Portugal: Web Summit 2019 with 41 African startups including 5 from Angola

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Portugal: Web Summit 2019 with 41 African startups including 5 from Angola

10:59 CAT | 01 Nov 2019

Paddy Cosgrave. [File photo: Lusa]

This year’s Web Summit has 41 African startups, five from Angola and one from Cabo Verde, co-founder Paddy Cosgrave told Lusa, adding that this would be the “biggest ever” edition.

The Web Summit, which is considered to be one of the largest technology summits, will take place in Lisbon from 4 to 7 November.

Asked about what can be expected from the Web Summit, Paddy Cosgrave highlighted the “largest number of start-ups ever,” around 2,100.

In addition, there are also “more Portuguese startups” doing the pitch (brief presentation of a company of three to five minutes) on the main stage “as usual”, he added.

There are 41 startups from Africa, of which “five from Angola and one from Cabo Verde,” he added.

Egypt has 13 startups, Tunisia and Kenya three each and South Africa has one, to give just a few examples.

Out of curiosity, this year Poland will have 64 ‘startups’ present at the Web Summit.

“Three years ago all the startups were Portuguese, the founders were Portuguese and all were men”, he said.

Last week, almost half of the startups were founded by women and “40% are not Portuguese”.

The startups “moved to Portugal from Switzerland, France, Germany, Denmark, Canada, United States, Brazil, India, Pakistan” and this trend “is fantastic”, he said.

This year’s event “has more space”, he said, anticipating 70,000 visitors.

In this edition, Paddy Cosgrave highlighted the greater presence of “Chinese and Japanese” and “less British”.

In fact, the United Kingdom “is the only country that has gone down,” he said, considering that “Brexit must have something to do with it.

Founded in 2010 by Paddy Cosgrave and co-founders Daire Hickey and David Kelly, the Web Summit is one of the largest technology, innovation and entrepreneurship events in the world and has evolved in less than six years from a team of just three people to a company with over 150 employees.

Web summit will continue in Lisbon until 2028.

Source: Lusa