From rooftop chats to actual investments: How the EU-Startups Summit turned conversations into actual alternatives

Throughout its 2024 and 2025 editions, the EU-Startups Summit has continued to evolve right into a fertile assembly floor for European innovation, the place spontaneous conversations can usually translate into funding cheques, new hires, and strategic collaborations.

Past insightful keynotes and panel discussions, our massive pitch competitors and a buzzing exhibition corridor, our annual summit in Malta has turn into the place to be for European startup ecosystem gamers to attach and to collaborate.

The EU-Startups Summit has at all times prided itself on facilitating significant encounters between formidable startups and potential backers.

In an effort to replace you on current offers and connections that resulted from our two most up-to-date editions in Malta, we spoke to a few of our individuals to find out how the occasion has helped them unlock new alternatives. Listed here are only a few of the significant offers, hires, and connections that occurred because of the Summit.

Some current Offers & Connections

EverybodyCounts: This UK-based startup simply secured an funding from AAlchemy Ventures – a deal facilitated by way of their assembly as a part of the 2025 version of the Summit. Andrey Kostyuk from AAlchemy Ventures said: “This can be a sturdy affirmation of viability of cross-border angel investing”.
DAITABLE: Šimon Staňo, the CEO and Co-founder of DAITABLE, met their future buyers MIG Buyers (Netherlands) on the Summit and went on to boost a pre-seed spherical of €220k – “which was a very essential second that accelerated us,” shared Staňo.
Picnic Co-founder and CTO Daniel Gebler, who joined this 12 months’s EU-Startups Summit as speaker, shared that he met an early-stage EdTech startup through the 2025 Summit and is presently in talks to with them to take a position. Extra information about this deal will possible be revealed quickly.

Grasshopper Air Mobility: The Barcelona-based startup creating robotic cargo drones secured an angel funding from Péter Kovács (Founder and Chief Networking Officer at NetworkSmith) after assembly on the rooftop aspect occasion. “I met the CEO and Co-founder, Jakob Saalfrank, in Malta on the EU-Startups Summit, and we had an ideal chat over drinks on the rooftop aspect occasion organised by Leonard Burger,” stated Kovács. “By no means miss the rooftop aspect occasions.”

Degree Up EMEA: CEO Alessio Borrelli met Irene Caminiti – then a volunteer on the Summit – and was so impressed that she ultimately grew to become the Enterprise Growth Director on the firm, enjoying a key function of their regional growth. “Past the numerous beneficial connections with potential purchasers and buyers, your occasion provided us an sudden and rewarding alternative: it’s the place we met Irene Caminiti, who was volunteering on the time,” Borrelli famous. “We had been instantly impressed by her expertise and potential; we’re now proud to share that she has joined Degree Up EMEA as our Enterprise Growth Director.” 

Crowdfunding Coach Mattia Di Stasi praised the Summit’s intimate scale for straightforward, focused networking, resulting in a collaboration with Nora from Toke Platform and involvement in Malta crowdfunding occasions, new purchasers like Completely satisfied Pot and Ryder who he’s advising on potential Kickstarter launches, and real, results-driven partnerships. “I’m genuinely joyful to have been a part of this occasion, and I consider initiatives like this one are essential to rising an actual startup tradition in Europe,” Di Stasi shared.

Pangea Social Co-founder Eric Forst discovered a brand new advisor throughout this 12 months’s EU-Startups Summit – Magnus Magnusson – who has since formally joined their advisory board.

Plug and Play Tech Middle x Mountside Ventures: Thomas Bigagli (Plug and Play) and Jonathan Hollis (Mountside) linked on the Summit, and the encounter led to ongoing collaboration talks, together with co-hosting occasions and strategic synergies for rising VCs and LPs. “We started discussing potential collaborations, exploring how we might assist Mountside new initiatives for rising VCs and LPs, drive our portfolio firms towards their platform, and co-host key occasions at main fundraising conferences,” shared Bigagli.
StudiesIn participated within the final two editions of the EU-Startups Summit, the place the founders engaged in over 25 conferences with buyers within the firm’s mission to simplify worldwide schooling in Europe and have additionally strengthened their relationship with Malta Enterprise who already granted them €400k in non-dilutive funding. After becoming a member of the Summit in 2024 already along with Supercharger Ventures, StudiesIn determined to open a brand new workplace in Malta. Now they’re about to boost an fairness funding spherical for additional growth.

4girls.ai: The startup launched its AI Literacy Index Research through the 2025 Summit and sparked a beneficial new partnership with a number one Girls in Tech community to assist scale its mission for empowering ladies in AI.

As regulatory and monetary boundaries reduce throughout Europe, these sorts of alliances, brokered informally over espresso or cocktails, have gotten defining options of the EU-Startups Summit. THere are numerous of nice tales on the market, along with the few examples talked about above.

Malta as a hub of connections

Malta Enterprise continues to drive the island’s ambition to turn into a number one hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe. And it appears to be understanding properly.

This reveals for instance in current information from the 2025 World Startup Ecosystem Report, which positioned Malta firmly on the worldwide innovation map. The nation’s startup ecosystem generated €3.6 billion in worth in 2025 – a 39% improve year-over-year – pushed by profitable exits and strategic investments.

Malta additionally ranks third within the MENA area for “Bang for Buck,” and its give attention to high-value sectors like FinTech, life sciences, and digital tech is supported by devoted infrastructure and programmes. Within the 2024 Startup Nations Normal Report, Malta maintained its 4th-place rating in Europe, scoring 100% in expertise attraction and digital transformation.

On the EU-Startups Summit, Prof. Dietmar Keuschnig mirrored on his expertise and praised each the occasion and Malta’s strategic route: “The occasion was a real hub of innovation and vitality, filled with beneficial displays and a extremely skilled setup all through. One spotlight being the inspiring dialog with the group from Malta Enterprise. It’s clear that Malta is positioning itself as a strong basis for startups and an rising hub the place modern enterprise fashions can really thrive.”

Authorities-led initiatives, together with a €9.2 million enterprise capital fund, DiHubMT, and the upcoming Excessive-Efficiency Pc (HPC), proceed to boost the native ecosystem. These efforts are a part of Malta Imaginative and prescient 2050, geared toward fostering a resilient, innovation-driven economic system.

Occasions just like the EU-Startups Summit play a key function on this imaginative and prescient, providing platforms that join native and worldwide innovators whereas reinforcing Malta’s popularity as a fast-rising startup vacation spot.

The Pitch Winner

From rooftop networking and fireworks, to spontaneous hires to cross-border angel offers and civic initiatives, the EU-Startups Summit in Malta has turn into greater than a yearly gathering; it’s an engine of momentum for startups seeking to scale, elevate capital, or just discover the best folks.

If the final two editions are something to go by, the 2026 version is already shaping as much as be a can’t-miss rendezvous on Europe’s entrepreneurial calendar. See extra information right here.