Three years ago I created the concept of the GeeknRolla annual conference to bring together Europe’s technology startups to network with investors and talk about how they create and build themselves. This year we are stepping on the gas pedal. We want to launch 15-20 brand new startups there and our tagline this year is this: “Investor Dealflow. Startup Exposure”.

If you are a European startup in stealth or in private beta and want to launch at GeeknRolla, then fill out this form. The deadline is February 24. Any startup selected to pitch on stage will get one free ticket (for the person pitching) and there is no charge to pitch. We will notify all companies invited to pitch by March 4. If you have not heard from us by that time, your application was not successful. If you wish to attend the GeeknRolla conference you will then have to purchase tickets.

As with last year there is a special emphasis on launching startups and connecting them with investors, who will comprise our judging panels. There will also be a DemoPit for startups to showcase their products. We have some interesting plans to give exposure to even more. The venue will be Park Plaza Victoria, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EQ. The now legendary GeeknRolla Afterparty, which will take place at the amazing, world-famous London nightclub, Pacha, will also help the networking. Ticket holders for the main day-long conference will automatically get in to the after-party, so fear not! We may release a limited amount of After-Party-only tickets at a later date. Details of how to get these will be available in due course, so stay tuned to the GeeknRolla Twitter feed and the event web site.

For sponsorship opportunities please email events director Aléna Dundas ( alena [@] techcrunch.com ) for further details. You can follow any specific updates on the GeeknRolla twitter feed. → Read More

GeeknRolla produced a lot of content from both the speakers and pitches and we’re only now starting to sift through it all. But although it’s hard to get across the atmosphere of fevered activity and conversations in words, this video from the great Hermione Way at TechFluffTV gets it across pretty well. You can catch Hermione as cohost of The Next Web conference next week. → Read More

Well GeeknRolla rocked London for another year and the feedback we’ve had has been incredible. The Twitter stream has been fantastic. There are plenty of pictures, and a few blog posts appearing already.

Congratulations to the winners of the startup competition. The overall winner, chosen by three panels of esteemed judges, was Cortexica. They were followed by iGlue, SongHi, DriveK, and Graph.me. The Audience Choice was Graph.me followed by GameCreds and iGlue. The Audience Choice from the DemoPit companies was LeNewz, followed by iGlue and AllMyApps.

We are working on editing the video from the live stream which our partner Bambuser managed to produce so well (as many have remarked, the sound was great throughout). At one point we had 5,000 viewers on the stream. But meanwhile, we have put together a full roundup of all our coverage of the pitches and presentations, with both blog posts and video which you can jump through to based on the time codes listed below. Enjoy. → Read More

Well, we know some of you have gone through a lot to be here for GeeknRolla in London.

And some have had to hang around in London long longer than you thought.

But we know everyone is here to make this a great day to discuss the wonderful world of tech startups, so here’s our programme for today.

Below you’ll find our live video stream. We’re also live blogging on TechCrunch Europe. → Read More

Well folks, it’s been an interesting weekend of email and phone calls, but the good news is that GeeknRolla is STILL ON tomorrow, and there is not one single damn volcano on the planet, however ash-filled, that can stop us bringing this awesome event to you. The very last tickets and DemoPit tables are available here.

And frankly, we have to pay tribute to you guys. We have been hearing amazing stories of how people are getting to London for tomorrow’s event – from hiring boats, airplanes and even keynote speaker Morten Lund driving to London in a banged up car from Copenhagen. And our live streaming partners Bambuser are on a “#volcanrolla” road trip from Stockholm, overland and sea. Speaker Cédric Giorgi just got the very last ticket available on Eurostar, and Jennifer Lee has been collecting people at Calais to take over by car ferry. Amazing.

Of course, because of the airlines situation, there will be one or two changes to the line-up. But we are working hard to make sure it all goes smoothly, and there will not be a drop in any of the quality of the speakers, and we still have over 400 people confirmed for the event.

For breaking news about GeeknRolla we have fired-up the @GeeknRolla Twitter account to help people with information on travel plans, ticketing and anything else relevant to the event. Please subscribe to it.

And if you cant make the main day but want to party with us and SixNationState, hit the After Party which has a separate ticket.

Here are some more details for you. → Read More

Next Tuesday, GeeknRolla (remember, it’s all one word), the annual conference from TechCrunch Europe which brings together Europe’s technology startups and investors, will, quite literally, rock London.

All the delegate passes are *SOLD OUT*. However, we have begged and pleaded with the venue to cram more chairs into the space. So there will be a final allocation of 25 tickets going online tomorrow at 11am. If you want to come then watch the ticket page like a hawk at that time.

If you are feeling lucky, you can try entering SurveyMonkey’s raffle for a chance to win one Geeknrolla ticket (SM account required) by clicking here.

Right now there are just 35 tickets left to the Afterparty, where another 100 people will be joining us to network, and later on, listen to the awesome upcoming band Six Nation State (@sixnationstate).

During the day an amazing line-up of speakers, panels and startup judges will witness the launch of 15 startups in front of a panel of around 18 judges, while the offstage networking in the DemoPit will be fast and furious. Over 400 people are coming in total. See the programme.

The start-studded line-up includes: Tommy Ahlers, ex-ZYB now Vodafone; Morten Lund, Skype investor & serial entrepreneur; Stefan Glaenzer, Angel; Brent Hoberman, MyDeco & PROFounders; Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp; Mattias Ljungman, Atomico Ventures; Lukas Gadowski, Team Europe; Anil Hansjee, Google; Irena Goldenberg, Highland Capital Partners; Daniel Heaf, 4IP; Ari Wegter, LoveFilm Co-Founder and Alicia Navarro, Co Founder, Skimlinks.

Check out our generous sponsors and partners after the jump. → Read More

We’re just over a week away from GeeknRolla the annual conference from TechCrunch Europe which brings together Europe’s technology startups and investors. We have an amazing line-up of speakers, panels and startup judges on April 20. We’ll be launching around 15 startups in front of a panel of around 18 judges. There will also be a DemoPit for startups not selected to appear on the main stage.

Plus, we just released only 100 tickets to the now legendary Afterparty where you can join the 350+ delegates from the main day – I’d grab one of those before they all go very shortly.

The start-studded line-up includes: Tommy Ahlers, ex-ZYB now Vodafone; Morten Lund, Skype investor & serial entrepreneur; Stefan Glaenzer, Angel; Brent Hoberman, MyDeco & PROFounders; Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp; Mattias Ljungman, Atomico Ventures; Lukas Gadowski, Team Europe; Anil Hansjee, Google; Irena Goldenberg, Highland Capital Partners; Daniel Heaf, 4IP; Ari Wegter, LoveFilm Co-Founder and Alicia Navarro, Co Founder, Skimlinks.

I’d strongly advise you get a ticket. Last year we more than sold out.

We’ll be hearing from of Europe’s best entrepreneurs about how they are building their own companies and with it, the European tech ecosystem. As with GeeknRolla’s fast pace style, the speeches will be fast, furious and fulfilling.

Check out our awesome sponsors and partners after the jump. → Read More

Bebo co-founder Michael Birch has confirmed that he will be joining us at GeeknRolla in London on April 20, the annual London conference for technology startups to launch, network with investors and talk about how they build themselves.

Michael Birch is the Co-founder of Bebo and Birthday Alarm. Birch was raised in North London, England, went to Imperial College, London in Central London, worked in West London and moved to San Francisco in 2002. Michael and his wife Xochi Birch sold Bebo to AOL in March 2008 for $850 million. Since then he has gone on to invest in many other startups and is a champion of the UK/Euorpean tech scene from his bases in the UK and the US.

Anyone who has seen Birch speak will know he tells it like it is. His appearance at GeeknRolla is not to be missed.

Birch is just the latest to join the start-studded line-up of investors and experienced startup founders at GeeknRolla. Our full speaker programme is here. → Read More

This year’s GeeknRolla in London on April 20 will, in a word, be awesome. I created the concept of this this annual conference to bring together Europe’s technology startups to network with investors and talk about how they create and build themselves. There’s a heavy educational component, if you will. So if the cool kids will be at TechCrunch Disrupt in May, you can bet they’ll but out in force in London in April at GeeknRolla.

Our speaker programme is below. This year there is a special emphasis on launching startups and connecting them with investors. As you can see we’ll be launching around 15 startups in front of a panel of around 18 judges. There will also be a DemoPit for startups not selected to appear on the main stage.

[UPDATE: We are now sold out of tickets to the day programme. There are now less than 100 tickets to the now legendary Afterparty where you can join the 400+ delegates from the main day - I'd grab one of those before they all go very shortly.]

It’s an amazing line-up including: Tommy Ahlers, ex-ZYB now Vodafone; Morten Lund, Skye investor & serial entrepreneur; Stefan Glaenzer, Angel; Brent Hoberman, MyDeco & PROFounders; Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp; Mattias Ljungman, Atomico Ventures; Lukas Gadowski, Team Europe; Anil Hansjee, Google; Irena Goldenberg, Highland Capital Partners; Daniel Heaf, 4IP; Ari Wegter, LoveFilm Co-Founder and Alicia Navarro, Co Founder, Skimlinks.

I’d strongly advise you get a ticket. Last year we more than sold out.

We’ll be hearing from of Europe’s best entrepreneurs about how they are building their own companies and with it, the European tech ecosystem. I can pretty much guarantee that the speeches will be fast, furious and fulfilling. → Read More

Tommy Ahlers, founder of ZYB which was acquired by Vodafone for €31.5m in 2008 – will be keynoting at this year’s GeeknRolla in London on April 20. GeeknRolla is an annual London conference for technology startups to launch, network with investors and talk about how they create and build themselves.

Before founding ZYB, where he has held the position of CEO since the company’s inception, Ahlers spent six years in strategy and management, partly in the mobile industry. He was previously with McKinsey & Company for more than four years, where he served as an engagement manager working with mobile operators to shape their strategies. In addition to ZYB, he also founded another start-up which provided a global SMS-service to mobile users.

He’ll be joined by Morten Lund, among others. We’ll be rolling out the rest of our speaker programme next week. → Read More

TechCrunch Europe is plotting the next series of events we’re planning this year.

But we’re going to need your help.

We’re looking for speakers and startups to appear at our events, and we’re especially interested in new startups planning to launch (read on about why).

Meanwhile we’ve set up ticketing sites for you now so you can actually go and get early bird ticket prices right now. See below for details.

So far this year we’ve partnered with or created events in Istanbul and Barcelona for tech startups. The next series of events require YOU to get as involved as you can.

These take us to the Summer, after which we’ll be hitting other cities.

In all cases, here’s what we want: → Read More