In Biarritz, the scene of SHAKA Festival is not reserved for headliners. From September 24 to 26, 2026, the SHAKA Startup Challenge gives selected start-ups a few minutes to convince, live, a room where investors are seated in the front row. For a founder, crypto or not, this may be the real reason to make the trip. Tremplin.io is a publishing partner, supporting discount code.
In brief
- The SHAKA Startup Challenge allows selected startups to pitch on stage in front of investors, during the three days of the festival (September 24-26, 2026, Cité de l’Océan, Biarritz).
- The festival brings together a sought-after profile of investors and operators: Allianz Accelerator, Le Fund, Alegria Groupe, BPI France on the partner side.
- A Web3 partner village (Binance, Crypto.com, Polkadot, Solana, CES Web3 Tokenization Village) places crypto projects in direct contact with funds.
- Ticketing in waves: Early Bird €120 sold out, Regular €190 in progress, Last Wave €240 to come.
- The code WELOVECOINT reduces the Regular to €152 (−20%), within the limit of a partner quota of 100 tickets.
👉 With the code WELOVECOINT, benefit from −20% on your 3-day ticket, reserve your place here.
A pitch competition, not a simple round table
Many tech events put startups on stage for photos. The SHAKA Startup Challenge aims for something else: to put project leaders in a real fundraising situation, facing people who write checks. We quickly mentioned this Challenge in our overview of the event; it deserves attention, because it is the point where the “casual” format of the festival turns into a concrete opportunity.
The mechanics remain classic in principle (selection in advance, limited speaking time, exchanges with the audience), but it takes on a particular color in the decor of the City of the Ocean. Selection details and the 2026 jury have not yet been publicly communicated; interested founders therefore have every interest in monitoring the organizer’s announcements in the weeks preceding. What is acquired is access: a festival ticket opens the entire program, Challenge included.
Who is in the room: the investor profile that makes the pitch valuable
A pitch is only as good as the audience it targets. However, SHAKA brings together precisely the type of contacts that a founder seeks to meet. Among the speakers and confirmed partners: Sylvain Theveniaud, who heads the Allianz Accelerator, Hervé Bloch, president of Le Fund, Francis Lelong, serial entrepreneur who has gone through several adventures and today at the head of Alegria Groupe, and Rachel Delacour, CEO of Sweep. On the institutional side, the presence of BPI France anchors the ecosystem of public financing of innovation.
For a Web3 project, the interest is twofold. On the one hand, the partner village brings together Binance, Crypto.com, Polkadot, Solana and the CES Web3 Tokenization Village: the crypto infrastructure is physically present. On the other hand, pitching to generalist funds requires you to break away from jargon and defend a use case, an often beneficial exercise for teams used to only speaking to native crypto investors. A clarification of use: the platforms present are there as sponsors or exhibitors, without this being a recommendation, and some of their services remain subject to restrictions depending on the jurisdiction.
How much does it cost, and what the code changes
Access requires a single ticket valid for three days, meals, drinks, sports activities and evenings included. Ticketing is progressing in stages: the Early Bird at €120 is sold out, the Regular price at €190 is the current one, and a final Last Wave level at €240 has been announced. In other words, each week of waiting brings you closer to the highest rate.
With the code WELOVECOINTthe reduction of −20% applies to the current rate, i.e. €152 instead of €190 Today. The code is capped at a partner quota of 100 tickets and stops as soon as this threshold is reached, or at the end of the event. For a founder who comes to pitch (or simply identify the right funds before raising), it is an entry ticket to be compared to the cost of a classic investor meeting.
That leaves the question every team asks before blocking out three days: Does a pitch competition by the ocean really open doors that a deck sent by email wouldn’t? The answer has less to do with the format than with the follow-up given after the festival. To measure it, we will have to look, by the end of the year, at how many projects passed through the Biarritz scene will have transformed the essay. This is also what we said about the “anti-conference” format of SHAKA: the real indicator is the deals signed afterwards, not the atmosphere on site.
👉 Book your SHAKA Festival Biarritz 2026 ticket and enter the code WELOVECOINT to payment for −20%. Offer subject to availability of partner quota (100 tickets).
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