What Bits & Pretzels does

Bits & Pretzels, operated by Startup Events GmbH, is a Munich-based event company that has run an annual three-day founders festival during Munich's Oktoberfest since 2014. The flagship event is capped at 7,500 attendees and brings together approximately 3,000 founders, 1,700 investors, and 600 corporate decision-makers (each with at least €50 million in revenue) for curated networking, masterclasses, speaker sessions, and a final day hosted inside the real Oktoberfest tent at Festhalle Schottenhamel. Application-based ticketing enforces attendee quality across Student (€249), Startup (€499), Scaleup (€999), Investor (€1,999), and Ecosystem (€1,999) tiers.

The core technology product is a web platform and mobile app that opens weeks before the event, enabling 21,000 curated 1:1 meetings, 270+ handpicked Table Captain networking sessions, a startup exhibition of 250 companies, speed-dating sessions, and masterclasses. Supporting the platform is a team of more than 70 trained matchmakers, and the company has expanded into parallel program tracks including the CIO AI Summit, Investor Summit, and CXO Summit. The 2026 edition also added a 'Power Hub' networking initiative and an Innovation Gap Report co-produced with SpeedInvest.

Revenue is generated primarily through tiered ticket sales, with additional income from sponsorship and partner exhibition fees (implied through partner and exhibitor programs). Ticket prices have been held stable across recent editions despite inflation, while the company has widened access through lower-priced student and early-stage tiers. The event is owned and operated by a founder-led management team (Christian Lohmeier, Felix Haas, Bernd Storm van's Gravesande) with no disclosed external funding rounds, indicating a privately financed, organically grown event business anchored to a single annual live moment.

Name

Bits & Pretzels

Legal name

Startup Events GmbH

Website

https://bitsandpretzels.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bits & Pretzels operates an annual three-day founders festival during Munich's Oktoberfest, hosting 7,500 founders, investors, and corporate decision-makers for curated networking, matchmaking, and business development via tiered ticketing and a proprietary platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Conference & Event Services

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry-Specific B2B Trade Show Organizers (THAHABAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Food Festivals & Culinary Events (Ticketed Tastings, Pop-ups) (THAJAGAL)

Keywords

• Founders conference
• Startup networking event
• Investor matchmaking
• Corporate innovation summit
• Tech festival services

Headquarters

HQ city

München

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Bits & Pretzels generates revenue through ticket sales for its annual three-day founders festival. Tickets are sold in multiple tiers based on attendee type: Student (€249), Startup (€499/€399 early bird), Scaleup (€999/€499 early bird), Investor (€1,999/€999 early bird), and Ecosystem (€1,999/€999 early bird). All prices exclude VAT.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Bits & Pretzels organizes an annual three-day founders festival in Munich during Oktoberfest, hosting 7,500 founders, investors, and corporate decision-makers for networking, masterclasses, speaker sessions, and curated business meetings. The event combines a two-day conference with a third day at the real Munich Oktoberfest, supported by a proprietary matchmaking platform and mobile application that enables attendees to schedule 1:1 meetings before the event.

Product overview

Bits & Pretzels is a three-day founders' festival held during Munich Oktoberfest (September 28-30, 2026), hosting 7,500 founders, investors, and industry leaders for networking, learning, and business development. The core product combines an in-person conference with a proprietary networking platform and mobile app. The portfolio includes multiple networking formats (Table Captain Networking, Startup Exhibition, Speed Dating, Side Events, Pitch Corner, Matchmaking Roundtables) and stages (Investors Stage, Visionaries Stage, Inspiration Stage, Arena Stage, Startup & Corporate Collaboration Stage, CIO AI Summit). The event culminates on Day 3 at the real Munich Oktoberfest. Additional offerings include the Golden Pretzel Award pitch competition, masterclasses, and specialized investor programs (LP x Emerging Manager Matchmaking). Tickets are tiered for students (€249), startups (€499), scaleups (€999), investors (€999), and corporates (€1,999).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bits & Pretzels Founders Festival Europe's largest founders' conference held annually in Munich during Oktoberfest (September 28-30, 2026), offering three days of networking, masterclasses, curated speaker sessions, investor matchmaking, and an Oktoberfest networking day for 7,500 founders, investors, and corporate decision-makers.
• CIO AI Summit Dedicated program within the festival for enterprise executives and CIOs featuring exclusive insights on AI implementation in organizations, real-world case studies, and enterprise AI integration strategies.
• Investor Summit and CXO Summit First-ever Investor Summit and CXO Summit launched in 2024, setting a new standard for founder, investor, and corporate executive networking within the festival.

Quantifiable outcome

• €700m capital raised by Personio after exhibiting
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Web Summit: Web Summit is the world's largest tech conference (70,000+ attendees) held annually in Lisbon with regional editions. It is the most direct peer to Bits & Pretzels in format, audience (founders, investors, corporates), and revenue model (tiered ticket sales, sponsor-driven).
• TechCrunch Disrupt: TechCrunch Disrupt is a flagship startup conference featuring the Startup Battlefield pitch competition, investor matchmaking, and major tech press coverage. It targets the same founder-investor-corporate ecosystem as Bits & Pretzels with a comparable networking-first value proposition.
• Slush: Slush is a Helsinki-based annual startup and tech conference drawing 10,000+ attendees including founders, investors, and corporates. It is one of the closest European peers to Bits & Pretzels in audience composition, networking formats, and event-driven go-to-market approach.
• VivaTech: VivaTech is Europe's flagship startup and tech event held annually in Paris, attracting over 150,000 attendees. It directly competes with Bits & Pretzels for European startup and corporate attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors in the same category.
• Money 20/20: Money 20/20 is the leading global fintech conference with a founder-investor-corporate audience similar to Bits & Pretzels. It demonstrates comparable event-driven business model with tiered tickets, sponsor revenues, and curated networking formats.
• Tech.eu Summit: Tech.eu Summit is an annual European tech conference bringing together founders, investors, and policy makers. It is a smaller but directly comparable peer in audience, format, and European positioning to Bits & Pretzels.

Broad incumbents

• South by Southwest (SXSW): SXSW is a much larger Austin-based convergence event spanning tech, music, and film. While broader and not exclusively focused on startups, it competes for similar founder/investor attention and demonstrates how a flagship event can be expanded across multiple verticals over decades.
• Informa Tech (B2B event portfolio): Informa is one of the world's largest B2B events and information services groups operating dozens of tech conferences globally. As a potential acquirer or operating peer, it represents the broader incumbent category in trade-show and conference organization.
• CES (Consumer Electronics Show): CES is the world's largest tech trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association. While not a startup-focused conference, it shares Bits & Pretzels' exhibition-driven revenue model and represents the broader incumbent B2B tech event category.

Emerging players

• Startup Grind: Startup Grind operates a global community and event series for founders with smaller, recurring events. It overlaps with Bits & Pretzels' target founder/investor audience at a different scale and frequency, representing an adjacent emerging player in the startup ecosystem event space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@BitsPretzels
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bits-pretzels
• Xx.com/bitsandpretzels
• Facebookfacebook.com/bitsandpretzels

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bits & Pretzels