It is the third week of #EUCrowdShow, and we’ve visited 15 cities so far! We’re just over half-way through the trip as we head to 29 countries in total. Each event provides us with an opportunity to hear from entrepreneurs and investors across Europe, and we have already met with more than 350 people!

This week we went to Rome, Italy at PI Campus; Zagreb, Croatia at Hub385; Ljubljana, Slovenia, at Technology Park; Vienna, Austria at Conda; and Bratislava, Slovakia at Hotel NH.

That’s approximately 3,700 kilometres, bringing the grand total travel for the 15 countries approximately 17,000 kilometres! 

Here's a quick summary of our five events in five countries, over five days:

Italy is a large country and a member of the G8, so we were looking forward to meeting participants and discussing their issues first-hand. We found that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a very important role in Italy, and there are more than 3.6 Million of them for a country of 60 Million! Micro businesses with less than 10 employees produce 30% of value added, which is much larger than other EU countries. We enjoyed discussing facts and figures with our friends in Rome and hope to have impacted the crowdfunding discussion!

Croatia, a smaller country of around 4 Million, still has more than 250 startups listed on Angel List. SMEs there add 55% of total value and 67% of total employment. Particularly in the information and communication sector, new ICT has increased productivity and positive impacts!

We were enchanted by the beautiful green country of Slovenia, with a population of 2 Million and 126,000 SMEs. The World Bank Doing Business report ranks Slovenia at 29, up 6 slots since 2015. Again, we saw the value of SMEs for employment, as they provide 95% of jobs in professional fields. One interesting fact is that the number of middle-aged and senior people who are using the Internet has increased dramatically due to a project where young volunteers teach them how to use computers. We approve!

 A bigger country, Austria has approximately 8 Million people and 537 startups on Angel List, with an average valuation of $4M! SMEs provide two-thirds of all jobs, a very large impact, and investment clubs and networks seem to be very prevalent in Vienna!

We ended the week in Slovakia, a country with 5.4 Million people and 390,000 SMEs. Small businesses are prevalent in the economy, providing 70% of jobs. The medium-tech industry is a growing sector, both in terms of output and employment. We enjoyed our time in Bratislava, it was a perfect ending to the 3rd week!

Next week, we take a break from our travels but continue the conversation online. The week of 17 October we’ll be in Lisbon, Madrid, Amsterdam, and Luxembourg.