TechChill expands beyond the Baltics with its first startup industry event in Milan
The first startup industry event in the Southern European region, TechChill Milano, will take place in Milan from 27 to 29 September, with the aim of showcasing Italian startups on the international stage, as well as bringing together leading industry experts and the brightest talents from Italy’s technology ecosystem.
The Baltics’ leading technology and startup industry event, TechChill, took place for the 11th consecutive year this year, bringing together more than 2,300 attendees in Riga last week, including startup representatives and media, investors, experts from various business sectors, as well as technology enthusiasts from Latvia and around the world. In addition to its packed two-day stage programme, TechChill is expanding beyond the Baltic borders this year to bring its experience and knowledge accumulated over the years to Southern Europe—to Italy, where an event of this kind for the startup industry will be organised for the first time.
TechChill Milano will focus primarily on building an innovation ecosystem, which is the key to regional success; founders’ stories, including both positive and negative examples from the journey from an idea to founding a startup and through its development stages; as well as “Building the Future”, focusing on technologies and solutions that make the world more sustainable. It will be the largest event of its kind in the Southern European region, bringing global investors, startup founders, ecosystem representatives and media together in one place, while also highlighting the most promising talents in the startup industry, strengthening the local ecosystem and attracting international attention to it.
Among the first confirmed speakers at the event are well-known names such as Roberto Bonanzinga of InReach Ventures, Lubomila Jordanova of Plan A, BOOM co-founder and CEO Federico Mattia Dolci, Mike Butcher of TechCrunch, investor and adviser Paola Bonomo, talent adviser at Central Europe’s largest investment fund, HV Capital, Anna Ott, and Change Ventures’ managing partner Andris K. Bērziņš. They will take the stage alongside prominent talents from Italy’s startup industry to share their expertise and inspire the local audience.
Over the past more than 10 years, the non-profit foundation TechChill has become a leading industry pioneer throughout the Baltics, supporting the local technology ecosystem and creating a platform for knowledge exchange and the promotion of industry development throughout the year. As is well known, the Baltic startup ecosystem is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and more than 5,000 startups currently operate in the region, including 14 unicorns. However, the Baltics have significant potential to attract even greater foreign investment and develop their dynamic startup ecosystem on a global scale.
Italy’s technology sector has also experienced similar growth over the past decade, and as the market continues to develop, there is a clear need for knowledge-based support to promote the growth of the local ecosystem. Italy is also known as Europe’s hidden gem in the startup industry, offering extensive business-building opportunities and future potential. Scalapay, BizAway, UnoBravo, iGenius, Everli, Genenta Science, D-Orbit, Soldo, Satispay, Wise, Vedrai, Cortilia, Casavo, Shopfully and Moneyfarm are just some of Italy’s leading and rapidly growing startups, while venture capital investment in the region is currently increasing faster than ever before. In 2021, it reached almost €1.5 billion, 30% of which came from international venture capital firms.
“Over the past decade, TechChill has become the largest technology industry event in the Baltic region, actively supporting the local ecosystem throughout the year, and our ambitions to become a global-level event have grown just as confidently alongside it. We felt that the time had come to take the TechChill name beyond the Baltic borders and share our accumulated experience with other European regions where the startup industry is developing at a similar pace. We recognise that we can contribute a great deal to Milan, Italy’s startup hub, and that we can also learn a great deal from the Italian experience, laying a solid foundation for long-term cooperation,” comments TechChill co-founder Marija Ručevska.
“Italy is a land of genuine opportunity, and the Italian startup ecosystem has demonstrated rapid growth in recent years, showing that an initiative such as TechChill is very much needed in our region to foster even faster startup development on a global scale. Northern and Southern startup ecosystems have never been connected before, but an immediate strong chemistry emerged between us and TechChill—something we believed in and want to take to the next level. That is why we eagerly await our Baltic partners, leading experts and friends from the startup industry in Milan, in order to exchange knowledge and promote further cross-border cooperation,” adds investor, entrepreneur and activist in Italy’s startup ecosystem Andrea T. Orlando.
The TechChill Milano event will take place from 27 to 29 September in Milan, at Bocconi University, and is being organised by activists from Italy’s startup ecosystem together with the local TechChill Foundation.
