The London AI Startup Conference 2026

Following the big success of The London AI Startup Conference 2025, Startup Network Europe is honoured to announce a 2026 version for Thursday, 3rd of September.
Hosted at Google London, this is an exclusive event that will bring together 120 pre-approved AI Startup CTOs, Founders, Investors, and Ecosystem Leaders, selected from 2,000+ applications.
This Conference is hosted by Startup Network Europe, and supported by Google Cloud.
A Unique Format
Attendance is capped at 120 hand-picked participants, including:
60 AI Startup Founders (UK-based, early-stage, selected from thousands of applications)
30 AI Startup CTOs & Tech Leaders
20 Venture Capital Investors
10 Ecosystem Stakeholders (Accelerators, Incubators, Government, Innovation & Research Centres, News Organisations, etc)
Unlike typical startup events, this conference is carefully curated to foster meaningful connections among the UK’s leading AI players. The four-hour programme balances two hours of dynamic content sessions with two hours of structured networking, supported by a dedicated networking app.
Agenda
9:00am-9:15am: Registration (note: entry is strictly limited to 9.45am at the latest, due to security precautions)
9:15am-9:20am: Google Intro
9:20am-9:30am: Opening Keynote
Juhani Mykkänen, Co-Founder of Wolt (Unicorn)
Topic: What’s the signal around noise in AI right now?
9:30am-10:15am: Panel Discussion, for 120 in-person attendees and 1,000+ online attendees.
Topic:
Moats in the AI Age: Building Real IP in a World of Foundation Models
This session tackles the existential shift from "GPT-wrappers" to defensible Architecture. Founders can discuss how to build technical defensibility & IP in a tech stack that Big Tech cannot easily replicate. Angel Investors and VCs can bring their perspective on what this means for long term enterprise value.
Panellists:
Meryem Arik, Co-Founder & CEO of Doubleword
Brian Kinane, Founding Partner at Sure Valley Ventures
Sara El-Hanfy, Director of Artificial Intelligence and Digital at Innovate UK
Panellist TBC
Panellist TBC
10:15am-11:15am: Roundtable Talks
“Growth” Roundtables, moderated by Scaleup FoundersJoel Perlman, Co-Founder of Oaknorth Bank (Unicorn)
Roy Tuvey, Co-Founder of Vertice (named by Sifted as UK’s fastest-growing startup of 2025)
Roundtable Moderator TBC
Roundtable Moderator TBC
Roundtable Moderator TBC
“Funding” Roundtables, moderated by Venture Capital InvestorsPaul Davidson, Partner at Octopus Ventures
Roundtable Moderator TBC
Roundtable Moderator TBC
Roundtable Moderator TBC
Roundtable Moderator TBC
11:15am-1:00pm: Networking, with pre-arranged meetings facilitated by a networking app
About Startup Network Europe
Startup Network Europe is an Irish Company that has hosted 280 AI and Startup Conferences across 50 European Cities since 2021. Our most notable events include:
The London AI Startup Conference 2025
The European AI Conference 2024 (full-day event in Google’s European HQ)
The European Startup Conference 2022 (online event with speakers including Steve Wozniak)
Our hundreds of previous speakers include:
Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple
Sabeer Bhatia, Co-Founder of Hotmail
Joel Perlman, Co-Founder of OakNorth Bank
Nathalie Roos, CEO of Lipton Teas and Infusions
Spenser Skates, Co-Founder & CEO of Amplitude
Katya Denike, Chief Product Officer at Holland & Barrett
James Eddison, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Octopus Energy
Lucile Cornet, Partner at Eight Roads
Edward Keelan, Partner at Octopus Ventures
Razvan Ranca, Co-Founder & CTO of Tractable
Emma Burrows, Co-Founder & CTO of Portia AI
Barry Downes, Managing Partner at Sure Valley Ventures
For more information on SNE, please visit our website:
https://startupnetwork.eu/
For any questions on this event, please reach out to:
adam@startupnetwork.eu