Upstream Festival 2026: connecting startups, capital, and opportunities

Rotterdam, on May 21, 2026, Upstream Festival returns for the seventh edition, connecting startups, capital, and opportunities. A highly curated group of founders of startups, scale-ups, and investors from all over Europe will gather for this one common goal. Upstream Festival 2026 will be held in Rotterdam's world heritage site Van Nelle Fabriek.

Together for a better world

Upstream Festival 2026 brings early-stage startups and scaleups together with investors, corporates, and fellow founders through curated matchmaking, investor speeddating, and a program designed for practical exchange, with a focus on long-term growth over short-term hype.

The 2026 edition places additional focus on three industry tracks - Port & Maritime, Health & Wellbeing, and Climate & Energy - while remaining open to innovation across all sectors.

Both new and loyal partners like the City of Rotterdam, Rabobank, the Port of Rotterdam, Windt Le Grand Leeuwenburgh, and the City of Delft have committed to supporting the event. 

“At Rabobank, we are eager to be involved in Upstream because we believe in entrepreneurs who boldly build the future. Upstream brings together that kind of energy: founders who grow, partners who think along, and an ecosystem that helps each other move forward. That’s what we want to be part of.” Robin Hempel, Startup & Scale-up Banker Rabobank

Some of the confirmed investors include Shift Invest, Volta Ventures, 4ImpactVC, Arches Capital, Innovation Quarter, ROM-NL, Graduate Ventures, and Smarter Ventures.

Confirmed speakers: Matthijs Welle, Vicky Kuang and Siete Hamminga

For its 2026 edition, Upstream Festival treats its visitors to a carefully curated group of experienced founders and investors sharing practical lessons from building and scaling companies.

Confirmed speakers include Matthijs Welle, CEO of hospitality technology platform Mews.

Welle, who spent more than a decade scaling Mews from its early days to unicorn status across global markets, says:

“Being able to share some of the hard-earned lessons from my 12 years scaling Mews from zero to unicorn is really special. I never expected to be running a tech company – let alone at this global scale – so being able to give those learnings back to this community means a lot.”

Vicky Kuang, investor at Silicon Valley-based VC Draper Associates, will join a panel focusing on the pace disparity between the American and European innovation ecosystems and what's driving the gap. 

Other resounding names on the speakerlist are Siete Hamminga, founder & CEO of Robin Radar, Arosha Brouwer, CIO at TrueTribe, and Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau, special envoy at Techleap.

Apart from the on-stage programming, Upstream’s 2026 edition will contain a number of intimate and interactive workshops on topics such as growth and funding.

Side events: Annal Scale-up CEO Dinner and meeting new co-founders

In addition to the activities happening at the Van Nelle Fabriek, Upstream’s community-led character has again shaped a valuable line-up of side events happening throughout the week, all over town.

The program of Upstream Festival consists of general sessions and a wide array of side events. Popular side events from previous editions will also be part of this year’s Upstream Festival. 

‘Annual Scale-up CEO Dinner’ by Up!Rotterdam brings together the CEOs of the Top 200 scale-ups from the South Holland region for a private dinner designed to foster meaningful, high-level conversations among peers.

‘Superconnectors’ is an exclusive event designed to engineer breakthrough connections, brings startup founders together to share their toughest challenges with a curated group of individuals who compete live to offer the most valuable introductions. For the Upstream edition, the event will place extra focus on three industry tracks – Port & Maritime, Health & Wellbeing, and Climate & Energy.

‘Scaling on the Green’ by Arches Capital and Builders brings together ambitious startup founders for a curated golf experience in Rotterdam, in a relaxed yet intentional setting designed to spark meaningful conversations.

Curation and focus for engineered serendipity

Co-Founders Lisette Braakenburg van Backum and Robbin Hoogstraten highlight the focus and changes of this year’s Upstream Festival: “Startup events have a massive potential of adding value by creating (serendipitous) connections. However, that requires participation, not attendance. With that in mind we have steered towards a more active programming of speeddating and workshops, rather than too much ‘passive’ content on stage.”

One other point that goes hand in hand with that is the curation of who is actually going to be at Upstream Festival. When we started Upstream, the idea was simple: help founders grow and connect. Along the way, we learned that to really do that, we have to protect their time and attention. That means curating who’s in the room more carefully is crucial.”

More detailed information and tickets are available on the Upstream Festival website. Further details on this year's speakers, agenda, and side events will be announced in the coming weeks.

About Upstream Festival

Upstream is where (pre)-seed startups find capital and opportunities.

Whether you’re raising, investing, or looking to partner with the next generation of entrepreneurs, this community-driven festival is your gateway to capital, cutting-edge ideas, and meaningful connections. Launched in 2020, the festival brings together the very best of the startup ecosystem – spotlighting ambitious founders and forward-thinking investors. It’s a celebration of collaboration, powered by co-creation partners from across the Netherlands. At the upcoming edition, Upstream brings in some special focus on three industry tracks: Port & Maritime, Health, and Climate & Energy, while continuing to welcome innovations from all sectors.

Join us on May 21, 2026, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Tickets are available at

www.upstreamfestival.com/tickets

Contact for the press: Christine Michaelis christine@upstreamfestival.com