The Road to START Summit is the annual pitch event presented by START HAMBURG, a dynamic platform that brings together students, innovative startups, and visionary investors.
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22 NOVEMBER 2025, 11:00 AM
Kühne Logistics University, Großer Grasbrook 17, 20457 Hamburg
The Harbour Founder Summit (HFS) is our new international entrepreneurship event bringing founders, talents and investors together in Hamburg. As part of the HFS, the Road to START Summit offers one start-up the chance to earn a ticket to the renowned START Summit in St. Gallen, while the Startup World Cup – Hamburg Preliminaries gives the winning team the opportunity to qualify for the global finale in San Francisco with a $1M prize. Together, these competitions make the Harbour Founder Summit a key meeting point where Hamburg's start-up ecosystem connects with the global stage.
The Road to START Summit is a series of events organized by START chapters throughout Europe. These events serve as warm-up gatherings leading up to the START Summit, which will be held in St. Gallen on March 19 and 20, 2026. The goal of these events is to identify a promising startup that will represent START Hamburg at the START Summit and pitch their startup in St. Gallen.
The Road to START Hack serves as a warm-up hackathon for the START Hack which will be held together with the START Summit from March 18 until March 20, 2025. RtSH is a weekend-long event where students from around the world come together to work on cool new software and/or hardware projects. The Road to START Hack will be held on the 19th of September, 2025.
1. You have to be founded in 2023 or later
2. You have to be an independent legal entity
We are excited to welcome passionate students from diverse backgrounds who share an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship, along with partners eager to collaborate with driven talent in the Hamburg ecosystem.
Join us at START HAMBURG to shape the future of entrepreneurship together!
