Web Summit took place November 7-10 in Lisbon, Portugal. Itera Research Company was in attendance and we took a number of notes to document our impressions.

What was the Web Summit 2016? Just one more technology conference among so many others? One more trade fair? One more repetitive technology exhibition?

First of all, the figures speak for themselves…

Web Summit 2016:

• 53,056 Attendees: Tech CEOs, founders, startups, investors and political leaders;
• 65% Senior Management;
• 15,000 Internet or digitally-related companies;
• 166 Countries;
• 1,490 start-ups;
• 278 mentors;
• 2,000 media outlets from more than 100 markets;
• Major funds: Sherpa Capital, Greylock Partners, NEA, KPCB, Seedcamp.

What other conferences can boast that?

Our overall impression of the conference was very positive.

Web Summit has become a monster of the startup conference world and is the Largest Technology Marketplace in Europe. However, there was none of the glitz and glamour of an MWC or CeBIT. There were no massive corporate stands with flashing lights, no private conferences, no pretence on stage or on the floor, no marketing spiels.

However, the conference did have:

– Top-tier brands speaking / co-hosting the event: All the big names took part in some capacity, delivering great talks on mainstream technology.

– Networking: They have a pre-event app that allows guests to search and chat with other participants. The app is like “Tinder” and enables you to arrange meetings beforehand with relevant businesses / investors.

– Fun: Daily bar crawls, night summit, surf summit, music summit, food summit and so much more!

Web Summit 2016 exceeded all our expectations in terms of size, organization and overall atmosphere. We will certainly be going back next year and hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Itera Research Team