Three days of icy cold, little daylight and countless impressions – but above all, Eric and Alexander brought new VC contacts and access to international networks back to Karlsruhe from Finland. Over 2000 participating start-ups and VCs travelled to Finland and took part in over 7500 meetings at Slush. The pictures convey the atmosphere of a club, where the next new contact is sought in dark blue light and dense crowds.

A KIT start-up had also travelled to Helsinki: ICODOS was among the congress visitors. Eric and Alexander also met partners such as Reutlingen University, colleagues from SAP and Deloitte.

We asked Eric and Alexander what they remember particularly favourably.

The event management tool, including the investor applications, was very well received, making it easy for start-ups and VCs to arrange meetings in a structured manner. Eric in particular noticed that the German Pitches were well observed by VCs and that there were initial follow-ups directly at the stand afterwards.

What can I say about the programme? All focus topics were covered, from AI to fintech, from impact to zero waste. The topic of female founders was pushed in particular. There were valuable impulses on four stages with different focus topics (Founder, Builder, Start-up, Horizon) with speakers such as Martin Klenk, Founder & CTO Celonis (an EXIST GS success story from Munich) or Jarosław Kutyłowsk, Founder & CEO DeepL.

All in all, the visit was valuable for us and we hope to be back at SLUSH in 2024. Perhaps we will manage to participate as a partner of the German Pitching Stand of the AHK Finland. to be continued…