Web Summit chief executive confirms that many key partners won’t return for this year’s event

Web Summit’s new chief executive Katherine Maher has confirmed that many of the companies who recently withdrew from its flagship event will not be in Lisbon for the tech conference next week.

However, she expressed optimism that many of these partners would return for future Web Summit events.

In her first interview since succeeding Paddy Cosgrave who resigned from the company following a backlash over comment he made on Israel, said told CNBC she was ...