Istanbul Ignited by Slush'D 2026

Following its 2025 debut, which attracted more than 1,700 attendees and 75 global investment funds and facilitated over 1,000 investor-founder meetings, the event is scaling up this year.

What to expect

The 2026 program will focus on three main themes:

• Sovereignty & Resilience, looking at more independent technology infrastructure and supply chains;
• AI as Infrastructure, exploring AI’s growing role as a foundation for new products and business models;
• The Human Edge, examining the importance of creativity, judgment, and intuition as AI capabilities expand.

The announced speaker and participant lineup includes representatives from Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Anthropic, BEK Ventures, ElevenLabs, General Catalyst, HV Capital, Index Ventures, Molten Ventures, Mubadala, Neko Health, OpenAI, Oura, PIF, Scopely, Shorooq, Speedinvest, and others.

Among the confirmed speakers are Zhenya Loginov, Partner at Accel; Ekin Doğuş Çubuk, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Periodic Labs; and Judith Dada, Co-CEO of Langdock and Senior Partner at Visionaries. More speakers are expected to be announced ahead of the event.

The three-day program begins on October 12 with an invite-only Investor Day and Hackathon, followed by the main conference on October 13–14 at Rixos Tersane Istanbul.

Organized as part of the wider Slush’D network, Istanbul Ignited aims to connect Turkish and regional founders with investors and technology companies across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Get you ticket here.