How Reputation City Elevated Unicorn Pitches Limassol into a Landmark Innovation Event in Cyprus
Unicorn.Events, the world’s largest startup pitch competition for the venture ecosystem, set out to host its first standalone edition in Cyprus. But the ambition extended far beyond delivering another event. The vision was to unite influential voices in technology, venture capital, entrepreneurship, academia, and government. This moment was strong enough to reinforce the message that Cyprus is becoming an essential innovation hub within the EU. Reputation City joined the project as Visibility and Engagement Partner of the organiser, the Cyprus Business Club, to bring this vision to life and to present Unicorn Pitches Limassol as a milestone for the island’s tech community.
The challenge was both reputational and strategic. Our task was to design a strategy that would not simply promote an event but elevate its credibility, expand its visibility, and ignite long-term engagement across multiple layers of the ecosystem.
To achieve this, we crafted an event positioning as a step to unite the startup community into an innovation ecosystem. The entire communication strategy was built around this central idea. It guided every interview, every media story, every community activation, and every relationship we curated in the lead-up to the event.
A significant part of our work focused on bringing together a group of highly respected speakers and jury members. We invited high-level professionals – venture capital partners, founders of technology companies, leaders of business associations, government representatives and academics. These were people who shape entrepreneurial environments, influence investment decisions, and understand what startups need in order to scale. Their participation signaled to the market that Limassol was hosting a gathering worth the attention of serious innovators and investors.
In total, Reputation City secured around 80% of the expert lineup, forming a stage and jury table that reflected both credibility and the spirit of collaboration the ecosystem aspired to cultivate.
Parallel to this, we initiated a media partnerships and executed a content program designed to establish Unicorn Pitches Limassol as one of the year’s most important startups’ events in Cyprus. Collaborating with leading national media outlets such as Cyprus Times, EuroKerdos, Typos and FastForward, we ensured continuous coverage throughout the preparation period. Press announcements, interviews with jury member, Cyprus Business Club leaders, as well as analytical columns discussing the future of innovation in Cyprus, formed an information flow that steadily increased public awareness. By the time the event began, the idea of Cyprus as a rising innovation hub had already gained substantial visibility across the national business community.
Our digital engagement strategy complemented this media presence. In cooperation with media partners we also executed an online advertising banner campaign with two messages. The first one was “call for startups” aimed to let founders know about this opportunity and apply. Second – “visit this event” aimed to sell tickets. Also, we activated more than 15 professional and community groups across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Telegram, reaching over 200, 000 people. Altogether, the online engagement contributed to more than 200 tickets sold and created a sense of broad anticipation around the event.
The event itself gathered over 300 participants at the Opus Venue in Limassol. It was a high-energy, intellectually charged meeting point where founders, investors, and innovators exchanged insights, formed new connections, and evaluated the potential of the startups on stage. Two major panel discussions brought additional depth to the program.
Media results reinforced this impact. By the end of the campaign, 28 articles had been published, giving Unicorn Pitches Limassol a total estimated reach of up to 600,000 potential readers.
Beyond media numbers and attendance metrics, the true value of this project lies in its long-term effect. For many participants, the event marked the beginning of new partnerships and investment conversations.
For Reputation City, this project demonstrated how reputation strategy, influential voices, message architecture, and targeted visibility can reshape the perception of a single event into an important step in Cyprus’s journey toward establishing itself as a competitive innovation hub.
Reputation is indeed the new KYC – and when applied at the ecosystem level, it becomes a powerful force for economic and technological transformation.
The full report is here.