Slush 2025 in Helsinki kicks off with a bang. Pyrotechnic flames, booming bass, and a performance artist on the main stage. Europe wants to grab attention. For the moment of the century, as the Slush organizers in the far north have proclaimed it. 13,000 participants, including 6,000 startups and 3,500 investors. Europe's most important startup event and Munich Startup is participating, just like in previous years.
Lovable: The fastest growing startup in history
Shortly after the opening comes Anton OsikaOsika, founder of Lovable, took to the stage. In his native Sweden, the 35-year-old is something of a superstar. Lovable is the fastest-growing startup in history. A year ago, Osika presented his platform, which allows people with little or no programming knowledge to create websites and apps using only natural language input, at Slush.
"Shortly before the official launch, there were only eight of us in a co-working space. Then, a year ago, Slush put me on stage here and I was incredibly nervous."
From Experiment to Unicorn
What began as an open-source experiment rapidly evolved into an AI unicorn. In July, the startup closed a $200 million Series A funding round. This funding propelled the company into the ranks of unicorns just a few months after its founding, and its rapid growth has made it a flagship of the European tech scene.
Osika He reports that the basis of his considerations did not stem from a classic market analysis, but from the question: What is the most ambitious thing I can build? His background in physics and his work in AI research eventually led him to a precursor to Lovable, a tool called GPT-Engineering. However, he quickly realized that the vision had to be bigger:
“We didn’t want to be a tool for developers. Only 0.5 percent of the world are developers. We wanted to develop software that is accessible to everyone. I called my future co-founder Fabian Hedin and said: ‘Fabian, we’re starting a company. And we’re going to change how software is created and who creates it.’”
One year after its launch, Lovable can boast impressive figures. Osika explained:
“Every day, more than 100,000 new projects are built on our platform. Over five million people use applications created with Lovable every day.”
Europe is at a historic turning point – and the tech scene is feeling it clearly.
Unlike many companies from Europe, Osika not to go to Silicon Valley:
"I didn't do this so I could sit here and say: You can build a global company from Europe."
He sees many reasons why Europe is a strong location for AI companies today: talent, vision, and work culture. Instead of relocating, he brought expertise to Stockholm: executives from companies like Notion, Slack, and Gusto are now part of the team.
Because Europe is experiencing a moment that, according to the venture capital firm Atomico, feels bigger than anything the European startup landscape has seen in recent years. Technology is becoming the central lever reshaping economic structures and shifting the global balance of power. As the world moves forward at breakneck speed, Europe faces a crucial question: Will the continent seize its opportunity, or will its future be shaped for it?
An ecosystem that is maturing and founders who want to stay.
The good news first: Europe's tech sector is showing impressive momentum despite all the geopolitical and economic uncertainties. In just two years, it has generated around one trillion US dollars in value. The industry now employs 4.6 million people and is experiencing a new record high in startup creation: 27,000 new startups this year alone. The strongest increase Europe has ever seen.
Another change is that founders are no longer leaving Europe in droves. On the contrary, over 80 percent are building their companies from Europe, and many are doing so deliberately for the sake of Europe. More than 1,200 companies generate over €100 million in revenue or are valued at over €1 billion. More than 400 unicorns are now part of the European business landscape. 28 new unicorns have emerged this year alone – a global record.
Growth has limits.
While founders are accelerating their efforts, the rest of the system often lags behind. Tech investments have stagnated for three years at around $44 billion annually. In the US, the figure for the same period is almost $500 billion, more than ten times higher. Added to this are structural obstacles: Capital flows too slowly and in too small a way in Europe, the regulatory environment remains cumbersome, risk is often culturally perceived as a threat rather than a driving force, and two trillion euros in IT spending flow out of Europe annually, even though European solutions are often leading the way.
Four missions for Europe's future
Atomico explains what Europe needs now to savor this moment of the century.
- Reducing regulatory hurdles – a genuine European single market for innovation.
- Strengthening and retaining talent – Europe must remain a global magnet for entrepreneurs.
- Deepening capital markets – liquid, domestic financing from seed to IPO.
- Establishing a culture of risk – courageous entrepreneurship as social infrastructure.
"If there were more of this truly extremely high ambition in Europe, we would see many more successful companies from here."
told Anton Osika to journalist Antoine Buteau in September. And hardly any sentence fits this moment better, in which Europe decides whether it will build its own technological future or leave it to others.
Munich Startup at Slush 2025
We took four startups from Munich Startup to Helsinki to support them with their internationalization. Besides Jessy Works, Lynkt and UniteLabs were also Enna also present. Tobias Bily, Co-founder Enna sums up Slush like this.
“We experienced Slush as an extremely inspiring platform where innovation and purpose tangibly come together. A big thank you to Munich Startup for allowing us to be a part of it.”
