Divčibare, 22–24 November 2024 — High in the mountains of Divčibare, 1,000 metres above sea level and away from the pace of everyday business, SEE UP and EY brought together founders, senior advisors and industry experts for three days of intensive work, honest conversations and new perspectives.
The aim was simple: to connect SEE UP Cohort 1 startups with EY’s senior managers and sector specialists, combining the energy and ambition of early-stage founders with EY’s global expertise in strategy, finance, transactions and growth.
What emerged was more than a weekend of mentorship. It was an experience designed to help founders step back from their day-to-day operations, challenge their assumptions and return with clearer strategies, stronger connections and concrete next steps.
Where Entrepreneurial Energy Meets Global Expertise
SEE UP’s sales-driven approach to acceleration and EY’s international expertise create a natural partnership around one shared objective: helping ambitious companies move from early traction toward sustainable, scalable growth.
The Divčibare weekend was an important milestone in that collaboration. Rather than keeping mentorship within the traditional boundaries of meetings and conference rooms, the partnership brought founders and experts together in an environment designed to encourage deeper conversations, open exchange and practical problem-solving.
For the startups, it was an opportunity to access expertise that is often difficult to reach at an early stage. For EY experts, it was a chance to work directly with some of the region’s most ambitious emerging companies and understand their challenges from the inside.
Three Days of Practical Work
The weekend brought together four SEE UP Cohort 1 startups — LampoVet, Better & Better, Moree and Farmit — for a programme built around practical, founder-focused sessions.
Pitch Sessions with Purpose
The weekend began with concise, data-driven pitches from each startup.
Rather than simply presenting their businesses, founders were challenged to articulate their traction, market opportunity, challenges and ambitions. EY experts approached the sessions not only as advisors, but through the lens of potential customers, partners, investors and business leaders.
The result was direct and constructive feedback focused on what each company needed to do next.
Round-Table Deep Dives
The pitches were followed by focused round-table discussions with EY specialists covering areas critical to startup growth — from financial modelling and go-to-market strategy to regulatory considerations, intellectual property and marketing.
The conversations moved quickly from theory to execution.
Founders explored questions such as how to structure international sales, which metrics matter when preparing for the next investment round, how to approach expansion into new markets and when establishing an international entity makes strategic sense.
One-on-One Founder Clinics
The programme then moved into individual sessions, pairing founders with EY mentors for deeper discussions around their specific challenges.
These conversations gave each startup the opportunity to work through its priorities in greater detail and translate the weekend’s insights into concrete action points, relevant introductions and follow-up activities.
The goal was not simply to leave with more advice — but with a clearer roadmap for what comes next.
A Conversation About International Capital
The SEE UP × EY collaboration also created a platform for conversations extending beyond the immediate needs of the participating startups.
As part of the EY Startup Weekend, SEE UP hosted a panel moderated by Teodora Pećanac, CMO of SEE UP, featuring Ib Dyhr Norholm and Lukas Dyhr, principals of a Danish family office with more than 100 investments globally.
The discussion focused on a question increasingly relevant to Southeast European founders: What does it take to attract international capital from emerging ecosystems?
The speakers shared their perspective on why Southeast Europe is increasingly attracting the attention of international investors, what makes emerging markets interesting from an investment perspective, and how founders can position their companies for global capital.
For the SEE UP community, the conversation was an important reminder that building a globally investable company begins long before the fundraising process itself — with the right business model, traction, positioning and international ambition.
Building More Than an Accelerator Network
The Divčibare weekend demonstrated what becomes possible when an accelerator and a global professional services network bring their strengths together.
For SEE UP, partnerships are not simply about adding another name to a network. They are about creating real opportunities for founders to access expertise, markets, investors and relationships that can materially influence their growth.
The EY partnership reflects that philosophy.
It connects SEE UP startups with a global organisation while creating space for meaningful, hands-on interaction between founders and experienced professionals.
And Divčibare was just the beginning.
The Road Ahead
The SEE UP × EY collaboration continues beyond a single weekend. Follow-up workshops, expert sessions and further opportunities for SEE UP startups to connect with EY’s international network are part of a broader effort to strengthen the support available to founders as they scale.
Because for ambitious startups, growth rarely happens in isolation.
It happens through the right people, the right knowledge and the right connections — brought together at the right moment.
SEE UP × EY is built around exactly that idea: connecting regional entrepreneurial talent with global expertise and opening the door to opportunities that can take the next generation of Southeast European companies further.