Web Summit 2025: How it was

70,000 enthusiasts, hectares of exhibition space, startups, inspiration, and a world being changed by all these people through their actions —this is Web Summit 2025, one of the best technology events for networking. Incredible energy, innovation, lots of new connections, and meetings with old friends... Amazing, innovative!

For three days, Lisbon became the center of innovation — and it was grand, especially considering that Web Summit started with just 150 participants in Dublin back in 2009 (16 years ago, we can't believe how time passed).

On the first day, CEO Paddy Cosgrave delivered a powerful reality check that set the tone for everything: the era of Western tech dominance is fading, and the global innovation landscape is being redrawn before our eyes—the short conclusion: the old rules no longer apply. New players from China, Brazil, Poland, Qatar, India, Vietnam, and Africa are leading the way. If you are building or investing — this is your moment to step beyond traditional tech hubs!

Web Summit also offered insights into the shifting geography of global tech. Polish exhibitors were everywhere, signaling the rising wave of technological growth in Central Europe. Ukrainian founders showed up in large numbers, demonstrating entrepreneurial resilience reminiscent of Israel's ability to innovate under pressure. And one statistic deserves special attention because it truly inspires: women founded 40% of the 2,725 startups. For the global tech scene, this is a powerful signal of change.

This Web Summit highlighted what has long been clear—the power of networking—and also focused heavily on how much AI has entered the startup world and how it is literally changing everything. Fifteen minutes of walking around the exhibition were enough to feel the shift in the market — AI is now a full-fledged player in the startup ecosystem; it is making history, and denying it makes no sense.

This summit once again proved: Networking is not about the number of connections, but about the opportunity to create the future through the right relationships with new partners, co-founders, investors, mentors, and clients. The most valuable conversations often happen not on stage, but between the booths, over lunch, or at evening side events.

That is why Web Summit is not just a conference. It is a platform that gives you the chance to shape the information environment, technology trends, and new business stories. It is a grand event that we were happy to be part of. And although Web Summit has become a serial event (Rio, Qatar, Vancouver), Lisbon remains its spiritual home — a place you always want to return to!

Web Summit 2025 once again showed that the future is not created by technologies alone:

• People create the future.

• Their courage.

• Their collaboration.

• Their ideas were born in the right environment.

... and if there is a place where this environment is felt the most, it is here, in Lisbon.