ViennaUP The Startup Festival

ViennaUP is a city-wide festival of entrepreneurship and innovation, created by the startup community for the world. Events are designed and hosted by 35+ programme partners, and brought together with the support of the Vienna Business Agency into 9 days' worth of festival. These are scattered around Vienna, inviting you to explore the city, get to know the Viennese startup ecosystem, and mingle with founders, investors, talents and enablers from around the world.

Because ViennaUP is a decentralized festival, each event is ticketed separately - more details are available on the programme page. Many events are free to attend, while others have paid tickets. Some may require an application. Please note: ViennaUP is happening mostly in the physical realm or in hybrid form, while other events are breaking through into the metaverse. Pack your bags, charge your devices, and get ready for a mind-blowing journey—we can't wait to roll out the welcome mat for you in Vienna.

A great question! 

First of all, the centralized ticketing platform has a basic function that allows participants to see each other's names and connect via LinkedIn. That said, ViennaUP is designed to encourage in-person networking and meaningful connections. 

Secondly, if you go to the ViennaUP programme page and look under the programme track filter “Connect”, you’ll see the events that have networking in focus. The largest matchmaking event is Connect Day (13.5), with around 1,500 participants. And then many, many of the other 50+ events have a networking focus, or at least a networking component – sometimes within a specific industry or around a specific topic. 

Most ViennaUP participants attend more than one event, not least because many require only a registration (or in some cases a minimal application). Some other great events indeed require paid tickets. By signing up for multiple events, participants can dive into smaller discussions and workshops as well as bigger sector- or topic-specific events such as Manufacturing Day, Impact Days, Lead Today. Shape Tomorrow. and many others. This means you can meet a range of people. If you come with a team, you can hang together or divide and conquer based on your roles and goals. 

Last but not least, you must check out the ViennaUP Homebase and Café Spaces. The Homebase is located in a super accessible part of historic downtown Vienna, is open from 4pm to 10pm every day, and offers free wine / beer tastings and soft drinks, some small Viennese food samplings and music, and is a much-loved spot for post-event networking for ALL festival participants in a relaxed atmosphere. Lots of meaningful connections are made here. And if you do meet an interesting connection, all participants – using their ViennaUP festival wristband – can make use of the Café Spaces. These are partnerships with traditional Viennese cafés. The cafés set up a special “ViennaUP” branded area and festival-goers can get a free coffee, tea or soft drink, and use the coffee houses as a more personal networking space. 

Those same cafés also host the Coffee House Sessions, which let small, curated groups of up to startup reps meet with specific investors or other enablers and experts in exclusive and intimate roundtable sessions. 

TL;DR: ViennaUP is an ideal place to build your network, make meaningful connections, and get to know the right people.

As an international startup festival, ViennaUP takes place in English – the language of Shakespeare, Beyoncé and tech.

Most events are free—just RSVP and roll up like a VIP. However, some of them are paid, and you will be able to see ticket prices after your one-time free registration on the ViennaUP ticketing platform.

As a decentralized festival with events hosted by many local and international startup organizations, VCs, fairs, publications and more, it is not possible at this time to offer a single ticket for the entire experience. But whether you attend one event or seven, you are considered an official participant of ViennaUP and will receive a VIENNAUP WRISTBAND at your first event, which unlocks free samples of beer, wine and Viennese delicacies at the Homebase, or a free coffee and space to network or chat at our participating Café Spaces.

The entire nine-day programme for ViennaUP 2025 is available right now on the website, with ticketing shops and further details becoming available by around mid-February (each event partner is responsible for uploading their own event information). Stay tuned and make sure you snatch your tickets as soon as they're ready!

The programme of ViennaUP comes together months before the festival begins. We love that you have a spectacular idea and are just itching to join the party, but unfortunately the deadline to submit event concepts for ViennaUP 2025 has passed. Check out the information page for Partners and come along from 8-16 May 2025 and get inspired to submit your event next year!