About the event.
In 2024, education, gaming, and entertainment stopped being isolated industries — together they form a unified ecosystem competing for attention, content, and monetization. Against this backdrop, Astra Global and Gold Ventures hosted an international online event focused on the most promising projects at the intersection of EdTech, Gaming, and Entertainment.
Startups presented their solutions to a jury of leading experts and investors. All participants took part in in-depth jury sessions, where their projects received detailed professional evaluation. Following this stage, three winners were selected, gaining access to exclusive one-on-one meetings with venture investors.
Event format:
- Startups Battle — project presentations and jury evaluation.
- Investors Panel — discussion of global trends shaping EdTech, Gaming, and Entertainment.
- Individual Pitching Sessions & Q&A — in-depth sessions with the jury for all startups; exclusive investor meetings for the three winners.
EdTech, Gaming & Entertainment: What’s Next? highlighted the strategic role of digital education, gaming ecosystems, and entertainment technologies in the global economy. The event demonstrated how these sectors are converging to create new opportunities for innovation, monetization, and international expansion.
To support teams building the infrastructure of the new digital culture; to accelerate their access to capital; and to foster partnerships between content, technology, and distribution in order to scale innovation globally.
The jury evaluated projects based on the following criteria:
- Innovation & Disruption — ability to transform the market.
- Scalability & Market Fit — growth potential and product relevance.
- Business & Revenue Model — sustainability of monetization.
- Team & Leadership — expertise and leadership capacity.
- Technology Excellence — maturity and uniqueness of technology.
- Impact & Sustainability — long-term value and societal contribution.
- Presentation & Strategic Vision — clarity of strategy and persuasiveness of delivery.
- Regulatory Readiness — preparedness for compliance in regulated markets.
- EdTech: the future of personalized and AI-driven learning.
- Gaming: new monetization models and the rise of immersive formats.
- Entertainment: convergence of streaming, interactive media, and VR.
- Investment trends: where capital is flowing in digital culture.
- Global perspectives: how EdTech and gaming are evolving across the USA, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
- ESG in entertainment: balancing growth, responsibility, and social impact.
Speakers & jury.
Elisabeth von Lichem
Investor, Acton Capital. Invests in scalable and defendable business models in Europe and North America
Gary Fowler
Co-Founder, GSD Venture Studios. Serial entrepreneur and AI investor
Katya Kohen
Managing Partner, 13 Ventures. Seasoned entrepreneur and VC investor based in New York, with a background in regulatory requirements, blockchain, and business strategy
Tess Hau
General Partner, Tess Ventures. Investor and advisor to high performing startups globally, deep tech companies, and extraordinary founders across the world
Kristen Palma
Venture Partner, VU Venture Partners / Stimulo. Market innovation strategist that is dedicated to accelerating high capex sustainable solutions to advance the green economy
Clara Ricard
Analyst, Balderton Capital. Expert in early-stage start-ups
Belieaev Aleksei
Producer and game designer with over nine years of experience in the gaming industry, known for leading ambitious international projects reaching millions of players worldwide.
Suzana Lalicic
Angel Investor | CEO & Founder at Stockografija |Professional B2B Matchmaker| Unicorn Deal Maker
Evgenii Lvov
Team Lead and engineering leader with over 9 years of experience in building and scaling high-load distributed systems in the fintech industry
Winners.
Best Startup
Udi Solomon
Shield-IoT
Best Business Model
Monica Oravcova
NAORIS
Best Product
Vas Diachenko
LoyaltyPlant
What participants said.
Astra Global curated projects with strong economics and clear global ambitions — a rare concentration of quality.
Elisabeth von Lichem
Investor, Acton Capital
The in-depth jury session helped us rethink our roadmap: what to automate, what to localize, and where to pilot.
Muralidhar Somisetty
Founder & CEO of WELLNESYS
The value of the event lay in its candid focus on monetization and regulation. Without this, EdTech and Entertainment cannot scale in 2024.
Clara Ricard
Analyst, Balderton Capital
Partners.
General partner and co-organiser
Partners
