Luxembourg Venture Days 2026 Welcomes 4k Participants

On Thursday 15 October 2026, Luxembourg Venture Days 2026 closed out with a panel discussion looking at the power of Europe’s innovation ecosystems, what it takes to scale European champions globally, and the announcement of the startups selected to join the next Fit 4 Start programme.

Luxembourg Venture Days is a two-day event spread over various conference rooms at LuxExpo The Box in Luxembourg-Kirchberg. Organised by Luxinnovation and the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LPEA), with the support and participation of various players within the innovation ecosystem, the event is aimed at investors, startups and scaleups; it also focuses on several national and international flagship initiatives participating together in a single event.

The event, moderated by Peter Hopwood, began with a keynote speech from Maud Vinet, CEO and co-founder of QUOBLY, a French technology company developing silicon-based quantum computers. Jokingly she opened with the statement, “This talk is not a talk about quantum computing”, before stating that the technology has the potential to “disrupt industries” across the areas of finance, metallurgy, logistics and biotech, with the value at stake being trillions of dollars.

“It is the first time in the history of computing where we have the algorithms and the applications first before we have the hardware. We are at a stage where we need to get to build these quantum computers that will allow us to deliver those promises,” said Maud Vinet. 

She then detailed QUOBLY’s approach to developing quantum processing technology (by augmenting existing classical semiconductor infrastructure instead of building new quantum computers from the ground up) and described successes and difficulties of the journey to reach where they are today. Maud Vinet noted that the need for partnerships and collaborations were crucial and stressed: “I have learned in the past that failure is okay as long as we learn from it. And this vision that I shared with you is not something that I learned the easy way. I actually learned the hard way to co-develop and to go towards the market and the users.”

“Luxembourg has strong software and application skills. There is a strong academic with Luxembourg University and investors and public actors that are very much involved. Everybody is animated with the Luxembourg Quantum Association. So my take is today we have a role to play together.”

There then followed a panel discussion moderated by Solenne Niedercorn-Desouches, founder of Finscale media, and featuring contributions from Greg Castle, Managing Partner at Anorak Ventures; Jacob Mullins, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures; Yannick Oswald, Partner at Mangrove Capital; Maud Vinet; and Karine Cenci, Head of Cabinet to the Chief Executive at the European Investment Fund.

The discussion focused on the differences between the technology industries in Europe and the US, the current state-of-play with artificial intelligence (AI), how AI has impacted the software industry, the need for re-industrialisation to reduce dependency on 3rd countries such as China and India, the rise of augmented reality technology (such as smart glasses and physical AI in robotics) and the role of the European Investment Fund in helping to develop technology in Europe.

Following the panel discussion, Peter Hopwood welcomed Ahmed Aly from the Luxembourg Space Agency, and Barbara Ries, Félix Even and Caroline Muller from Luxinnovation to announce the names of the start-up companies which had been selected to enter the next edition of the Fit 4 Start programme.

Operated by Luxinnovation, Fit 4 Start provides entrepreneurs with intensive coaching and mentoring, attractive equity-free funding and access to key networks that help them succeed with launching their business venture and scaling it on the European market. In 2025, fifteen startups were selected from a record 495 applications received from nearly 65 countries during the recruitment process.

For the seventeenth edition, there are four categories: Digital; Space; Healthtech; and Defence.

The companies selected for the start-up accelerator are: 

Digital

⁃ Lxplorer

⁃ Blueberry

⁃ Cloudsoul

⁃ Fibersight

⁃ Monnett

⁃ Superpositions

⁃ Enidia AI

⁃ Enstic

⁃ Karimi

⁃ Infratailors

Space

⁃ Nova Lux Orbital

⁃ Naubotix

⁃ Aperio Space Technologies

⁃ Ovia Qore

⁃ Antscape

Healthtech

⁃ Proskope

⁃ Venture Robot

⁃ Solutions

⁃ Slippery Saints

⁃ Bellapause

⁃ LuxAvenor

Defence

⁃ Usil Therapeutics

⁃ Zero Gauss

⁃ Aetherion Space and Defence

⁃ Lanka Robotics

Following the announcement, the event concluded with closing remarks from Cécile Lozenzini, Market Intelligence & MarCom Director at Luxinnovation, and Stéphane Pesch, CEO at LPEA - Luxembourg Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, who thanked the participants and organisers in bringing the event together, which this year welcomed around 4,000 attendees.

Cécile Lozenzini said: “We really believe together that this is this kind of conversation that can help a project, meeting an investor, a company, maybe to partner. Although it is difficult to measure the impact that we have, I am sure that today we create so many good connections.”

The 2027 edition of Luxembourg Venture Days will take place on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 October 2027.