Kristo Käärmann: Disrupting the Banking Industry from Europe - Pioneers Festival 2013

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! -- DISRUPTING THE BANKING INDUSTRY FROM EUROPE
Kristo Käärmann, Transferwise.com

Kristo Käärmann's startup was the first investment of Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures in a European startup. Transferwise.com is described as the Skype for currency transactions. As they put it: "Bye Bye Banks -- You had your fun."


On 29 to 31 October 2013, Pioneers organized the Pioneers Festival, bringing together the international startup community to Vienna.

Investors Day (29 October) kicked off the Festival and the beginning of the Pioneers Challenge. During the Conference Days (30-31 October), 2,500 guests from all around the world, including 60 renowned speakers like Charles Adler (Kickstarter Co-founder), Adam Cheyer (Apple's Siri Founder) and Chris Barton (Shazam Co-Founder) took part in the Festival on two separate tracks — the Arena and the Academy supported by Konica Minolta.

The TOP 50 technology startups out of a over 670 applicants battled it out for the prize of Pioneers World Tour, with stops in New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Shenzhen and Singapore, as well as the Pioneers Award 2013.

Throughout the Festival, there were heartfelt discussions, critical speeches, interactive workshops and never-before-seen demonstrations regarding entrepreneurship, innovation and technology. Giant steps were taken to generate an epic Festival atmosphere, with locally- and internationally-focused events, entertainment, gaming and a huge Halloween closing party.

Check out our website and get your tickets for Pioneers Festival 2014: http://www.pioneers.io/festival