Press Release

At this year’s Arch Summit, hosted in Luxembourg, there were many conversations focused around the human side of technology. During Warrick Cramer, CEO of Tomorrow Street’s speech, we were reminded that it is the human element, not the technology itself that drives social, environmental, and scientific change. It is how people use technology for good or evil, and the mistakes we make, that affects the final outcome. In order to make positive change through technology, as leaders, we have a responsibility to educate the next generation on how to use technology responsibly.

The annual two-day event hosted various panellists including a number of prominent executives from the tech industry, government officials, startups, and investors that discussed various topics like 5G, AI, IoT, Security, Mobility etc. A diverse range of keynote speakers from organisations including Google, Accenture, Dell, Amazon, Battery Ventures, Vodafone Group etc., Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, Deputy Prime Etienne Schneider and the inspiring Nobel Peace Prize Winner – Leymah Gbowee. The summit was attended by more than 5000 participants, spanning over 50 countries and addressed by 30 speakers. Among the attendees were 200 startups, over 90 global tech giants, 100 tech investors and 800 C-level representatives from Vodafone worldwide.

The scale and reach of the event compelled tech startups and companies to make their presence felt, network with decision-makers and was an opportunity for Vodafone executives, partners, and investors to connect with the latest innovators. The two halls of the conference were filled with a mix of both startups and global corporates showcasing their products.

Additionally, the Summit welcomed celebrity venture capitalists from the hit TV show “Dragon’s Den” - Jenny Campbell (UK), Frank Thelen (Germany) and Bart Deconinck (Belguim). Across the two-days, they interacted with startups, networked with corporates and used their expertise to judge the final startup competition rounds. Social Impact was one of the main focus at Arch Summit enabling startups with life-changing solutions a way to reach key decision-makers.

As part of this, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, social worker, and women’s rights advocate joined the summit as a keynote speaker and
judge for the competitions.

Competition Winners

Across the two days at Arch, around 150 innovative tech startups pitched their business solutions to a panel of judges ranging from investors, accelerators, innovation leads and senior executives from global corporate companies. The winners of the competition were given the choice of €100,000 as a cash prize or a work order of the same value with Vodafone.

Winner of the FutureTech Competition
The Future Tech Prize was awarded to Hotailors – a business travel startup that uses AI to make corporate travel booking faster and cheaper. The startup’s well-known partners include Google, Microsoft, Amadeus, Kiwi and EY. Hotailors traded their cash prize for something more valuable, the chance to work with a global client - Vodafone. “Given the option of cash, or to work with a world-leading company like Vodafone, the choice is pretty clear for us, we’d like to demonstrate the kind of value we deliver consistently to our other large clients.” said Filip Bloch, CEO from Hotailors.

Winner of the Leymah Gbowee Social Impact Competition
The Leymah Gbowee Social Impact award went to Luxembourg based startup F4A (Food4All). The business is working to minimise food waste by making goods nearing their use by date available in dedicated spaces, at discounted prices. “We are extremely excited about the win. So honoured to have been able to pitch in front of an exceptional jury from Dragon’s Den,” said Ilana Devillers, Co-Founder F4A (FOOD4ALL). F4A chose the €100,000 cash and will use the prize money for web development and further operational costs. Tomorrow Street has also offered the winning startups six months of free office space and mentorship to help make the best use of their reward.

Startup success stories

This year Arch Summit generated over 1700 meetings via matchmaking app Brella and thousands more ad hoc at the event. Startups – Crashtest Security and PayKey shared their experience across the two days at Arch.

Crashtest Security were one of the startups that presented their solutions to attendees at the event and participated in the FutureTech competition. Based in Munich, Germany, the business is working to provide transparency and measurement for the security of web applications and APIs. Jan Wiederrecht - Business Development & Customer Success at Crashtest Security shared that Arch Summit 2019 was very successful for Crashtest Security. More than 60 new contacts were made ranging from corporate Vodafone partners to attending startups. 20 contacts were made exclusively with Vodafone, and the Crashtest Security booth had tons of traffic. In fact, more than 30 security scans were executed directly at the booth and sent to requestors.

PayKey based in Tel Aviv, Israel also joined Arch Summit this year for the first time. The technology allows users to make secure P2P payment while still in any messaging app where the phone’s keyboard is used. Paykey presence at Arch 2019 led to more than 20 relevant leads created with Vodafone’s global procurement and regional territories. The booth’s presence also allowed PayKey to pitch to relevant leads. “To wrap it up - good event would be happy to see PayKey there next year!” quoted Haggai Levy the Marketing Communications manager of PayKey.