The festival aims to convene more than 2,000 founders of startups and scaleups, investors, innovative corporations, SMEs, and policymakers to foster collaboration and innovation. It invites attendees from national and international backgrounds, including key European startup ecosystems such as London, to Rotterdam, hailed as Europe's most connected city.

The festival is designed to forge connections among today's innovators, propelling them towards crafting a digital, sustainable, and inclusive future. Upstream stands as the Netherlands' premier annual startup event, dedicated to establishing a resilient economy through shared innovation efforts.

"The anniversary edition of Upstream highlights our ongoing commitment to supporting startups and scale-ups that drive sustainable growth. Sustainable value creation has been at the heart of the festival since day one, five years ago, and it feels more important than ever now. I'm excited to see how the entrepreneurial community around Upstream keeps thriving and getting stronger every year," said Lars Crama, Upstream Festival.

The two-day schedule of Upstream Festival, anticipated to draw 2,000 attendees, features a diverse array of event formats designed to facilitate meaningful interactions. The programme includes expert-led roundtables, insightful founder interviews, exclusive CEO dinners, and dedicated investor & buyer tables, all aimed at forging valuable connections and fostering successful collaborations between startups, scale-ups, investors, and corporates. Additionally, Upstream provides a forum for founders to share and discuss common challenges and hurdles associated with scaling their businesses with peers, enhancing the collaborative spirit among entrepreneurs.

“During the Upstream Festival Dinner, I got to know Peter Goedvolk, a renowned entrepreneur from Rotterdam and founder of investment firm First Dutch. We kept in contact ever since, and in our investment round last year, we partnered up with Peter and his investment firm to accelerate the hyperloop developments together," said Tim Houter, Co-Founder, Hardt Hyperloop

During the event week, attendees can visit 20+ engaging and fun side events hosted by Upstream’s co-creation partners. The events take place at locations across the cities of Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague and Zoetermeer. Side events provide attendees with the opportunity to network with other founders, learn about innovative trends and best business practices, meet investors and corporates and to bring their startup to the next level. This year’s side events include proven formats like TechSocials, Startup Roulette, Circularity Run and many more.

The well-known Superconnectors networking event is one of the side events scheduled this year. The successful and unique event format launched during the second edition of Upstream in 2021 and matches the most critical need of selected founders to highly connected networkers that compete to provide these founders with the connections they need to move forward.

“InvestNL has attended Upstream as a partner since the start of the event, and I look forward to the festival every year to meet many old friends and new interesting companies. I love Upstream, because to me it is the place where founders and investors can meet in a casual way,” said Rinke Zonneveld, CEO, Invest-NL

“Rabobank believes in the power of innovating together. We support startups and scale-ups with our financing products, a network and knowledge to grow. We are always looking for entrepreneurs who want to make a real difference together. That's why we are attending Upstream Festival again this year as a partner. By joining forces, we make the most impact,” commented Ronald van Raaij, Directeur, MKB Rabobank.