What Web Summit? Two new events for Irish startups to sink their teeth into
Startup Nations Summit and AngelSummit are coming to Ireland in 2016.
AFTER THE WEB Summit’s departure for sunnier shores last year, Irish startups and investors now have two new events to look forward to in 2016.
Both the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) and Startup Angels have announced plans for events in Cork and Dublin respectively that will bring some of the world’s leading investors and entrepreneurs to Ireland.
The Startup Nations Summit is run by GEN and 2016 is the first time the organisation have chosen to host the gathering in a European city.
GEN president Jonathan Ortmans said bringing the event to Ireland would highlight “the rapid expansion of Ireland’s startup ecosystem”.
Now in its fifth year, the event is seen as the highlight of Global Entrepreneurship Week that 180 countries are taking part in this November.
Speaking about the significance of hosting this summit, Startup Ireland chief executive Eoin Costello said it proves the country is now recognised as a great place for early-stage companies.
“Ireland’s rapid economic recovery is reflected in that fact that we are Europe’s highest-growing economy again,” he said.
“As startups are key to future proofing Ireland’s future economic growth the Startup Nations Summit underpins our goal of helping Ireland become a global startup hub by 2020.”
Startup Angels and Google team up
In their partnership announcement, Startup Angels and Google have also revealed plans to bring their event called AngelSummit Europe to Dublin on 8-9 June.
The two organisations are teaming up with plans to increase the number of investors worldwide. Long term they hope to boost numbers of investors from fewer than 500,000 angels to more than one million globally by 2018.
Startup Angels founder and chief executive Leslie Jump said there is a lack of investors to keep up with the demand for investment from startups.
“Startups are everywhere, but venture capital isn’t. We’re on a mission to eliminate the problem of access to capital by unleashing the potential of millions of new startup investors around the world.”
