply step into it. For investors, that is valuable across several fronts: they can connect with  founders and future founders, operators for senior hires, practical experts and   LPs exploring new funds.  3. LPs and the (secret) permanent fundraise Most funds are always fundraising. Events that attract LPs are therefore particularly attractive. Even a handful of good LP conversations can justify several days out of the office, especially if this involves underground Berlin (Super Return) or a roundtrip to the French Riviera (IPEM).  4. Media relationships Some partners only have meaningful conversations with journalists at conferences, mainly because engaging with the media is not part of their day-to-day routine. For them, conferences provide an efficient way to concentrate press engagement in one place without having to pitch themselves. For marketers handling complex logistics across several markets, an event is often the one moment where the stars align. 5. Thesis signalling Good investors have local-based theses and want to attract dealflow consistently across several years, whether or not they have cash to invest. Attending Stockholm-based conferences is a way to say, “we are serious about the Nordics” without having to buy billboards in the airport (although some folks do exactly that). In that sense, VCs and event organizers are sometimes competing as community enablers. Both are trying to become the natural node for a given ecosystem. 6. Speaking and thought leadership Speaking slots are a form of social currency in venture – and comes with a few perks such as “speaker dinners”. Many partners enjoy being on stage and the status premium associated with it. I guess there’s a reason why some people are more interested in how they will look like on their Slush stage picture than what they are going to say. Beyond ego, speaking opportunities give VCs a platform to articulate their thesis, test a narrative in front of a live audience, and attract founders at the very top of the funnel. Some of the best inbound I have seen has come within a week of a talk. A founder who heard a line and followed up. A journalist who spotted a quote for a later story. Someone who waited backstage with a pitch. This is part of why VCs can be VERY intense about speaking slots. From their perspective, stage time is not simply a visibility perk. It is a key input into the marketing engine. 7. Curation Some conferences have a strong reputation for curation. You trust that if you turn up at TEDx, DLD, or similar events, you will be challenged and inspired. For investors who spend most of their year buried in spreadsheets, this is attractive. Alas, I think the content quality has nosedived these last couple of years so it’s less true. 8. Portfolio support Serious investors use conferences to help portfolio companies with commercial introductions, support them on talent hunting, offer stage visibility and access to LPs, journalists, and peers. When a portfolio company is having a big moment, everything else tends to rearrange around it.  9. IRL experiences Many VC franchises have grown used to operating digitally. What is often missing is a reliable in person interface for the broader community around the fund. Conferences solve this by using those moments to crystallise the community you are building.  A simple breakfast, an LP catching up with several of your founders in one afternoon: these are small touches, but repeated over ten years they are part of how trust compounds.  10. Watching to competition Conferences are one of the few places where you can literally see how competitors behave with founders, with LPs, with the media and with each other. Who is always surrounded by founders. Who is quietly building a niche. Who is sponsoring heavily in a […]

Most startup founders treat events like they’re going travelling: count the days, block the calendar, done. But event tickets don’t come cheap, and the actual affair can eat into your budget in so many different ways, you’ll be left with a hole in your company wallet. You see, the problem here is a simple case of math: one can’t budget for unforeseen expenses. That’s why we’ve put together a simple formula that founders can tweak to suit their business needs. The 2:1 rule nobody talks about Here’s a simple rule: Every single day at an event requires two full days of preparation. This isn’t bureaucratic overhead, it’s the operational reality of doing events properly. Why does this ratio work? Because events operate on a timeline that’s fundamentally incompatible with how startups work. Most conferences lock speaker slots, booth spaces, and partnership opportunities months in advance. You can’t A/B test them or sprint your way in at the last minute. Scaleups and corporates have dedicated field marketing teams who start preparing months in advance for events. They’ve already mapped the venue, scheduled meetings, and briefed their booth staff. If you show up with two hours of prep, you’re invisible. But why should you set aside two days for every event day? You’ll fill them with research, targeting, outreach, scheduling, content, positioning, logistics operations, internal coordination, and post-event planning.  You can’t change your pitch deck the morning of your panel. Events punish improvisation because the stakes are live and all opportunity windows close fast. That’s why a 2:1 ratio is the minimum buffer you need to make showing up worthwhile. A three-day conference isn’t a three-day commitment; you’ll have to set aside at least six days before factoring in travel, team coordination, or what you’ll actually do at the event. Treat it as the baseline for local events that you’re only attending, too. And when you add distance, team members or booth logistics to the equation, that number explodes. The winning formula Here’s what no event organizer will tell you upfront: Total Time = (Event Days × 2) × Distance Factor × Team Factor × Activity Factor Distance multipliers Team size factors Activity type factors What does it look like in the real world? Let’s run an example scenario: Say you’re exhibiting at Web Summit with two co-founders. Calculation: (3 days × 2) × 1.5 (international) × 1.3 (team of three) × 1.5 (exhibiting) = 17.6 days That’s nearly four working weeks of founder time. Not calendar days — productive working days. An entire sprint. A fundraising cycle. A product release window. That’s before you account for the inevitable chaos: marketing materials might get delayed, or your booth might require a last-minute redesign, or one of your team might fall ill on day two. This matters more than you think Startups don’t fail because they attend too many events. They fail because they attended the wrong events and didn’t realize the true cost until it was too late. Most early-stage founders operate on razor-thin runways and even thinner margins. Losing 17 days to the wrong conference can mean missing a critical hiring window, pushing a launch back by a quarter, or running out of cash. The opportunity cost is immense. Three filters to help you decide Preparation is table stakes, but the real competitive advantage is selection. Before you commit to any event, run it through these three filters: 1. Are your top 10 target customers actually attending? Don’t settle for “the industry will be there,” or “it’s a great brand.” Will the specific people who can write cheques or sign contracts be in the venue? If you can’t name at least five confirmed attendees you want to meet, you’re engaging in speculation, and speculation is expensive. 2. Can you get time with decision makers? Networking is not the same as dealmaking. Conferences are full of people collecting business cards and having “great chats” that go nowhere. Look for pre-scheduled meetings, private roundtables, investor office hours, or curated dinners. If the event doesn’t facilitate structured access, you’re paying to work a room. 3. Does the timing align with your fundraising or launch cycle? Attending a major event two weeks before a funding deadline is fundraising malpractice. Exhibiting at a trade show when your product isn’t ready to demo is theatre, not business development. Timing isn’t everything, but mistimed events have the potential to burn capital and credibility in equal measure. The real decision Preparation is hard, but preparing brilliantly for the wrong event isn’t going to yield the results you’re looking for. The formula above isn’t meant to scare founders away from conferences. If you’re going to invest 17 days of founder time, you’d better know exactly what ROI you’re chasing and have a plan to capture it. Most founders wing it. The folks who don’t tend to be the ones still standing when funding dries up. At Sesamers, we’ve spent years inside the event ecosystem, watching startups burn time and capital on conferences that looked good on paper but delivered nothing. The startups that survive and thrive aren’t the ones who attended the most events; they simply skipped those that weren’t relevant, and attended the right events at the right time, with the right preparation. So before you book your next booth or confirm that speaking slot, do the math, and see if you can afford to go wrong.

For startup founders, events offer a spectrum of opportunities. On one end, you have the mega-conferences, bustling hubs of innovation that bring together tens of thousands of people. They’re fantastic for broad visibility and getting a pulse on the entire industry. On the other end, you have a different, equally powerful tool: hyper-focused, niche events. These are conferences dedicated to one specific technology, industry or discipline — the International Exhibition for Track Technology, or MCP Dev Summit, an event dedicated to the Model Context Protocol standardization, for example. The value proposition here is simple: if you’re in the industry, you need to be there. If you’re not, you don’t. For a founder with specific goals — generating highly qualified leads, getting deep product feedback, or becoming a recognized expert — such singular focus isn’t a limitation; it’s a superpower. Small events filter out the noise, guaranteeing that nearly every conversation you’ll have is with someone who understands what you do.  This article will explore why niche events should be a core part of any startup’s strategic playbook, and how they can offer a unique and powerful return on investment: Small, niche events offer a set of advantages that you simply won’t find at a massive, general-interest conference.  A room full of your people (and best leads) The biggest reason to attend a niche event is the audience: everyone there is a pre-qualified lead. You don’t have to waste time explaining the basics of your industry; just dive straight into meaningful conversations. This results in incredibly efficient networking because smaller settings naturally enable deeper, more memorable discussions. And as you might know, high-quality audiences translate directly to high-quality leads. A case study by enterprise SaaS firm Zendog Labs found that nearly “80% of leads and 90% of revenue were generated from niche trade shows and events.”  When you’re talking to people who already understand and care about the problem you’re solving, the path to conversion gets a lot shorter. But does that mean such niche events are more expensive? Not at all. In our experience, they’re usually on par with the market, even for much bigger events.   Build your brand and encourage thought leadership Huge conferences make it almost impossible for startups to stand out, while smaller events let you have your 15 minutes. Also since you’re only talking to a specific audience, it’s easier to tailor your communication and branding. Find what people in your industry will find cool, and build on that. For example, we know that geeky jokes and dev-oriented merch are always a hit at technical events.  Exhibiting your product, giving a talk, participating in panels, or even just asking insightful questions in workshops can quickly establish your credibility and position you as a thought leader. This is much easier to achieve when you’re not competing with the marketing budgets of corporations worth hundreds of billions of dollars.  How do we know if this works? Well, we’ve seen some small events like apidays benefit from high fidelity on the part of exhibitors who keep rebooking each year, even for different locations.  Get direct, honest and invaluable feedback The closer, intimate nature of smaller events tends to attract a knowledgeable group of people who are more inclined to share incredibly valuable and direct feedback. These people aren’t passive listeners; they are experts who can quickly spot flaws, validate your assumptions, or suggest improvements you hadn’t considered for your product, pitch or roadmap. Want to know if your new feature makes sense? Talk to 10 people in the hallway track. If no one gets excited, you’ve just received a priceless signal to pivot early rather than build in silence. This is the fastest way to validate your ideas and ensure you’re building something the market actually wants. It’s the ultimate crash course Niche events make for intense learning opportunities. Forget trying to piece together the latest trends from blog posts and webinars. At a focused conference, you’ll be served a concentrated dose of cutting-edge information, best practices, and expert insights over just a few days.  You’ll hear from people building in the trenches, solving the same problems you are, and there’s knowledge to be gained by listening to their mistakes and successes.  Fertile ground for partnerships and integrations What do you call a room full of companies working in the same space? A goldmine of potential partners.  Integrating with complementary services can be a massive growth lever for startups. At a hyper-focused event, you’re more likely to be surrounded by potential partners who understand your tech stack or serve the same customer base. Such events easily foster collaborations that can lead to powerful new ventures and career-defining moments. A goldmine of content Events are a fantastic opportunity to create a ton of relevant content for your marketing channels. Off the top of my head, you can: This content is likely to be highly relevant to your target audience because it is generated directly from the conversations happening at the heart of your industry. A quick word of warning Not all niche events are created equal. Before you commit, do your due diligence. Talk to people who have attended in the past, and check the reputation of the organizers. A poorly run event with low turnout can be a huge waste of time and money. Also, be careful of echo chambers. While it’s great to get validation from experts in your niche, make sure you’re also getting feedback from the broader market to avoid building a product that only serves a tiny, insular community. Go small to win big Choosing the right event is a strategic decision for startups, not an all-encompassing answer. While large conferences offer incredible scale and brand exposure, hyper-focused events provide a different kind of value: precision, relevance and a direct line of communication to a highly qualified community. Niche events will let you generate high-quality leads, accelerate your learning, validate your ideas with true experts, and build a powerful network within your industry. It’s […]

AI is reshaping how people discover information. Search traffic, once the lifeblood of websites, is plummeting as AI tools provide answers and context immediately, eliminating the need to browse to websites for answers at all.  Understandably, companies are responding by going down avenues they can control: newsletters, podcasts, memberships and events. This reality is true for startups as well. You simply can’t rely on Google traffic or algorithms to build trust anymore. You need direct channels, and there are few ways to build trust more powerful than  meeting people face-to-face. Welcome to the ‘post-click’ era Startups have long played by the ever-changing rules set by Google and social media platforms, which are more often than not prone to changing their algorithms and leaving everyone scrambling to adapt overnight.  AI is not only accelerating this instability, it’s almost making Google referral traffic obsolete. Companies need to adapt to this new reality with strategies that let them talk directly to their prospective customers. The media industry, one of the most vulnerable to the changes, is proving to be one of the quickest to adapt. Morning Brew, for example, blends its newsletters franchises with events. In a recent interview, Sam Jacobs, TIME’s editor-in-chief, highlighted how the company went from organizing two to three events per year, to holding the same number of events monthly. Even digital-first players are embracing events. Podcasts like Acquired and All-In now host live events to bring their listeners together. Finimize has built grassroots meetups around its newsletter. The new defense tech media title, Resilience Media, born on Substack, is planning events to connect experts in its niche. Alex Konrad’s new Upstarts ecosystem includes live interviews, an upcoming podcast and curated events. These aren’t just extensions of the content; they’re ways to nurture communities. Startups should copy this strategy. They must consider where their credibility and relationships will be built in this new landscape, especially as visibility is no longer about simply appearing on top of search results or burning money with ads; it’s about building lasting trust in the spaces that matter. Events are singularly effective at doing that. Lessons from after the pandemic If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that being present online is insufficient. Platforms like Hopin promised a future of global, scalable, online events. Even experiments in VR conferences were the subject of occasional hype.  All of that fell short, however. What founders, investors and marketers learned was simple: There is no substitute for shaking someone’s hand, catching their eye, and sharing time in the same space. When the pandemic ended, events came back with a bang. Companies large and small continue to invest in gatherings. Events still carry symbolic weight: just look at Apple’s meticulously choreographed product launches, or how scaleups like Helsing showcase new technologies.  For startups, events can also serve as tools for strengthening internal communications and bonds with their employees and their community. Here’s a great example: Italian travel scaleup WeRoad holds an annual, two-day global gathering of its travel coordinators and staff that strengthens culture and commitment in ways a Zoom call never could. Why startups need to show up Startups live and die on the strength of their relationships. Securing investors, signing first customers, and finding the right partners are all processes that depend completely on trust. These early relationships are crucial. In an AI-driven world where digital discovery is fragmented, saturated and noisy, events cut through the noise. They offer something AI and algorithms never will: human presence. Startups should think of events as essential investments in visibility and credibility. Whether it’s speaking on stage, hosting a breakfast or simply showing up to the right conference — being in the room matters. It’s OK to be selective. It’s OK to pass on events when priorities point elsewhere. And don’t take this to mean the digital realm and AI should be ignored. But in this era where we’re putting AI on a pedestal, founders should not underestimate the power of a physical meeting for establishing contact with investors, talent, or any other important stakeholder.

After a successful first edition, JEC Investor Day 2026 is now returning for its second year with expanded ambitions.

You’ve secured booth space at a specialized B2B event for your product launch. Now what? Most founders waste this opportunity with generic tactics that generate tire-kickers instead of qualified leads. This guide provides actionable strategies to maximize leads at B2B events while simultaneously gathering the product feedback during launch that shapes your roadmap. These are founder-tested tactics you can implement immediately—no fluff, just quick wins that deliver results whether you’re at a 5,000-person conference or a 200-person industry summit. Pre-Event: Set Up Your Lead Generation Machine (2 Weeks Before) Create a One-Question Qualifier: Before the event, decide your single qualification question: “What’s your biggest challenge with [problem your product solves]?” This question identifies real prospects versus curious browsers. Train your entire team to ask this first, before any product demo. Build a Lead Capture System That Takes 30 Seconds: Forget business card scanners that take 5 minutes to process. Use a simple Google Form with 5 fields max: Name, Email, Company, Job Title, and that one qualifier question. Create a QR code linking directly to it. Print the QR code on table tents at your booth. Every conversation ends with “Scan here to get [specific valuable resource].” Prepare Your “Demo in 60 Seconds” Script: You’ll have 90 seconds of attention maximum at a busy event. Script a 60-second demo that shows ONE compelling use case, not 10 features. Practice until you can deliver it while someone’s standing, holding coffee, and checking their phone. That’s your reality. Schedule 80% of Your Meetings in Advance: Use the event app or attendee list to identify your top 50 prospects. Send personalized LinkedIn messages: “I see you’re attending [Event]. We’re launching [Product] that solves [Specific Problem]. Can we meet Thursday at 2pm at booth #427 for a 15-minute demo?” Book 10-15 meetings before you arrive. These pre-scheduled meetings will deliver 80% of your qualified leads. Booth Setup: Design for Conversations, Not Spectacle The Magnet Hook Formula: Your booth headline should follow this formula: “[Outcome They Want] Without [Thing They Hate]”. Examples: “Scale Customer Support Without Hiring” or “Secure APIs Without Slowing Development.” This pulls in the right people while filtering out the wrong ones. Remove All Barriers to Conversation: No tables between you and attendees. Tables create psychological barriers and signal “salesperson behind fortress.” Use high tables on the sides for laptops, but keep the front completely open. Stand in front of your booth, not behind it, to start conversations naturally. Create the “Feedback Station”: Set up a laptop or tablet with a simple feedback form asking: “What’s the ONE thing that would make this product perfect for your use case?” Place it prominently with a sign: “Shape This Product – Tell Us What You Need.” This generates valuable insights while making visitors feel heard and valued. Use the “Three Demo Stations” Strategy: If possible, run three simultaneous demo stations with different team members. This creates crowd psychology (“others are interested, I should check this out”) and prevents one long-winded visitor from blocking all demos. Even with a small team, rotate positions every hour to maintain energy. Rapid Lead Qualification: The 2-Minute Framework Use the BANT-Light Method: Within 2 minutes, determine: Do they have Budget authority or access? Is this a real Need they’re actively solving? What’s their Timeline? Skip lengthy qualifying—just get enough signal to prioritize follow-up. Hot leads get same-day meeting invites. Warm leads get next-day emails. Cold leads get quarterly newsletters. The “Scale of Pain” Question: Ask: “On a scale of 1-10, how painful is [problem] for you right now?” Anyone saying 7+ is a qualified lead worth immediate attention. Below 5, they’re not in active buying mode. This single question saves hours of wasted follow-up on people who were just browsing. Identify the Economic Buyer Fast: Ask: “Who else is typically involved in decisions about [your category]?” If they say “my boss” or “our CTO,” you’re talking to an influencer, not a buyer. Get the decision-maker’s contact information immediately, and ask if they can facilitate a warm introduction post-event. Gathering Product Feedback That Actually Matters The “Reaction Video” Technique: When showing your demo, ask: “Mind if we record your reaction? We’re gathering feedback for our launch.” Most people say yes. Their unfiltered facial expressions and comments reveal truth better than formal surveys. Watch these videos as a team post-event—the insights are gold for product development. Ask the “Missing Feature” Question: After every demo, ask: “What’s the ONE feature we’re missing that would make you buy this today?” Not “what features do you want?”—that generates wish lists. The word “missing” combined with “buy today” forces them to identify real blockers versus nice-to-haves. Run Quick Usability Tests: For software products, let prospects actually use it for 3-5 minutes while you watch silently. Note where they get confused, what they click first, and what questions they ask. These micro-usability sessions reveal UX issues that you’re too close to see. Offer a $25 Amazon gift card to anyone willing to do a 5-minute test. The Competitive Comparison Trap: When visitors say “how does this compare to [Competitor]?”, flip it: “What do you currently use? What’s working? What’s frustrating?” Mine their competitor complaints—these become your differentiation points and feature priorities. Their pain with competitors is more valuable than feature comparisons. Maximizing Leads During Peak Traffic Hours Deploy the “Anchor + Roamer” Strategy: Always have one person anchored at the booth managing demos while another roams the aisle 20 feet away, starting conversations with passersby. The roamer says: “Are you dealing with [problem]? We just launched something you should see.” Then walks them to the booth. This 2x’s your lead capture versus waiting for people to approach. Use the “Batch Demo” During Crushes: When you have 5+ people waiting, say: “I’m starting a demo in 2 minutes—who wants to join?” Group demos during peak traffic let you handle volume while creating urgency through social proof. Capture all attendee info before starting the demo, not after when people scatter. The “Take This With You” Lead Magnet: […]