After more than a decade of steady growth, Egypt’s startup ecosystem is reaching a moment of reorientation.

This year’s RiseUp Summit 2026, taking place from February 5–7 at the Grand Egyptian Museum, is framed around a simple but deliberate idea: The Turning Point. Not a break from what came before, but a shift in how the ecosystem understands scale, ambition, and responsibility.

For RiseUp, now in its 12th year, the theme reflects a transition from momentum to intent, from building visibility to shaping direction.

From Emergence to Integration

In its early years, the focus was access: to capital, networks, and global reference points. Over time, that effort compounded. Egypt’s startup scene expanded in size, confidence, and reach.

The question now is different. How does an ecosystem move from growth to durability? How do founders, investors, and operators think beyond speed and toward resilience?

RiseUp Summit ’26 positions itself as a space to engage with those questions.

What the Agenda Signals

Rather than centering on a single sector, this year’s summit brings together voices from technology, capital, and the creative economy, reflecting how increasingly interconnected these domains have become.

The speaker lineup includes senior figures from organizations such as AWS, Google, IBM, Shopify, and SoftBank Investment Advisers, alongside global and regional investors from firms including 500 Global and Quona Capital. Their presence signals an ecosystem no longer focused solely on early-stage experimentation, but on scale, execution, and global relevance.

Discussions are expected to cover how founders navigate longer funding cycles, how AI is shifting from product features to infrastructure, and how regional startups transition from local traction to international competitiveness.

Why the Moment Matters

The choice of venue is intentional. Hosting the summit at the Grand Egyptian Museum places the future of entrepreneurship within the context of legacy,  a reminder that reinvention does not require abandoning history, but building on it with purpose.

In a fast-moving global environment, Egypt’s ecosystem is increasingly defined not by how quickly it grows, but by how deliberately it evolves.

RiseUp Summit ’26 is less about announcements and more about alignment, a moment to reassess direction before the next phase of acceleration begins.

RiseUp Summit ’26 takes place February 5–7 at the Grand Egyptian Museum. Further details and registration information are available through RiseUp. Sign up here with promo code WAYA to get 10% off your tickets.