The Financial Times is winding down The Next Web (TNW)’s tech conference by the end of September after a “strategic review,” confirming the end of one of Europe’s flagship tech gatherings.
TNW held its final event in June at Amsterdam’s NDSM waterfront site, with “over 5,800 registered attendees and over 200 speakers.” While its events and media arms are being shuttered, TNW’s coworking business in central Amsterdam will “operate as usual,” according to the FT.
The move draws a line under a 2019 bet by the FT, which acquired a majority stake in TNW that year. At the time, FT Live global publisher Angela Mackay said: “TNW is an established and profitable business that produces one of the largest and most critically acclaimed tech startup events in Europe.”
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Sifted reports the TNW media team has been shrinking since the end of last year, and the FT has not confirmed how many roles are affected by the shutdown. Attendance rebounded to around 10,000 in 2022–2024 before dropping to 4,500 this year, despite the 5,800-plus registered figure for the final edition.
Manchester-based former TNW editor-in-chief Martin SFP Bryant – now the founder of Big Revolution and PreSeed Now – shared a personal tribute on LinkedIn: “Looks like it’s RIP to TNW, as reported by its Financial Times stablemate Sifted this afternoon. The Next Web shaped my career, my life… it’s very sad to see it die.
“Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and Patrick de Laive built something that was a vital part of tech media for a period and incubated some amazing talent. The conferences were like nothing else out there, and a must-attend for many people.
“I started to tag everyone I loved working with there but the list is just TOO LONG. And I’d miss people out and feel awful about it. Thanks to Zee M Kane for hiring me there back in 2009 and giving me opportunities that have shaped my life ever since.
“At our best, we were lean, nimble, remote by default and ultra-focused. At one point we rose to number 2 on the Techmeme leaderboard, just behind the then unassailable TechCrunch. Happy memories!
“Pour one out for TNW. And my thoughts with everyone affected. Media’s a brutal business these days.”
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Bryant is based in Manchester and previously worked at Tech North, focusing on startups and entrepreneurs across the North of England — underscoring TNW’s links to talent that has helped shape the northern tech ecosystem.
Founded in 2006 by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and Patrick de Laive, TNW grew from 280 attendees at its first event in an Amsterdam church to 17,500 by 2019 – a near-20-year run that helped define Europe’s startup calendar.
