What to Expect at

Web Summit

📌 "What to Expect" is your guide to Web Summit 2025: On this page you can find event details, top themes, and standout startups, with links to the official site and Web Summit app. The information is updated regularly and subject to change.

Want to know more after reading? For media inquiries, whether you’re exploring how Web Summit will cover certain themes, identifying speakers for interviews, or finding the right angles on emerging topics, please contact the Web Summit Media team at media@websummit.com.

Last updated Nov 7, 2025

Key information and Top stats

Web Summit is where the future goes to be born.

From Lisbon to Qatar, Vancouver, and Rio de Janeiro, Web Summit has grown over the years into the largest global technology and innovation event series and the biggest gathering of entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, cultural figures, and leaders.

For 2025, Web Summit will bring together the people, startups, and companies defining the next chapter of technology. AI is a big part of it.

It’s undeniable: artificial intelligence is at the centre of global debates, transforming everything from coding, health, and sports to energy, creativity, and space. Across stages and stands, the questions will be fierce: who controls AI, who pays for it, and how governments, investors, and creators adapt to the world it’s reshaping.

This year Web Summit expects

70,000+ attendees

2500+ exhibiting startups
1000+ investors
900+ speakers

to gather in Lisbon

Plus:

New China Summit announced: focused on how China is innovating and accelerating across AI, deep tech, and industrial transformation.
Continued focus on Web Summit meetups: helping attendees find and make meaningful connections.

Final attendance figures will be announced on day one of the event by email and on the Web Summit blog. Head to the Web Summit website to discover top speakers, startups, and investors at Lisbon 2025. Check the schedule for the talks you don’t want to miss and download the app to connect with other attendees in real time and receive the latest updates.

Scroll down to find some of the expected highlights.

Key themes, speakers and stages

Web Summit Lisbon 2025 comes at a pivotal time, as artificial intelligence, regulation, and geopolitics rapidly reshape technology and business. From coding breakthroughs to debates on misinformation, climate, and global security, the event gathers the people driving these transformations.

At the heart of it all is Web Summit's Centre Stage, where world leaders, visionary founders, pioneering researchers, and influential executives share their visions and challenge our sense of what’s next. But that’s just the beginning. Across 20 dedicated tracks, Web Summit delves deeper into the ideas and innovations defining the future in every sector:

Learn more about Web Summit’s 20 tracks here, including:

AI Summit: How do we push the boundaries of innovation while safeguarding against security risks?
Health Summit: Is AI the cure for healthcare, or a new complication?
Government Summit: Is tech driving democracy, or dividing it?
Creative Summit: How can technology amplify human creativity?
Sport Summit: Is the athlete of tomorrow human, digital, or both?
Fintech Summit: Will AI-driven fraud prevention shape the next wave of regulation?
New Media: Can tech-driven media balance truth with virality?
Developer Summit: Is AI-generated code a shortcut, or a security trap?
New Energy Summit: Will AI drive clean power or drain resources?
Marketing Summit:How can brands balance AI personalization with trust?
Commerce Summit:What’s next for social commerce as shopping goes scroll-to-buy?
Growth Summit: What makes a startup truly scalable?

Below are some of the major themes and speakers you can expect on Web Summit stages. For full details, including schedules, topics, and speaker profiles, you can search by name, idea, or theme in the event schedule (available online and in the Web Summit app.

Key Themes

Vibe coding: next big leap or death of coding?

Vibe coding is changing how software gets made: you ask for an app or website and AI builds it. Investors are chasing multi-billion-dollar valuations even as critics raise concerns over security, privacy, and reliability when creators don’t fully understand the tools they are making. It’s one of the AI themes you’ll see across Web Summit’s stages and stands.

Lovable, the Stockholm startup making vibe coding mainstream, is now valued at $4B. Lovable’s Co-founder & CEO Anton Osika, previously a CERN physicist, will be on stage at Web Summit 2025. Also joining is Michele Catasta, President & Head of AI at Replit, the U.S. platform powering millions of creators with its fast-growing AI coding assistant, Replit Agent.

Look for vibe coding talks at: AI Summit, Developer Summit, SaaS Summit

Who controls AI and who gets paid?

As AI models train with online content, the fight over access and profit is heating up. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, is pushing a marketplace where bots pay for content. One of the startups shaping this space is TollBit, which helps publishers monitor, manage, and monetize AI bot traffic, turning content scraping into a business model. These debates come alongside a bigger question: should the world’s most powerful AI models (Large Language Models, or LLMs) be open for all, or locked down for safety?

Another frontier in the AI race is bringing intelligence into the physical world. David Reger, CEO of Europe’s Neura Robotics, will discuss how cognitive robots can move beyond generating images to doing real work — from household chores to industrial and healthcare support.

Look for talks at: AI Summit, Developer Summit, SaaS Summit

Governments in the age of AI

AI isn’t just changing business, it’s rewriting the rules of power. With the EU rolling out the world’s first AI Act and U.S.–China competition intensifying, Web Summit 2025 will host sessions on regulation, ethics, and the global race to control technology. Speakers include Sama’s CEO Wendy Gonzalez, whose company supplies ethical AI training data for Fortune 100s.

Look for talks at: Government Summit

Data centers, fusion, and soaring energy demands

AI’s soaring energy demands are fueling a global debate, from billion-dollar data campuses powering growth to fusion breakthroughs that could redefine the future of clean energy. Europe is already grappling with grid blackouts, and questions of sovereignty are front and center. At Web Summit 2025, we will hear from Portugal’s Start Campus, the €8 billion data center project reshaping Europe’s digital infrastructure. Twelve’s Co-founder and Chief Science Officer Etosha Cave will return to Web Summit stages to show how her company transforms captured CO₂ into products and fuels.

At the same time, Quantum computing is emerging as a pillar of the next computing era. Chris Ballance, Co-founder and CEO of Oxford Ionics, one of Europe’s leading quantum technology companies, will share how scalable ion-trap quantum computers could redefine performance and energy efficiency across data and AI workloads.

Look for talks on the future of the grid at: New Energy Summit

The next era of space exploration is commercial

Space exploration is entering a new era, as private companies step in where governments once led. At Web Summit 2025, we will hear from Vast’s astronaut and human spaceflight advisor Drew Feustel. Vast, the California-based space company founded by crypto entrepreneur Jed McCaleb, plans to launch a commercial space station, Haven-2, into low Earth orbit by 2028, giving astronauts a home in space after the ISS is retired in 2030. Its most ambitious goal goes even further: building stations with artificial gravity to test whether humans can truly live in space for a lifetime. Also speaking at Web Summit is Volodymyr Levykin, CEO of Skyrora. The UK-based launch company is developing small and medium-lift rockets to provide sovereign and responsive access to orbit from European soil.

Social media, scandal, and the new rules of reputation

In today’s hyper-connected world, a single viral moment can transform an unknown brand into a household name, or spark a crisis that reshapes its future. The impact of social media on news and marketing will be a key topic at Web Summit 2025. For example, Attendees will hear how Astronomer’s viral moment became one of the year’s most talked-about brand crises and how Nick Shapiro (10th Avenue Consulting) helped turn it into a powerful marketing opportunity.

OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair will also speak at Web Summit about why trust is today’s most valuable currency, drawing on her experience leading a platform of 4 million creators and 400 million users, and highlighting why authenticity, privacy, and loyalty matter more than ever in the age of AI.

Another speaker examining truth and accountability in the digital age is Sönke Iwersen, the investigative journalist who built his reporting around a whistleblower who leaked over 100 gigabytes of Tesla internal documents in 2022. His investigation exposed safety flaws in Tesla’s Autopilot systems, a culture of fear inside the company, and efforts to suppress dissent.

Look for talks on the future of media and brand strategy at: Marketing Summit

Web Summit data and reports

Every year, Web Summit releases its State of Gender in Tech Report, based on a survey of participants in its Women in Tech attendee programme. This October, as the programme marks its 10th anniversary, the latest report reveals that women are increasingly confident about stepping into leadership roles and view AI and automation as potential drivers of equity. Yet, bias, sexism, and “boys’ club” cultures remain entrenched, with nearly 60% of respondents believing that gender balance in tech has actually declined over the past year.

You can access the full report here.

Key findings include:

A growing sense that gender balance in tech is declining: 60% of women say it has worsened over the past year, up from 48% in 2024. More than half (56%) say recent geopolitical shifts are undermining gender equity in tech.
AI’s double edge: 77% of women use AI daily and 75% see its potential to promote inclusion, yet one in four (25%) fear it could reinforce bias.
Work–life balance is slipping further out of reach: 56% say they still have to choose between career success and family life, up from 49% last year. AI is mentioned as a way to save time and ease that strain.
Sexism persists: Nearly half (49%) of women in tech say they’ve experienced sexism at work, a figure slightly lower, but largely unchanged from last year’s 51%. And 82% feel they must outperform men to be taken seriously, an even stronger sentiment than in 2024, when 76% said they felt they had to work harder to prove themselves
Appetite to lead: 81% feel empowered to lead, up from 76% in 2024.

Web Summit success stories

Below are some startups that achieved success after attending Web Summit. Please connect with the Web Summit media team (media@websummit.com) if you are looking for more information.

Connectera
Connectera, co-founded by Yasir Anwar, built AI-driven farm technology (IDA) – best known as a “Fitbit for cows” – that boosted dairy productivity by over 50%. Their breakthrough came when they won Web Summit’s PITCH competition in 2015, which gave them visibility, early funding, and a global network of partners. Beyond business, Web Summit shaped their journey personally and professionally—sparking connections, resilience, and growth. Yasir later launched Noocial AI, applying lessons from Connectera to reimagine job-matching with AI while prioritizing sustainability.

Sensei
Sensei, a Portuguese startup, is transforming retail with AI-powered cashier-free shopping. Their journey began at Web Summit 2016, where early exposure connected them with Seaya Ventures, who later invested after visiting Sensei’s lab store. Further traction came when Coca-Cola’s Kamay Ventures joined a round after a meeting at Web Summit Rio. In 2022, GALP showcased Sensei’s autonomous store cabinet at the event. With €15M raised, co-founder Joana Rafael credits Web Summit for consistently opening investor doors, partnerships, and visibility every year.

Founders Pledge
Over the last three years, Web Summit has helped raise $280M for charities through its partnership with Founders Pledge. By connecting with founders at the event, Founders Pledge secured more than a quarter billion in charitable commitments, showing the massive impact entrepreneurial networks can have on global good. What began as a collaboration at Web Summit has grown into a movement where innovation and philanthropy meet, highlighting how the tech ecosystem can fuel not just business growth, but also social change worldwide.

SheerMe
SheerMe, a Portuguese wellness and beautytech super-app, has expanded from Lisbon to Brazil after Web Summit Rio 2023. Founders Miguel and Karly leveraged Web Summit to meet investors, connect with the Rio mayor, and join Maravalley, a rising tech hub where they secured L’Oréal as a sponsor. Originally planning São Paulo, they chose Rio for its cultural energy and Lisbon-like lifestyle. Web Summit became the bridge for international partnerships, turning sheerMe into a cross-continental growth story in just a few years.

Inspira
Inspira is a legaltech startup. Their pivotal moment came at Web Summit Lisbon 2023, where they won the PITCH competition, unlocking global recognition and partnerships. Co-founder Henrique Ferreira credits Web Summit with opening doors from day one—connecting them to investors, product partners, and clients. The event has been a consistent catalyst in Inspira’s growth, cementing its role as a leading force in legal intelligence.

DecoCx
Deco, an AI startup, received a lot of media attention after winning Web Summit Rio 2024’s PITCH competition. Their booth allowed hands-on engagement with hundreds of attendees, driving conversations with investors, founders, and agencies. Media exposure from the win boosted Deco’s reputation globally, while informal meetings at Web Summit forged strategic partnerships that expanded distribution. For co-founder Rafael Crespo, the event didn’t just showcase Deco’s brand—it directly accelerated growth, visibility, and opportunities to scale worldwide.

By Kids to Kids
Brazilian edtech By Kids to Kids reimagines learning by turning student-created stories into animations used in schools across Europe and Brazil. Their Encyclokids library supports teaching by subject, making education engaging and visual. Starting in Maranhão, the startup expanded globally through Web Summit, building key connections with universities and government delegations in Lisbon and Qatar. These partnerships fueled their international growth, positioning By Kids to Kids as a creative and impactful educational tool empowering students and teachers alike.

Starkdata
StarkData went from skepticism to global opportunity after attending Web Summit as an Alpha. What seemed like an event for celebrities proved transformative, leading to invitations from the U.S. Embassy to join SelectUSA and later the UK Department for Business and Trade. Their participation opened international markets while showcasing their AI-driven business insights platform. Bootstrapped until now, they are preparing funding rounds while launching new features at Web Summit 2024. CEO Paulo Figueiredo calls the event the turning point in StarkData’s journey.

Beyond Web Summit, discovering Lisbon

After introducing meetups in 2023, Web Summit continues its mission to help building meaningful connections through meetups, powered by its proprietary software, Summit Engine. Aiming to create a more intimate and community-driven experience, the objective is to invite attendees to at least one personalised meetup. More information here.

At Web Summit, the discussions continue after the stage content ends. Night Summit offers opportunities for post-event networking and exploration of the host cities. Attendees can join gatherings at dozens of bars and traditional “quiosques” across Lisbon. These gatherings, organised by industry, continent, and nationality, bespoke networking opportunities in key areas of Lisbon, including Terreiro do Paço, Cais do Sodré, Principe Real and Bairro Alto. More information here.

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