After surviving two challenging years brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the tech event has bounced back, with more than 70,000 attendees, 2,630 exhibiting startups and companies, 1,120 investors and 1,040 speakers travelling to Lisbon from November 1-4. Hitting a record-breaking milestone, there will be more startups and partners on the Web Summit floor than ever before. The startup programme sold out four weeks before the event, with 2,300 startups joining from more than 100 countries.
More than 100 unicorns at Web Summit 2022
Among this group will be more than 100 unicorns, coming to the event to network and to discuss the outlook for entrepreneurs during a time of economic turmoil. UK, Portugal, Germany, USA and the Netherlands are among the most represented countries for startups, with saas, AI and machine learning, ecommerce, fintech and marketing continuing to be the most popular industries.
Speakers hail from the biggest names in tech including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Amazon, as well as hundreds of the fastest growing startups in the world.
Speakers at Web Summit 2022
Author and linguist Noam Chomsky, Signal president Meredith Whittaker, Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston, Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk and Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz are among the 1,040 speakers who – with the climate crisis and a recession looming – will be forecasting what the next few years will look like for society, the economy and tech companies around the world and who will be discussing the next steps forward in this new era.
Google, Figma, Stripe, PitchBook, AWS and Binance
are among the partners exhibiting on the Web Summit floor. The exhibition space for partnerships sold out seven weeks before the event, with 330 partners attending – up nearly 40 percent on pre-pandemic numbers.
“By early 2021, it looked like Web Summit might not survive the year. As a team, we rallied together and somehow made it through 2021. It’s been an extraordinary recovery over the last 18 months, from near death in early 2021 to our best year ever in 2022,” says Paddy Cosgrave, founder and CEO at Web Summit.
To cater for the 2,630 companies taking to the exhibition floor, Web Summit 2022 will spread over an area at the Altice Arena and FIL pavilions that is the size of 371 tennis courts – 25 percent larger than the space used in 2021.
What’s new this year Web Summit 2022?
Web Summit is launching four brand new stages that will look at industries of growing importance.
Verified will host the world’s most exciting influencers and content creators Book Summit will see the leading thinkers, writers and academics look inside the world of fiction, publishing, literary criticism and new non-fiction. Security Summit will focus on regulation and compliance, online data and security, Web3 and the metaverse, and global cyber warfare. Crypto will focus on the future of cryptocurrency, Web3 as the next major evolution of the internet, and more.
Influencers at Web Summit 2022
Brand new event Influence will bring a high-level group of the most relevant content creators in the world – including Brad Mondo, Joystick’s Michael Le, Blogilates’ Cassey Ho and Hyram Yarbro – to meet with NGOs including Obama Foundation, UNDP, UNEP, the Global Fund and Make My Money Matter. The invite-only event, held in partnership with global influencer marketing technology company Influencer.com, will be a deep dive into maximising social media platforms in the name of impact.
Key initiatives of Web Summit 2022
Sustainability In line with its 2030 Sustainabilty Strategy, Web Summit has managed to reduce plastic by up to four tonnes by introducing sustainably sourced and 100-percent recyclable attendee badges and startup boards. For the last four years Web Summit has reduced single use plastic by introducing alternatives including recyclable cardboard cups for water at free water refill stations throughout the venues, glass bottles of water on stages and in lounges and cardboard cartons of water sold by onsite food and drinks vendors.
Impact Launched in 2020, Web Summit’s Impact initiative brings together incredible startups that are working to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals and investors who focus their investments on companies, organisations and funds that generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact. There are 190+ confirmed Impact startups at WS22 so far, representing industries such as: - Sustainability and cleantech – AgronetPro, PlanetWatch, Carbcoin, Descycle - Philanthropy and social good – Homes4All, Find Others, Chezuba, Cordial World - Medtech and pharma – VoxCell BioInnovation, IMcoMET, Beesers, Cerebra
Women in tech This year, Toptal will partner with Web Summit to host the Women in Tech Lounge, where roundtables, masterclasses, talks and meetups will take place. Since its launch in 2015, Web Summit has seen an impressive increase in participation by women, from 42 percent of attendees in 2016 to 50.5 percent in 2021. November 2021 was the first time more women than men attended Web Summit.
Key events around Lisbon Web Summit takes over locations all around Lisbon for the entire week, showcasing all the top locations, bars and restaurants Lisbon has to offer.
Opening Night On Tuesday November 1, Web Summit’s Opening Night will bring some surprise guests – who will be revealed closer to the time – on stage at Lisbon’s Altice Arena.
Night Summit 2022
Each night, Web Summit will be directing thousands of attendees to the best spots around Lisbon. After 5pm, attendees will get the chance to experience the city of Lisbon and network in some of Lisbon’s most famous bars and restaurants. Hub Criativo do Beato, Pink Street and Pavilhão Carlos Lopes will be among the location used to host parties after hours.
Venture Web Summit will host Venture – an invite-only event bringing together the world’s leading VCs, LPs and angel investors – in Lisbon on Tuesday November 1. Top Tier Capital’s Lisa Edgar, 500 Startups’ Christine Tsai and Stride.VC’s Fred Destin will be in attendance, among many others.
The Gathering The Gathering is an invite-only event taking place before Web Summit, bringing together 200 of our selected early-stage startups. The Gathering will provide exclusive insights for startups, as well as unrivalled peer-to-peer learning and networking. These experts’ invaluable experiences will be shared with attending startups through talks and roundtable discussions over the course of the day.
Corporate Innovation Summit Corporate Innovation Summit is a one-day invite-only gathering of innovation leaders from the world’s largest organisations, taking place prior to Web Summit.