One of the best parts of my job is discovering lesser-known cities and exploring their tech and startup ecosystems. Often, it's the places that attract the least attention that leave the biggest impression. Last week I travelled to Luxembourg for Nexus Luxembourg 2026.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Despite covering European startups every day, I rarely receive pitches from Luxembourg-based companies.
But with a population of around 690,000, Luxembourg has quietly built many of the ingredients founders need to scale internationally, including access to international investors, European institutions, and a highly multilingual workforce. People from over 170 nationalities live in the country, and English, French, and German are widely used in business, making it a compelling base for startups to scale across Europe.
Further, Luxembourg is also increasingly promoting itself as a competitive innovation hub for European tech. Central to the ecosystem are investments in AI infrastructure, high-performance computing, and data centres.
Luxembourg’s flagship international summit, Nexus Luxembourg, has rapidly evolved since its founding in late 2023 into the country's largest business, technology, and AI event.
