Last week in Lisbon, Web Summit once again turned the Altice Arena and FIL venue into the centre of the tech world and this time, our new product Digital Samba Free was right in the middle of it.
From 10–13 November 2025, Web Summit brought together 71,386 attendees from 157 countries, 2,725 startups from 108 countries, 1,857 investors and 869 speakers, with AI and machine learning dominating the startup landscape. Against that backdrop, our three-person team consisting of Robert Strobl (CEO), Nina Benkotic (Business Development Director) and Dušan Savić (Product Owner), spent an intense few days demoing our flagship B2B product Digital Samba Embedded, a video conferencing API, but also introducing Digital Samba Free, our new privacy-first video calling end-user service built in and for Europe.
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This year’s Web Summit wasn’t just large and well attended; it also felt accelerated. Organisers reported record numbers of investors and a show floor where nearly one-fifth of all exhibiting startups were focused on AI and different use cases of the new technology. Alongside AI, recurring themes included digital sovereignty, the future of media, creator economics and sustainable growth.
Opening Night on Monday evening already captured this mood. Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave reminded the audience just how fast the landscape is shifting and bringing changes with it:
“Ten years ago, it already felt like the world was changing fast, but it’s nothing compared to how fast the world is changing today.”
He added there is the broader shift in global tech power due to the growing dominance of Chinese or Brasilian startups, which are great examples for this multipolar tech world:
“This year, more than any year before, it’s clear that the era of Western tech dominance is fading.”
For a company like Digital Samba, committed to European infrastructure, EU-only hosting and privacy by design, this conversation about new centres of gravity in tech could not have been more relevant.
Digital Samba had a dedicated stand on the first day, making it interesting and intense from the moment the doors opened.
Our stand quickly turned into a small hub for:
Visitors were drawn in by a simple promise: Pre-built, white label, easy to integrate video conferencing API hosted in Europe.
Many attendees told us they were actively looking for alternatives to mainstream meeting tools, either because of compliance pressure (healthcare, education, public administration, financial services) or because they were simply looking for a video meeting option that can be embedded into their website or application.
Nina led countless partner and customer conversations, Dušan walked people through the product’s design choices and roadmap, and Robert anchored the bigger story – why European tech and respect for user privacy and security matter in everyday tools like video calls.
The highlight of our Web Summit week was the launch party for Digital Samba Free, streamed live from our stand.
We introduced Digital Samba Free as:
The crowd around the stand was a mix of long-time friends of Digital Samba, new contacts met via the Web Summit app, and people who had simply seen the words “free European alternative to Zoom and Teams” on the stand and decided to stop.
The energy during the launch was exactly what we had hoped for:
For us, the launch confirmed two things:
The broader programme of Web Summit 2025 underlined why products like Digital Samba Free are timely.
On the creator and media side, tennis legend Maria Sharapova spoke about how AI tools are reshaping athlete preparation and recovery, helping to optimise training and performance with real-time data. On the culture side, creator Khaby Lame brought a human counterweight to the AI hype, reminding the audience that authenticity still matters:
“This is the moment to start doing original content because AI is not everything in the world.”
And throughout the event, sessions on sovereign AI, regulation, payments, trusted infrastructure and the future of media all circled the same core questions:
These are the questions we ask ourselves daily and that make our new product, Digital Samba Free, sit directly in that conversation. It is a small but concrete step towards a world where European users don’t have to trade their data for basic tools like video calls.
Leaving Lisbon, we came home with:
Web Summit’s own numbers tell the story: over 71,000 attendees translated into something more tangible: real conversations, real users trying Digital Samba Free on the spot, and a clear signal that we’re solving a problem people actually feel.
Digital Samba Free is now live and available to everyone at digitalsamba.com – no sign-up, no tracking, just a click to start a meeting. Web Summit 2025 was the perfect place to introduce it to the world.
This was our third Web Summit and our second time in Lisbon – but with the launch of Digital Samba Free, it felt like a new beginning. And judging by the response at our stand, we’re not the only ones who think Europe is ready for something different.