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, Zendesk and Stripe.
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
8:30am-9:15am: Registration (note: entry is strictly limited to 9.45am at the latest, due to security precautions)
9:15am-9:30am: Introductions
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
10:15am-11:15am: Roundtable Talks
“Growth” Roundtables, moderated by Scaleup Founders
Joel Perlman, Co-Founder, Oaknorth Bank (Unicorn)
Roy Tuvey, Co-Founder, Vertice (ranked #1 in the Sifted 100 in 2025)
Pierre Proner, Co-Founder & CEO, Lawhive (ranked #6 in the Sifted 100 in 2026)
Varun Bhanot, Co-founder & CEO, MAGIC AI (ranked #13 in the Sifted 100 in 2026)
“Funding” Roundtables, moderated by Venture Capital Investors
Oli Hammond, Partner, Fuel Ventures
Paul Davidson, Partner at Octopus Ventures
Oliver Woolley, Exec Chair & Co-Founder, Envestors
More Roundtable Moderators 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 300+ AI and Startup Conferences across 50 European Cities since 2021. Our most notable events include:
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:
For any questions on this event, please reach out to:
adam@startupnetwork.eu