The ElevenLabs Growth Story & CEE Tech Deal Trends
ScaleupFest Meetup | Bratislava
📍 Bratislava, The Spot
📅 May 18, 2026 | 17:00 – 20:00 (approx.)
ScaleupFest is coming to Bratislava for an evening of two focused discussions on the topics that matter most for founders and investors in CEE right now: scaling with AI and the current state of tech deals, valuations, and exits.
🌱 Keynote: 11 Lessons from Scaling ElevenLabs ElevenLabs is one of the fastest-scaling companies in European tech - but the real story isn't the headcount. It's the tools, workflows, and decisions that let small teams move like much larger ones. Gergely Bihary, who leads growth and engineering at ElevenLabs, shares 11 concrete lessons from inside:
the stack behind scaling from 100 to 50,000 pages and millions of monthly visitors
the AI workflows replacing entire pipelines
and the tools founders and operators can take home and use tomorrow
🎤 Speaker: Gergely Bihary (Growth Engineer, ElevenLabs)
🎯 Panel: AI, Valuations & Exits - What's Trending in CEE Tech Deals?
AI is not just reshaping products - it's reshaping how companies are built, scaled, and transacted. Together with regional VC and PE investors, we'll discuss:
how investor expectations are shifting across stages (VC to PE)
what drives appetite for tech deals in CEE today
how AI is impacting different subsectors
and what it means for founders thinking about fundraising or exit
🎤 Moderated by Peter Kolesar (SASK), with speakers including Tomáš Pacinda (Kaya VC), Lénárd Horgos (Absolvo), and Bence Gergely (Principal, Portfolion).
After the discussions we'll continue with open networking over drinks and finger food.
🚌 A roundtrip bus transfer from Budapest, catering at the venue, and full event participation are available together for HUF 15,000 per person.
🎟️ Invite-only, free event | spots are limited