SIGMA WORLD


Technology can make that process more efficient, and our Match app helps people plan meetings and navigate the event, but it cannot replace the human side of doing business. For us, the real value still comes from getting the right people into the same room and giving them enough opportunities to actually get to know each other.


GIO: Why was Rome chosen as a location for this event? EP: Italy is one of the most important regulated gaming markets in Europe, so there is already a very strong industry reason to be there. Rome also gives us proximity to policymakers, regulators, major operators and a substantial technology and investment community. But we did not choose Rome simply because we wanted another European destination. The ambition is for SiGMA World to be our global flagship. Rome is extremely well connected internationally. It has the infrastructure to host an event of this size and, frankly, it is a city people want to travel to.


We saw the potential during our first edition there. Now we are coming back with a much larger footprint and a more international event. It gives us a base in Europe that can bring together people coming from Latin America, Africa, Asia, North America and the rest of the continent.


GIO: What can you tell me about the speakers at the show? Who stands out as one not to miss? EP: With around 550 speakers across the five stages, it is difficult to reduce to a few names, but there are some people I think really represent the range of what we are building in Rome. Tim Draper is an obvious one. He opens the Main Stage on 3 November, and, after four decades in venture capital, he brings a perspective that stretches from early internet Bitcoin to AI, deep tech and some of the more difficult investment questions emerging now.


On the AIBC side, Charlie Lee is another speaker I am very interested in hearing. Litecoin has been running for fifteen years, which gives him a very different perspective from founders who have only experienced one market cycle. Dr W. Scott Stornetta also brings something unique because his work goes back to the foundations of technology that later became blockchain.


Then you have people representing very different parts of the wider industry. Ivan Montik, founder of SOFTSWISS, brings the operator and technology side of gaming. Clemence Dujardin, Group CEO of MyAffiliates, represents the affiliate and performance-marketing world, while speakers from the Global Finance Stage such as Carla Nemr bring the finance and trading perspective into the same event. That is what I like about the programme. You can start the day listening to someone who has spent decades investing in technology, move into crypto or gaming, then finish with a discussion around affiliates, payments or financial markets. It reflects how much these industries now overlap in practice.


GIO: Of course there is much more than just the exhibition and the speakers, what other activities are there for attendees? EP: A lot. We have never wanted SiGMA to become the sort of event where people walk around an exhibition hall for eight hours and then go back to their hotel.


There are three Startup Pitch competitions, networking dinners, VIP areas, sporting activities and tournaments. This year we also have golf, padel and the first SiGMA Grand Prix in our GoKart arena. The Startup Village gives early-stage companies access to investors, with the finalists pitching live in front of a panel of VCs. We also have four different awards events across the week. The SiGMA World Awards recognise achievements across gaming, the AIBC & FX Awards focus on technology and financial markets, the AGS Awards celebrate the affiliate industry, and the SiGMA Italia Awards are dedicated specifically to the Italian market. They are also important networking evenings in their own right, with dinners,


receptions and charity auctions supporting the SiGMA Foundation. Then there are the charity auctions, receptions and smaller networking events around Rome. Some of the best conversations at SiGMA happen away from a stage or booth, over dinner or during one of those activities. That has always been part of the model: give people enough different environments to meet so that networking does not feel like a sequence of twenty-minute appointments.


GIO NOVEMBER 2026 9


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48