The 33nd PODIM conference was held on 15th and 16th May in Maribor, bringing together key representatives of Slovenian and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem

The International Business Conference PODIM is Slovenia’s largest conference on entrepreneurship and innovation, which every year brings together all key stakeholders of Slovenian and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, to participate in two days of intensive courses. Through a series of round tables, lectures and workshops held at the conference, acknowledged Slovenian and foreign guests present their experience in building technology start-ups, from both, practical and academic perspectives. This year’s conference was attended by more than 500 participants and more than 70 speakers and guests from 13 countries.

As in the past few years, RSG Capital co-sponsored the event, while our team also participated in the conference program. CEO of RSG Capital, Jure Mikuž, and CEO of 3TS Capital Partners, Pekka Santeri Mäki, participated as keynote speakers in "Teatime chat: The A – Z of venture capital investments" during which they talked about which companies are ready for a venture capital investment, how to approach investors and how to define the positive and negative signs of investors' interest, the due diligence process, etc.

Miha Mikek, CEO of Celtra, also participated at the conference as the keynote speaker. Celtra is the most successful Slovenian start-up, which raised venture capital investment both at home (RSG Capital) and in the USA. In his very interesting and detailed presentation we found out about company's path from developing their solution, the first challenges the company faced, to acquiring a venture capital investment, closing the first deals on the USA market and getting foreign investors on board.