And because I recently spoke with the creators of this event, the Vienna Business Agency, I decided to make a short list of 5 reasons why you should come to ViennaUP. Let's see.

Personalize your ViennaUP experience

Most of the events we go to as journalists, entrepreneurs or investors are similar. Organized in a single venue and with mix of panels and startup booths ViennaUP is different: Thanks to its decentralized concept, you can make ViennaUP your personal experience and choose to attend exactly those events that fit you the best.

If you have a startup and want to expand to the Western European market, you can choose to meet investors at the networking events called ViennaUP Coffee House Sessions, but you can also participate in the pitching competitions such as Startup Live ViennaUP’23 or Pitch Night.

Also, if you are an investor, you can attend such events to meet new companies, connect with Austrian investors or learn more about other verticals.

Pitch every single day

Also on June 2nd, EU-Startups and the Vienna Business Agency will host Pitch Night, where early stage startups will be able to meet investors or larger companies that would be interested in talking to young entrepreneurs. As many other events during ViennaUP’23, the the Pitch Night tickets are for free, but you must apply with your startup to receive one of the 100 tickets.

Find startups from Central Europe

Investors are looking at CEE startups with interest. And ViennaUP is a way for them to step forward and meet such companies.

Either at the Pitch Night or Let Them Pitch, an event that already has a 10-year tradition, where startups that have crowdinvesting campaigns on the Conda.at platform will get in front of investors. After a short pitch, the founders will answer questions from the public or investment funds. Those present will have the opportunity to invest online directly in these companies, starting from minimum tickets of 100 euros.

Connect with big enterprises

More and more enterprise businesses are looking towards the world of startups. The speed of implementation from the startup world brings agility to the corporate area. And ViennaUP brings connections with the innovation ecosystem through the GINspiration event where corporations, investors, accelerators, researchers and public agencies will come.

Also, Connect Day 2023 makes matchmaking between established companies and investors seem simple. Why is it important? Because at ViennaUP, corporate innovation programs or even business connections can be born or startups and the enterprise entities can start the business connection.

You can discover Vienna

The capital of Austria has been named the most "livable" city in the world for the last several years. Besides this, if you are an entrepreneur or investor you have several reasons why Vienna could be the next place to open an office.

Vienna has the advantage of being located in the middle of Europe, so you have access to the Eastern European ecosystem as well as the Western European one. If for many years London was considered the capital of startups in Europe, now several cities are fighting for this title. And according to the data, prices in Vienna are up to 75% lower than in London.

ViennaUP brings a mix of business events, networking activities, the opportunity to pitch, but also cultural and social events in the city. The festival also aims to attract companies to the local ecosystem, and the way the city is organized is one of the strongest arguments for that, with more than 1,700 playgrounds, 1,000 parks and 17,000 companies that are active in the creative industry. In addition, 9,000 small businesses are opened every year in Vienna.

So these were our 5 reasons why ViennaUP can be an opportunity for startups or investors in Eastern Europe. Several events, thousands of people and one week when you can feel the tech ecosystem moving forward in Vienna.