Summersaas 2022: Startups Meet Investors
SummerSaaS 2022: Everything You Need to Know
The year 2022 will be eventful for the tech world and startups as the global economy returns to normalcy in the post-pandemic period. There are several events planned for this year where representatives from the most promising startup industries have an opportunity to meet with potential investors. SummerSaas is regarded as one of the largest online startup events for Software and Service tech companies. Participants from all over the world are expected, and SummerSaas 2022 is especially important to French Tech start-ups as the country strives to become a “start-up nation”. SummerSaaS provides a platform for seed-stage companies to compete for top-tier funds.
The date has been set for June 9, 2022, and the event will be streamed live online. Here’s a rundown of what the event is about and why you should plan to attend:
The Host, Flashpoint
Flashpoint Asset Management has offices in Budapest, Warsaw, London, Nicosia, and Riga and of course Tel Aviv, the home to many of the most successful Israeli startups. The brand ventures into Series A enterprises and beyond with venture capital, venture debt, and secondary buyouts. It manages six funds for approximately 150 family offices and high-net-worth individuals, with a total asset base of $500 million. By far, the company has explored over 50 brands and completed 12 exits.
Schedule of Events
SummerSaaS began as an online competition but quickly grew to become one of the largest online conferences for startups seeking funding from investors, Angel Investors, and Venture Capitalists.
The event is divided into four stages: preselection, prefinal VC panel, grand finale VC panel, and winner announcement.
Pre-selection Stage
During this stage, Flashpoint will select five SaaS brands from each of the five technology tracks to form a group of 25 startups to present in front of the panel jury. Each of these brands must be in the seed or late-seed funding stages, which means they must have a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $10,000 to $100,000 or have raised between $0.3 million and $3 million.
Pre-Final VC Panel
Each of the 25 seed or late-seed brands will make their presentation in front of a VC panel, with one winner chosen from each track to advance to the finals.
Grand Finale VC Panel
The five startups that advanced from the pre-final VC panel will compete in front of a grand finale VC panel until one is declared the winner.
Winner Announcement
The winner receives prizes from event sponsors such as Flashpoint and other leading technology corporations.
What To Expect
In the past year alone, the event attracted over 440 entrepreneurs, 250 venture capitalists, and 60 angel investors. The conference is expected to reach new heights this year, as the event has made a name for itself as a result of last year’s success.
Who is eligible to participate?
SummerSaaS 2022 welcomes startups in any of its five tracks, which are as follows:
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Vertical Saas (construction, real estate, logistics, etc.),
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Horizontal Saas (productivity, sales, HR, support),
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Developer Tools (R&D productivity, product analytics, DevOps)
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Fintech
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New Economy (Gig economy, Web3)
A minimum of 20 investors from CEE, Finland, Israel, the Baltics, and Greece are expected to attend the event. SummerSaaS 2022 also promises a new pitch track for Ukrainian tech startups, with a cash prize for the winner. The event will sell premium tickets, with the proceeds going toward the winner’s prize.
Who is eligible to attend?
Due to existing travel restrictions that may limit some attendees, Flashpoint determined that holding the conference online would be more convenient. The event will not have any physical attendees, but startups from all over the world will be able to access it through Hopin.
Why Should You Attend SummerSaaS 2022?
SummerSaaS not only provides your startup with the opportunity to secure funding, but it also provides you with massive market exposure by allowing you to meet peers who are interested in your niche. It provides an opportunity to connect with the right partners and share ideas with other global businesses. For example, more than 50 VCs invested approximately $10 billion in the 25 participating startups last year.
SummerSaaS provides startups with a competitive advantage by allowing them to interact with some of the best-performing firms at their level and gain insight into others’ ideas. Learning from peers can help you gain a better understanding of the market and how to improve your product offering. SummerSaaS is a highly accessible online event that is a sure investment of your time.
‘What Can I Enable My Audience to Do’; CODiE Celebration Well Worth Taking a Look in
“We give people lots to do in the [virtual] experience, and that’s how you need to think about it,” Mark Bornstein, VP of marketing, ON24, told us in a webinar on webinars a few weeks ago. “What can I enable my audience to do, besides just watch my presentation?”
GovExec thought this way as well and started focusing on how and where they can produce high-level video content. “We constantly in our production were drawing on examples of TV network and news networks saying, ‘Oh, what if we could do stuff like that,’” said Haley Berling, senior manager, digital programs and events, GovExec.
“If there’s one thing to take away, it is the theme of evolution and constantly having to change. We realized very quickly that translating live events to digital events is not a one-to-one translation. It is actually a completely different language you start to speak.”
Fortunately for SIIA, Jenny Baranowski, managing director for SIIA’s CODiE Awards, speaks that language well. In planning the 2022 CODiE Awards Virtual Winner Announcements Celebration for Business Technology and Ed Tech—set for this Wednesday and Thursday at 4 pm ET—she will be giving finalists, colleagues and other interested parties across the globe a unique virtual experience. (You can register here for free.)
Since 1986, SIIA’s CODiE Awards have honored thousands of software, education, information and media products, leaders and teams for achieving excellence. They will be achieving their own excellence by staging this state-of-the-art, virtual, metaverse-inhabiting, engagement-filled celebration that can be enjoyed around the globe.
This will not be your older sibling’s virtual event. As Bornstein and Berling, said, times have changed. Pre-Show Networking with fellow technology leaders will take place in the NewSkyXR rooftop metaverse. No worries over whether to hug, shake hands, or elbow or fist bump. SIIA lifetime achievement award winner Feyzi Fatehi will discuss his recently published book Democratizing SaaS. The SIIA policy team will also be there to discuss the issues that matter most to your business. And a Gather Voices video booth can capture guests’ red carpet moments.
At 5 pm, the winners will be announced as networking continues with a live chat throughout the event. There’s even a virtual After Party at 6 pm to congratulate winners and create winner thank-you videos using the Gather Voices platform. There will also be an Innovation Showcase, featuring 10 entrepreneurs bringing innovative learning technologies to the education market.
All in all, it will be a good window into the latest possibilities for a virtual event. (A welcome video will help you navigate.) As you enter the metaverse, you’ll be taken through a wizard to create your personalized avatar. You can either start with a picture of yourself or select a starting avatar which you can then customize. Check out the clothing tab before you finish to put your best look forward. There will also be exclusive meet and greets, and special terraces to “gather” that can hold up to 20 people at a time. Signs will guide you to the right places.
It’s very cool when SIIA can practice what experts preach.
“We created a new virtual experience,” Berling of GovExec said. “We incorporated things like virtual and customer sponsor resource pages with interactive chat features in downloadable assets for our clients. We created a virtual press room and editorial resource library for our editorial staff. And then we built a simple theater digitally where users can easily consume the content within very intuitive, easy login experience and [more] chat…
“As a living resource hub of content of all types, and then a place where our VIP community could come and interact with us and each other, it was more of a digital experience. Over the course of the next six months we partnered with some fabulous partners and actually built and developed that event site into our own internal virtual event platform that we could easily deploy for multiple events.”
Welcome to the brave new world of virtual events. Again, come check us out Wednesday and/or Thursday by registering here.