Tampere Slush Party – showcasing the hottest in Tampere

“So hot it will melt the Slush” was our promise for Tampere Slush Party, and indeed the party turned out to have some red-hot speakers and investor encounters – just one train stop away from the main event.

Held in nightclub Maxine, the Tampere Slush Party drew a house full of startup entrepreneurs, investors and people interested in the scene. We expected some 150 guests, but in the end more than 250 people filled the room with chatting, networking and general mingling. Successful night, to put it mildly!

The magic of Slush

Business Tampere has provided eight startups with a Slush booth. Without exception, the companies felt that the event was inspiring and their presence well worth the effort. They have reported some valuable encounters as well as several investor meetings. We are thrilled to help the local startups on their path to growth and look forward to hearing about the concrete outcome of these meetings.

What to expect from Slush?

At the Tampere Slush Party, we asked some people about their expectations. The replies varied:

“I was looking for some hype and enthusiasm – the spirit of doing things. We are hoping to find a new drive and how to scale our business five or tenfold”, says Klaus Breitholtz, Business Development Director of the Tampere-based bioinformatics company GeneVia Technologies. “Since we are in no hurry to find investors, it’s good to learn how to deal with them. Next year our investor deck will be in good order!” Klaus felt that mingling sessions like Tampere Slush Party are essential for getting to know people. “Next year more of these – both in Tampere and in Helsinki”, he says.

Watch video: What kind of new startup would Chris Vargas have today?

As a part of the organization behind Tampere Slush Party, director Harri Ojala from Business Tampere sees their role very clearly. “Our basic function is to enable collisions between startups and investors, startups and bigger companies, and of course the synergies between startups”, he says. “Slush showcases the whole Finland to the world, so it’s important that Tampere region is presented as well – this year with at least 80 startups, probably even more.”

“Since the beginning of 2018, the City of Tampere has had this startup development program”, says Timo Antikainen, Director of Business and Economic Development at City of Tampere. “We’ve built a framework and developed the concept together with our partner network. The aim is to have a systematic, visible development model for the entire Tampere startup scene. We already have two annual events and the Tribe Tampere society, we offer funding consultation and meet dozens of startups every month.”

Watch video: What does Slush mean for Jukka Sjösted, CEO of Radientum?

Let’s go psychometric!

Among the speakers, Ossi Numminen, the regional angel of Finnish Business Angel Network FIBAN, talked about the psychometric tests developed in Israel for the evaluation of startup teams. Originating from evaluation of military personnel, the tests are adapted to startup world and give a good view on how the team members meet certain criteria. Numminen announced that there will be a startup CEO leadership training available in 2019, based on this psychometric evaluation. This will be interesting, as Israel is a forerunner in startup evaluation and training.

Making impact and making money

One of the evening’s star speakers was Fabian Sepulveda, who shared some views on making an impact by investing. His own focus is on companies creating well-being on three areas: health, health tech and environment. According to Sepulveda, impact investing is growing double digits every year, and when the Millennials will take over, it will be even bigger.

See you next year!

As the first of its kind, Tampere Slush Party proved to have an important function in bringing different people together and share new ideas. The speakers, including the startup guru Chris Vargas from Silicon Valley and Ilkka Kaikuvuo from Framery were interesting, and the whole event – the catering included – showcased the strong, growing Tampere startup scene. Stay tuned for the bigger, better and even more successful Tampere Slush Party 2019!