The world’s largest entrepreneurship and technology conference, the Web Summit, kicked off in Lisbon with a record attendance of 2,600 startups, setting a historic milestone for the event.
The conference, held annually in Lisbon since 2016, marks this edition with the participation of 900 investors, 300 partners, 800 speakers and a total of 70,000 participants from 160 countries. Also noteworthy was the significant representation of women, who made up around 42% of the audience.
The conference kicked off with a welcome to the “glorious” city of Lisbon from Katherine Maher, who made her debut as CEO of the Web Summit. However, it wasn’t her first time on the main stage of the Altice Arena, she recalled. That moment occurred in 2019, when she took part as a speaker. It was on that day, she said, that she was able to “really understand the impact of the Web Summit and be inspired” by the event’s mission.
After the first two successful editions in the Portuguese capital in 2018, the Web Summit and the Government established a 10-year partnership, ensuring that the summit will continue in Lisbon until 2028.