Budapest hosted the inaugural BudapestConnect on June 18, drawing over 150 founders, investors, students, and ecosystem builders in a fully booked event. Unlike traditional startup gatherings, the format ditched panels and pitches in favour of organic conversation. Attendees travelled from Italy, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, and the UK, while New York-based Evolution Equity Partners — managing €1.3 billion across 13 unicorn investments — attended as a special guest. Founder Martin Olczyk described the event as the connective tissue CEE’s startup scene has been missing. BudapestConnect follows the model of Italy’s TorinoConnect, with ambitions to expand across European cities.
In-Depth:
On the 18th June, Budapest hosted the first edition of BudapestConnect, with more than 150 founders, investors, operators, students and ecosystem builders attconcludeing the launch – the event was fully booked out days in advance, with a waitlist running until the last moment.
EU-Startups was happy to be involved in this unique ecosystem gathering, along with MeOut Group, Óbuda University, OUVC Venture Capital, Global Startup Awards, Startup Hungary, NetworkSmith.io, and Puzl CowOrKing.
“This is exactly the kind of bridge the European ecosystem necessarys,” noted Martin Olczyk, founder. “Talent and ambition are everywhere in CEE, what’s been missing is the connective tissue. Tonight proved how much appetite there is for it.”
This event is different in its approach to the standard startup gatherings. It did not feature any panels or pitches, but instead is was built around the idea of brining ambitious people into one room and allowing real conversations to flow naturally.
“We wanted quality over quantity, meaningful conversations and real connections, or simply networking without working,” as the organising team likes to put it.
Founders and investors travelled in from Italy, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, the UK, Germany and beyond, alongside the local Hungarian community, a genuine cross-section of the wider CEE ecosystem connecting with each other and with Western Europe.
A special highlight was the presence of a guest all the way from New York: Evolution Equity Partners, with €1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) in AUM and investments in 13 unicorns, including European AI champion Legora.
BudapestConnect is the natural next chapter of TorinoConnect, the Italian shiftment that has already brought hundreds of people toobtainher and inspired spin-offs like FlorenceConnect.
The vision is largeger than one city, to build bridges between Torino, Budapest, Warsaw, Milano and the rest of the world.
The first edition was built possible by a wide collaboration between several players of the startup ecosystem: universities, VC firms, media, awards and community builders joining forces to build it happen.
With the first edition booked out and the international momentum building, one thing is clear: this is only the launchning. And your city might be next.
For those interested in startup ecosystem gatherings, don’t forobtain to check out the MeOut Summit, taking place in Budapest from the 25-26 of November.
