From rooftop chats to real investments: How the EU-Startups Summit turned conversations into real opportunities

EU News Week

Jun 17, 2025 - 16:00

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From rooftop chats to real investments: How the EU-Startups Summit turned conversations into real opportunities

Across its 2024 and 2025 editions, the EU-Startups Summit has continued to evolve into a fertile meeting ground for European innovation, where spontaneous conversations can often translate into investment cheques, new hires, and strategic collaborations.

Beyond insightful keynotes and panel discussions, our big pitch competition and a buzzing exhibition hall, our annual summit in Malta has become the place to be for European startup ecosystem players to connect and to collaborate.

The EU-Startups Summit has always prided itself on facilitating meaningful encounters between ambitious startups and potential backers.

In order to update you on recent deals and connections that resulted from our two most recent editions in Malta, we spoke to some of our participants to learn how the event has helped them unlock new opportunities. Here are just a few of the meaningful deals, hires, and connections that happened thanks to the Summit.

Some recent Deals & Connections

Peter-Kovacs

EverybodyCounts: This UK-based startup just secured an investment from AAlchemy Ventures – a deal facilitated through their meeting as part of the 2025 edition of the Summit. Andrey Kostyuk from AAlchemy Ventures stated: “This is a strong confirmation of viability of cross-border angel investing”.
DAITABLE: Šimon Staňo, the CEO and Co-founder of DAITABLE, met their future investors MIG Investors (Netherlands) at the Summit and went on to raise a pre-seed round of €220k – “which was a really crucial moment that accelerated us,” shared Staňo.
Picnic Co-founder and CTO Daniel Gebler, who joined this year’s EU-Startups Summit as speaker, shared that he met an early-stage EdTech startup during the 2025 Summit and is currently in final talks with them before investing. More info about this deal will likely be revealed soon.
Grasshopper Air Mobility: The Barcelona-based startup developing robotic cargo drones secured an angel investment from Péter Kovács (Founder and Chief Networking Officer at NetworkSmith) after meeting at the rooftop side event. “I met the CEO and Co-founder, Jakob Saalfrank, in Malta at the EU-Startups Summit, and we had a great chat over drinks at the rooftop side event organised by Leonard Burger,” said Kovács. “Never miss the rooftop side events.”
Level Up EMEA: CEO Alessio Borrelli met Irene Caminiti – then a volunteer at the Summit – and was so impressed that she eventually became the Business Development Director at the company, playing a key role in their regional expansion. “Beyond the many valuable connections with potential clients and investors, your event offered us an unexpected and rewarding opportunity: it’s where we met Irene Caminiti, who was volunteering at the time,” Borrelli noted. “We were immediately impressed by her talent and potential; we’re now proud to share that she has joined Level Up EMEA as our Business Development Director.”
Crowdfunding Coach Mattia Di Stasi praised the Summit’s intimate scale for easy, targeted networking, leading to a collaboration with Nora from Toke Platform and involvement in Malta crowdfunding events, new clients like Happy Pot and Ryder who he is advising on potential Kickstarter launches, and genuine, results-driven partnerships. “I’m genuinely happy to have been part of this event, and I believe initiatives like this one are crucial to growing a real startup culture in Europe,” Di Stasi shared.
Pangea Social Co-founder Eric Forst found a new advisor during this year’s EU-Startups Summit – Magnus Magnusson – who has since officially joined their advisory board.
Plug and Play Tech Center x Mountside Ventures: Thomas Bigagli (Plug and Play) and Jonathan Hollis (Mountside) connected at the Summit, and the encounter led to ongoing collaboration talks, including co-hosting events and strategic synergies for emerging VCs and LPs. “We began discussing potential collaborations, exploring how we could support Mountside new initiatives for emerging VCs and LPs, drive our portfolio companies toward their platform, and co-host key events at major fundraising conferences,” shared Bigagli.
StudiesIn participated in the last two editions of the EU-Startups Summit, where the founders engaged in over 25 meetings with investors interested in the company’s mission to simplify international education in Europe and have also strengthened their relationship with Malta Enterprise who already granted them €400k in non-dilutive funding. After joining the Summit in 2024 already together with Supercharger Ventures, StudiesIn decided to open a new office in Malta. Now they are about to raise an equity funding round for further expansion.
4girls.ai: The startup launched its AI Literacy Index Study during the 2025 Summit and sparked a valuable new partnership with a leading Women in Tech network to help scale its mission for empowering girls in AI.

As regulatory and financial barriers lessen across Europe, these kinds of alliances, brokered informally over coffee or cocktails, are becoming defining features of the EU-Startups Summit. There are countless of great stories out there, in addition to the few examples mentioned above.

Malta as a hub of connections

Malta Enterprise continues to drive the island’s ambition to become a leading hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe. And it seems to be working out nicely.

This shows for example in recent data from the 2025 Global Startup Ecosystem Report, which placed Malta firmly on the global innovation map. The country’s startup ecosystem generated €3.6 billion in value in 2025 – a 39% increase year-over-year – driven by successful exits and strategic investments.

Malta also ranks 3rd in the MENA region for “Bang for Buck,” and its focus on high-value sectors like FinTech, life sciences, and digital tech is supported by dedicated infrastructure and programmes. In the 2024 Startup Nations Standard Report, Malta maintained its 4th-place ranking in Europe, scoring 100% in talent attraction and digital transformation.

At the EU-Startups Summit, Prof. Dietmar Keuschnig reflected on his experience and praised both the event and Malta’s strategic direction: “The event was a true hub of innovation and energy, packed with valuable presentations and a highly professional setup throughout. One highlight being the inspiring conversation with the team from Malta Enterprise. It’s clear that Malta is positioning itself as a solid foundation for startups and an emerging hub where innovative business models can truly thrive.”

Government-led initiatives, including a €9.2 million venture capital fund, DiHubMT, and the upcoming High-Performance Computer (HPC), continue to enhance the local ecosystem. These efforts are part of Malta Vision 2050, aimed at fostering a resilient, innovation-driven economy.

Events like the EU-Startups Summit play a key role in this vision, offering platforms that connect local and international innovators while reinforcing Malta’s reputation as a fast-rising startup destination.

The Pitch Winner

PryvX

One of the most talked-about moments at the 2025 edition of the EU-Startups Summit was surely the pitch that won it all.

Stockholm-based PryvX, the winner of the EU-Startups Summit 2025 Pitch Competition, impressed both the jury and attendees with its platform for privacy-preserving data collaboration, enabling secure cross-industry cooperation without compromising sensitive information.

Following their standout pitch, which beat out over 1,500 applicants, the team attracted interest from several investors they met during the Summit and is now in the process of finalising a funding round that will include contributions from these connections.

PryvX is already demonstrating its cutting-edge technology and the momentum from their summit victory, alongside a prize package worth over €755k, is helping propel the startup into its next stage of growth.

Final Thoughts

From rooftop networking and fireworks, to spontaneous hires to cross-border angel deals and civic initiatives, the EU-Startups Summit in Malta has become more than a yearly gathering; it’s an engine of momentum for startups looking to scale, raise capital, or simply find the right people.

If the last two editions are anything to go by, the 2026 edition is already shaping up to be a can’t-miss rendezvous on Europe’s entrepreneurial calendar. See more info here.

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