South Summit comes to London with its 'Scaleup Series' to dive into investment and growth opportunities for scaleups in Europe

South Summit will hold the second edition of the 'Scaleup Series' in London. These gatherings, co-organised with IE University, brings key players such as unicorns, scaleups, and investment funds to different cities in Europe to explore business, investment, and economic growth opportunities for scaleups.

LSEG Studios will host this edition with the goal of facilitating in-depth discussions among Europe's leading experts in investment and innovation. They will analyse the state of startups and scaleups in the UK and Spain, exploring their similarities, differences, emerging trends in the ecosystem, and the challenges that lie ahead. 

The ‘Scaleup Series’ will begin at 5 pm with a welcome from María Benjumea, Founder and President of South Summit, Juan José Güemes, VP Finance at IE University, and Darko Hajdukovic, Head of New Primary Markets and Deputy Head of Digital and Securities Markets at LSEG. Following the welcome, Neil Shah, the Tech Sector Specialist at London Stock Exchange, will explain the main characteristics of the scalup ecosystem in London.

Next, the panel 'Gamechanger Series: Scaling Up in Prop-Tech' will discuss Clikalia's growth with Alister Moreno, Founder & CEO at Clikalia, and Miguel Nigorra, Partner at Fifth Wall. The session will be moderated by Catalina Valentino, Co-Founder of Elixr.

Later, under the title 'Fueling the Fire: Later Stage Investment Opportunities in the UK and Spain,' moderated by Carmen Alfonso Rico, General Partner at Cocoa Ventures, panelists will include Javier Torremocha, Co-Funder and Managing Partner at Kibo Ventures; Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner at Notion; Paul Brodie, Managing Director Europe at Liquidity Group, and Florian Malidin, Growth Equity at Generation Investment Management.

Following the panel, Irene Correas Sosa, General Director of Entrepreneurship at Community of Madrid, will discuss the entrepreneurial opportunities within the community.

Finally, Bernhard Niesner, Co-Founder of Busuu, and Christian Owens, Founder of Paddle, will discuss the lessons learned by these scaleups in their journey to become unicorns with Juan Jose Güemes. Afterwards, there will be a networking session to share insights gained throughout the day and foster new business opportunities.

The South Summit Scaleup Series will continue its European tour on March 5th in Paris, April 11th in Milan, and the finale on April 18th in Lisbon.

About South Summit

South Summit is the global platform that brings together all the key players in the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem to promote the development of business opportunities among them. Its main event is South Summit Madrid, co-organised by IE University, which has hosted more than 36,000 startups over the course of its eleven editions. Its Startup Competition, which has produced 7 unicorns, has generated more than 1,000 startup finalists with a survival rate of 90% and more than 14.9 billion dollars in investments raised.

South Summit Madrid is preparing its 12th annual edition, after achieving record results in 2023. The South Summit will convene over 2,000 investors with a combined portfolio exceeding $326 billion. Additionally, it has attracted applications from over 4,500 startups for the competition, with 80% originating from outside Spain.

South Summit Madrid will be held between June 5th and 7th, 2024 under the slogan "Human by Design" and will have, among others, the participation of Steven Bartlett, creator of the most listened podcast in Europe.

Brazil

Additionally, following its successful events in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, South Summit will host its third edition in Brazil, co-organised by IE University. South Summit Brazil will take place between March 20th and 22nd this year, building upon the previous two successful editions. Last year's edition attracted over 22,000 attendees, 3,000 entrepreneurs, 900 speakers, and more than 100 investment funds (30 of which were international). Moreover, it welcomed 600 investors with a combined portfolio valued at $123 billion and $19 billion earmarked for investment in the Latin American entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In this year's edition, under the slogan "Decoding Complexity", South Summit Brazil expects to bring together more than 140 funds and 1,000 international investors, along with top-level speakers such as Uri Levine, Co-Founder of Waze and Moovit; Paula Ganem, Regional Head of Capital Markets for Canada and Latin America at the New York Stock Exchange; Guibert Englebienne Co-Founder and President of Globant X; and Luana Ozemela, Vice President of Social Impact at iFood.