SUMMERSAAS - Flashpoint

JUNE 20, 2023 I 10:00-15:00 (BST)

4th VC Forum & Pitch Competition

5 VC panels with over 20 partner-level speakers & 5 pitch tracks with 25 pre-selected SaaS early-stage companies from Europe and Israel.

SUMMERSAAS 2023 SUMMARY

SUCCESS STORIES

Back in 2022, SummerSaas successfully brought together Vibranium, a Silicon Valley VC, and PicUp, an Israeli startup, showcasing the power of the event in creating future relationships and investments.

“Recommending to any startup who wants to pitch investors!” – Liad Iluz, VP Sales at PicUp.

“Thank you for the amazing opportunity! We are happy to have PicUp as our portfolio startup! See you soon at the SummerSaas 2023 event this year! SaaS startups, highly recommend joining the event!”- Valentina Pidgaina, Head of Pipeline & Partnerships at Vibranium VC.

In 2020, Cyscale, Romania graph-based cloud security analysis company, raised funding from Notion Capital. Similarly, a startup from Finland called Sellforte received funding from Sonae IM, Bonnier Ventures and Icebreaker VC.

WHAT TO EXPECT?

VC PANELS

SummerSaaS grew from a pure pitching competition back in 2020 to the VC conference — simultaneously with the pitch sessions, we will have a series of panel discussions on key market topics

PITCH COMPETITION

25 pre-selected startups will pitch in front of Partners from the leading pan-European and regional Venture Capital firms

STARTUP ALLEY

Pitch decks of all the startups that applied for the pitch- competition can be found in the Expo Booth section

LIVE STREAM

You’ll have access to all recordings after the event is over, so you can go back and rewatch the sessions you didn’t catch live

HOW DOES IT WORK?

PRE-SELECTION PROCESS

Flashpoint team identifies 5 SaaS companies per technology track within early-stage maturity parameters*

*MRR between $10k and $100k and/or raised between $0.3m and $3m

PRE-FINAL VC PANEL

A selected group of 25 startups will present before a VC panel with 1 winner from each track progressing to final

GRAND FINALE VC PANEL

A selected group of 5 finalists will present before a Grand Finale VC Panel to select the best SaaS pitch

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

The winner is awarded sponsor prizes from Flashpoint portfolio companies and leading technology enterprises

OUR JURY, SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS

Dany Rammal
Managing Director & Head of Europe
PSG

Haim Sasson
President & CFO | Board Member
OpenWeb

Tamara Orlova
Chief Financial Officer
Flo Health Inc.

Omri Green
Partner
Dell Technologies Capital

Maciek Gnutek
General Partner
Credo Ventures

Mike Reiner
General Partner
Acrobator Ventures

Louis Geoffroy-Terryn
Ecosystems Research Lead
Dealroom.co

Dimitris Kalavros-Gousiou
Partner
Velocity.Partners

Shauli Rejwan
Managing Partner
Masterkey Venture Capital

Marton Sarkadi Nagy
Partner
Visionaries Club

Stephen Nundy
Investment Partner & Chief Technology Officer
Lakestar

Tom Henriksson
General Partner
OpenOcean

Michael Treskow
Partner
Eight Roads Ventures

Michał Lewandowski
Senior Investment Manager
Elevator Ventures

Apostolos Apostolakis
Founding Partner
Venture Friends

Daniel Nikic
President & Founder
Cohres Ltd.

Ewa Chronowska
General Partner
Next Road Ventures

Emanuel Timor
General Partner
Vertex Venture Capital

Alexander Zemlyak
Head of Israel
Leta Capital

Roland Dennert
Managing Partner
Cipio Partners

Jessica McCreadie
Principal
Octopus Ventures

Martha Ivanovas
Deal Flow & Portfolio Manager
Intel Ignite Europe

Julian Levy
Operating Partner
Redline Capital

Nadia Lazarova
Investment Team
Molten Ventures

Leah Hodgson
Moderator of “Post – VC” panel
PitchBook Data

Adam Borowicz
Partnerships & Business Development
Orbify

Doron Gedalyahu
CFO
SureTech Investments

Csongor Biás
Managing Director
Startup Hungary

Donatella Callegaris
Moderator of “VD” panel
Flashpoint

Michael Szalontay
General Partner
Flashpoint

Alex Konoplyasty
Moderator of “CVC” panel
Flashpoint

Marton Medveczky
Moderator of Vertical SaaS pitch track
Flashpoint

Ilja Velickis
Moderator of Developer Tools pitch track
Flashpoint

Lukas Harustiak
Moderator of “Secondary” panel
Flashpoint

Persia Georgiadou
Moderator of HealthTech pitch track
Flashpoint

Oz Hassine
Moderator of Fintech pitch track
Flashpoint

Michał Papuga
Moderator of Horizontal SaaS pitch track
Flashpoint

AGENDA

STAGE

NETWORKING LOUNGE

11:00 – 14:00

Join us to network with other startups and get advice from the VCs

SESSIONS

10:00 – 10:25

Opening remarks

Alex Konoplyasty
General Partner
Flashpoint

Watch the recording

10:25-10:45

SaaS & Startups – European and Israeli tech in numbers 2023. Overview by Dealroom

Watch the recording

10:45-11:30

Post-VC: How does slower capital deployment impact early-stage startups?

Post-VC panel discussion will be focused on the effects of investing in early-stage tech businesses from the perspective of different market participants: VCs, PEs, and institutional LPs following the shift to a non-zero interest environment. Investors will share their view on the impacts of slower capital deployment across European and Israeli ecosystems across the stages, expected consolidation in the industry both in terms of companies, as well as fund managers, guide tech founders on what to expect in terms of funding availability over the next 12 months, as well as share insights on how fund managers dealt on alignment both with portfolio companies as well as their LPы during current turbulent times.

Watch the recording

11:30-12:15

Is Corporate Venture Capital Right for Your Startup?

It is standard for startups to seek various sources of funding. Corporate venture capital funds, or CVCs, have become increasingly popular in recent years. Corporate investors offer financing and access to resources such as subsidiaries that can serve as market and customer validators, marketing and development support, and a credible existing brand. In addition to this added value, however, CVCs can also involve some risk.

During our conversation, we will discuss all the pros and cons of financing startups through CVCs.

Watch the recording

12:15-12:30

How to boost your performance as a scout?

What creative ways do scouts implement to source strong tech founders and expand their network? Does the current fundraising environment affect your tech network in terms of willingness to raise new money and engage with VCs?

Watch the recording

12:30-13:15

Why Venture Debt is gaining momentum this year?

It’s a difficult time for many startups coming down from the highs of 2021 and 2022. The yellow brick road that was laid before you is gone and the future a bit more uncertain. What can you do as a founder to ensure a healthy cash runway to complement your equity with minimal dilution for yourself? How the current environment will facilitate further the collaboration with your Venture Capital and Venture Debt partners to help you in achieving your company’s milestones?

Donatella Callegaris
Moderator
Flashpoint

Watch the recording

13:15-14:00

Secondary transactions in the current tech market environment. Should companies support recycling of their cap tables?

Unprecedented wealth is captured within the VC market, as between 2003 and 2021, the private market fundraising worldwide increased more than twelve-fold from around USD 96 billion to approximately USD 1.2 trillion. At the same time, there is a global trend for companies to remain private longer – while in 1989, companies were going public after an average of six years, by 2021 the figure had doubled. Is the secondary an answer for the mounting liquidity needs for shareholders and should the companies actively support capable recycling? Is the current macro-environment supporting the secondary market?

Let’s try to answer those questions!