Hard2beat, a Polish VC fund investing in early-stage deeptech companies, is organising THE MOAT, a one-day event for technology startups and venture capital investors. Its inaugural edition will take place on 23 September 2026 at the Central House of Technology in Warsaw.
The organisers aim to showcase Poland’s most promising deeptech companies to international funds and help investors discover startups that often remain outside their usual radar.
THE MOAT will be a private, invitation-only event with no tickets available for sale. It will bring together approximately 200 investors, founders, experts and representatives of the venture capital ecosystem. The programme will include the “Hard Questions” pitch contest, networking sessions, panel discussions, one-on-one meetings and the presentation of the first edition of Hard2beat’s proprietary report on the Polish deeptech sector.
The event’s partner is the Polish Development Fund, an institution supporting Poland’s innovation ecosystem. Rozalia Urbanek, President of PFR Ventures, comments:
We have invested in more than 100 VC and PE funds, which provide financing for companies at every stage of development. Examples include Inovo VC’s seed investment in Ingenix AI and, at the other end of the spectrum, ICEYE’s Series F round, which included capital from TCV, a fund backed by us. Funds such as Hard2beat also play an important role in early-stage financing.
Through THE MOAT, we will be able to help even more companies together. Founders taking their first steps can also use the VC Connect platform, which we organise jointly with PFR. I expect to meet alumni of programmes operating under this initiative at the event in September.
The event’s centrepiece will be a startup competition. Hard2beat reviews more than a thousand technology projects each year, and a carefully selected group of companies with the strongest potential will be invited to take part in the pitch contest. Applications will be open to deeptech startups developing a genuine technological advantage and seeking access to investors who understand the longer development cycles typical of such ventures.
Poland is attracting growing interest from international investors, who recognise its strong talent pool and rapidly expanding economy. At the same time, many of them lack a local network or a sufficiently strong pipeline to make investment decisions. As a result, many valuable projects remain outside their radar.
THE MOAT is designed to shorten that path: in a single day, it will introduce investors to companies that might otherwise take months to discover — or that they might never find at all without local connections in Poland, says Konrad Trzyna, Managing Partner at Hard2beat.
More than 30 international investors have already confirmed their participation, including Earlybird, Lakestar, Kaya VC, and Keen Venture Partners. The organisers are primarily inviting investors interested in deeptech and the CEE region.
Startups can apply to participate in the event and the pitch contest through the event website: themoat.hard2beat.vc.
Hard2beat’s ambition is to establish THE MOAT as a recurring meeting place for funds seeking advanced technologies from Poland. The event is intended not only to showcase the country’s most promising companies, but also to build a lasting bridge between the Polish deeptech ecosystem and international capital.
