Venture Factory is a purpose-driven business & ecosystem building organisation that helps ambitious founders and companies challenge the status quo and build invincible businesses. In doing so, we offer our advice, fresh perspective, concrete outputs and valuable connections, while working on strategy development, business design and ecosystem collaboration. We use our 20+ years of acceleration experience and leverage our Podim conference and Start:up Slovenia ecosystem platforms to achieve the set goals. We are actively involved in the startup and innovation ecosystem by running a business incubator of the University of Maribor. We have developed the Slovenian startup ecosystem platform Start:up Slovenia and transformed the PODIM conference into one of the most influential startup and tech events in the CEE region, attracting over 1000 participants every year. Venture Factory has participated as a partner in the Startup Europe project MY-GATEWAY and has been involved in several EU funded projects supporting entrepreneurs and innovators. We are a co-founder and Slovenian member of the European Startup Network that links 31 national startup associations from all over Europe, and the Startup Europe Network, connecting 13 startup ecosystems from CEE and the Western Balkans. In 2018, Venture Factory became a proud Startup Europe Ambassador, joining key influencers on a mission in the European startup ecosystem to provide information and advice and link pools of talent to promote entrepreneurship, startup creation and growth, giving them a fair chance to succeed. We connect a vast network of entrepreneurs, mentors, experts, investors and institutions to create business ties and strategic partnerships for a better tomorrow. We firmly believe in working towards a more regenerative future and helping businesses, communities and the planet with measures of sustainability and inclusivity, and we do so by partnering with visionary entrepreneurs and passionate leaders.