START Summit 2027

About the event

START Summit is a two-day startup conference held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and organised by START Global, a student initiative focused on new technologies and entrepreneurship. The summit is part of a yearly programme that also includes a hackathon. The 2026 edition took place on 19-20 March, and the next one is announced for 18-19 March 2027 at the St. Galler Kantonalbank Halle.

The programme is built around a main stage with more than 120 speakers across five tracks. Past speakers listed on the site include a co-founder of Vinted, a partner at Creandum and an investment partner at Andreessen Horowitz, so the line-up mixes founders and venture investors. The organiser also runs 60-second elevator pitches, in which startups from sectors such as AI, SaaS, social and fintech present themselves, including a separate set of pitches aimed at investors.

The site lets visitors register as a startup, investor or student, which indicates those are the main groups taking part. Nothing on the page points to app buyers or acquirers, so this is not a venue for app M&A. For app founders it is mostly useful for fundraising contacts with European early-stage investors, for learning from other founders and for meeting people in the Swiss and wider European startup scene.

Who should attend

Suited to app founders at pre-seed or seed stage who want to meet European early-stage investors and other founders, and to learn from a broad startup programme. It is a fundraising and networking event rather than an app-trading venue.

Tips: before going, prepare a clear 60-second description of your app, its retention and revenue figures, and a short list of investors on the speaker list you want to approach. Register early if you want to apply as a startup.