Why come to Slush 2024 as an investor

Nobody in their right mind would come to Helsinki in November. Well, we know at least 13,000 people who will and thousands of others who will be surprised that Slush has sold out a month before Nov 20-21. So if you are still not in the first group let’s see why you should trek all the way to dark and freezing Helsinki for Slush 2024.

“Slush captures the focus and energy of our community in a pure way.”
Peter Fenton, Benchmark

Founders – the bread and butter for VCs who travel across cities, countries, and continents to make sure that they partner with the best entrepreneurs before anyone else. What about them? Founders of some of the most successful European startups came to Slush in their early days.

Who came in their early days?

• Northvolt – $12.0B valuation.
• Wise – $9.0B valuation.
• Bolt – $8.1B valuation.
• Wolt – $8.1B valuation.
• Aiven – $3.0B valuation.
• Pleo – $2.3B valuation.
• Kahoot – $1.7B valuation.
• Pigment – $1.0B valuation.

We bet that you wish you would not have missed them. That’s why, to maximize your chances, we have several opportunities for you to meet them. First, Slush will host over 20,000 one-on-one meetings throughout Nov 20-21. Secondly, you will gain access to our top-class Matchmaking Tool offering 50 various filter options. Thirdly, you can host an intimate Investor Office Hours session for up to 70 founders of your choice. Lastly, you can book an exclusive Investor Lounge to have the comfort of meeting as many founders as you wish.

As you can see below, regardless of whether you are an early- or a growth-stage investor, you can source your next winner.

Are you an early-stage VC? We got you covered.
Cherry Ventures led a $6M seed round in Carbo Culture and General Catalyst led a $5.2M seed round in Huuva

Are you a growth-stage VC? We got you covered.
Lakestar led a $100M series C round in 1047 Games, ICONIQ was the lead investor of a $88M series C in Pigment, IVP led a $40M series B round in Aiven, and NEA participated in a $28M series B extension in Sana Labs

Ready to meet your dream founder at Slush for the first time? We hope so.

“We met Aiven for the first time at Slush in 2019, and the first meeting we ever had with Pigment was also here.”
Eric Liaw, IVP

Let’s take a look at some of the VCs that have already confirmed their presence at Slush 2024.

a16z, Accel, Blossom Capital, Forerunner, General Catalyst, Creandum, Greylock, ICONIQ, Index, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, LocalGlobe, NEA, Northzone, Seedcamp, Sequoia.

These are only a few of the highly-regarded names as we could go on and on. Do you wonder who usually represents VCs? Over 70% of all VC attendees are partner-level investors, so Slush is a perfect environment to network with the fund heads.

Pssst…expect a bunch of Midas List investors. 😉

We have already established that Slush welcomes the best founders and VCs in the world, but there is one critical group missing – LPs. Right, at Slush we also welcome Limited Partners. To ensure the highest quality of LPs, we keep the group’s size limited, following our principle of “relevance over scale”.

Surprised? We hope the names of LPs that attended in 2023 will amaze you even more.

• MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, UCLA, University of Pittsburgh, Dietrich Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Wellcome Trust, LGT, Top Tier, HarbourVest, AP2, and Novo Nordisk Foundation.

How can you interact with them?

• If you are an emerging manager, apply to Slush x RAISE, our pitch competition whose 20 winners will pitch in front of the LPs attending Slush. Deadline: Aug 25.
• If you are an established manager, you can use our above-mentioned Matchmaking Tool that will help you search for the best fit for your fund.

While Slush takes place on Nov 20-21, we will have a set of special events happening already on Nov 19. The jewel in the crown is our Investor Day that will host up to 3,300 investors in a venue close to our hearts – The Cable Factory, which hosted Slush until 2013.

Why should you be there a day before the main event? At Investor Day, we will have 7 stage talks, 1-1 meeting area, 36 roundtable discussions, spontaneous networking areas, food courts, and bars so that you get the most out of this 5-hour event.

However, our Investor Day is not the only event running outside of the main event. In fact, we will have over 200 side events that cover various topics such as climate tech, AI, gaming, and deep tech, to name a few. It doesn’t matter what your investment thesis is, you will find side events to interact with like-minded people.

But, if you like a more relaxed entourage, we are here to help too. Sauna, padel, art tour, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and cocktail parties are all here for you to enjoy.

So, do you want to be in the surprised group that finds out about Slush being sold out in mid-October? We don’t think so, hence secure your tickets here & see you soon!

For more information, feel free to visit our website or send your questions to [email protected].