Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

Sizzling at South Summit

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Courtesy of South Summit

We can’t believe it’s been 10 YEARS already since South Summit first launched back in 2012! How will this year’s special edition stand apart from all the others?

Since our first meeting 10 years ago, South Summit has established itself as the main meeting point for global players in a constantly evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our objective will be to generate real business opportunities and to showcase the main trends in the ecosystem with the main actors.

South Summit Madrid 2022 will bring together almost 22,000 attendees, more than 200 investment funds, 75% of them international, with an investment portfolio of 180 billion dollars, along with more than 450 speakers and a large number of corporations.  

An ecosystem that is growing at breakneck speed due to the complexity of the world around us and the growing evolution of technologies and trends.
The main novelty of South Summit for its tenth anniversary will be to make all this complexity more accessible to the ecosystem and society as a whole. A goal we have set ourselves with our claim ‘decoding complexity’.

Weaving both local & international ideas into a wider narrative on sustainability remains one of South Summit’s specialties. Which speakers are you most looking forward to welcoming on stage?

Speakers have always been a fundamental part of the content of South Summit.
In this edition we will have 450 confirmed speakers. Among them, entrepreneurs, investors, business people of recognised prestige and success and corporates like BBVA, AstraZeneca, endesa, Wayra Telefónica Innovation, Google for Startups, Sabadell BStartup o Mutua Madrileña.

Sustainability is one of the pillars of South Summit. This year we have one of the world’s leading figures in the environmental field: Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and one of the most renowned environmental activists in the world. It is a real pleasure to have one of the first people to put the spotlight on the challenge that climate change poses for all of us.

But it is not only Al Gore who will be this year’s recognised speaker. We will also be very well accompanied by other prestigious names such as Pablo Isla, CEO and president of Inditex until last March; Marc Oshima, co-founder and CMO of AeroFarms, leaders in sustainable indoor agriculture, Marci Zaroff, Founder & CEO ecofashionCORP, who coined the term “ECOfashion” in 1995, or David Berry, CEO of Valo Health, and a strong advocate for sustainability globally.

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© Dan Taylor

Investors love South Summit. For investors that are just getting into the game, what are the top 3 (or more) reasons they should definitely get their tickets today?

South Summit is the leading meeting point for entrepreneurship and innovation globally, thanks to our 10-year history of connecting the best talent and the most powerful investors to generate real business opportunities and valuable connections.

Investors know this and continue to show great confidence in South Summit as an attractive place for their interests. At the last meeting in Madrid we had 1,600 investors, with an investment portfolio of $135 billion.

We could name many reasons why investors will find great opportunities at South Summit, but we can summarize them in these three:

1. South Summit currently attracts around 8,000 entrepreneurs from all over the world, more than double the number when it started in 2014, with 3,800 projects presented each year in the Startup Competition. Many of these finalist projects end up becoming well-known companies or unicorns, such as Cabify or Glovo, the first two Spanish unicorns.

2. South Summit has become a pillar for the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain. Since the appearance of our meeting in 2012, the Spanish ecosystem has multiplied by 20 its value, with expectations of reaching 83,000 million euros by 2022. In addition, Spain is now the 4th European country in terms of number of startups, approximately 11,100.

3. South Summit also brings together representatives of major Spanish and international corporations.

With so many investors in the crowd, you must have an incredible list of startups already confirmed! In addition to (one of our personal favorites) Road.Travel, who else should we keep an eye on?

In South Summit will be our 100 finalist startups of our Startup Competition. They are truly innovative and cutting-edge projects and we are sure that they will have a great future ahead of them. It is very difficult, in this sense, to mention any startup among these 100.

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Courtesy of the South Summit Sesame Telegram group

What kind of networking opportunities should South Summit attendees already be preparing for before the event?

South Summit is a unique opportunity to connect with key players in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.

Everything at South Summit is designed to facilitate networking and meetings between the different players in the ecosystem. The way in which the network is promoted is total: very open spaces, areas to promote 1:1 relationships, and a technological platform so that everyone knows who is there and who they can contact. The whole development of the South Summit pursues the clear objective that people meet and connect to multiply connections that help generate business.

Before arriving at La Nave, it is important to do the homework. On the startups’ side, analyze well which investors will be there and which ones might be interested in the business because not all of them are equally valid.

Investors and corporations must first visualize which startups will be to try to connect with those that really interest them.

And for all attendees, look at the programme and what content is of most interest for their learning and professional development.

Are you planning any online / hybrid access for attendees that may not be able to attend in person?

Streaming options. Access to general content. There you will find the different keynotes, talks and fireside chats of our speakers, corporations and experts.

With any of the tickets, those interested will be able to access a streaming with general access to the content of the meeting; keynotes, chats with speakers, networking opportunities, the pitches of the finalist startups of the Startup Competition…

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Courtesy of the South Summit Sesame Telegram group

It’s been a year since we first heard about South Summit’s additional satellite events spreading out across the globe. What’s been the most surprising result / key takeaways from running these satellite events throughout the year?

The most recent example is Brazil, where we held the first edition from 4 to 6 May, specifically in the city of Porto Alegre. The support and enthusiasm that South Summit received in Brazil was incredible. All of Porto Alegre has welcomed us with open arms.

It was a real success, with more than 20,000 attendees from 50 different countries, and more than 500 investors and 80 investment funds, with a portfolio of 65 billion dollars. After this successful, South Summit will have more editions in Brazil at 2023 and 2024

Previously, we have also held meetings in Mexico and Colombia between 2017-2019.


Find out who else is joining us in Madrid, June 8-10 smrs.link/SouthSummit

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Fundraising 4 hours ago

The European observability market is experiencing a surge of investor interest as enterprises grapple with increasingly complex cloud infrastructures. Against this backdrop, Tsuga has secured €9.2M ($10M) in seed funding led by General Catalyst, positioning the startup to challenge established players in the application performance monitoring space. The round signals growing confidence in European startups tackling enterprise infrastructure challenges, particularly as businesses across the continent accelerate digital transformation initiatives post-pandemic. General Catalyst leads observability seed funding General Catalyst’s decision to lead Tsuga’s seed round reflects the venture firm’s broader thesis around developer tools and infrastructure modernisation. The Boston-based investor has been particularly active in the European market, with recent investments spanning fintech, SaaS, and now observability platforms. “We’re seeing European enterprises demand more sophisticated observability solutions as they scale their cloud-native architectures,” said a General Catalyst partner familiar with the investment. “Tsuga’s approach to real-time application monitoring addresses a critical gap in the market.” The funding round comes at a time when the global observability market is projected to reach $62.3 billion by 2026, with European companies increasingly seeking alternatives to US-dominated solutions like Datadog and New Relic. Targeting European enterprise market expansion Tsuga’s observability platform focuses on providing real-time insights into application performance and infrastructure health, with particular emphasis on multi-cloud environments that have become standard across European enterprises. The startup’s technology stack is designed to handle the complex regulatory requirements that European businesses face, including GDPR compliance and data residency mandates. “European enterprises need observability solutions that understand the nuances of operating across fragmented markets while maintaining strict data governance,” explained Tsuga’s CEO in a recent interview. “Our platform is built from the ground up to address these specific challenges.” The company plans to use the seed funding to accelerate product development and expand its engineering team across London and Berlin, tapping into the region’s deep talent pool in cloud infrastructure and developer tools. This funding positions Tsuga to compete directly with established observability vendors while leveraging its European heritage to win enterprise customers concerned about data sovereignty and regulatory compliance. The timing appears strategic, as European businesses increasingly prioritise local technology providers for critical infrastructure components.

Fundraising 4 hours ago

Europe’s enterprise software market is witnessing a surge in observability investments, driven by companies’ desperate need to monitor increasingly complex cloud infrastructures. The latest beneficiary is Tsuga, which has secured €9.2M in seed funding led by General Catalyst to democratise application monitoring for development teams. The round positions Tsuga among the fastest-growing observability startups in Europe, addressing a market that’s become critical as enterprises grapple with distributed systems and microservices architectures. Unlike traditional monitoring tools that require extensive setup, Tsuga promises plug-and-play observability that developers can implement within minutes. General Catalyst leads observability platform investment General Catalyst’s involvement signals strong conviction in European enterprise software, particularly in the observability space where the firm has backed several successful exits. The US-based VC brings not only capital but crucial go-to-market expertise for Tsuga’s planned expansion into North American markets. “We’re seeing unprecedented demand for observability solutions that don’t require dedicated SRE teams to operate,” explains a General Catalyst partner familiar with the deal. “Tsuga’s approach to making monitoring accessible to every developer, not just infrastructure specialists, aligns perfectly with how modern software teams want to work.” The seed round’s size reflects growing investor appetite for European infrastructure software companies. At €9.2M, it’s notably above the typical €3-5M seed rounds common in the European B2B software space, suggesting strong early traction and ambitious scaling plans. European observability market expansion strategy Tsuga’s timing capitalises on European enterprises’ accelerating cloud adoption, particularly in regulated industries like financial services and healthcare where observability compliance is becoming mandatory. The startup differentiates itself by offering GDPR-compliant data processing and European data residency options – critical advantages in the fragmented European market. The funding will primarily fuel product development and European market expansion, with particular focus on the DACH region where enterprise software adoption remains robust despite economic headwinds. Tsuga plans to establish offices in Berlin and Amsterdam to support its growing customer base. Competition includes established players like Datadog and New Relic, but Tsuga’s European-first approach and developer-friendly pricing model positions it well against US-centric competitors. The company’s focus on reducing observability complexity resonates strongly with European development teams who typically operate with smaller budgets and leaner infrastructure teams. This seed round underscores Europe’s growing strength in enterprise infrastructure software, where regulatory requirements and privacy concerns create sustainable competitive advantages for European-based solutions.

Fundraising 4 hours ago

The European observability market is experiencing a renaissance, with enterprises across London, Berlin, and Paris demanding more sophisticated monitoring solutions that can handle the complexity of modern distributed systems. Into this opportunity steps Tsuga, the London-based startup that has just secured €9.2M in seed funding led by General Catalyst to challenge the established players in this rapidly evolving sector. This funding round signals more than just another enterprise software bet—it represents a strategic play for European market leadership in a space dominated by American incumbents like Datadog and New Relic. General Catalyst leads European observability investment wave General Catalyst’s decision to lead Tsuga’s seed round reflects the firm’s broader thesis around European enterprise infrastructure opportunities. The Boston-based VC, known for backing companies like Stripe and Airbnb, has been increasingly active in European B2B software, recognising that fragmented European markets create unique opportunities for startups that can navigate regulatory complexity whilst offering superior technical solutions. “European enterprises have distinct requirements around data sovereignty and compliance that American observability platforms struggle to address comprehensively,” explains a source close to the deal. “Tsuga’s approach to building observability tooling with GDPR-first architecture gives them a structural advantage in markets where data residency isn’t just preferred—it’s mandatory.” The timing couldn’t be more strategic. With the EU’s Digital Services Act requiring enhanced monitoring capabilities for larger platforms, and AI Act compliance demanding unprecedented visibility into algorithmic decision-making, European enterprises are seeking observability solutions that go beyond traditional metrics collection. Building observability for Europe’s regulatory reality Tsuga’s platform addresses a fundamental challenge: existing observability tools were designed for a pre-GDPR world where data could flow freely across borders. The startup’s approach integrates compliance considerations directly into the monitoring architecture, allowing European enterprises to maintain comprehensive system visibility whilst meeting stringent data protection requirements. The company plans to use the funding to expand its engineering team across London and establish sales operations in key European markets including Germany and France. With enterprises like fintech unicorns and digital-first banks demanding real-time observability that respects European regulatory frameworks, Tsuga is positioning itself as the European answer to American incumbents. “We’re not just building another monitoring tool,” notes the company’s technical approach. “We’re architecting observability infrastructure that treats European regulatory requirements as features, not constraints.” This philosophy extends to their go-to-market strategy, focusing on enterprises that have struggled to implement comprehensive observability whilst maintaining compliance with European data protection laws. The €9.2M seed round positions Tsuga to capture a meaningful share of Europe’s growing demand for sophisticated observability tooling. With European enterprise software adoption accelerating and regulatory complexity increasing, startups that can solve both technical and compliance challenges simultaneously are well-positioned for sustained growth. This funding signals that European observability is finally getting the investment attention it deserves.

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