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What-a-WEEK! The effort that was put into making Startup Olé such a great event really showed. You could feel the passion on stage, at the fair, in the corridors, and in Salamanca.

This was a great success and we owe it to you – the participants, the volunteers, the speakers, the sponsors, the organisation and everyone who contributed! More than 600 people made their way to Startup Ole to share their ideas and their work – and this is something that will just keep on giving.

You can now take a look at the photos here and we also keep collecting what the press is saying about us – over 100 publications and some very cool videos & interviews too!

Highlights

For a startup event, the most important component is, of course, the Startup Fair.

This is what truly sets the mood, shows you what’s going on, who came, and what there is to see. 100 startups were showcasing their work from many different verticals – from IoT to Travel – Virtual Reality to Fashion! Beer, cats, electric scooters, drones, shoes, humanitarians, games … you name it!

The most ambitious and amazing startups also got the chance to participate in the Startup Pitching – competing for prizes and catching the eye of the investing judges! Learn more about the winners at Startup Olé’s pitching page.

At the fair, the startups, but also the organizations that supported them, such as universities, scientific parks accelerators, and many other ecosystem builders who brought their own projects as the best way to showcase their impact on the startup world.

Startup Europe – one of Startup Olé’s main supporters – brought over 10 different EU projects who work on developing a Pan-European startup ecosystem – showcasing their work at the joint stand. Isidro Laso Ballesteros, leader of the initiative, also presented his view on what have been the highlights and what the future holds for startups and the European Commission.

In the Auditorium, many high level speakers gathered to discuss the main issues for those who work with startups. We can highlight sessions about scaling up in Europe, accessing markets beyond Europe, creating innovation spaces, FinTech and many others.

Accelerator Assembly sessions included panel sessions on the latest trends of acceleration, including corporate involvement in startups. The sessions were from NESTA and invited participants from Fundacion Repsol, Wayra, Iberdrola, ZED, IMPACT Accelerator, ACE Creative, Startup bootcamp & Eleven. Accelerator Assembly brought together more than 50 accelerators who organized several independent activities – “Accelerator Pitching” to help startups get to know different accelerators; Workshop on how to understand, choose and apply to accelerators as well as many office hours throughout the day. More details at the Accelerator Assembly website.

The Opening session gave us high level keynote speakers who showed their commitment and their experience in boosting entrepreneurship. The Closing Session was a chance to give back to the community by awarding the different prizes we gathered for our startups, such as the Recognition Awards.

StartUp Europe Awards winners can be checked here.

Matchmaking & working areas: Over 600 meetings through the matchmaking app, not counting the informal get-togethers and serendipitous encounters!

Participants took advantage of the various networking areas throughout the venue: 1-on-1 meeting rooms, open spaces, cafeteria, etc.

 

Invite-only networking events were organized for the Salamanca Investors Club, speakers and sponsors, profiting from the good weather to bring together the rainmakers that will help push Salamanca and Europe forward.

So much more happened during the event that it’s impossible to put it all in one post. We invite you to stay in touch, follow us on social media, subscribe to our newsletter and SPREAD THE WORD: Startup Ole 2017 will happen sooner than you think… want to get involved?