SHAKA Festival: Biarritz Startup Challenge Brings Investors Face-to-Face with Founders

The SHAKA Festival in Biarritz, France has a unique opportunity for founders to pitch their startups directly to investors. From September 24-26, 2026, the SHAKA Startup Challenge takes place at the Cité de l'Océan, where selected young startups will have a few minutes to convince an audience of investors. This is not just a panel discussion or a networking event - it's a real opportunity for project leaders to pitch their ideas and receive feedback from those who can make a difference.

The SHAKA Startup Challenge aggregates the type of interlocutors that founders want to meet, with confirmed speakers and partners including Sylvain Theveniaud, Hervé Bloch, Francis Lelong, and Rachel Delacour. For Web3 projects, the interest is twofold: not only are there physical representatives from platforms like Binance and Crypto.com, but pitching before generalist funds forces teams to leave jargon aside and defend a use case.

The ticketing system for the festival progresses in steps, with prices ranging from €120 (sold out) to €190 (current rate) to €240 (announced). With code WELOVECOINT, a 20% discount applies, bringing the price down to €152. The question remains: does a pitch contest by the ocean really open doors that an emailed deck would not? Only time will tell.