In the spring of 2024, with support from the MOST programme, the team behind the Belarusian startup maramora took part in one of the largest IT events in Europe — the EU Startups Summit, held in Malta. The Summit takes place on an annual basis and brings together founders of start-ups and representatives of funds from all over Europe.
The maramora startup (https://www.maramora.co/) is a modern digital space that helps to cope with daily stress and work with emotions through artistic practices: modern dance, visual art, work with the body and voice, text and images. In 2024, the project was shortlisted for the CultTech Association x Ars Electronica Award in the category “Social Impact Projects in Culture and Technology”. The startup was also recently showcased at the CultTech Summit in Vienna. The mobile app can be downloaded here.
The startup’s co-founder and CEO, Hanna Palei, has long been an entrepreneur in the cultural sphere and is known as the organiser of the independent cultural and educational platform in Mazyr, pershykrok.by (2018-2022). Here is what Hanna had to say about her mobility trip to the EU Startups Summit:
“Taking part in the summit enabled us to become fully integrated into the European startup ecosystem: we were added to the EU Startup website’s database of promising ventures, and received invitations to a major startup conference in Munich as well as a startup accelerator in Malta”.
In addition, Hanna notes that during the event the project team was able to establish a partnership with the Department of Social Policy & Social Work at the University of Malta and launch a joint project — research on mental health. As a result of the trip, the startup also enriched its network of potential partners and investors, and established contacts with potential angel investors and venture funds.
One of the side effects of attending the summit was increased interest in the project from the European media: for example, the Polish business magazine My Company Polska published a major article about maramora. The project team hopes this will increase interest in Belarusian women-designed IT projects.
Tips from Hanna Palei for those wishing to attend professional events
At professional events, there are usually many sponsors and potential partners. Make sure you explain the essence of your project, the problem it solves and its uniqueness in a short and compelling pitch (30-60 seconds). Before the event, make a contact list of founders, companies and fund representatives you would like to talk to and present your project. This preparation will help you to focus on only those contacts that will contribute to the growth of your business.
Use the event’s networking platforms (in our case, the Summit’s networking app) to arrange one-to-one meetings with the right people in advance. Instead of getting lost in the crowd, this will increase your chances of making useful contacts. For example, I created a startup profile in a mobile networking app, describing key metrics, idea and investment status — and it paid off: even before the summit, several funds contacted us to learn more about our project.
If you’ve got a prototype, presentation or website, make sure it’s ready and easily accessible. (Create a QR code for quick download.)
The connections you establish at the summit matter, but what’s even more crucial is how you make use of them afterward. Within a week of the event, send personalised follow-up emails to those you have met and continue to build your network via LinkedIn to keep in touch with potentially interesting people for project development.
(c) Photo courtesy of the mobility participant