Hello Gabriele, great to see you, and thank you for joining us.
Gabriele: It’s a pleasure to be here.
Tell us in one sentence what the ViennaUP Festival is in comparison to other VC events in the region?
ViennaUP isn’t just a startup conference – it is a decentralized, community-driven festival by the international and Viennese entrepreneurship ecosystem that brings together the most inspiring voices, exciting startups, and interested VCs for a week of learning and connection. At the Vienna Business Agency, we initiate and curate ViennaUP as an umbrella, but the festival programme is populated with events hosted not just by our organisation, but by our partners – the most relevant startup players in the region. As a result, there are top-tier events on specific topics, such as health tech or impact investing, or for specific groups, such as founders or innovation hackers. It’s a diverse mix that lets each participant choose their own adventure and meet their goals.
ViennaUP has grown rapidly in recent years — what is your long-term vision for the festival?
We see ViennaUP as an opportunity for Vienna’s most promising scaleups to make relevant international connections, and for growth-driven companies from the region to explore partnerships and business opportunities in Vienna. Europe is perceived as suffering from an innovation bottleneck, and we see ViennaUP as part of the long-term solution – driving new ideas, closer cooperation and strategic intra-European and international ties by connecting innovators with investors and talents.
How do you position ViennaUP among major European startup events like Slush or Web Summit?
We love many of Europe’s major startup events and my team members at the Vienna Business Agency regularly attend them. The major difference is that ViennaUP is decentralized, with a programme comprised of multiple organisations’ flagship events. That means each ViennaUP event is hosted by the best possible partner, ensuring a high-quality, lively experience for visitors from all over the world. This doesn’t only make for a diverse, dynamic experience when it comes to the festival agenda – it also turns Vienna itself into a stage where all major regional players come together, allowing attendees to truly explore what the city has to offer.
What role does the festival play in shaping Austria’s innovation strategy?
ViennaUP is a once-a-year opportunity for the most relevant and exciting minds in the Austrian innovation and entrepreneurship space to share stages with international players, deepening their connections and inspiring action in the months ahead. It’s a chance for founders, investors, experts and policy-makers to meet and exchange at specialized events taking place throughout the city. For all those looking to learn more about opportunities for startups in Vienna, in Austria, or in the DACH region at large, ViennaUP is a one-stop shop that provides all of that, and more.
Can you share any success stories of startups that significantly benefited from the festival?
We hear so many stories of deals and recruitments that took place thanks to connections made at ViennaUP. But perhaps to give one great example: a food innovation startup from Riga participated in the exclusive Vienna Startup Package programme two years ago, which is an incoming programme designed to connect international founders with local business leaders. Thanks to those connections, her company ended up opening an office here and their delicious product is now distributed in groceries stores across the country.
Has ViennaUP had a measurable impact on Vienna’s startup ecosystem growth?
Before ViennaUP, the city was known around the world for its rich history and high quality of life, but was less recognized as an innovation hotspot. Thanks to ViennaUP, our colleagues and partners across the city and national administration have a destination that they can recommend to any companies or talents who are interested in learning more about what Vienna has to offer to businesses. International scaleups or executives can come to ViennaUP, attend events and get to know the most important actors from across the city and region all in one spot, which helps them to understand whether this location might be a good fit for their venture. At the same time, early-stage Viennese founders who might still be seeking inspiration and direction can learn skills and make local and international contacts that can be leveraged so they can achieve their first VC funding, for example. What we can certainly measure is that ViennaUP contributes millions of euros to the local economy each year, and also drives international company settlement here.
ViennaUP sits at the crossroads of Western and Central/Eastern Europe — how do you leverage that position?
Vienna’s geographical location and history create unique business advantages for sure. From the perspective of non-Europeans, Vienna is a geopolitically stable, democratic, rich city with excellent infrastructure and logistics connections to the rest of Europe, with excellent quality of life and a relatively low cost of living compared to other Western European capitals. At the same time, this intersection of Western Europe with Central and Southeastern Europe makes Vienna, as the Austrian capital, an excellent test market for expansion into the German-speaking regions, and a great headquarters city for companies interested in Eastward expansion. One advantage that’s often overlooked: the Viennese are multicultural and multilingual, so it’s easy to find talent that can speak the language of your target market, in addition to German or English.
Are you seeing increasing interest from markets like the Czech Republic, Poland, or the Balkans?
Absolutely – startups from Czechia, Poland, the Balkans, and the Baltics always form a major part of our international participation. Many come by themselves, while others are part of larger delegations. This year, we once again have five startups (of fifteen) from the region joining the festival as part of our Vienna Startup Package programme. And of course, like always, we will welcome delegations from all over Europe and beyond – from Ukraine to India.
What do you personally enjoy or find most inspiring about working in this environment?
One of the things I’ve loved most about ViennaUP from the very beginning is the way it brings people together that might otherwise not have many opportunities to interact, despite their shared love of innovation. Through its decentralized nature, as well as through the many connection opportunities it provides, the festival encourages founders, investors, and other key players from the most diverse and varied sectors to meet, exchange insights, and work on solutions together. Most times, the results end up surpassing everyone’s expectations. It is this bubble-bursting, this intersection of so many perspectives and areas of expertise that not only sets ViennaUP apart, but that also inspires our team at the Vienna Business Agency to keep raising the bar.
How do you curate investors and ensure high-quality matchmaking?
A key factor is, of course, working with experienced, trusted partners, who keep their fingers on the pulse and who contribute formats that provide both startups and VCs with meaningful opportunities to connect – this has been the case in previous years and will remain a focus for ViennaUP 2026 as well, with events such as the Startup World Cup, the Impact Days, Connect Day 26, and more. A format that should make it onto every founder’s agenda are also the Coffee House Sessions. Managed directly by our team at the Vienna Business Agency and taking place in iconic Viennese cafes – the original co-working spaces – these allow (potential) founders to get direct insights from investors, corporate decision-makers, and other successful entrepreneurs in an intimate setting.
What trends are you seeing this year in terms of sectors attracting the most attention?
With ViennaUP being built for the startup community, in partnership with the startup community, the agenda revolves around topics that are most relevant for founders and the ecosystem at large. This year, these include sectors such as DeepTech and AI – including the intersection between AI and ethics – life sciences, with a big focus on HealthTech, as well as global dialogue, with many opportunities for interregional collaboration.
What has Vienna done right in building a thriving startup ecosystem?
Vienna is a special startup hub – one could say the city has innovation in its very DNA. I often think it is Vienna’s history as a meeting point for big thinkers with big ideas that influenced so much of what it is today: a city that truly supports ambitious projects and the founders who work on them. Not only does Vienna boast one the densest funding networks in Europe, as well as countless institutional programmes meant to support startups of all stages, it is also a place where the quality and rhythm of life allow innovators to focus on changing the world. With a 4% research quota, Vienna is also a place where R&D sees the support necessary to turn into real-life solutions – one only need look at the success of Viennese University spin-offs. And, of course, at the end of the day, it is the tight-knit community that makes all the difference: the Viennese startup ecosystem is bold, dynamic, and dedicated to collective progress.
Great! Thank you for your time and meeting us.
Thank you too. Have a great rest of the day.
