🛥️ FOMO Berlin: Welcome Back to Berlin — A Founder Boat Cruise | 18.08. - 24.08.

Weekly newsletter keeping you up to date on the coolest events for tech & culture in Berlin

Author

Cephas from FOMO
August 17, 2026

Hey Berliners,

Summer holidays in Berlin are slowly closing down. But we never left! Are you back? The boat's waiting on the 27th, sunset over the Spree in partnership with Qonto, seventy names on the list already. Founder or investor, then get your spot.

The scene didn't take August off either. Berlin's omni:us got folded into Dortmund's adesso this week, claims AI wired straight into core insurance. Moss quietly crossed a billion in valuation. And down in Cologne, Mirko Novakovic, the man who sold Instana to IBM for half a billion, turned Dash0 into Germany's second unicorn of the year, then spent this morning buying the observability team Polar Signals outright.

SUPERPUBLIC just opened Batch 001, Berlin's own Big Brother for startups: four founders move in, cameras never off, six weeks live to Demo Day. More founders are building in public now, and Batch 001 turns that into free distribution. Lovable makes the case, a tool that builds you a website in seconds, built itself in the open from Stockholm, and just raised $400 million at a $13.3 billion valuation. Strong product, stronger distribution. Genuinely exciting to watch.

In the following weeks, we will meet you at Barry's or our Back to School Boats party.

And our next FOMO Event 🚨

  • Fri. Aug. 21: FOMO x BARRY'S 💗 | 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: FOMO takes over Barry's Red Room for the first time. 50 people, one hour in the world's most iconic workout, then snacks, drinks, and the conversations that actually stick.

  • Thu. Aug. 27: FOMO x Qonto: Back to School Boats Party 🚤 | 6 PM – 10 PM: Summer's over, the boat's back. FOMO's annual return to the water, teamed up with Qonto this year. Skyline, drinks, seventy founders who matter. Sunset does the rest.

P.S. Don't miss our Carve Out section at the bottom of today's newsletter. 👀

Learn more about us here: FOMO Media Kit.

PS: Check out our after-movie from our latest Wellness Leaders Gathering event with NordicTrack - FOMO 📺.

Week of August 17 — We’re here so you don’t have FOMO.

FOMO Off-Market connects a small number of companies with exceptional people from our network — no noise, just curated intros. Apply if you want in.

FOMO Sponsor 🤝 : Coup

Co-Founder Setup, Unfiltered is a free live session on founder agreements, vesting, and what really happens when a co-founder leaves, hosted by Coup and season5. Session held in German.

Founding with someone else means sharing the upside and the risk. Sign up for September 8, 11:00 AM to learn how to set that up right from day one.

And if you’re the type who likes an unfair advantage, plan your event schedule smarter with FOMO Berlin Insider.

📨 Stay subscribed to FOMO247 and keep an eye out for more exciting events and opportunities we’ve got in the works. Trust me, you won’t want to miss what’s coming next! 😉 

  • FOMO Berlin Sponsoring - Join Qonto, LIQID, Project A, and many more and be the next company to be featured to 20000+ weekly Berlin readers (VC-backed founders, VC, senior operators) - fill out this form.

What did FOMO last week 📸 

500+ people. 50% founders. One rooftop pool party. Built in 6 days. Why? Because IRL community matters. Next up: FOMO on a boat. ☀️🚤

FOMO Opportunity Spotlight 🔦 :

  • R&D Social Run: 5km Innovation Loop 🏃 | Mon. Aug. 24: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: Coup's monthly loop along the Spree. Founders, researchers, developers, investors, and the curious ones who tag along. Nobody gets dropped. Refreshments and a lottery surprise after. Coup Office, Oranienburger Straße 23, Berlin.

  • Forward Festival Berlin 2026 🎨 | Thu. Aug. 27 – Fri. Aug. 28: Two days, three stages, 50+ speakers on where creativity is headed. Sagmeister, Anton & Irene, Mr. Bingo, FutureDeluxe. Talks, workshops, a magazine release party to close night one. Save 15% with code FOMO15.

  • Sep. 4 to 8: IFA Berlin 2026 📺 | 5 days, doors 9:30 AM: The world's largest home and consumer tech stage. 1,900+ exhibitors, 220K attendees, product launches before they hit shelves. We are giving 20 B2B tickets away to our paid FOMO Insider subscribers. DM us.

Upload your event and reach 20000+ weekly Berlin + Munich readers. Or just connect your event with our Lu.ma - Fomo Berlin Calendar. 

The FOMO Berlin week 💙 (18.8. - 24.8):
FOMO Top Picks of the Week 🔥

These are the events I would attend if I find the time:

  • AI Builders Berlin – RAG & Agents Edition 🤖🧠 | Tuesday, 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM: Explore RAG, AI agents, developer tools, semantic search, and practical AI building through demos, technical talks, pizza, drinks, and networking.

  • FOMO x BARRY'S 💗 | Friday, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: FOMO takes over Barry's Red Room for the first time. 50 people, one hour in the world's most iconic workout, then snacks, drinks, and the conversations that actually stick.

  • TIO TIO x Gründerszene – Rooftop Padel & Networking 🎾 | Sunday, 1:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Join founders, VCs, and startup enthusiasts for competitive rooftop padel, networking, drinks, and connections above Berlin.

All Day Festivals & Conferences ✨

  • Fri Aug 20 – Sun. Aug 23: FLYLEAF Festival 2026 – Small Press, Books & Zines 📚 | 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM, Sat & Sun 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Discover independent publishers, artists, zines and books through exhibitions, workshops, readings, performances, discussions, and creative encounters.

  • Thu. Aug. 20 – Sun. Aug. 23: European Defense Tech Festival - European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH) 🛡️| 12:00 PM & 5:00 PM: A four-day European defense technology festival bringing builders, startups, investors and industry leaders together for demonstrations.

  • Sat. Aug. 22 – Sun. Aug. 30: radioeins Parkfest 2026 🎉 | Various times: Nine days of free concerts, comedy, readings, shows, open-air dancing, children’s activities, sports, and entertainment for all ages.

Tuesday 18th
Wednesday 19th
Thursday 20th
FOMO Upcoming Top Events & Opportunities 💯 :

  • Thu. Aug. 27: FOMO x Qonto: Back to School Boats Party 🚤 | 6 PM – 10 PM: Summer's over, the boat's back. FOMO's annual return to the water, teamed up with Qonto this year. Skyline, drinks, seventy founders who matter. Sunset does the rest.

  • Thu. Sep. 10: Merantix Developer Day 2026 🤖 | 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM:
    Engineers, researchers, and applied scientists gather at the frontier of AI, again. Full stack talks, deep dives, hands on sessions. New architectures to physical AI, drug discovery. Approval only.

  • Wed. Sep. 9: OpenAI Builder Lounge Berlin 🤖 | 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM: OpenAI and Parloa host a night of building. Live Codex demo, engineers on hand, local founders and CTOs in the room. Bring a laptop, bring an idea. Approval required. Berlin, address on approval.

Friday 21st

  • South African Pop-Up: A Little Cape Town in Berlin - Studio Kloof 🇿🇦 | 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM: A spontaneous South African pop-up with Cape Town DJs, local bites, cold drinks, good music, and a relaxed afternoon-to-evening atmosphere.

  • Bite Club Berlin: One Big Bite 🌮 | 5:00 PM – Late: Eighteen food traders, the BC Sound System, and Badeschiff's pool doubling as your dance floor. Bite Club's flagship street food party, back for one more round this summer. Wine deck, cocktails, six euros in.

  • FOMO x BARRY'S 💗 | 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: FOMO takes over Barry's Red Room for the first time. 50 people, one hour in the world's most iconic workout, then snacks, drinks, and the conversations that actually stick.

Saturday 22nd
Sunday 23rd
Monday 24th

  • R&D Social Run: 5k Innovation Loop 🏃 | 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: Coup's monthly loop along the Spree. Third edition. Researchers, developers, founders and the not yet runners among them, moving together, ideas included. Refreshments and a lottery surprise after. Coup Office, Oranienburger Straße 23, Berlin.

FOMO Sponsor 🤝 : IFA

Upload your event and reach 20000+ weekly Berlin + Munich readers. Or just connect your event with our Lu.ma - Fomo Berlin Calendar. 

FOMO Carve Out

  • Everything I Learned Scaling to 7 Figures Without Venture Capital 🪄 | I rarely recommend outside reads. Andrew Yeung bootstrapped to seven figures, no VC. Distribution beats product, sell to people who can pay, stay lean.

  • Why Unitree Should Worry the Rest of the World 🦾 | Andreas Klinger (Prototype) breaks down Unitree's Shanghai IPO: 86% vertical integration, 60% margins, and why the US just banned Chinese humanoids outright.

  • SUPERPUBLIC Batch 001 🎬 | Public launch, 6 weeks: Four founders move into a Berlin office, cameras never off, everything published live through Demo Day. Applications close September 6, 23:59 Berlin. SUPERPUBLIC, Schiffbauerdamm 5, Berlin.

Do you have any suggestions, questions, or criticisms? Just answer this email.

Don't FOMO 😬 We are back next week. Want access to exclusive guest list spots or free tickets worth 1000 EUR, and plan your week in advance? Join FOMO Insider 💙

Cephas & the FOMO team 💙

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