The Portuguese start up companies that took part in the first edition of the Web Summit in Lisbon three years ago, have already raised almost €60 million in funding after 41 investment rounds, the organisation told Lusa news agency.
Four months before the 2019 edition of the Web Summit, which will take place between 4 and 7 November at Parque das Nações (Altice Arena and FIL), in Lisbon, the organisers said that “there are several cases of start ups that have raised substantial amounts of investment” by contacts at that conference or even in deals made during the event.
The Web Summit arrived in Lisbon in 2016 and brought 53,000 people from 166 countries, 15,000 companies, 7,000 executive presidents, 700 top investors and 2,000 international journalists.
By 2018, more than 70,000 participants from more than 170 countries, around 2,600 journalists from all over the world were registered and 2,000 start ups were also present.
For this year, the names of 300 speakers have already been confirmed, some of them repeat attendees, including the businessmen Gillian Tans (Booking platform), Brad Smith (Microsoft Corporation), Devin Wenig (eBay), Randy Freer (Hulu service) and Phil Spencer (Xbox).
Meanwhile, the Web Summit has topped the rankings in a survey relating to the reputation of events in Portugal.
With a total of 85.2 points, Web Summit won first place in the ranking of the most reputable events in Portugal.
Rock in Rio (83.6), NOS Alive (81.4), the Portuguese Football Cup (78.3) and MEO Sudeoeste (77.5) make up the top five of the most reputable events in Portugal .
The report also reveals that music festivals occupy a prominent position in the ranking, with 10 events of this category appearing in the top 20. It should be noted that nine of these festivals feature the name of the main sponsor - five connected to the telecommunications sector, two linked to the food and beverage sector and two linked to the energy sector.
Pedro Tavares, Partner and CEO of ONSTRATEGY reports, “Events are prime platforms for corporate and business brands to adopt differentiated and interactive strategies with their stakeholders, in particular with customers and consumers.”. He added: “the association of brands with events enables them to build and reinforce their emotional and rational values.”
