Podim 2026 program

Monday, May 11
ACTIVE:
Time
PARTNERS SHOW
Maribox Hall 02
INVESTORS ACADEMY
MARIBOX BUSINESS CENTER
PARTNERS SHOW & PITCHING COMPETITION
Maribox Hall 03
MARIBOX LOBBY
TERRACE NETWORKING & FOOD AREA
MARIBOX PODIM TERRACE
SIDE EVENTS
Judgement Tower
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Infineon Startup Challenge: Building the Future of Humanoid Robotics
14:00 - 14:30
Andreas Muehlberger (Infineon Technologies, Austria)Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Connecting Space Innovation with Market Opportunities
14:30 - 15:00
Stefan Schneider (EUSPA, Czech Republic)Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Connecting Young Talent with the Startup Ecosystem
15:00 - 15:30
Anna Butzin (Institute for Work and Technology, Germany)Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Defence & Dual‑Use Startups: Legal Readiness Before You Raise Capital
15:30 - 16:00
Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Stop Automating Chaos: Why Process Thinking Beats More Technology
16:00 - 16:30
Leon Bošnjak (Solve-X, Slovenia)David Zupan Fenko (Solve-X, Slovenia)Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Beyond Cloud: Scaling European Startups with Dedicated AI Inference on Exoscale
16:30 - 17:00
Iva Bosotina (Exoscale, Austria)Gernot Horak (Exoscale, Austria)Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Stablecoins & Digital Currencies: Building the Future of Money
17:00 - 17:30
Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Build your Network like a Pro over the next two days.
17:30 - 18:00
Max Muhle (Bits&Pretzels, Germany)Sasha Lipman (tech2impact, Austria)
INVESTORS ACADEMY - RSVP - Investors Only
Fund Strategy, Liquidity, and Exits — A Conversation Among Investors
15:00 - 16:00
Jure Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Rafal Bator (Enterprise Investors, Poland)
INVESTORS ACADEMY - RSVP - Investors Only
Insider Talk: Quantum Computing — From Hype to Investable Opportunity
16:00 - 16:20
Jasmin Güngör (Onsight Ventures, Austria)
INVESTORS ACADEMY - RSVP - Investors Only
Insider Talk: Impact Investing — What Matters and What Doesn’t
16:20 - 16:40
Petr Vitek (Tilia Impact Ventures, Czech Republic)
INVESTORS ACADEMY - RSVP - Investors Only
Insider Talk: AI — Where We Are and What Investors Should Watch Next
16:40 - 17:00
Matthew Hennigan (Plug and Play Tech Center, UK)
INVESTORS ACADEMY - RSVP - Investors Only
Networking: Connect & Exchange — Investor Roundtables
17:00 - 18:00
Wiktor Namysl (Orbit Capital, Poland)Mark Palfalvi (Portfolion, Hungary)Tihomir Bajic (Fifth Quarter Ventures, Serbia)Tatjana Zabasu Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Yilmaz Karakas (CEECAT Capital, Turkey)
[EXCLUSIVE EXPERIENCE – INVITATION ONLY]
WINE TASTING RECEPTION: PODIM PITCHING COMPETITION SEMI-FINALS
18:00 - 20:00
Jure Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)
Pitching Competition Jury Briefing
Pitching Competition Jury Only
15:30 - 16:00
Olga Marekova (Flywize, Slovakia)
[PITCHING COMPETITION] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Semifinals of the Podim Pitching Competition
Investor and Business Executives Only
16:00 - 18:00
Olga Marekova (Flywize, Slovakia)Krešo Gotovac (Silicon Gardens)Jan Kobler (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Karlo Kukec (Vesna deep tech Venture Fund, Croatia)Francois Mazoudier (Fundraising Bootcamp, UK)Reka Hidas (Portfolion, Hungary)Uroš Ačko (SID Upravljanje, Slovenia)
REGISTRATION
Registration of Conference Participants (until 21:00)
12:30 - 14:00
[NETWORKING & BITES] – REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
MONDAY MEETUP: WHERE PODIM CONNECTIONS BEGIN
18:15 - 22:00
[NETWORKING] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Silicon Gardens’ Poker Night at Podim
20:00 - 23:00
Time
FUTURE STAGE
Maribox Hall 01
BUILDERS STAGE
Maribox Hall 02
DEEPDIVE STAGE
MARIBOX BUSINESS CENTER
MARIBOX LOBBY
TERRACE NETWORKING & FOOD AREA
MARIBOX PODIM TERRACE
DEALROOM
NARODNI DOM - DEALROOM
07:30
08:00
08:30
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30
00:00
Opening Moments
Welcome Show
08:30 - 09:00
OPENING
Welcome to Podim 2026
09:00 - 09:30
Urban Lapajne (Podim & Venture Factory, Slovenia)Stjepan Orešković (BOSQAR INVEST & Future 500, Croatia)Adnan Šerić (UNIDO Innovation Lab, Austria)Kristiana Kuneva (The Recursive, Bulgaria)Bernd Storm vans Gravesande (Bits&Pretzels, Germany)Vuk Lau (Silicon Gardens Fund)Daniel Cronin (Frontier-Lab.ai & Daneil-Cronin.com, Austria)
The Real Stories Behind the Success
FIRESIDE: 50 Million Users, Zero Investors
09:30 - 10:00
Amir Salihefendic (Doist, Spain)Amelia Isaacs (Pathfounders, UK)
The Real Stories Behind the Success
FIRESIDE: Build, Exit, Repeat
10:00 - 10:30
Maximilian Fleitmann (Magier & Wizard Ventures, Germany)Daniel Cronin (Frontier-Lab.ai & Daneil-Cronin.com, Austria)
The Real Stories Behind the Success
FIRESIDE: From a Croatian Lab to the World’s Most Advanced FPV Systems
10:30 - 11:00
Vlatko Matijevic (Orqa FPV, Croatia)Nikola Pavesic (Orqa FPV, Japan)
[The Global Tech Race]
PANEL: Missing Giants: How to create billion dollar companies (bottom-up approach)
11:30 - 12:15
Stefan Drüssler (UnternehmerTUM, Germany)Jure Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Stjepan Orešković (BOSQAR INVEST & Future 500, Croatia)Vlatko Matijevic (Orqa FPV, Croatia)Kristiana Kuneva (The Recursive, Bulgaria)
[THE GLOBAL TECH RACE]
PANEL: Europe’s Next Leap: Building a Stronger Pan-European Startup Framework
12:15 - 13:00
Robin Wauters (European Startup Network, Belgium)Stefan Schneider (EUSPA, Czech Republic)Bettina Scheibe (United Founders, Germany)Anna Krzyzanowska (European Commission, Belgium)Daniel Cronin (Frontier-Lab.ai & Daneil-Cronin.com, Austria)
[DIGITAL DISRUPTION]
PANEL: Reinventing Finance in the Age of AI, Embedded Services & Radical Transparency
14:30 - 15:15
John Velissarios (OtrantoEQ, Monaco)Alexander Sirakov (Paynetics, Bulgaria)Ioan Iacob (FLOWX.AI, USA)Sven Jakić (OTP banka d.d., Slovenia)Dilan Sisu (e2vc, UK)
[Digital Disruption]
TALKS: AI in Action: From Corporate Opportunities to Startup Hypergrowth
15:15 - 16:00
Mary Hurd (Haavn, UK)Grace Francisco (m2i, Philly Builds AI, ex-Atlassian, Roblox, MongoDB, Cisco, USA)Zarena Kancheva (Two-Plus.ai, ex-Rakuten Viber, Spain)
[DEEP TECH FRONTIERS]
FIRESIDE: Inspiring the Builders of Tomorrow’s Deep Tech Breakthroughs
16:30 - 16:50
Stefan Drüssler (UnternehmerTUM, Germany)Daniel Cronin (Frontier-Lab.ai & Daneil-Cronin.com, Austria)
[Deep Tech Frontiers]
TALK: From Rare Earths to Real Markets: Building a Deep Tech Company That Scales
16:50 - 17:05
Anastasia-Maria Moschovi (Dyscovery Magnetics, Greece)
[Deep Tech Frontiers]
TALK: Rebuilding Drug Discovery: AI, Biomarkers, and the Future of Precision Medicine
17:05 - 17:20
Luis Valente (iLoF, UK)
[Deep Tech Frontiers]
PANEL: Robotics and AI: Deep Tech Powering the Next High-Growth Industry
17:20 - 18:00
Natalia Lemarquis (Shin Rai Robotics, UK)Tinnix He (Hidoba Research & Callable*, Italy)Dirk Geiger (Infineon Technologies, Germany)Jasmin Güngör (Onsight Ventures, Austria)Daniel Cronin (Frontier-Lab.ai & Daneil-Cronin.com, Austria)
PITCHING
Warm-Up Before the Finals
18:00 - 18:30
PITCHING
Final of the Podim Pitching Competition 2026
18:30 - 19:30
Tatjana Zabasu Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Grace Francisco (m2i, Philly Builds AI, ex-Atlassian, Roblox, MongoDB, Cisco, USA)Vuk Lau (Silicon Gardens Fund)Dalibor Marijanović (Vesna deep tech Venture Fund, Croatia)Matthew Hennigan (Plug and Play Tech Center, UK)Rok Huber (Slovene Enterprise Fund, Slovenia)Francois Mazoudier (Fundraising Bootcamp, UK)Daniel Cronin (Frontier-Lab.ai & Daneil-Cronin.com, Austria)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
Scaling a B2B Platform from 0 to 3 Million Users: Product, Distribution, and Operational Challenges
11:30 - 11:50
Kimeshan Naidoo (Familiar, Serbia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
How to Build a High-Ownership Team from Day One — and Scale It Across 12 Markets
11:50 - 12:10
Vedran Bajer (Adriatic at Wonderful, Croatia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
AI Marketing That Converts: From Ads That “Explode” to Scalable Growth Systems
12:10 - 12:30
Deividas Kovger (Holo AI, Lithuania)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
Radically Shortening the B2B Sales Cycle: Tactical Frameworks for Moving from First Contact to Closed Deal Faster
12:30 - 12:50
David Blaževski (Mily Technologies, Serbia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
Account-Based Marketing for Ultra-Niche Markets: How to Win High-Value Clients When Your TAM Is Limited
14:30 - 14:50
Nikola Komes (InsiderCX, Croatia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
The Best of Both Worlds: 5 Lessons from Merging with a Hyper Sales-Oriented SF Company
14:50 - 15:10
Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)Hajdi Cenan (airt, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
Mastering Events as a Growth Channel: How a Startup Secured a Netflix Contract Through Strategic Event Execution
15:10 - 15:30
Faris Sehovic (Crunchr, UK)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
From 0 to Exit: Building and Selling a B2B Company in Under Three Years
15:30 - 15:50
Slavomir Hruska (Spacebrains, Slovakia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE B2B
Buyer Sense Conversations: How Founders Turn Interest into Enterprise Deals
15:50 - 16:05
Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
The Real Job of a SaaS CEO: What Actually Drives Growth
16:30 - 16:50
Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)Tomislav Car (Productive, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
Startups to Enterprise: Tips on B2B sales in large corporates
16:50 - 17:10
Gorjan Jovanovski (hylosense, North Macedonia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
With 50 Million Users, We can See the Future
17:10 - 17:30
Amir Salihefendic (Doist, Spain)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2B
How Strategic Market Repositioning Paved the Way to Our Acquisition
17:30 - 17:50
Luka Berger (Flexkeeping, Slovenia)Petra Wagner (Petra SalesBooster, Slovenia)
[Deep Tech Frontiers]
WORKSHOP: From Discovery to Deployment: Building Global Deep Tech Companies
14:30 - 16:00
Christian Kumar (Capital Kinetics, UK)Anastasia-Maria Moschovi (Dyscovery Magnetics, Greece)Claudio Meireles (Constructor Capital, Bulgaria)
DEEP TECH
Meetup of Deep Tech Ecosystem Stakeholders
DEEP TECH
16:00 - 16:30
[DIGITAL DISRUPTION]
WORKSHOP: Banking 2030: Reinventing Finance in the Platform Economy
16:30 - 18:00
Georg Kolin (Appian Deutschland, Austria)Sven Jakić (OTP banka d.d., Slovenia)John Velissarios (OtrantoEQ, Monaco)
REGISTRATION
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION Registration & Coffee
07:30 - 19:00
MARKETPLACE
Group A
11:00 - 13:30
MARKETPLACE
Group B
13:30 - 16:00
MARKETPLACE
Group C
16:00 - 18:30
TERRACE NETWORKING
Refreshment Break
11:00 - 11:30
TERRACE NETWORKING
Lunch Break
13:00 - 14:30
UNIDO ScaleX: Balkan Futures Meetup
Connecting Cities, Innovators & Investors for a Scalable Regional Future
14:30 - 16:00
TERRACE NETWORKING
Refreshment Break
16:00 - 16:30
TERRACE NETWORKING
Victory Toast and Dinner
19:30 - 21:00
FENIKS NETWORKING
Podim 2026 Party
21:00 - 23:59
[DEAL ROOM OPENING]
DEAL ROOM OPENING
11:00 - 11:30
1:1 Meetings
DEAL ROOM
11:30 - 13:30
1:1 Meetings
DEAL ROOM
14:30 - 18:30
Time
BUILDERS STAGE
Maribox Hall 02
DEEPDIVE STAGE
MARIBOX BUSINESS CENTER
MARIBOX LOBBY
Maribor
DEALROOM
NARODNI DOM - DEALROOM
07:30
08:00
08:30
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
AI for Regulated Industries: Turning Insurance Automation into Reality
10:00 - 10:20
Ioan Iacob (FLOWX.AI, USA)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
Winning with Hardware: Lessons Learned from Serving 50+ Million Customers in a Product-First Business
10:20 - 10:40
Mario Gomez (Foreo, Spain)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
The Dollhouse Strategy: The (New) Rules for Brand Growth
10:40 - 11:00
Tadeja Irmancnik (Outfit7, Slovenia)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
Hybrid Monetization – the way to higher LTV
11:00 - 11:20
Mustafa Tandogan (NVAPPS, UK)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
From Idea to Revenue: Lessons from Designing, Building, and Selling Multiple B2B Digital Products
11:20 - 11:40
Maximilian Fleitmann (Magier & Wizard Ventures, Germany)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
Community as the Ultimate Growth Engine: From Viral Content to 300 Paying Users per Day
11:40 - 12:00
Mateo Starcevic Filipovic (PromptWise, Croatia)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
3× More Reach with 20% of the Work: The New Era of Influencer Marketing
12:00 - 12:20
Stjepan Zelić (Hypefy, Croatia)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
From Runway Panic to Profitability: 5 Changes That Rewired Our Company
12:20 - 12:40
Perica Levatić (57hours, Croatia)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
BUILDERS STAGE - B2C
Scaling Sofascore Toward 100M Users: Building Growth Channels Across Different Stages
12:40 - 13:00
Ivan Bešlić (Sofascore, Croatia)Tena Žganec (TEDxZagreb, Croatia)
TERRACE NETWORKING
Closing Lunch: Wrap Up & Connect
13:00 - 15:00
[Deep Tech Frontiers]
Podim x DARE Deep Tech Clinic
10:00 - 11:30
Faustine Felici (DARE Innovations, Belgium)Dóra Marosvölgyi (DARE Innovations, Hungary)
[Deep Tech Frontiers]
Turning Deep Tech into Investment: From Breakthrough to Fundable Venture
11:00 - 12:30
Victor Martinez (European Patent Office, Germany)Nina Dremelj (Vesna VC)Robert Kordić (CMS Slovenia, Slovenia)Klemen Grošelj (Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, Slovenia)
NETWORKING
MARIBOR CITY RUN
07:30 - 08:30
REGISTRATION
Registration of Conference Participants & Wake-up Coffee (open until 12:00)
09:00 - 10:00
MARKETPLACE
Group D
10:00 - 12:30
[INVITE ONLY]
PARTNERS & SPEAKERS DINNER: A CURATED SLOVENIAN EXPERIENCE
NETWORKING & DINING EXPERIENCE
15:30 - 17:30
1:1 Meetings
DEAL ROOM
10:00 - 13:30