Latitude59 – which takes place between 19-20 May 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia – is a tech and startup Festival run by e-Estonia, the country’s flagship digital society.
This year’s festival, which marks its 10th year, will be themed around ‘purpose and inclusion’. The event will offer its 2500 attendees the chance to meet fellow founders and gain untapped access to more than 300 investors and key players in the startup ecosystem – including government officials and corporations from around the world.
Leeds Digital Festival and Latitude59 have long been friends, and we’ve seen many Estonian tech firms come over to Leeds in the last few years, with plenty of Leeds-based firms heading in the opposite direction. We’d like to cement that partnership by offering two startup founders from Leeds the chance to visit Latitude59 and build their own relationships with our Northern European friends.
Like you, we’ve been following the situation in Ukraine closely and are aware of the possible impacts this may have on Estonia, and other countries bordering Russia. We believe, though, that it’s more important than ever before to show solidarity with the tech community in Europe, and to harness the power of collaboration. In addition to launching the competition, the Leeds Digital Festival directors will be heading out to Latitude59 to show our ongoing support for Estonia and to catch up with some old friends.
As well as giving you the opportunity to network with some of Europe’s finest tech minds, Latitude59 ‘startup’ ticket holders may also be eligible for the following**:
Pitching – The Latitude59 pitching competition is open to all promising startups, with the top 10 pitches gaining access to the EstBAN investor syndicate and the top 5 pitches winning the opportunity to pitch on the Latitude59 main stage. This year’s competition will also form the Baltic’s pre-finals for the Startup World Cup – the world’s biggest pitching competition – so certainly not a bad place to shout about your new tech venture.
Demo – The L59 demo area also provides further opportunity to showcase your product in front of potential investors and customers, giving you the chance to gain immediate customer feedback and conduct first-hand market research.
Mentoring – Latitude59’s hugely successful mentoring programme grants startups access to experts worldwide, who can advise on how to grow your business, or provide guidance on specific business challenges.
Matchmaking – Get access to quality investor and capital contacts. The Latitude59 online matchmaking system is an easy-to-use and efficient way to find your perfect investor match. L59 will announce a list of VC’s in attendance ahead of the festival, so keep your eyes peeled.
**Details on how you can register your startup for the above services can be found here. The winning startup will be responsible for entering themselves into the Latitude59 pitching competition, applying for a Demo59 pitch and any other services which require additional registration processes. These services are optional, are not for Leeds Digital Festival to offer, and the winning startup is not obliged by Leeds Digital Festival to take part in any of the above.
The competition is about supporting startups on the next leg of their journey, but it’s also about supporting the Leeds tech ecosystem and showcasing all the wonderful tech talent we have to offer. So, in order to be eligible for the competition, you’ll need to be a startup founder located within the Leeds City Region.
Whether you’re currently a kitchen-table operation, a side-hustle, or heading into seed stage, there’s no minimum or maximum age your startup needs to be. There’s also no restriction on company size, or level of investment. You must, however, still be categorised as a startup organisation. No scale-ups or unicorns, please!
Sound good? All you’ll need to do to enter the competition is submit your details via the form below, along with 250 words on how you’d make the most of your visit to Latitude59.
Please feel free to email us any additional collateral to support your entry. This could be a growth plan for the year ahead, or it could be some background on why you started the company in the first place.
We want to ensure that startups of all shapes and sizes are able to apply. So, whilst we’re giving each entrant the option to tell us more about your startup than is possible in 250 words, supporting documents are not a requirement. The winner will be decided based on how they plan to make the most of the opportunity, not who has the shiniest pitch deck.
Please send any supporting documents to: [email protected] and make sure that your startup name and ‘Latitude59 Startup Competition’ are included in the subject line.
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