An armada of Skolkovo startups will head to Helsinki next week for Slush, one of the biggest events in Europe for tech entrepreneurs.
Slush attracts thousands of tech entrepreneurs and investors from around the world. Photo: Affe Tavasti / Slush.
The massive event on November 30-December 1, described by its organisers as a “northern tech wonderland,” doesn’t just give Russian startups the chance to meet investors and listen to expert advice; it is also a great opportunity to measure themselves against the international startup community, says Pekka Viljakainen, an advisor to Skolkovo Foundation president Victor Vekselberg.
“For me, Slush is important not because I am a Finn, but because it is the shortest distance for Russian startups [to go] to benchmark our ideas, innovations and presentation skills: not among Finns, but in front of a very international audience,” Viljakainen told Sk.ru in an interview this week.
This year, Slush is more international than ever before, having held events in Singapore and Shanghai for the first time, as well as in Tokyo.
“There are a lot of people from those countries [coming to Slush in Helsinki], said Viljakainen. “It’s an international place to benchmark ourselves.”
Pekka Viljakainen pictured at Skolkovo's Startup Village. Photo: Sk.ru.
For the first time this year, Slush has partnered up with Finnair to put on two direct return flights from San Francisco to Helsinki especially for the benefit of investors from Silicon Valley. A brand new A350, “hot off the production line,” will make its maiden voyage to Slush, the organisers say. On board the plane will be 300 Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors including Dave McClure, founding partner at 500 Startups, Beezer Clarkson, managing director at Sapphire Ventures, and Chris Barton, co-founder of Shazam.
Four Skolkovo startups will have the chance to pitch their projects to the international audience of high-powered movers and shakers in the Slush 100 Pitching Competition. One of them, Marvelmind Robotics, won the first prize at Slush Shanghai in October for its accurate indoor navigation system for use with autonomous robots, copters and virtual reality.
The other three are Tau Tracker (Nastec), a magnetic motion tracker for use in AR/VR and 3D apps; Aeroxo, a developer of long-range unmanned aerial vehicles; and Navigine, another precise indoor positioning platform, which attracted $400,000 in investment from a syndicate led by Finnish fintech company Innovestor earlier this year.
The competing projects will be judged by a five-member jury of investors and industry experts, who will assess the product, its market potential, gained traction, the team’s competence and investment readiness. The award for this year’s Pitching Competition has not yet been announced. In 2015, the prize was an equity investment of 650,000 euros.
The second prize of the Pitching Competition at last year's event was taken by Astro Digital, a Skolkovo startup founded by Yekaterina Kotenko-Lengold, a graduate of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech). Astro Digital provides a platform for accessing photographs taken by satellites.
With the chance to attend talks by world experts and observe international startups pitch their projects, Slush is ultimately about learning, says Viljakainen, a successful entrepreneur nicknamed “The Bulldozer” for his energy and determination, which for the last five years have been directed at propelling innovative Russian tech startups to an international standard - and international markets.
“It’s about learning how the best companies tell their stories, make their presentations and introduce their products,” he said.
“Nobody knows how to do it the right way; it’s a very effective way of learning.”
In a two-day bootcamp ahead of Slush, Skolkovo startups were advised by Finnish entrepreneur and business coach Aape Pohjavirta to indulge in a little light cyber stalking ahead of the event. Viljakainen agrees that preparation is everything.
“Slush is not somewhere you go and then hope for the best,” he said. “You have to do a lot of pre-work. You can try to book meetings. It’s like a hell of a big bar where you’re trying to hit on a lady, or in this case, an investor. It’s a big dating service, so to say: a fully international one.”
And it’s not just about courting investors. About 700 journalists are expected to attend Slush, representing a rare chance for Russian startups to tell international media about how their products will change the world.
“Then there are also some big enterprises that are searching for companies to buy: not just Finnish, but many European ones,” said Viljakainen.
“They come to Slush and they send their mergers and acquisitions teams there to check out a company. So the dating happens in many directions there,” he said, adding that the event is also a headhunting venue for Russian companies who want to enter foreign markets and are looking for foreign partners to help them do so.
The winners of last year's Slush 100 Pitching Competition won 650,000 euros. Photo: Jussi Ratilainen / Slush.
During the event, which 15,000 people are due to attend, it’s crucial to take part actively, says Viljakainen, adding that in this respect, Russian startups have evolved significantly since they first starting attending Slush.
“Four years ago when we were at Slush for the first time, I remember we had a small booth there, and our companies were sitting alone and actively waiting for someone to say something to them,” he recalled.
“If you are in a bar, do you sit in the corner looking like a dumbass until someone comes over and says they want to marry you? No! Nothing will happen that way. It’s all about being active before, and also after. The work starts afterwards: what do you do with the business cards afterwards? Slush is just the peak of the drama. It’s more relevant how you prepare, and the business is very much done afterwards.”
While there may once have been a cultural barrier for Russian startups taking part in international events, now it has all but vanished, said Viljakainen.
“There was for sure, four years ago,” he said.
“But I think events like [Skolkovo’s annual tech conference] Startup Village have really lowered it.”