How to Web is Eastern Europe’s benchmark conference for startups and technology. The 2025 edition gathered over 3,000 attendees in Bucharest, focusing heavily on practical AI applications and product engineering. A core component of the event is the Spotlight competition, which highlights the most promising early-stage teams in the region.
For Soulmates Ventures, the CEE region remains one of the key strategic areas in Europe. We attended with a focused agenda: to scout suitable candidates for our 2026 accelerator cohort and to strengthen ties with regional co-investors who share our focus on sustainable innovation.
Our presence went beyond general networking. We held direct sessions with dozens of pre-seed founders, filtering through the noise to find the signals of genuine impact. The energy at this year’s Spotlight finals confirmed that CEE is rapidly becoming a critical launchpad for deep-tech solutions.
