Slush 2023 is just around the corner, and the excitement is building up among the startup community. This highly anticipated event, known for its founder-focused approach, is set to bring together some of the brightest minds, innovative ideas, and groundbreaking startups globally.
Held annually in Helsinki, Finland, Slush 2023 will take place at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Center on Nov 30–Dec 1, 2023.
Slush 2023: Mecca of startup founders
Slush is an impactful and student-driven non-profit movement on a mission to create and foster the next generation of groundbreaking entrepreneurs. Its mission is to transform perceptions towards entrepreneurship, inspiring and empowering individuals to pursue their dreams and positively impact the world.
The Slush 2023 event will feature two days of stage programs, over 300 side events, mentoring, meetings, and afterparties. The speaker line-up includes successful founders, world-class investors, and other startup and tech influencers.
Additionally, Slush 2023 will bring together 5,000 startup founders and operators, accompanied by 3,000 investors and 3,000 ecosystem players looking to back the next generation of exceptional founders.
The founder-first experience
What sets Slush apart is its laser focus on founders and their needs.
Unlike other conferences, Slush is not just about passive listening; it is about active participation and engagement. Here’s why Slush is a must-attend for founders:
- Exposure: Slush provides an unparalleled platform for startups to gain exposure on a global scale. With thousands of attendees, including investors, media professionals, and industry experts, startups can showcase their products, services, and innovative ideas to a wide audience.
- Networking Opportunities: Slush offers abundant networking opportunities via its state of the art matchmaking platform, allowing founders to connect with potential investors, mentors, and industry peers.
- Knowledge Sharing: Slush is a treasure trove of knowledge and insights. Attendees can attend keynote speeches, panel discussions, and workshops, where they can learn from experienced entrepreneurs, industry experts, and thought leaders.
- Investment Opportunities: Slush attracts investors from all over the world, presenting startups with the opportunity to pitch their ideas and secure funding. The event serves as a catalyst for investment, connecting startups with venture capitalists, angel investors, and others.
Slush is also hosting the largest founder-only gathering in the world called Founders Day, which takes place on November 29.
Slush 2023 meets the official Dutch trade mission
The Netherlands, renowned for its thriving startup ecosystem, is sending an official startup mission to Slush 2023 to showcase innovative and impact-driven Dutch startups on a global platform and amplify the country’s presence at the event.
Led by the national government, regional business agencies and municipalities, the Dutch startup mission will be in Helsinki from November 28 till December 2.
The Netherlands will have a dedicated NL Lounge on the Slush expo floor, where Dutch startups can showcase themselves and make relevant connections.
For this mission, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) scouted young tech companies with a scalable business model that want to grow rapidly. As a result, five Amsterdam Area-based startups have been selected based on their potential for growth and impact.
Each of these startups brings a unique offering to the table, ranging from innovative document management solutions to music booking platforms.
The Amsterdam Area – based startups selected by RVO are:
Alphadoc
Alphadoc is a platform that helps product and development teams create great documentation faster. It is a developer experience platform with tools to help engineers at every stage of the customer journey, including documentation, sales, marketing, onboarding, and implementation.
Orquesta
Orquesta is a no-code platform that makes programming unnecessary, promoting collaboration and efficiency within software teams. It saves engineers time, allows product management to maintain a clear overview, and enables internal domain experts to verify interaction accuracy easily.
uPledge
uPledge simplifies impact investing for non-investors through Gamification and Artificial Intelligence. The startup has also been cleared to receive its first AFM regulatory licence in June.
Gigstarter
Gigstarter is a live music ecosystem that connects artists and bookers directly with no hidden fees. The platform is designed to empower independent musicians and make it possible for anyone to be a booker. Gigstarter has developed a transparent platform that allows bookers to book artists directly, without paying any commissions.
COTIT
COTIT, an Almere-based data startup, offers a business intelligence platform that enhances supply chain transparency by visualising product life cycles. Its modular system integrates various traceability tools, making processes visible and traceable. Cotit’s 360° solution automates daily activities, provides clear insights into supply chains, and understands product usage behaviour, enabling personalised customer targeting.
Attending Slush and want to meet the Dutch? Learn more about the delegation and visit the NL Lounge, booth 7B7.
Helping Amsterdam entrepreneurs help the world
The City of Amsterdam has also put together a dedicated Amsterdam mission to Slush 2023. This decision underscores the City’s commitment to supporting and nurturing local startups, especially the ones trying to make the world a better place.
By giving startups the opportunity to participate in Slush 2023, the city is providing them with an invaluable chance to gain international exposure, network, and collaborate with potential partners.
Additionally, this exposure also helps attract investments, partnerships, and growth prospects, amplifying the startups’ access to a broader market.
The Amsterdam delegation is powered by Amsterdam Trade & Innovate and StartupAmsterdam.
Amsterdam Trade & Innovate connects Amsterdam Metropolitan Area entrepreneurs and innovations with foreign markets to solve global, urban and social challenges. It is part of the Economic Affairs department in the City of Amsterdam and belongs to a network of government organizations that promote growth in the most important economic regions of the Netherlands.
StartupAmsterdam is a programme run by the city of Amsterdam that unites public and private sectors to support startups, scale-ups, entrepreneurs and other players in the local ecosystem.
StartupAmsterdam, in particular, recognises the importance of creating a support system where entrepreneurs with a vision to make the world a better place can thrive.
As put by the StartupAmsterdam team, “In cold environments, people instinctively draw closer to one another to find warmth, and that’s precisely what we envision Slush doing for the entrepreneurs who embark on this mission with us. The City of Amsterdam is dedicated to creating a support system where all entrepreneurs with the ambition to make the world a better place can find the support, inspiration, and the invaluable networks of like-minded peers and investors they need to realize their ambitions.”
Discuss de-risking of impact funding rounds
The cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are collaboratively organising a curated get-together and learning session for impact startups and investors. The session, scheduled for the morning of November 29, aims to promote an exchange of learnings on the importance of de-risking funding rounds.
Impact startups attending Slush2023 are invited to join this session, where they can gain insights, share experiences, and connect with fellow founders and impact investors who are passionate about driving positive change.
The session is fully booked now, however interested startups can join the waiting list.
Meet the Amsterdam delegation
The Amsterdam-based founders selected by StartupAmsterdam and Amsterdam Trade & Innovate have been scouted with the help of various communities, including Equals, FEM-START, Dutch New Narrative Lab, and Amsterdam Circular.
These founders represent a diverse range of industries and have shown exceptional promise in their respective fields. Let’s take a closer look at some of these remarkable founders and their startups:
StellarUp
Looking for: Clients, mentors, exposure, government collaboration and internationalisation support to USA and Germany.
Founder/s: Estelle Roux-Stevens and Julian Roux-Stevens
StellarUp is a SaaS platform that helps companies launch and administer mentoring programmes in a quantifiable and scalable manner. It improves knowledge sharing through organised and unstructured learning tools, including e-learning academies, online resource libraries, and community solutions.
Furthermore, the platform facilitates the establishment of connections and the cultivation of relationships to share knowledge.
Tradesnest
Looking for: Funding, clients and internationalisation support to other European markets
Founder/s: Nancy Shenouda and Pierre Ouellette
Tradesnest helps companies expand internationally by putting them in contact with the right business partners in their target market.
Through its B2B platform, brands can present their products to retailers and distributors, and make direct sales to expand and increase their sales. This is without a huge investment of time and money.
Tradesnest is a female-founded startup that works currently in over 80 markets and is backed by Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland, Hearst, Atomico Angel, and Rabobank.
Pal
Looking for: Funding and exposure
Founder/s: Nara Moripen and Azi Doost
Pal is the world’s first palliative care app built specifically for families affected by life-limiting illness. Navigating serious illness, palliative care and caregiving comes with tremendous challenges for so many families around the world. Pal aims to make it easier for families to deal with some of the daily challenges and problems they face.
The Pal app is now available to download from anywhere in the world on both the App Store and Play Store.
Gelectric
Looking for: Funding and clients
Founder/s: Efil Bengisu Saygı and Rıza Özdülger
Gelectric specialises in electrical retrofit solutions for old vessels. The platform helps identify opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of the ships, in addition to bringing other benefits, including reducing operating costs, improving the fleet’s environmental performance, and enhancing the company’s reputation.
Bikefair
Looking for: Funding and mentors
Founder/s: Jan PecnÃk and Dominik Nguyen
BikeFair is a digital bike marketplace that aims to modernize the 200-year-old industry. It’s a comprehensive service that provides a full-service platform for individuals and an easy-to-use e-commerce solution for bike shops, manufacturers, insurance businesses, and other industry professionals.
Users can easily buy a bike, customize it with equipment, get it serviced, delivered to their doorstep, insured, or repaired at any time and location. All these services are accessible through a single online access point, which connects you to a network of local suppliers.
Root Sustainability
Looking for: Funding, clients, exposure, internationalisation support, connections to consultancies and ESG platforms
Founder/s: Gijs de Mol and Maud Schijen
Root Sustainability is on a mission to redefine the norm by providing universal access to high-quality product footprints.
The company aims to help organisations comply with environmental regulations, make a positive impact, and grow their business.
The company’s solution is based on a life cycle methodology that allows companies of any level of expertise to gain insights and take action on the complete impact of their products and organisation.
The platform includes several features such as automatic life cycle formation, a matching algorithm to measure customer data impact, a user-friendly data collection tool for seamless collaboration, a scenario builder to minimise impact, and reporting tools for compliance and marketing purposes.
MycoFarming
Looking for: Funding, mentors and government collaboration
Founder/s: Juan Cruz Tubio
MycoFarming offers tailor-made solutions for soil & water bioremediation and enzymatic additives for water treatment facilities. The company’s additives easily degrade nitrates, phosphates, and pesticides. They are being studied for PFAS and PCBs treatment.
The solutions are both cost-effective and environmentally friendly, resulting in a more thorough outcome while using less energy compared to traditional bioremediation methods. The company offers solutions for wastewater treatment needs, including agricultural, urban, and industrial.
Sirius
Looking for: Funding, clients and exposure
Founder/s: Anastasia Kuskova, Seva Martynov and Sergey Tyan
Sirius offers a full-cycle technology stack for Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) to promote sustainability in the metals and mobility sectors, which are crucial players in the energy transition.
The platform addresses challenges CSOs face to drive sustainability initiatives, automates repetitive tasks, calculates ROI, and provides a detailed toolkit for easy implementation.
IT’s UP TO YOU
Looking for: Funding, clients, exposure, government collaboration, internationalisation to other European markets
Founder/s: Tom Peeters, Joerie Nijhuis
IT’S UP TO YOU is an interactive VR simulation for organisations in which employees get confronted with fictional Inclusion & Diversity situations. Using experience-based learning, participants act as the main character, determine the actions and experience the consequences. Afterwards, they collaborate in a group-based workshop to create effective policies at all organizational levels.
Cardiomo
Looking for: 2.5M seed funding, clients and government collaboration
Founder/s: Ksenia Belkina and Roman Belkin
Cardiomo is an AI-based solution for cardiac patient monitoring. This wearable device and analytical system remotely monitor patient vitals using biosensors and AI to detect cardiac events with 99.63 per cent accuracy.
The miniature wearable patch records ECG, respiration, Skin Temperature, and Body Movement. The mobile app registers vitals, and the data is then analysed by an AI engine in a HIPAA-compliant cloud to detect CVD symptoms.
Minite
Looking for: Funding, clients, exposure, government collaboration, and expansion help to the UK and Nordics
Founder/s: Micky Chen and Linky Chen
Founded in Almere and with an office in Rotterdam, Minite is a Students-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider. The platform connects vetted top student freelancers with companies to perform CV-building work in digital marketing, sales, market research, data, IT, analytics, and (graphic) design.
Clax Commodities
Looking for: Funding and clients
Founder/s: Lu Wang
Clax Commodities is an innovative, fast-growing environmental commodities liquidity provider. The company aims to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future by enabling companies to meet their environmental goals while fostering market efficiency.
Farm to Home
Looking for: Clients, exposure, government collaboration
Founder/s: Andrii Roizin, Mark Kravchuk and Maksym Dryhval
Founded in Enschede and operating in Amsterdam, FarmToHome is an online marketplace revolutionizing the food supply chain.
The platform directly connects consumers with local farmers, ensuring the users receive the freshest, ethically sourced produce straight to their doorstep.
By eliminating middlemen, the company fosters a transparent, sustainable ecosystem that supports local agriculture and provides fair compensation to the real producer.
On technology
Looking for: Funding, mentors, government collaboration
Founder/s: Charlotta Lönnfors and Halid Özsoy
On Technology develops digital experiences aimed at revolutionising how friends connect and meet. The company’s primary product, ON, is a map-based mobile application that enhances real-time coordination for spontaneous plans.
The company is on a mission to integrate convenience into users’ daily lives, empowering them to live in the moment and foster genuine human connections.
CoinKids App
Looking for: Funding, governmental support, corporate sponsorships, and connections for advancing our mission to provide financial literacy to 10 million children
Founder/s: Nathaly Bustamante and Nayelli Perez
CoinKids is a financial education app designed for children aged 4 to 10, where they can learn about earning, saving, and spending responsibly – all crucial life skills for life.
The platform designed for Generation Alpha offers age-appropriate educational content and features to teach kids about money, savings, budgeting, investing, and other essential financial concepts.
This educational and hands-on approach aims to help children develop healthy financial habits from a young age, setting them on the path to financial responsibility as they grow and preparing them for the financial world they will face as adults.
Attending Slush and want to meet the Dutch? Learn more about the delegation and visit the NL Lounge, booth 7B7.
01
Empowering Ukrainian Startups: Highlights from the PowerUp Ukraine 2024 Conference