Connecting Global Startup Ecosystems at London Tech Week

Over the past decade, London has re-invented itself from a global financial hub embattled by the financial crisis into a global tech hub. With cities and countries across the world embracing the technology and startup sectors, London remains unique in the bridging role it continues to play in linking those hubs, the same way it has done for the financial sector for many decades.

London Tech Week has grown into Europe’s leading technology and startup festival providing a platform for creating partnerships spread across multiple events across the City. In the same time, UK’s tech ecosystem has grown rapidly beyond London encapsulating also the Northern Powerhouse around Manchester, the Oxbridge cluster and many other cities and regions. The UK serves as a fulcrum for startup and tech businesses from around the world to expand globally providing access to capital, innovation, creativity and talent. London Tech Week is where they all come together.

The Global Ecosystems Summit (GES) is the dedicated event for cross-ecosystem collaboration at London Tech Week. In order In order to sustain London’s position as a global tech leader it is vitally important to establish and develop connections with other global tech and startup ecosystems. This is precisely what the GES aims to achieve by bringing together ecosystem delegations from the US, LatAm, Western Europe, Nordics, CEE, Africa, Israel, India, China and Asia-Pacific. GES is designed as a business development and networking platform to explore partnership and investment opportunities not just in the UK but also simultaneously link in with members from other global ecosystems.

“Until last year, the narrative for London Tech Week has been ‘London is gateway to growing your business in the UK’. With GES, we change the narrative to ‘UK is a base for startups from across the world to expand your business globally’.” Vishal Gupta – Convener, Global Ecosystem Summit / Co-founder, Kabeela.Life Ventures / Tech London Advocate

One of the unique advantages London has over other global hubs is the complete ecosystem it provides – with startups, scaleups, venture capital, large corporates, and professionals from the arts and creative industries to be found in equal measure. This eclectic mix allows a natural process of creative intersections to unfold. GES will simulate this environment by bringing together 8 region delegations of 20 members each comprising a curated mix of startups, tech companies, VCs/ investors, trade bodies, and other ecosystem enablers.

At the centerpiece of the GES will be 5 showcase startups/ scaleups from each region represent the best innovations from their ecosystem. The showcase participation is part of the business development programme for global scale-ups looking to use UK as a base to expand internationally via commercial and channel partnerships. The participating startups have access to a professionally managed programme at and beyond the Summit to connect with corporates and investors globally.

London’s iconic landmark destinations have always been a great draw for visitors from across the world. The world-class venues and arenas have been coveted by leading performers in sports, music, theatre and other performing arts. The awe-inspiring O2 Millennium Dome has played host to some of the best talent from across various fields over the years. This summer, the best entrepreneurial, venture capital and tech talent from across the world will congregate at the O2 to participate in the Global Ecosystems Summit.

Numerous members from across Tech London Advocates have come together to make GES into a reality, putting the weights of their respective organisations behind it. The Summit is co-ordinated by Kabeela.life Ventures with co-organisation support from LatamTech UK, Keiretsu Forum, China-Britain Business Fusion (CBBF), UK Basecamp and AB2020. Several TLA groups are actively supporting the Summit including TLA Africa, TLA LatAm, TLA India, TLA Turkey, TLA China and many other TLA members involved.

“LatAm Edge Awards are the first awards supporting the expansion of LatAm scaleups in the UK. One of the main differentials of the LatAm Edge Awards is that the winning scaleups will arrive in London with a set support network to help establish safe connections in little time.”

“Now is an exciting time for tech in Africa; from the proliferation of mobile services to the emergence of locally developed and socially impactful innovations. Meanwhile, close to half of Africa’s population are under the age of 18 (and growing up in a digital world), therefore a need to accelerate startup and economic growth on the continent is more important than ever before. We’re inviting a selection of start/scale-ups, accelerator leaders, tech influencers and policy makers from across Africa to join their counterparts from regions at London Tech Week.”

“Artificial Intelligence will not only revolutionise the way we work but also drive a new generation that would more productively live with and work side-by-side. The event will deliver panel discussions covering investment and opportunities, AI ethics and social implications, AI landscape in China and the UK.”

“There has been accelerated interest in India with a number of British businesses categorizing India as a strategic/ priority market. In the past, we have been thinking of India and the UK as distinct markets and a lot of focus has been on building market access. What we are witnessing now is the emergence of the “India-UK corridor” as a market segment in itself with many startups, organisations and investment funds bracing themselves to tap into it.”

— Vishal Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Kabeela.Life Ventures

London Tech Week (11th – 17th June 2018) is Europe’s leading technology and startup festival providing a platform for creating partnerships spread across multiple events across the City, bringing together over 50,000 delegates from across the world. London Tech Week is a global event – concentrated networking over one week with influencers, leaders and other delegates from across the world.

Global Ecosystems Summit (GES) is the dedicated event for cross-ecosystem collaboration at London Tech Week - an intersection point for scaleups, corporates and venture capital. GES is designed as a business development and networking platform to explore partnership and investment opportunities not just in the UK but also simultaneously link in with members from other global ecosystems. The Summit will feature 6 to 8 region delegations of 20 members each comprising a curated mix of startups/ scaleups, tech companies, VCs/ investors, trade bodies, and other ecosystem enablers.

Kabeela.Life Ventures (The Global Startup Tribe) is an organisation promoting venture collaboration and connecting startup ecosystems globally. Extensive partner ecosystem acting as a conduit for global network relationships. Kabeela acts as a bridging organization between enterprise, innovation and capital. We work with disparate groups of stakeholders across the ecosystem including entrepreneurs, startups/ scaleups, corporate innovation, venture capital, family offices, angel investors, advisors/ experts, accelerators/ incubators and others.

TECH LONDON ADVOCATES is an unrivalled collection of tech leaders, experts and investors uniting to form the most influential group in tech. With no government backing, this is the voice of the private sector in London.

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