X Marks the Scale started with a simple question: what does our community actually need next? And who better to answer that than the founders and companies inside it? Their answers were clear: more direct access to experts, better preparation for conversations with investors and corporates, support for entering new markets and, above all, targeted matchmaking with people and organisations relevant to their growth. So we built exactly that.
Hosted at Microsoft HQ in Bucharest, X Marks the Scale brought together over 90 participants, following more than 100 registrations, including 12 expert speakers, 22 corporate representatives, 17 VC, CVC and angel investor representatives, and 40+ startup and scaleup representatives, alongside international market representatives and ecosystem partners. The event reunited founders, alumni, partners and experts connected through STARTUPsX, MoonShotX, Open Horizons, Women TechEU and the wider InnovX ecosystem: different programmes, industries and stages of growth, brought together as one community.
The day began with practical Scale Readiness Sessions covering corporate collaboration, investor readiness, international expansion and AI for scaling, followed by Expert Sessions exploring the investor mindset, real corporate-startup Proofs of Concept and international growth through European scaling programmes. The objective was simple: before creating the right introductions, make sure founders were prepared to make the most of them.
At the heart of the event were the 1:1 Matchmaking Sprints. Ahead of X Marks the Scale, the InnovX team mapped participants according to their industries, needs and growth ambitions to create relevant connections between innovators, corporates, investors and international market representatives. Fintech and RegTech founders met financial institutions, energy and industrial innovators connected with major operators, e-commerce solutions met retail and FMCG players, while scaling companies sat down with investors and potential international partners aligned with their next stage of growth.
The outcome was exactly what the community had asked us for: **conversations with somewhere to go next: **towards investment discussions, corporate pilots, commercial partnerships, new customers and international market opportunities. And the matchmaking did not stop when the event ended: in the days that followed, InnovX continued making introductions between founders, corporates, investors and international market representatives as new potential connections emerged. Because listening to our community is only the first step.
Building around what they tell us they need - and continuing to create those opportunities long after the room empties - is what turns a network into a community.