Along the Danube River lies one of the most beautiful cities in Europe: Budapest. Besides a good number of World Heritage Sites, Budapest is one of the most attractive metropolitan cities in Europe, and it also has a young, blossoming startup scene.
In the past years, a few successful Hungarian companies, such as Ustream, Prezi, and LogMeIn managed to build exceptional products and enter global markets. These startups are a big inspiration to a lot of people and 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 in by an emerging startup ecosystem of accelerators, funding sources, coworking 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’re living here, or just happen to be a young entrepreneur visiting Budapest.
Annual events and conferences
- Startup Underground – Hungary’s 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 breed of 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 – Connecting talented people, businesses, and capital
- Startuprise – Business networking event
- Startup Weekend Budapest – Budapest event of the popular Startup Weekend series
Accelerators
- Colabs – Startup centre and tech hub. The first of its kind in Hungary
- iCatapult – Focusing on taking European technologies to the global market
- SeedUp – Incubator programme 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 – Coworking right in the centre of town. Light, space, harmony
- i-Office – Coworking 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 lively community
- KoWerk – For growing startups who take pleasure in the coworking environment
- Loffice – One of the first coworking 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 – Coworking 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 showcase of startups in front of private investors
- Euroventures – One of the most 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 and tech blogs
- 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
This article first appeared on Silicon Goulash, VentureVillage’s editorial partner in Hungary.
Image credit: flickr user remaraphotography2
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