What does стартовые mean?

kick-off events

But there’s not insinuation that they were any kind of events, just that they’d be launched.

I thought the verb "launch" itself meant "to start sth new"...?

to launch: to begin something such as a plan or introduce something new such as a product:

Yes, but they’re launching the events - the events themselves are what’s being launched.

If it were not sth new, may be another verb would have been used instead of "launch"?

like "to arrange an event"...

The thing is that you can launch new events that aren’t necessarily startup events: PR events, fundraising events, outreach events, charity events, etc.

I see. That's what confused me. Good to know. Thank you!

Anytime, cookie)))