Mega startups and Impact Days: Viennaup 2025 enthusiastic about 15,000!

Mega startups and Impact Days: Viennaup 2025 enthusiastic about 15,000!

From May 8th to 16th, 2025, the Startup Festival Viennaup took place in Vienna, which already celebrated its fifth edition. According to ots.at , over 15,000 participants from 95 countries found the way to this important event. The festival, which was organized with the support of the Vienna Economic Agency, was aimed at startups and business operators from all over the world and offered a platform for intensive networking and knowledge exchange.

A total of 69 events were carried out by 45 program partners who covered a wide range of topics. A special focus was on current trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) and circular economy. Not only national, but also international delegations, including from India, Hong Kong, Ukraine and Lithuania. Dominic Weiss, Managing Director of the Vienna Economic Agency, emphasized the importance of this event for creating meaningful networks.

networking and personal connections

A central feature of Viennaß is the promotion of personal networks. Participants can interact on the central ticketing platform and network via LinkedIn. The largest networking event, the Connect Day on May 13, attracted around 1,500 participants and represented a highlight of the festival. Over 50 events, either had a networking focus or a corresponding component, which made it easier for participants to establish valuable contacts. The festival's home base, in the historic city center of Vienna, offered the participants daily networking opportunities with free wine and beer tastings as well as small dishes.

An innovative element were the so -called coffee house sessions, in which smaller groups came together in classic Viennese coffee houses with investors and experts. These personal meetings offered an exclusive opportunity to deepen contacts and discuss specific topics.

sustainability in focus

A special highlight of the festival was the first use of the Vienna City Hall for the Impact Days, which devoted themselves to sustainable entrepreneurship. Here solutions for urgent global challenges should be developed here. This initiative is in line with the growing importance of sustainable business models that are becoming more important throughout Europe.

The Vienna-Homebase was not only used for networking, but also for numerous discussions and workshops. Participants had the opportunity to advise themselves in smaller rounds about topics that are important for their business goals.

A look at the startup ecosystem

The context of the ViennaAup festival is also strengthened by developments in the German startup ecosystem. Germany has established itself as an innovation and entrepreneurial power in Europe, whereby significant sectors such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), healthcare and deep tech focus. According to EU Startups there are a lot of promising startups in Germany and attract higher investments and innovations.

An example of an emerging company is Bees & Bears from Berlin, which specializes in the financing of renewable energy installations and has already received 500 million euros in financing. Such developments underline the dynamic environment in which events such as the Viennaup take place and new business models and technologies are promoted.

Finally, it can be said that Viennaup was a great success in 2025 that not only revealed the potential of new ideas, but also emphasized the need to develop innovative approaches to the challenges of the future.