EU-Startups Joins MeOut Group to Strengthen Visibility for European Founders

• MeOut Group acquired EU-Startups, preserving editorial independence and expanding European startup media reach
• EU-Startups, founded in 2010, presents a key platform connecting founders, investors, policymakers
• The partnership strengthens visibility, global networks, and community-driven initiatives for early-stage European startups
• The alliance creates synergies promoting cross-border collaboration and ecosystem integration

This November, it was announced that MeOut Group—the Budapest-based innovation and media company focused on entrepreneurship education and community building—acquired EU-Startups, a leading European media platform that covers startup news, funding, and ecosystem developments and organizes EU‑Startups Summit, one of the continent’s regular flagship startup events. The parties specify that the acquisition doesn’t presuppose any changes to EU-Startups’ editorial staff or policies.

MeOut Group and Its Global Innovation Footprint

MeOut Group began in 2013 as a small initiative focused on education and innovation. Over 15+ years it has grown into a broad, international organisation headquartered in Budapest, with additional offices in Brussels, Copenhagen, and now in Barcelona. The organization expanded from offering youth‑focused educational mobility and vocational‑education programs to launching and managing a diversified portfolio of innovation‑oriented activities including startup incubation and acceleration, hackathons, challenge programs (such as HackMeOut or Challenge MeOut), investment support via MeOut Invest, and global training initiatives.

In doing so, MeOut built a global footprint — working across dozens of countries — and positioned itself as a bridge between talent, education, entrepreneurship, and cross‑border collaboration in Europe and beyond. In 2025, MeOut Group expanded its presence in the European startup media landscape by acquiring EU‑Startups, integrating a respected content & events brand into its broader ecosystem while promising to preserve editorial independence and long‑term stability.

‘As our initiatives broaden in scale and geographical reach, we identify a growing need for stronger global visibility, more coherent knowledge transfer, and enhanced ecosystem integration to ensure that founders and stakeholders benefit from timely, relevant, and accessible insights,’ MeOut Group’s CEO Attila Sándor shares

EU-Startups: From Passion Project to Ecosystem Pillar

In turn, EU-Startups stands among Europe’s leading sources of startup insights, offering both founders and other ecosystem stakeholders a reliable reference point for trends, opportunities, and market developments. Founded in 2010 by Thomas Ohr as a side‑project with the ambition of empowering European founders with visibility and a dedicated media voice. For the first five years the platform was run in evenings outside a full‑time job, during which time Mr Ohr personally wrote the first ~1,500 articles driven by a passion for European tech entrepreneurship. In early  2016, he decided to commit full time to the project, relocated to Barcelona, founded a media company to house it, and began expanding the team — a turning point that allowed steady growth in editorial output and audience reach. Over 15 years, the site published more than 12,700 articles.

‘Over the past 15 years, the core mission of EU-Startups has become more focused as our essence remains the same. When we started, the goal was simply to spotlight interesting founders and early projects that weren’t getting enough visibility. Today, that mission has matured into a broader commitment to help Europe’s startup ecosystem grow in a more connected, informed, and ambitious way. We’ve moved from being a small publication to becoming a platform that brings founders, investors, corporates, and policymakers into the same conversation. The tools have changed, the reach has grown, but the intention has always been to support the people shaping Europe’s innovation landscape,’ Mr Ohr tells ITKeyMedia.

Indeed, for early-stage and scaling companies, strong visibility and dependable information often determine the pace at which they can grow, raise capital, and engage with relevant partners. A credible media platform therefore plays a critical role in reinforcing transparency, strengthening connectivity, and supporting the overall health of the innovation landscape.

Strategic Alignment for Strengthening the Foundations of Startup Growth

‘This acquisition is closely aligned with MeOut’s long-term strategy to integrate practical innovation and education initiatives with a platform capable of amplifying startup achievements, showcasing emerging markets, and strengthening cross-continental ecosystem connections. As MeOut’s activities expand in scale and geographic reach, it becomes increasingly clear that supporting founders effectively requires more than strong programmes and partnerships. It also requires credible visibility and access to the right audiences at the right time,’ Mr Sándor points out.

By integrating EU-Startups, MeOut Group is strengthening the core elements that drive startup success: meaningful exposure, access to international networks, and visibility that reaches investors, corporates, and ecosystem leaders across Europe. This acquisition reinforces MeOut Group’s commitment to advancing the success of startups globally and ensuring they have the visibility, connections, and strategic support required to grow in an increasingly competitive and interconnected innovation landscape.

To be more specific, MeOut Group’s involvement with Global Startup Awards (GSA) plays an important role in explaining the strategic logic behind acquiring EU-Startups. Apparently, GSA is the world’s largest independent startup competition platform, identifying top founders and ecosystem players across more than 150 countries. By adding EU-Startups, one of Europe’s most trusted startup media outlets, MeOut Group is connecting a global talent pipeline with a powerful European visibility engine.

In this synergy, GSA brings thousands of high-potential startups into the spotlight each year, and EU-Startups provides the editorial, community, and event platforms to showcase these stories to an audience of more than 400,000 monthly readers. Namely, GSA finalists and winners can gain European exposure through EU-Startups, while the media platform benefits from a continuous stream of high-quality, international content.

Event synergies also emerge naturally. The first annual EU-Startup Summit took place in 2014 in Munich, and later years saw the event move to Berlin before settling in Barcelona (pre‑pandemic). The format stays the same, and next year’s EU-Startups Summit will happen in Malta for the third time on May 7-8th, with 2,500 of Europe’s top founders, startup enthusiasts, and investors. The Summit proved itself year after year as a connector for founders, policymakers, and corporate innovators looking for curated spaces where they can exchange ideas and get practical support. Thus, EU-Startups Summit and GSA award gatherings can complement each other through joint stages, showcases, and cross-border networking.

Beyond Media: A Unified Ecosystem Strategy Across Europe

‘Looking at how the ecosystem evolves, there’s definitely space for EU-Startups to play a more active role beyond media. One can absolutely imagine EU-Startups expanding into more structured community-driven initiatives. Europe needs initiatives that close gaps: helping early-stage founders understand regulation, granting scale-ups access to the right corporate partners, and enabling policymakers to stay closer to what entrepreneurs actually need. These are areas where a platform like ours can make a meaningful contribution,’ Mr Ohr comments.

‘Both platforms strengthen MeOut’s EU project activities by improving communication, dissemination, and founder engagement across regions. Together, EU-Startups and GSA enable MeOut to operate a truly end-to-end ecosystem strategy from discovering and celebrating talent to promoting it globally and connecting it with European opportunities. This combined capability significantly amplifies MeOut’s mission of empowering innovators and building bridges across international startup ecosystems,’ Mr Sándor adds.

The Impact of the Partnership

To assess the success of this acquisition, the partners will turn to KPIs that reflect growth, community impact, and long-term value creation. The priority is to see a stronger, more engaged European startup community, higher visibility for founders, and improved outcomes for partners and readers. Overall, the addition of EU-Startups is expected to  strengthen MeOut Group’s event participation, expand its international reach, and increase meaningful interactions across programs.

‘We will also evaluate how effectively EU-Startups supports MeOut’s broader innovation activities from investments into early stage startups to innovation ecosystem building. Ultimately, success means that entrepreneurs benefit more, partners gain more value, and the entire European startup landscape becomes more connected through our joint efforts,’ Mr Sándor adds.

The Road Ahead Toward Europe’s Startup Narrative

It becomes apparent that education and ecosystem-building today are equally important as reporting the news. So while Mr Ohr assures that media will remain EU-Startups’ foundation, exploring more interactive, community-focused formats feels like a natural progression for the years ahead.

‘Looking ahead, amplifying Europe’s entrepreneurial spirit means making sure that great ideas emerging from anywhere in Europe can find the audience, support, and momentum they need to scale. Concretely, that means continuing to highlight underrepresented regions, backing founders tackling real problems, and creating spaces where meaningful connections can happen at a European level. It also means championing a mindset that embraces risk, collaboration, and long-term thinking. If we do our job well, more entrepreneurs will feel that Europe is not only a place to start up, but also a place to grow globally,’ EU-Startups’ founder concludes.

The partnership between MeOut Group and EU‑Startups marks a significant step in strengthening Europe’s startup ecosystem by combining credible media coverage, global visibility, and structured community support. BThrough the integration of EU‑Startups’ trusted platform with MeOut’s international innovation network, founders gain unparalleled access to investors, corporates, and cross-border opportunities. Ultimately, this alliance underscores the growing importance of bridging information, connections, and practical support to empower Europe’s next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.