And that’s a wrap! The 2025 edition of the EU-Startups Summit has officially come to a close. Over two action-packed days in Malta, and about 2,100 founders, investors, and startup enthusiasts came together to exchange ideas, find inspiration, and make meaningful connections. From insightful keynotes and dynamic workshops to our electric Pitch Competition, this year’s summit set a new benchmark.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us in sunny Malta – your energy and enthusiasm made this our biggest and most exciting edition yet!
This year, the Pitch Competition reached new heights. We received over 1,500 applications from some of the most promising early-stage startups in Europe. After a thorough and competitive selection process, 15 exceptional finalists were invited to pitch on our main stage for a chance to win a prize package worth over €755,000 and the coveted title of Pitch Competition Champion.
The Prize Package
This year’s prize package offered a truly transformative boost for any startup ready to scale:
- $250k inGoogle Cloudcredits, a Google Workspace discount for a year, startup success manager and dedicated customer engineeringright from the get-go, as well as technical and networking support.
- €250k Funding Opportunity withLook AI Ventures. The winner will get fast-tracked and invited to pitch directly in front of Look AI Ventures‘ investment committee, and after the due diligence process, there will be a funding opportunity of up to €250k.
- $120k Funding Opportunity withTechstars. The winner will be fast-tracked to receive a priority review in order to join Techstars. This ensures that the startups’ business plan will be reviewed by the Techstars investment committee and the most relevant program managing director, and in case of a positive due diligence process, the startup will get the opportunity to join a Techstars accelerator program (incl. a $120k investment).
- €100k Funding Opportunity withVentures.eu, after a successful due diligence phase. Ventures.eu is a new VC Fund focused on investing in European innovation.
- €10.8k in credits forJetBrainslicenses for essential development and team tools including award-winning tools such as IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, and JetBrains AI, trusted by 50,000+ startups worldwide.
- €10k ofpowerMBAcredits to help you upskill your employees or yourself with some of their courses.
- €10k inX(formerly known as Twitter) advertising credits to put your startup at the heart of the conversation. Plus a year ofX Premium+(T&Cs apply).
- €9.9k of credits for an explainer video maker account ofsimpleshow.
- €5k Business Acceleration Grant contributed by Airwallex, designed to accelerate the Winner’s business growth (T&C apply)
- €5k worth of 3-year CLUB membership and an exhibition table at theEU-Startups Summit2026, including 3 event tickets.
The Jury
The selected teams received valuable feedback from a jury of well-known venture capital investors. This year’s judging panel included Allard Luschinger (Techstars Amsterdam), Isabella Yamamoto (Visionaries Club), Fernando Peres Ferreira (Ventures.eu) and Angelo Burgarello (Look AI Ventures).
Pitching on the Main Stage
From cleantech and spacetech to healthtech and AI, the 15 finalists represented the diverse, bold future of European innovation. The startups that took the stage were: Aenergi, AlongRoute Data, Arterioscope, AviSense, Caplyzer, Clearlea.se, DeepFile, Deplotic, Entropyst, Grasshopper Air Mobility, GuardenAI, IDCanopy, LOKI, PryvX, and vyzn.
Each pitch delivered unique ideas, powerful missions, and scalable solutions, making the jury’s decision harder than ever. The level of competition was sky-high, and the Maltese sun wasn’t the only thing generating heat!
And the winner is… PryvX!
Founded in 2024 and based in Stockholm, PryvX is pioneering the future of secure data collaboration. Their platform enables organisations across sectors like telecom, finance, and insurance to collaborate on sensitive data without compromising privacy. By leveraging advanced privacy-enhancing technologies such as federated learning, homomorphic encryption, differential privacy, multiparty computation, and zero-knowledge proofs, PryvX empowers industries to tackle cybercrime, fraud detection, and emerging security threats without exposing individual data.
PryvX’s Privacy-Preserving Data Collaboration platform creates secure environments, known as data clean rooms, where organisations can share insights while retaining full control of their confidential information. Their solutions have real-world applications, including telecom fraud detection, banking fraud detection, Iot security, and threat intelligence sharing. Notably, PryvX is already collaborating with BT Group to demonstrate its privacy-enhancing platform to help combat cybercrime and fraud in the financial and telecom sectors.
The PryvX team delivered a compelling pitch, highlighting their mission to foster secure, trusted collaboration between industries while ensuring compliance with strict data regulations. Their commitment to reshaping cybersecurity through innovative technologies and their vision for a future where collaboration and privacy go hand in hand made them a standout choice for the jury.
Congratulations again to all 15 finalists – making it to the final stage from a pool of 1,500+ applicants is a remarkable achievement. Your ideas, vision, and determination embody the entrepreneurial spirit of Europe. We can’t wait to see what you all accomplish next. See you at the EU-Startups Summit 2026!
OUR HEADLINE SPONSOR
Malta Enterpriseis Malta’s economic development agency, facilitating economic growth, investment, and innovation, by offering a range of support services for local and foreign enterprises setting up a productive presence in Malta. As a key player in Malta’s economic landscape, it contributes to the nation’s prosperity by attracting investments, supporting businesses, and driving innovation, thereby reinforcing Malta’s position as an attractive destination for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Malta Enterprise actively cultivates a vibrant startup ecosystem, playing a pivotal role in fostering a conducive environment for startups and offering tailored support and incentives to empower emerging businesses.
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Scytale helps startups get compliant and stay compliant with frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, NIS 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS and more, without breaking a sweat.
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EUROCROWDis an independent network organisation aiming to support and promote crowdfunding as an alternative funding mechanism for small and medium-sized enterprises and innovative projects. EUROCROWD promotes and supports the development of Crowdfunding mechanisms as a viable funding source to European entrepreneurs and funders.
M. Demajo Groupis a leading business player in Malta, with a successful history spanning 115 years. The Group’s growth and diversification have resulted in a wide coverage of business sectors through a commitment to long-term results. M. Demajo Group’s workforce is 500 strong and their various activities have been developed through organic growth, acquisitions, partnerships, and startups. Its strong financial situation and ethical standards, its business reputation, and its renowned track record as a business partner are all key factors in its continued expansion.
TheEuropean Innovation Council (EIC) is a flagship initiative of the European Commission to turn disruptive European science into groundbreaking commercial propositions and accelerate the scale-up of “game-changing” innovations. It is a key building bloc of a reinforced European ecosystem and the New European Innovation Agenda, filling the gap between R&D support, private investors, and the market. With a budget of over €10 billion under the Horizon Europe Programme (2021-2027), it seeks to position Europe as a global leader in the current wave of deep tech innovation.
