Slush 2026 Helsinki

Slush is a startup and venture capital conference run by the organisation of the same name, run by a team of students, recent graduates and volunteers. The 2026 main event takes place on 18 and 19 November at Messukeskus, the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre, at Messuaukio 1. Investor Day precedes it on 17 November at Finlandia Hall, and Tanssin Talo hosts Day 0 for Founders the same day. The audience is early-stage tech founders and their investors. According to the organiser, 76% of the people at Slush 2026 are startups or investors, startups arrive from more than 70 countries, and over 80% of attendees are based in Europe. The organiser cites 12,000+ attendees, 200+ speakers, 25,000+ meetings and 600+ side events. A startup badge requires an application reviewed by the Slush team. The event is not tied to one sector: the organiser names AI, fintech, SaaS, healthtech, gaming, deeptech, medtech, energy, edtech and manufacturing as the leading startup categories. Doors open at 8 AM on both days. The Opening Show starts at 10 AM on 18 November, and the 19 November stage programme also begins at 10 AM. The in-house Slush Platform provides a meeting tool with 1-on-1 meeting tables, an activity tool, calendar sync and an indoor map; founders also get mentoring and investor office hours. Side events run across Slush week, and the afterparty on 19 November lasts from 6 PM to 2 AM. The 2026 speaker line-up has not been published; the names on the official site are from the 2025 edition, which included founders and executives from Klarna, Datadog, Revolut, Mistral AI, ElevenLabs and Supercell. Four ticket tiers are listed, all including 13.5% VAT: Startup at €395, Investor and Ecosystem at €1,195, and a Thursday-only pass at €595. Every tier shows as sold out on the official site, which offers a pre-registration form instead. Solo GPs and angel investors receive a €100 discount on the Investor tier. For affiliates and media buyers the fit is indirect. Slush is built for founders and VCs, and there is no affiliate or media-buying track. It is relevant to affiliates who run or invest in their own products, to teams raising money for a fintech, AI or marketing-technology business, and to networks that want to meet early-stage advertisers before they have an affiliate programme. For pure traffic arbitrage it is the wrong room.