TechCrunch Europe editor Mike Butcher at the Dublin Web Summit last month
The Dublin Web Summit is to take over the running of the prestigious Europas start-up awards, it was confirmed this morning.
UPDATE – Our sources at the Dublin Web Summit offices have intimated that there will be an added regional element to the upcoming Europas. As well as overall awards for various industry segments, each country will have a top award for its best start-up. Stay tuned!
TechCrunch Europe editor Mike Butcher said that in concert with the rise of major start-up web events in Europe such as LeWeb, DLD and the Dublin Web Summit, the event needs to get bigger and bigger.
Butcher began the awards in 2009 and they were instrumental in rewarding and recognising the calibre of European start-ups, including Soundcloud, MindCandy, Peer Index, Nordeus, iZettle, Spotify and Betfair.
“While last year’s Europas awards saw almost 500 people turn up, literally, to a simple bar in West London I’d hired to throw the event in, the next event will need to be bigger and better. So with that in mind I’ve decided to hand over the organisational logistics to a team I know can execute a great event for everyone – Paddy Cosgrave and his web summit team,” Butcher announced this morning on TechCrunch.
Butcher said he will be staying on board as a guiding editorial voice for the direction of the awards and will be MCing at the event as well as chairing the judging panel.
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
The move is another feather in the cap for Cosgrave and his team, which have brought the Dublin Web Summit and its sister event F.ounders in less than three years from a regional event to one of the premier events in Europe and to a scale that competes directly with LeWeb and DLD.
Earlier this year, the first F.ounders event to take place in New York was held at the Nasdaq exchange.
Butcher revealed that The Europas will take place on 22 January in Berlin, Germany, entitled The Europeas Tech Start-up Awards at the Postbahnhof space in the heart of Berlin.
He also revealed that the intention is to keep the event ‘European’ by moving it around Europe. Traditionally, they had been held in London.
Nominations are now open and will close on 30 November.
