Slush: “Probably the best conference in the world”
David Baszucki, the CEO and Founder of Roblox, states that, and at FundingBox, we subscribe it
Until 10 years ago Slush was just snow or ice partially melted in Helsinki (Finland), but since then, the startup and tech event that started with just some hundreds attendees, this year has gathered around 20,000 assistants from 130 countries including 3,100 startups and 1,800 investors. For me, it is the best tech event I have ever been in, and David Baszucki, the CEO and Founder of Roblox, has said that this is “probably the best conference in the world”.
FundingBox presents RobotUnion and L4MS programs at Slush 2018
Our main goal this year at Slush was to scout and find companies for our acceleration programs in robotics: RobotUnion and L4MS.
With this aim Mobile World Capital, our dissemination partner in both programs, organized a workshop to present two of our robotics programs: RobotUnion and L4MS. Both of them offer funding of up to €250,000 equity-free and online services. We invited to the workshop all the robotics companies present in Slush, around 180, and finally there were around 40 of them in the room. Companies had the opportunity to have one to one meetings with VTT, the technical leader in both programs, Mobile World Capital and with myself representing FundingBox. There were really interesting companies, and if they finally apply, I am sure that part of them will be part of the next batches of our robotics acceleration programs.
Besides that, we made great contacts to expand our community with organizations that support startups and SMEs from Sweden, Germany or Switzerland.
Slush 2018 highlights
One more year Atomico presented at Slush the State of European Tech. This report is prepared by Atomico in collaboration with Slush and Orrick. Three highlights that you can read in the report highlighted at the event are:
1. European tech ecosystem has achieved another record year for investment, since record sums have been invested: $23bn in 2018 up from just $5bn in 2013. (Source: Dealroom.co).
2. Europe faces a diversity and inclusion problem, because 93% of all funds raised by European VC-backed companies went to all-male founding teams in 2018. 46% of women reported in the survey that they have experienced discrimination in the European tech sector. (Source: The State of European Tech Survey).
3. Europe’s tech industry is the best hope for growth for a stalling European economy. This is because this industry is growing five times faster than the rest of the European economy in terms of Gross Value Added, a level that has accelerated in recent years. (Source: Eurostat).
Moreover, Slush Academy was presented, a global education program for entrepreneurship with the help of world’s leading universities, top-tier growth companies, and VCs.
Among the speakers there were Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition; Amazon CTO, Werner Vogels; Hubspot Founder & CEO, Brian Halligan; Co-founder of Gapminder Foundation, Anna Rosling, and Co-Founder & President of Andela, Christina Sass.
Robotics in the European economy
According to the International Federation of Robotics, last year, global sales of industrial robots reached the new record of 387,000. This means an amazing increase of 31% compared to 2016. Also, according to Loup Ventures research, the industrial robotics market is expected to grow by 175% over the next decade.
That is why at FundingBox we have expanded the #FundingGrowth to the robotics industry and we are currently funding and accelerating 20 startups that will receive up to €223,000 in equity-free funding, alongside acceleration and mentoring services with RobotUnion program. But that isn’t all: we will accelerate a new batch of robotic startups and SMEs with the 2nd RobotUnion open call launching in February 2019.
Stay tuned to RobotUnion Community to learn more about funding opportunities, the acceleration program and the future of robotics!
