The program was packed: technologies, business, investments, and mental health were discussed. Among the speakers were Andrey Sebrant (Yandex), Maxim Spiridonov (Reforma), Vlad Rasskazov (CyberStage), Evgeny Borisov (Kama Flow), Maxim Onishchenko (StartupDrive), Artem Badriev (Nova VC), Elizaveta Derbina (The Edgers), and others.
Special attention was paid to the Family Tech theme: myths of dating platforms, technologies for family happiness, and health in relationships were discussed. Representatives from VK Dating, Twinby, SberHealth, and others spoke at the sessions.
«If I compare the feeling from the conference to a wine tasting, it left a pleasant aftertaste. Completely different topics are skillfully woven by the program director into a coherent series of industry sessions, where each visitor can find something for themselves. Interesting pitches, disputes, fascinating discussions – that's the impression this event left», – Mohamed Ali Vuada, Medical Director of SberHealth.
The conference program also addressed important HR topics: the session from The Edgers discussed how to attract a top CTO to a startup for a million dollars. Participants also talked about the prospects of going public with leading market players, and together with Reminder, they traditionally touched on the topic of the psychological health of founders.
On the first day, eXit traditionally hosted a startup competition. More than 100 technology companies applied to participate in the competition, and only the 37 best of them presented their projects in the final pitch session. Partners awarded the winners with valuable prizes.
· VTB Accelerator noted the promising startups Tomoru.team, Office Vision
· A grant to participate in the spring intake of the program for entrepreneurs from Startup Leadership Program went to Tomoru.team
· Fast track to the semi-finals of the Startech.Awards was received by Presentsimple.ai
· A grant for training at the Skolkovo School of Management in the Startup Academy program went to Mymeet.ai.
· Project packaging services from AldanDev, a venture builder from the investment company Kama Flow, were received by Xenia
«If we talk about the venture market, we see a shortage today not only of capital, but also of projects. Therefore, we use every opportunity to find promising startups and support competitions where they accumulate. We chose a voice assistant project for automating interviews, as we consider the HR Tech sphere promising, especially in what is related to artificial intelligence. The project received packaging services from our venture builder AldanDev. I am sure that this will be a good step for its development and scaling», – notes Evgeny Borisov, partner of the investment company KAMA FLOW.
The main prize of the conference – an investment of 20,000,000 rubles from Malina VC – went to YourTunes.
«Creativity is in each of us. It's as if people have a mental limitation, which is that creative expression is the prerogative of the chosen few. In order to be expressed – you need to have something exclusive and seem to have a special right! YourTunes gives people freedom in their expression. Therefore, we see a potential huge demand in the B2C segment, which is flexibly scalable», – shares Anton Pronin, managing partner of the fund, founder of the venture fund Malina VC.
A new feature of the event was a separate program on the second day of the conference for scaleups. The team organized industry pitch sessions for growing technology companies with a turnover of 50 million rubles per year, who spoke in front of major investors interested in buying companies in Russia. Among the investors were representatives of T-Bank, Kontur, Friendly VC, MTS, private investors, and others.
As part of the second day of the conference, a session «Corporations and Startups: Do We Need Each Other?» was held under the brand of VTB Bank. The discussion was attended by: Natalia Degtyareva (VTB Accelerator), Sergey Derevtsov (MTS), Vitaly Shchipkov (MobileScoring), Sergey Korenkov (Sensemachine), Kirill Buryakov (Doczilla), and Vladimir Egorov (Rostelecom).
Representatives of corporations and startups discussed current expectations and preferences in a difficult market situation. Participants talked about whether startups are now ready to sell, attract investments, or whether they are more interested in selling and implementing their products in cooperation with large companies, implementing joint projects.
As a result of collaboration with the Meet For Charity charity auction, eXit speakers – Natalia Mendus (Russian Agricultural Bank), Anton Utekhin (Rounds), Maria Sutormina (Syndicate) – met with the winners of the auction, and the proceeds were sent to charity.
The conference venue featured the already traditional zone – the Startup Leadership Program lounge, a pop-up lounge with carpets, neon, and palm trees, where partners convey the values of their community to conference guests through various activities. Also, on the startup alley, you could get acquainted with innovative products; more than 50 companies took part in the event with a stand.
And the conference ended with a bright after-party, which once again proved: eXit is not just an event, but a space without jackets and ties, where people meet, communicate, and find real opportunities for deals and partnerships.
Technological partners: VTB Bank, VTB Accelerator, Startup Leadership Program, Kama Flow, Startech.vc, Malina VC, Skolkovo School of Management.
Investment partners: venture club «Syndicate», Rounds.
Special partners: Reminder, The Edgers (ex. Odgers Berndtson Russia), Investment Leaders Forum & Award.
Photos provided by the press service of the eXit conference