EMERGE Blog

At EMERGE, we love celebrating the incredible journeys of startups that began right here. Check out these inspiring success stories from our conference!

Ever wondered how EMERGE became one of the hottest tech conferences linking Eastern Europe with the global scene? Here’s a personal insight from Anna Sholina about the journey of EMERGE over the years.

EMERGE, one of the largest international tech conferences in the New East, has been acquired by tech founder and investor Alexander Smbatyan. This strategic move aims to further EMERGE’s mission of helping startups and tech talent from emerging markets scale globally. The acquisition marks a full exit for its co-founder & CEO Alina Nilsson, and a partial exit for co-founder & CBDO Anna Sholina. The next conference will take place this autumn in Yerevan.

Since 2018, EMERGE conference is set to bring together tech entrepreneurs, community influencers, prominent corporations, and investors from the New East region - CEE, MENA, Türkiye, and Central Asia. In 2023, EMERGE took place in Istanbul for the first time. Let’s take a look at the numbers behind the event.

International Top Tech Conference EMERGE with focus on emerging markets was a two-day event that brought together some of the most innovative minds in technology. The conference was held on 2-3 Oct, covering a wide range of topics such as latest tech and venture capital news, founders' stories, and the representation of women in the tech industry.

In September, we united our forces with ULTRA.VC to create Catalyze. Our mission was to help impact-driven founders  turn their ideas into a compelling pitch in just 2 weeks. And we did it and much more. 

The second EMERGE Club newsletter went out! This time we talk with Loulou Khazen Baz, the Managing partner at Spade Ventures, an angel syndicate that invests primarily in early-stage technology startups operating in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan. So, here is a sneak peek of our insightful discussion about VC trends in emerging markets and raising funds in the MENA region. Enjoy your reading!

Every year, the EMERGE conference unites a gathering of great entrepreneurs and real makers. The upcoming event will undoubtedly maintain this tradition! Currently, you have the opportunity to closely examine the initial batch of startups participating in EMERGE'23.

Since 2018, EMERGE conference is set to bring together tech entrepreneurs, community influencers, prominent corporations, and investors from the New East region - CEE, MENA, Türkiye, and Central Asia. In 2023, EMERGE took place in Dubai for the first time. Let’s take a look at the numbers behind the event.

International Top Tech Conference EMERGE with focus on emerging markets was a two-day event that brought together some of the most innovative minds in technology. The conference was held on May 28th and 29th, covering a wide range of topics such as latest tech and venture capital news, founders' stories, and the representation of women in the tech industry.

International Top Tech Conference EMERGE with focus on emerging markets was a two-day event that brought together some of the most innovative minds in technology. The conference was held on May 28th and 29th, covering a wide range of topics such as latest tech and venture capital news, founders' stories, and the representation of women in the tech industry.

We've asked Ece Taskincay, a VC investor in the MENA region, about the most common startup mistakes that annoy investors, and how best to avoid them.

Annually EMERGE conference brings together some of the most innovative and creative minds. This year will be no exception! Right now you can take a closer look at the first startups at EMERGE’23. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to discover the future of entrepreneurship!

We've asked Ece Taşkınçay, a VC investor in the MENA region, about the most relevant factors that founders should keep in mind when pitching their startups to venture capitalists and investors.

The clock for 2022 is ticking, with only a few days left to wrap up work, plan a winter holiday, and finally enter the new 2023 together with your loved ones. On behalf of the EMERGE team, we would like to wish you all the best in the upcoming New Year and give a special present to one of your friends or family members.

Since 2018, EMERGE conference has become the hotbed for tech founders, community leaders, bigger companies, and investors from across the New East — including countries from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Central Asia. In 2022, EMERGE took place in the Armenian capital city for the first time. Let’s take a look at the numbers behind the event.

We're really proud to collaborate with EMERGE community partners, representing from small startup networks to nonprofits. Together with our partners, we have a mission to work towards boosting the tech industry and improving a startup ecosystem in the New East. Let's go deeper and find out more about EMERGE community partners in 2022.

Nobody is as eager to meet each other as investors and startups. On one side, there is an investment, and on the other, there are technology solutions. We shared with you the first batch of confirmed investors. Now we are excited to share the first 20 startups at EMERGE that caught our attention in this article.

How do you decide that your team should join when attending an event? You probably research the website, check the logistics, calculate the costs, and see how it will benefit your startup and you personally. To make your decision-making process a bit easier, we put together five main benefits you can get from EMERGE and enjoy the event this year.

The most powerful part about EMERGE is people. And that's what makes the event special, where local talents & creative ideas across the tech industry meet global investors. We are excited to announce our first 28 confirmed investors who follow our mission to accelerate the rising tech talent from the New East!

Deadlines cause people stress but at the same time stimulate them to work productively. Having time limits and meeting them is one of the ways to make sure you achieve your goals. To finish tasks in time is essential, but it takes discipline and determination. In this article, we discuss deadlines, how they may affect business and share tips on how to avoid burning time frames.

Relocation has become a hot topic for many founders now. Crossing borders can open up new opportunities for a startup, but it can also bring many challenges. Our EMERGE startup team has shared tips on getting startups moving to another country to avoid as few mistakes as possible.

EMERGE has a wonderful tradition to host each year a session tailor-made for women-in-tech (but not only), who could share their professional and personal stories, inspire and give guidance for the ladies who just stepped into the tech path. This year hasn’t become an exception. Women-in-tech session has been dedicated to 2 important topics in tech - building and growing tech products.

Microsoft’s Industry Digital Director shares his insights on how IT behemoths can spread consiousness and help others make their businesses more ECO.

The sharing economy is now a trend in different industries, but does it make sense for open innovation too? To answer this question, we've gathered representatives from major tech corporations together at EMERGE 2021

Together with our partner Chivas Regal Belarus we organised a special nomination Emerging Sustainability and Responsibility Startup, which was given to Nutriloop with a prize of €1,000 from the partner. We talked to the startup about their goals and challenges and to experts from Chivas Regal Belarus & Pernod Ricard Eastern Europe about what they thought was exceptional about the awardee's solution.

Interview with Mark Kreimer - co-founder of Steford.co

We asked experts with a major investment background in emerging markets about what specifics they have got and what to pay attention to when entering SEA and MENA.

In 2021 EMERGE was held online once again. We broke last year’s record and gathered together 6 522 mindlike people from 102 countries: startups, tech talent, investors, media, and corporations.

Talent-related activities happened at EMERGE 2021 to get the latest insights from peers in tech, tips on job hunting, and how to tackle productivity issues.

Experts in sleep covered the innovative and science-based ways of getting a quality rest.

Insights from founders and corporates shared at EMERGE 2021.

EMERGE 2021 is over and we're happy to present the winners of the numerous awards which have been announced during the last conference day.

We received more than 700 startups applications from 46 countries to participate in EMERGE 2021 and happy to name our 5 finalists.

Long-list of untapped unicorns-to-be from the New East

Happy to introduce clubtables as rooms for informal and friendly conversations about serious topics in tech.

Happy to present our workshops which will give the opportunity to learn the best practices from the great minds in tech from the New East.

These investors will spend their quality time with the startups by mentoring them and be judges at pitching competitions at our conference.

This year we state our mission to re-think the online format and make it comfortable and effective to you.

With diverse investment focus and broad geography, our investors are keen to connect with startups from the New East and happy to help rising entrepreneurs accelerate their businesses.

We are happy to present our first 22 confirmed investors joining our online conference as mentors, jury panelists, and, of course, investors who would like to know more about the startup ecosystem from the New East region.

The first free online bootcamp EMERGE U: ACCEPTED for startups took place on 1 – 5 March 2021 and gathered 167 founders and 10 experts from the tech industry.

EMERGE U: ACCEPTED is a free online bootcamp for startups that want to stay local but go global. The online bootcamp will take place on 1 – 5 March, 2021.

Key audience insights from EMERGE online experience

What benefits and perks could bring Microsoft for startups from the New East region.

The Untitiled Ventures shared their insights about the future of the VC market.

12 themed roundtables with experts from various fields were designed to create the intimate and open discussions on relevant topics - from relocation to product management.

Together with Flo we hosted the Women in Tech Breakfast with a purpose to showcase the (extra)ordinary life of female product managers.

The Future of Wellness track was included to the main conference agenda this year. It was focused on such topics as mental wellbeing, mindfulness, longevity, yoga & meditation practices, their influence on a tech world, and vice versa.

We are happy to announce our finalists at EMERGE CHALLENGE 2020

Modern day leader in the intersection of science and spirituality will speak at the FUTURE stream.

The fund has been one of the main partners of EMERGE.

This year EMERGE CHALLENGE has a special nomination from Chivas, dedicated to startups 'who blend profit with purpose'.

Editor-in-chief of MIT Technogy Review, a leading global magazine about emerging technology and science, will speak at FUTURE stream.

We are happy to announce that MegaFon joins Main partners of EMERGE CHALLENGE startup competition. What opportunities does it bring for startups?

Early investor of SpaceX, Tesla, Twitch and Skype will share his insights on what the future holds for us.

Anna Buldakova (Product Manager at the Workplace by Facebook Machine Learning team) delivered an enriching talk from the BUILD stage at EMERGE 2019 about her journey to grow as a decision-maker and a product manager.

EMERGE 2020 is less than 2 months away from now, and we want to get introduce our 20 first confirmed investors joining our online conference as speakers, mentors, jury panelists and, seeking new prominent startups from the New East region to invest in.

In such turbulent times of social distancing and working from home offices, we want to cheer you up and happy to share with you 4 awesome talks delivered from the FUTURE stage at EMERGE 2019 that haven't been publicly available until now.

EMERGE CHALLENGE offers startups from the New East region an opportunity to pitch their tech product in front of investors, find new customers, meet new team members, and win €10,000 cash prize.

Our team keeps full attention of the COVID-19 situation and the guidelines published by the public health organisations and government authorities.

Alex Petrov (Co-founder and CTO at Mercaux) shared his story of how early investments in the product turned into one of the company’s biggest competitive advantages on the BUILD stage at EMERGE 2019.

This year EMERGE grows its presence in more locations alongside its conferences in Minsk and London. We are coming to Kazakhstan. The event will take place in the south of the country in the ancient city Turkistan.

A great opportunity for startups to find customers, new team members, investors and win €10,000 and other valuable prizes from venture funds and international accelerators during the pitch contest EMERGE CHALLENGE.

Ville Miettinen (Principal Algorithm Developer and Co-Founder at Varjo) talked about differences in AR and VR and supported them with demo examples from Varjo at BUILD stage at EMERGE 2019.

Anton Marchanka (Head of Marketing at Apalon) shared some secrets on how to reach less-known emerging markets during his enriching talk at GROWTH stage at EMERGE 2019.

Dmytro Bilash (co-founder at Captain Growth) shared his vision of how he sees the next marketing breakthrough in the age of machine learning and artificial intelligence at GROWTH stage during EMERGE 2019.

EMERGE conference is expanding to London in 2020. Born in Eastern Europen (Minsk, Belarus), the underdog in the global tech scene, and now is landing on the island.

Lisa Oreshkina, co-founder at The Breakfast App shared her thoughts on why some some people are natural collaborators while others don't t at BUILD stage at EMERGE 2019.

Aleksas Drozdovskis (Brand Director at Yandex Zen, formerly Wargaming) shared multiple insights on design sprint methodology during his presentation delivered from BUILD stage at EMERGE 2019.

The second day of pitching, networking and amazing keynotes has reached its zenith and we are here now to tell you how it was.

For Business Owners, Heads of Departments, Managers. For those who wish to improve the ability to negotiate effectively and create more value in negotiation with various target groups: colleagues, partners, customers, investors, etc.

3 things to expect at EMERGE and what EMERGE is not during the 1st day.

3 things to expect at EMERGE and what EMERGE is not.

3 things to expect at EMERGE and what EMERGE is not: No roll-ups. No sleep. No interpreting into Russian.

EMERGE ECOSYSTEM Day is a pre-conference event for attendees who hold ECOSYSTEM, INVESTOR and VIP passes.

120+ startups. 70 mentors. 20 countries. 6 workshops. What’s inside EMERGE Founders Day?

The topic is getting hotter as startups are flourishing and reacting fast to the challenges in the world. They are prompt at spotting new opportunities and identifying gaps in the markets.

Startup Alley — Exhibition area for Startups at EMERGE within two days on 4–5 June in Minsk to showcase their innovative products, solutions and ideas. EMERGE — International tech companies.

The future of sex, work and death, product management and investment — EMERGE tech conference announces its agenda

We've gone through over 250 applications, and together with our Board of Experts, selected 103 startups from 18 countries who will pitch in EMERGE CHALLENGE Quarter-Finals on 3 June in Minsk, Belarus.

With whom can you meet at EMERGE 2019? Up-to-date statistics, matchmaking app — International tech conference, Minsk, 4–5 June.

We’ve promised more tech rising stars! This time from Belarus, UK, Armenia, Cyprus, US, Lithuania and Slovakia. Ready to shine next 20 startups you will meet at EMERGE CHALLENGE or Startup Alley in Minsk, on 3–5 June 2019.

Meet our next three tech experts with whom we will talk about product mindset and team thinking, think about future of offices and explore the power of data and transparency for building millions users product at FUTURE, BUILD or GROWTH stages respectively at EMERGE on 4–5 June.

We are happy to announce that Rockstart Accelerator became our special Prize Partner of EMERGE CHALLENGE: up to 2 teams will get a fully-paid trip to Selection Days in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

For the second time in a row EMERGE is taking place in Belarus and this year at an even bigger scale with expected 2000+ attendees from 30+ countries worldwide.

Our next speakers with whom we will explore tech industry landscape & the future of human-to-computer interactions, intuition vs data for product decisions and cases of cooperation between startups, corporates, and investors at FUTURE, BUILD or GROWTH stages respectively at EMERGE on 4 - 5 June.

We are excited to share with you our female speakers at EMERGE 2019.

After a bit shocking, even for the organisers, attention and 1500 attendees from 22 countries at EMERGE In 2018, it is coming back in 2019. For the 2nd time in a row EMERGE is taking place in Belarus and this year at an even bigger scale with expected 2000+ attendees from 30+ countries.

EMERGE Startup Lead Alina Rozanova made a ‘Don’t do’ check-list for those entrepreneurs planning to apply for startup competitions and/or accelerators.

List of 20 mind-blowing tech podcasts, which we carefully selected for you.

Are you ready to learn the future of your startup or project in 2019? Take our 3-min quiz!

Agenda concept for 3 main stages at EMERGE 2019.

EMERGE Speakers Advisor and ex-Director of Speakers at WebSummit shares her isights on getting the best experience at EMERGE and any other tech-conference.