The main tech and startup event in the Baltics took place for the 10th time this year. Instead of gathering 2000 people in person during a chill February, this time more than 1700 people gathered online for 2 weeks across may. Among the 1700+ attendees were more than 30 of X-Europe's portfolio startups. Let's look back at the event and our X-Europe's involvement.
The Point of No Return
Right after TechChill 2020, the world changed. No longer we would meet on a daily basis, shake hands, or hug each other. Instead came the virtual meetings on Zoom, Google Meets, Microsoft Teams, or whatever else platforms are out there. On top of that many businesses had to change as well. Hello, remote work. Goodbye, frequent traveling. Even as we, hopefully, start to return to a more reasonable life, many things will have changed forever – we have reached the point of no return. And that is what TechChill 2021 was all about - taking a closer look at the opportunities and issues that will shape technology this year and beyond. The core agenda topics for 2021 were sustainability, knowledge for growth, digital transformation, diversity – and, as always, the role of the Baltics in the future of tech.
TechChill 2021 in numbers
Despite being online, the event was still able to gather an amazing crowd of startups, investors, corporations, and tech enthusiasts - 1700 attendees from more than 50 countries. In addition, to the amazing attendees, the event had the most speakers it has ever had, i.e. 178 industry professionals, experts, and innovators from 29 countries. The pandemic has robbed us of many things but sure allowed the event to be more diverse.
In 2021, instead of the usual 3 days, the event was spread across 2 weeks, during which the attendees had the chance to participate in 16 side events, 13 masterclasses, and 11 roundtables.
Finally, one of the main reasons why TechChill was created in the first place was to bring together Baltic startups with global investors, create new partnerships, and create opportunities for open innovation. Gladly, we can say that the online format did not hinder this aspect of the event, as our attendees were responsible for 1334 online meetings.
X-Europe at TechChill 2021
TechChill 2021 was attended by 39 X-Europe startups from the first four cohorts. The startups from the AI&ML cohort took more active participation in the event with 20 of the cohort startups having virtual booths at the startup expo zone. The booths allowed the startups to present their solutions/products in an interactive manner and to give better insights to potential partners and/or investors.
Moreover, Algomo, WAVENURE, Fintelligence, BaseTrack, and EnVsion from the AI&ML cohort, as well as BeeSage from the AgriTech cohort participated in TechChill's annual pitching competition Fifty Founders Battle. Furthermore, Algomo won the AI&ML track of the competition! Take a look at the full AI&ML pitch session below.
Finally, among the 178 speakers were several X-Europe-related personalities. Several of our investors took part as jury members during the pitch competition. Similarly, a number of the Baltic ecosystem builders joined various pannel discussions or organised their own roundtables during the event. And to top it all of, Tomas Larsson from our portfolio startup Dcipher Analytics delivered a keynote on how AI is solving the billion-hour problem. For those who missed the event, this is a great chance to catch his amazing keynote below.
Although it wasn't what we are used to, TechChill 2021 still turned out pretty great. But it will be so great to meet everyone again in person for TechChill 2022. So see you all next year! We can't wait!
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