In the past years, a few successful Hungarian companies, such as Ustream, Prezi, and LogMeIn managed to build exceptional products and enter the global markets. These startups are a big inspiration to a lot of people, and they’ve had a significant impact on the startup culture emerging in Hungary. The startup scene is just awakening and the ecosystem in Budapest has only started its growth. As it grows, it fosters new ideas and ways of doing business, and it makes it easier for aspiring young talent to get enthusiastic about starting a business.
New ventures have sprung up in recent years, ushered by an emerging startup ecosystem of accelerators, funding sources, co-working spaces and other new resources now available to entrepreneurs. This is why this guide exists: to give a conscise overview of what to look out for if you are living here, or just happen to be a young entrepreneur visiting Budapest.
Annual Events, Conferences
- Startup Underground - The largest and leading conference on startups.
- Smartmobil - Conference focusing on mobile trends and technologies.
- Barcamp Budapest - Conference focusing on internet business.
- Hungarian Innovation Tech Show - Annual showcase for tech companies.
- Startup Sauna Budapest - Event by Startup Sauna, Finland's largest accelerator.
- Seedcamp Budapest - Event by Seedcamp, Europe's leading accelerator.
- Colabs Startup School - Open day at Hungarian tech companies.
Monthly/Semi-Regular Events
- Budapest Business Meetup - Business networking events with exciting programmes.
- E-Breakfast - Morning interview and breakfast networking.
- E-Liquidity - Monthly happy hour gathering of the Budapest startup community.
- EEF Speaker Series - Presenting the best of breed entrepreneurs.
- First Monday - Meet with key stakeholders of the startup-ecosystem.
- International geek-together - Monthly gathering of tech-expats living in Budapest.
- Mobile Weekend - Find an idea, build a team, and ship a mobile app in just two days.
- New Tech Meetup - Monthly gathering of technology enthusiasts.
- Startup Budapest - Monthly meetup supporting business development of startups.
- Startup Flyer - StartupFlyer aims to connect talented people, businesses, and capital.
- Startuprise - Business networking event.
- Startup Weekend Budapest - Budapest event of the popular Startup Weekend series.
Accelerators
- Colabs - Startup center and tech hub. The first of its kind in Hungary.
- iCatapult - Focusing on taking European technologies to the global market,
- SeedUp - Incubator program aimed at CEE startups.
Entrepreneurial Development Firms
- European Entrepreneurship Foundation - Building next generation European companies.
- Megoldas.Most - Group of business development experts focusing on startup companies.
- SmartUp - Business communication and coaching agency.
Coworking Spaces
- CoWo - Co-working right at the center of town. Light, space, harmony.
- i-Office - Co-working and virtual office services in one of Budapest's most dynamic areas.
- Kaptar - For people who like freedom in work and being part of a vivid community.
- KoWerk - For growing startups who still take pleasure in the co-working environment.
- Loffice - One of the first co-working spaces in Budapest, now also open in Vienna.
- MyCorporation - Open minded host space with complete office infrastructure.
- Startup Office - Office space for small and medium size enterprises.
- The Hub - Co-working and startup event hub, close to the popular Liszt square.
Investors
- Blind Investment - Quarterly event, each time focusing on a different theme.
- Business Angel Club - Monthly showcasing of startups in front of private investors.
- Euroventures - One of the longest-established venture capital firms in Central Europe.
- Day One Capital - The first institutional business angel fund to operate in Hungary.
- Primus Capital - Primus accelerates expansion stage enterprises with venture capital.
Online Resources
- European Entrepreneurship Foundation Blog - English language blog of EEF.
- Insider Blog - Hungary's largest tech blog focusing on the startup ecosystem.
- Silicon Goulash - The first english language blog covering Hungarian tech startups.
- Startup Cafe - Hungarian language blog covering technology startups.
- Startupdate - Hungarian language blog giving advice on starting a business.
- Startups.hu - Extensive database of Hungarian tech startups.
In case you think we missed something, please drop us a line: hello at silicongoulash dot com.
