Slush 2026 preview: what to expect from Europe's big startup meetup in Helsinki | DailyAI

2026-11-18

Messukeskus, the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre

Messuaukio 1, 00520 Helsinki

Held at Messukeskus in Helsinki, Slush brings together early-stage tech founders and international funders to examine AI agents, future research, and Europe's role in tech.

Slush brings thousands of founders and investors to Helsinki for Europe's big startup meetup. The event focuses on connecting young tech companies with funders through stages, side events, and pre-booked meetings. Key themes include AI agents, Europe's place in the AI race, and future research directions.

Founder brief

Who should attend

Early-stage founders working across artificial intelligence and machine learning will gain the most value, especially those seeking capital or strategic connections with European and global technology leaders.

What happens

Activity spans presentations across multiple stages, official side events, and pre-booked one-on-one sessions. Programming focuses closely on AI agents, future technical research directions, and Europe's place in the broader AI race.

Who's in the room

Over 12,000 attendees gather alongside more than 200 speakers, including Alexander Stubb, Matthew Prince of Cloudflare, Parag Agrawal of Parallel Web Systems, Moritz Baier-Lentz from OpenAI, analyst Benedict Evans, and European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva.

How to prepare

Schedule your targeted meetings well in advance using the event matchmaking tools, and prepare a concise, data-driven narrative explaining your AI architecture and business model for investor conversations.

Register

At a glance

Tickets
395-1,195 EUR
Attendance
12,000+ attendees, 200+ speakers
Sectors
Ai ml
Ticket options
  • Two-day pass — 395 EUR
  • Investor and Ecosystem pass — 1,195 EUR

Speakers, judges and hosts

  • Alexander Stubb — President of Finland (Speaker)
  • Anton Osika — Co-founder and CEO, Lovable (Speaker)
  • Benedict Evans — Analyst (Speaker)
  • David Silver — Founder and CEO, Ineffable Intelligence (Speaker)
  • Ekaterina Zaharieva — European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation (Speaker)
  • Elena Verna — Head of Growth, Lovable (Speaker)
  • Fabrizio del Maffeo — Axelera AI (Speaker)
  • Jan Oberhauser — n8n (Speaker)
  • Matthew Prince — CEO, Cloudflare (Speaker)
  • Matt Turck — FirstMark (Speaker)
  • Moritz Baier-Lentz — Senior Advisor, OpenAI (Speaker)
  • Parag Agrawal — Parallel Web Systems (Speaker)
  • Reid Hoffman — Partner, Greylock (Speaker)
  • Richard Socher — You.com and Recursive (Speaker)
  • Sonya Huang — Sequoia (Speaker)