Web Summit 2024 is welcoming 71,528 attendees this week, including CEOs, startups, investors, trade delegations, media and more. The sold-out event floor will see more than 3,000 companies exhibiting, with AI emerging as the most represented industry.
Key takeaways:
- Sold out with 71,528 attendees from 153 countries;
3,050 companies exhibiting on a sold-out floor with 1,066 investors, 953 speakers and 2,005 media; - Over 44 per cent of startups are women-founded, the highest to date. Women also represent 42 per cent of attendees, and 37 per cent of speakers;
- Partners exhibiting include IBM, Adobe, Meta, Huawei, SAP, DELL, Qualcomm, VISA, American Express, Niantic, Pitchbook, EDP, and KPMG;
- Thousands of new community meetups are underway, enabling attendees to find new communities in an event that is bigger than ever;
- 62 trade delegations, representing 36 countries, with the largest representation from Germany and Brazil
Opening Night kicked off the week with music and fashion icon Pharrell Williams discussing the fusion of commerce and creativity, and Twelve’s co-founder Etosha Cave speaking on how to create fuel from CO2 and water;
The sold-out event floor at Web Summit is set to showcase over 3,050 companies – 44 per cent of which are women-founded, marking the highest representation to date.
Meaningful connections and communities
This year, Web Summit is also using its proprietary Summit Engine software to organise 250 meetups throughout the event, held at the MEO Arena and across Lisbon. Every attendee, from CEOs and founders to media and investors, will be invited to new community meetups aligned with their interests and journeys. Whether it’s artists using tech in innovative ways, space tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs sharing books they love, or groups confronting imposter syndrome, each meetup helps attendees find the connections that resonate most.
Examples of meetups on the event floor include “CleanTech Meetup,” “FashionTech Meetup,” “Women in Tech Connections,” “Tech in Education”, and much more. After exhibition hours, attendees can join additional groups, such as the “Robotics Mixer” and “Music Tech Innovators” at Bairro Alto, or the “FinTech Mixer” at Principe Real.
“Web Summit just keeps growing with each year, and with a record-breaking 3,000 exhibiting companies, including partners from Meta, Adobe and thousands of early-stage startups, we’re thrilled to see the appetite for innovation at Web Summit at an all-time high,” said Paddy Cosgrave, CEO and founder of Web Summit.
“With this increased demand, we’ve made a concerted effort to grow more communities and added networking spaces. Our engineering, product and community teams are organising more than hundreds of meetups across the event and Night Summit so you won’t just leave Web Summit having met a handful of people, but you’ll be part of something larger, multi-dimensional, more enriching, and more meaningful”, continues Paddy Cosgrave.
Partners and startups
3,050 companies will exhibit on the sold-out event floor, including IBM, Adobe, Meta, Huawei, SAP, DELL, Qualcomm, VISA, American Express, Niantic, Pitchbook, EDP, and KPMG, alongside thousands of early-stage startups.
Web Summit will host up to 62 trade delegations from around 36 countries, showcasing some of the world’s most innovative startups. Countries represented will include Ukraine, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Qatar, Cape Verde, Belgium, Hong Kong, France, Lithuania, Spain, Taiwan, Chile, Poland, Austria, Turkey, Moldova, Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, UAE, Greece, Luxembourg, Georgia, Egypt, Malta, and Angola, among others.
45 community partners – including Djassi Africa, the Aga Khan Foundation and, the National Organization for Women – will take part in this edition of Web Summit, with several hosting activations during the event. For example, Djassi Africa is hosting an AfroTech mixer to connect African founders, leaders and, investors, and the Lisbon Project is hosting a meetup for Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Portugal at Web Summit.
AI emerges as the most represented industry
Of the 3,050 exhibiting companies, artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as the most represented industry, with a 16 per cent increase in presence, at a time when a recent Web Summit x Crunchbase report also reveals that AI startups attending last year’s event collectively raised $72.6 million, underscoring AI’s continued momentum. AI is followed closely by Saas, fintech, health tech and, clean tech as the most represented industries among startups.
Newly released data from PitchBook, which is powering this year’s Investor Lounge and conducting
regular investor surveys for Web Summit, also shows that 43 per cent of investors believe AI and machine learning will be the most disruptive technology over the next 5-10 years. Despite rising interest rates and election impacts, 39 per cent of investors surveyed report no slowdown in their investment pace, highlighting the venture community’s adaptability.
Investors
1,066 investors – up from 906 in 2023 – are joining from 58 countries, with a total of USD 14.7 trillion in AUM, according to PitchBook, from sovereign wealth funds such as the Qatar Investment Fund, Oman Investment Fund, and Mubadala Investment Company, as well as VCs including Khosla Ventures, B Capital, 500 Global, Northzone, and Seven Seven Six. Investors will connect with the largest pool of early-stage startups in the world and host thousands of investor-to-investor and investor-to-startup meetings, along with mentoring sessions.
According to Pitchbook, 19.3 per cent of global VC deal value, 25 per cent of European VC deal value and 23.6 per cent of US VC deal value is accounted for by Web Summit 2024 attendees.
Speakers and media
953 speakers will speak over the four days of the event including The GRAMMY award-winning record artist Pharrell Williams, 4x Premier League & Champions League Winner Manchester City & Portugal Rúben Dias, Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith, Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones, NBA all-star Carmelo Anthony and Alibaba.com President Kuo Zhang. 2,005 members of the media from 76 countries will gather insights and report on the breaking news related to AI, venture capital, regulation, and the impact of US election results. This year Web Summit has partnered with 18 media organisations, including The Washington Post, CNBC, Fortune, FAST Company, Euronews, Al Jazeera and O Globo.
Women in Tech
Web Summit has seen a remarkable increase in women-founded startups, reaching 1,261 this year—44.5 per cent of the total, up from 29 per cent in Web Summit 2023. Women now represent 42 per cent of all attendees, approaching gender parity. However, the event’s overall gender balance has slightly declined, following a peak in 2021 when women made up 50.5 per cent of attendees, marking the first time women outnumbered men.
Web Summit’s annual Women in Tech report, which tracks industry progress with insights from its Women in Tech community, highlights ongoing challenges. More than half of respondents cite a shortage of women in leadership roles, and nearly 51 per cent report feeling underpaid relative to men. Balancing career and family life is an increasing concern.
About Web Summit
Web Summit is a technology events company, that brings together a global community of founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to connect and exchange ideas about the technology and trends shaping the world. Web Summit events – including Web Summit in Lisbon, Web Summit Rio in South America, Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, and RISE in Asia – have gathered nearly one million people since Web Summit’s beginnings as a 150-person conference in Dublin in 2009. Its newest event, Web Summit Vancouver, will launch in May 2025.
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