RiseUp Summit '26Summit Guide
Three days, one square kilometre.
Venue & Access
The Grand Egyptian Museum.
The thirteenth edition runs at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, out on the Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road beside the plateau. Stages, masterclass rooms and the exhibition floor all sit inside one complex, which is the whole point: the summit is walkable end to end, and the walk between two sessions is where half of it actually happens.
Hall assignments and the on-site map are published closer to the date. Until then, plan around the complex rather than around a room.
- Venue
- Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)
- Where
- Giza, Cairo — Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road
- Dates
- 26–28 December 2026
- Getting around
- One complex, walkable end to end
Grand Egyptian Museum
Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road, Giza
Getting there
60–90 min
From Cairo International Airport
The east side of the city to the plateau, right across town. Leave more time than the map offers on the mornings of the 27th and 28th.
40–60 min
From Downtown and Zamalek
Straight out along the Desert Road. Ride-hailing runs all day and is the simplest way to do it without a car.
15–30 min
From Giza and Sixth of October
The closest beds to the venue, and by some distance the shortest morning.
Parking on site
By car
Parking is signed from the Desert Road approach. Capacity is finite and the opening morning fills it, so the shuttle is usually faster.
Access
Doors07:00 daily, floor closes 19:00
- Step-free throughout: every stage, masterclass room and stand on the exhibition floor is reachable without stairs.
- Accessible parking and drop-off at the main entrance, closest to accreditation.
- A quiet room off the main concourse, signed, open for the whole run.
- Stewards carry yellow lanyards and can route you anywhere on site — ask one rather than the map.
What to Expect?
Six things, running at once, for seventy-two hours.
Nobody sees all of it. This is what each part is and where to find it, so you choose what you came for before you arrive rather than in a corridor.
Stages
Five stages running in parallel from the opening keynote to the closing session. The main stage carries the billed names; the other four run the content tracks.
Masterclasses
Ninety minutes, one room, thirty seats. Working sessions rather than talks, capped and booked in advance.
Exhibition floor
Three hundred startups showing product to the room rather than pitching into a void. Open the full length of each day.
Investor meetings
Scheduled one-to-ones between founders and the funds on the floor, booked once your pass is live.
Satellite events
Dinners, demo nights and tours across Cairo on the evenings around the three days, hosted by partners and the community.
Meetups
Twenty people, one hour, one subject, no stage. Proposed by attendees and run in the small rooms off the concourse.
Satellite Events
The city, after the floor closes.
The summit does not stop at 19:00. Satellite events run across Cairo on the evenings around the three days, hosted by partners, funds and the community rather than by us.
Startup Experiences
What a startup actually does here.
Three hundred companies exhibit. The stand is the least of it — these are the five things worth planning your three days around.
Exhibit on the floor
Application, then a stand fee by stage
A stand for the full run, in the hall your sector is grouped into rather than wherever there was space. The grouping is what makes the floor navigable for the people you want standing in front of you.
Pitch on stage
Open to exhibitors, shortlisted
Five minutes in front of the room and the funds in it, on a stage rather than in a side room. Shortlisted from the exhibiting cohort.
Investor matchmaking
Included with an exhibitor pass
Scheduled one-to-ones with the funds on the floor, matched on stage and sector rather than on who queued first. Twenty minutes each, booked in the app.
Mentor hours
Included with any pass, first come
Thirty minutes with an operator who has already done the specific thing you are stuck on. Booked against a named person and a named problem, never a topic.
The clinic
Walk-up, no booking
Legal, tax, hiring and licensing desks staffed for the whole run. Walk up with the question you have been putting off since the last raise.
Meetups
Twenty people, one hour, no stage.
Meetups are proposed by attendees and run in the small rooms off the concourse. There is no speaker and no deck — somebody puts a subject on the board, and whoever cares about it turns up.
Sat 2611:00
Fundraising in a flat market
Lena Adler
Northbound Ventures20 seats
Sat 2614:00
Hiring your first ten
Omar Hassan
Marfa Logistics20 seats
Sat 2616:30
Selling into Saudi
Open host
24 seats
Sun 2710:00
Fintech licensing in Egypt
Karim Fahmy
Meridian Bank18 seats
Sun 2712:30
Building Arabic-first products
Open host
24 seats
Sun 2715:00
Climate tech in MENA
Open host
20 seats
Sun 2717:30
Seed to Series A, honestly
David Mercer
Orbit Cloud20 seats
Mon 2811:00
Solo founders
Open host
16 seats
Mon 2814:30
Cheque-writing for operators
Open host
18 seats
Guide to Egypt
You did not fly this far for a conference centre.
Three days on the floor, and the oldest city on anyone’s itinerary outside the door. What to do with an evening, a morning before the doors open, or the spare day either side of the three.
Before you fly
- Entry
- Many nationalities can get a visa on arrival or an e-visa before travelling; some need one issued in advance. Check your own passport rather than a colleague’s.
- Currency
- The Egyptian pound (EGP). Cards work almost everywhere in Cairo — keep some cash for taxis, tips and small shops.
- Weather
- December is Cairo’s mild season: warm in the middle of the day, genuinely cold after dark. Bring a jacket for the satellite events.
- Language
- Arabic. English is standard in business and across the site, and every session runs in English unless it is billed otherwise.
- Getting around
- Ride-hailing apps cover the whole city and are the simplest way to move. Traffic is the constraint, never distance — budget by the clock, not the map.
- Power
- Type C and F sockets at 220V. Bring an adapter if you are coming from the UK or North America.
- Time
- EET, UTC+2, with no daylight saving to think about in December.
- Tipping
- Small tips are customary and expected for service. Keep small notes on you.
26–28 December 2026 · Cairo
The Turning Point
Three days in Cairo with twenty thousand people who are building the same thing you are.