Together with Berlin Partner, Hamburg Invest, and Cologne Business, Munich Startup organized a booth at Slush this year. In addition to the ecosystems themselves, various startups from the respective cities presented their products and services there for two days. For Munich, these were Farminsect, Fernride, Justt, and Mily Technologies. Each startup was able to decorate the booth with its content for half a day and meet with investors, partners, and other interested parties.
Felix Braune, Co-Founder of Justt, says about the stand:
"That's really cool. The booth makes it easy to arrive at the trade fair, rather than just walking in. You have people right there with whom you can do things."
The rest of the startup festival also left an impression on the founder:
"The exchange with other startups was really great; I learned a lot from them. I also had a number of valuable investor meetings. While the focus of Slush was a bit different from what was relevant to us, the bottom line was that the two days were absolutely worth it."
For other startups, presence at the booth was less important. Fernride For example, the startup was on site with CEO Hendrik Kramer and CCO & CFO Martin Isik, and according to their own words, could hardly escape the meeting requests: Both representatives of the startup were in meetings every half hour on both days.
Aleksander Buha and Milos Zlatkovic, the founders of Mily Technologies, two things in particular impressed us at the Slush:
"On the one hand, it's really great that you meet so many high-profile decision-makers at Slush who normally seem completely out of reach. It's never been so easy to talk to them otherwise. On the other hand, in conversations with other startups and during the presentations on the stages, you realize how much work it can be to lead a startup to success. It's been confirmed time and time again: success only comes from hard work."
Farminsect wins pitching competition
An important part of Slush are the side events spread throughout Helsinki. These not only provide in-depth networking opportunities, but often also give startups the opportunity to present themselves to a select audience. This was also the case at the evening event hosted by Munich Startup and its partners. There, startups from the respective ecosystems competed against each other in 90-second pitches. Farminsect prevailed in a very close race for first place in Munich. The subsequent networking event didn't end until late at night.
Farminsect-Co-Founder Thomas Kuehn summarizes:
"Slush was a fantastic event for us, with excellent contacts, and we would like to thank Munich Startup for the excellent organization and support. It was great to be able to participate in the pitching competition, and we are very happy that we won. The competition was well organized, and the discussions on site were very productive."
Many Munich residents at the Slush
Of course, the Munich Startup delegation wasn't the only representative of the Munich ecosystem. Numerous other startups from the state capital populated the halls of Slush. Nathan Evans, Co-Founder of Fulfin, draws the following conclusion from the Slush:
"This is the best or second-best startup event I've attended so far. It's something truly special and much better than the South Summit in Madrid or Sifted in London. At Slush, with its legendary after-events, numerous movers, shakers, and players meet, not just spectators; the number of startups and investors complements each other well. Our visit here was a huge help; we were approached by many investors we'd previously tried to reach out to for a long time."
