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The two-day event in Albania will bring accelerator graduates together with international investors and corporate leaders to explore funding and commercial partnerships.
By Arjun Mehta, Capital Reporter · London
21 September 2026 · Reported from EU-Startups
Plug and Play Tirana Expo 2026 will take place at the Pyramid of Tirana on 7–8 October, bringing startup founders, investors and corporate executives to the Albanian capital. According to a sponsored report published by EU-Startups, the two-day gathering will mark the completion of the second Plug and Play Tirana Accelerator Programme, with graduating companies pitching on the main stage.
The programme has five sector tracks: health technology and wellness; construction technology, design technology and logistics; marketplaces, e-commerce and mobility; deep technology, government technology and public safety; and AI-powered business software. Alongside the cohort pitches, the agenda includes keynote talks, investor discussions, startup-corporate panels and dedicated networking sessions.
Confirmed participants named by EU-Startups include Electronic Arts co-founder Jeff Burton, Plug and Play senior vice president of global partnerships Jackie Hernandez and Microsoft chief AI architect Fatos Ismali. The international audience is expected to include participants from continental Europe, the United Kingdom and Silicon Valley, alongside founders and ecosystem representatives from Albania and the wider Western Balkans.
Plug and Play Tirana was established to help Albania’s emerging startup sector develop links with overseas markets, EU-Startups reports. Its accelerator gives participating businesses access to mentors, investors, corporations and industry specialists, with support focused on the foundations needed to grow, raise funding and expand internationally. The Expo is the concluding public showcase for its second cohort, rather than a standalone investment programme.
The Albanian-American Development Foundation, known as AADF, has helped enable the initiative. According to EU-Startups, it supports the programme in collaboration with IN Groupe, Piramida Tirana, the Municipality of Tirana and Innovation Hub. Those partners have contributed to delivery and helped connect local startups with international organisations, giving the accelerator a local institutional base as well as access to Plug and Play’s wider network.
The stated ambition reaches beyond the graduating companies. EU-Startups describes the Expo as an opportunity for the wider Albanian and Western Balkan startup community to meet organisations that could provide finance, commercial partnerships, specialist knowledge and routes into new markets. That is an objective of the event, not an announcement of secured investment or signed commercial agreements.
The startup-corporate discussions are intended to address practical collaboration questions. Topics reported by EU-Startups include how young companies and established businesses can work together in healthcare, how AI products can be deployed at enterprise scale, and how marketplace and mobility companies can grow across the Balkans. These sessions place commercial adoption and regional expansion alongside fundraising in the programme.
Corporate and technology participants include Raymond Chow, senior manager for business innovation at Daimler Truck; Sheila Gemin, partner for digital services at KPMG; and QGroup founder Mikael Kretz. Matthias Timm of IFC is also listed among the confirmed participants. Their attendance adds industry and institutional perspectives to a gathering centred on startups, although the source does not assign each person a specific session or announce any partnership commitments.
Keynote subjects will range from AI adoption and digital transformation to health technology, international scaling and the development of technology-led businesses. The source sets out those themes but provides no direct quotations from speakers. Its account therefore establishes what the discussions are intended to cover, rather than what individual participants believe or will recommend.
A scheduled venture capital discussion will examine what Central and Eastern European and wider European investors expect from startups moving beyond acceleration towards international growth. EU-Startups reports that representatives from Storm Ventures, Vitosha Venture Partners, Elevator Ventures and Earlybird will take part. For founders preparing to approach overseas investors, the session offers a chance to hear the criteria those firms say they use when assessing emerging European businesses.
The confirmed investment participants include Orbit Startups managing director Aditya Kathpalia, Vitosha Venture Partners managing partner Max Gurvits, Storm Ventures venture partner Ekaterina Gianelli, Fil Rouge Capital managing partner Julien Coustaury and Alexandra Lazar of Elevator Ventures. Separate investor sessions and networking spaces are planned alongside the main stage, giving founders opportunities for direct conversations beyond the formal panel programme.
The Expo will open with remarks from Plug and Play and AADF. Across the two days, the schedule includes the accelerator cohort’s graduation, before closing with ecosystem discussions, startup recognition and community networking. Cultural activities and informal meetings outside the stage programme are also planned to introduce visiting participants to Tirana’s local community.
People interested in attending can use the registration link included in EU-Startups’ report. The supplied material does not specify ticket prices, a registration deadline or eligibility requirements, so prospective attendees will need to check those details before making arrangements.
For companies considering entry into UK or other European markets, the practical opportunity is to use these meetings to explore investor expectations and potential corporate relationships before committing to expansion. The published programme does not describe UK-specific market-entry support, regulatory guidance or guaranteed funding; its value lies in access to people and discussions that could inform a company’s next commercial steps.
For Western Balkan startups weighing European expansion, meeting investors and potential corporate partners can help clarify the commercial case before committing resources to a new market. Plug and Play Tirana Expo brings those conversations to Albania, with sessions on enterprise AI adoption, regional marketplace growth and investor expectations. UK participation broadens the network available to founders, although the programme is not a dedicated UK-entry service. Companies can approach the event as a place to explore relationships and expansion requirements, rather than expect an immediate funding or market-access outcome.
Source
Original reporting by EU-Startups. This report was written independently for Market Entry Wire.
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