Eversend wins Slush 2019 pitching competition

The program included pitches, presentations, competitions and various side events taking place around Helsinki.Some of the side events started already a few days before the main event.

The event area included three big stages, startup district and a large meeting area, where startups and investors or anyone using the event up could set up and appointment and meet.

Presentations, pitches and Q&As were held on different stages titled The Founder stage, Saga stage and Quantum stage all throughout the two-day main event. Speakers included CEOs, founders and experts of different fields from all over the world. Well known company names like Amazon, Microsoft and F-Secure were among the many exhibitors of Slush.
The traditional Slush 100 pitching contest was held again with an impressive variety of contestants. 100 startups out of over 2500 applicants got to pitch for a jury already on Wednesday 20th of November in Kamppi. From these 15 were selected to the next round and got the opportunity to present their pitch at the main event to thousands of attendees and the jury. Three startups made it to the final. The winner was Eversend, an e-wallet and money transfer app for Africa. The app gives people without a bank account the possibility to send money globally, securely and affordably. Money can be sent without an internet connection witch is an important aspect because 65% of the continent doesn’t have access to the internet. Eversend won services valued up to 100 000 euros.

This year for the first time, Slush 100 joined forces with Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), a global startup competition and non-profit organization. XTC selected three startups; Digizen, Dobrain and Medusoil to their global finals in Paris in 2020.
    
As in previous years, the event included product launches, which were presented in the main event. NEXTMIND launched a new wearable product which lets you use your brainwaves to control devices. NEXTMIND’S device detects brainwaves from the visual cortex and recognises what object you are looking at. The wearable, which could also be connected to VR glasses, lets you play and pause a movie, play games, and maybe in the future write a text without touching the keyboard.

Also, Slush launched their own new product: a startup online media and newsletter called SOAKED. “We are all about hyper-concrete stories on building companies, fresh takes on European tech, and data-driven observations about the world around us,” Soaked editors promise in their introduction. More info about Soaked and how to subscribe can be found here.

Once again, what made Slush possible was considerable effort from over 2000 volunteers who helped with tasks varying from guiding attendees through the maze of exhibitors and stages to handling recycling.

Next Slush will be held on November 2020 in Helsinki, but the event has already expanded to other countries and enthusiasts could join Slush in Tokyo or Shanghai.

Tara Kouros - 6D
Image: Slush