Tomorrow Street’s Arch Summit, returning to Luxexpo The Box on 26-27 October, brings together leading technology providers and investors from across the globe with next gen technology innovation.
For scaleups, this provides an opportunity to meet a whole host of industry leaders and investors, including Vodafone executives. We caught up with three who attended previous editions to hear their experiences.
Quantexa: Digital intelligence software
Quantexa attended Arch Summit in 2019. This technology platform business helps companies across banking, insurance, government and telecoms extract contextual decision intelligence from large, complex data sets. Quantexa initially launched in the financial crimes space but the platform also supports businesses with consumer intelligence, revenue generation, customer experience, and compliance and risk.
According to Alastair Masson, Head of Telco EMEA for Quantexa, Arch Summit primarily provided a platform to connect with Tomorrow Street. “They’re a really important business for us, as they help position us in the European Union and in telco, which is a new industry for us.” They were also able to engage with service providers, such as Google and Accenture, as well as many Vodafone stakeholders. “This helped us to learn how to position Quantexa in a way that was relevant to some of the key challenges that Vodafone faced.”
As a result of the connection they built with Tomorrow Street at Arch Summit, they have been able to get access to areas of Vodafone where Quantexa can best support. According to Masson, “they have really helped to accelerate our position, not only inside Vodafone, but within Europe.” They were also given the opportunity to pitch their service to Vodafone. After demonstrating they could outperform the current process, they were able to close their first piece of business with them via the Vodafone Business UK team.
In the future, Quantexa aims to replicate the success they’ve had with Vodafone UK in other areas of the business, to start supporting customers to roll out Quantexa services to their own customers, and to expand within Europe and eventually to the US and APAC region.
“You meet people who don’t normally come to conferences, such as procurement.”
Liad Iluz, VP of Sales & Partnerships at PicUP
SecurityScorecard: Cybersecurity risk analysis
SecurityScorecard provides cybersecurity ratings to companies across the world in industries including financial services, banking, insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, and national critical infrastructure. Customers can use these ratings to make informed decisions about their own cybersecurity, as well as that of their clients, M&A targets, and supply chains.
When they attended Arch Summit in 2018, SecurityScorecard were already well established in the US market, and were looking to expand to other global markets, starting with the EU. Partnering with Vodafone and other key suppliers in the region was central to their strategy. As Ali Mukhamadiev, Senior Strategic Alliances Manager at SecurityScorecard explained, “[At Arch Summit] we had opportunities to meet senior leaders at Vodafone Business and pitch our solution across multiple use cases and business lines.”
SecurityScorecard were already in talks with Vodafone before attending the event, but the face-to-face element helped their negotiations. According to Mukhamadiev, “the pace of collaboration dramatically accelerated thanks to the introductions and platform provided by the Tomorrow Street team.”
The team will be attending Arch Summit again in 2022, and Mukhamadiev’s advice to scaleups attending for the first time is, “Don’t be shy!” You are at the forefront of innovation, and large businesses like Vodafone and its ecosystem of suppliers need you more than ever to continue to grow in this digitally enabled, hyper competitive business environment.”
PicUP: Optimised outbound calling
Israeli startup, PicUP, have developed a solution using an AI platform to optimise and personalise the interface of an incoming call screen. For example, companies can provide information about the reason for the call, and let receivers interact in real time by, for example, providing options to reschedule.
PicUP attended Arch Summit in 2019 and had the opportunity to pitch live. During the event they connected with key players at Vodafone and Tomorrow Street, and within the Luxembourg tech ecosystem. According to Liad Iluz, VP of Sales & Partnerships at PicUP, Arch Summit is unique compared to other events. “You meet people who don’t normally come to conferences, such as procurement. And many people know each other and are happy to connect you to the people you are looking for.”
Before attending Arch Summit, PicUp were already in talks with Vodafone. But, by meeting representatives from other parts in person, such as Vodafone’s procurement division in Luxembourg, they were able to close the deal much quicker. As Iluz explained, “due to Vodafone’s size, getting to key people takes time, but attending the Arch Summit allowed us to meet many people, make a personal connection and eventually discuss business.”
Iluz’s advice for scaleups attending in 2022 is to prepare well. “Target people before, using the [event] platform, set up as many relevant meetings as possible, and make sure to talk to Tomorrow Street’s team – they can help make the right connection.”
“It’s a great pleasure to team up with Arch Summit 2022, allowing the invited entrepreneurs to pitch their ventures in a rich and value adding environment in Luxembourg.”
Sven Baltes, Advisor of Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation
Fit 4 Start at Arch Summit
And this year, Arch Summit will also host startups from the 13th edition of Luxinnovation’s Fit 4 Start programme. The call for applications, which closes on 19th September, targets two categories of start-ups: digital/data-driven ventures with innovative technologies at the core of their business, and health technology start-ups. The pre-selected start-ups will pitch in front of the jury members live at the event.
According to Sven Baltes, Advisor of Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation “Fit 4 Start is back, more purpose-driven than ever and it’s a great pleasure to team up with Arch Summit 2022, allowing the invited entrepreneurs to pitch their ventures in a rich and value adding environment in Luxembourg.”
