How to find Angel-stage dealflow in Helsinki

Let’s start with the bottom line up front: If you’re looking for early-stage startup dealflow in Helsinki, just contact us and we’ll pull from our network to find exactly what you need. It’s our job to connect smart money into the Helsinki region!

But if you’re looking to scope out the Helsinki startup ecosystem yourself, here’s a high level look at where to find early-stage startups and entrepreneurs.

1. Dig in with the main ecosystem players

Maria 01

The hospital-turned-startup-campus is Helsinki’s physical startup hub. With 1200+ members and 160+ startups, you’ll find it easiest to book your in-person meetings here.

Find early-stage startups:

The campus’ Starter Restaurant and flex desks are the easiest places in Helsinki to find early-stage startups.
Their member directory may show some interesting leads.
Also pay attention to their event calendar for open events.

Slush

2020 put a pause on Helsinki’s keystone startup event, but they used the momentum from their 20,000 attendees to launch Node by Slush, an online platform and streaming event concept. Fingers crossed that Slush will be back in Helsinki in 2021.

Find early-stage startups:

Join Node by Slush, an online matchmaking platform and ongoing conference.
Get a ticket to Slush 2021 and meet entrepreneurs in person.
Ping us to see how we can involve you in our next Slush event. Recently we hosted a successful angel matchmaking event on the platform, and are looking forward to doing more.

2. Follow Helsinki’s early-stage investors

FiBAN

The Finnish Business Angels Network is one of the largest and best organized in Europe. with over 650 members. In addition to dealflow, FiBAN provides local resources that foreign investors will find useful.

Find early-stage startups:

Contact FiBAN to see how to get access to their dealflow, resources, and community.
Linda Emelianov at Helsinki Business Hub can give foreign investors access to many FiBAN events. Take a look at FiBAN’s event calendar and give us a ping!

Icebreaker

Icebreaker is an early-stage VC firm that invests at Idea, Angel, and Seed stages. They regularly throw events to develop idea-stage talent, and are a good contact to have on your radar if you’re looking at the same stages.

Find early-stage startups:

Check out their homepage to see what’s happening in their next program.

3. Search through online lists

NewCo/Dealroom

NewCo Helsinki has partnered with Dealroom to track startups, investors, and funding rounds. A quick scan through here can give you a nice high-level overview.

Startup100

Created by the PR agency San Francisco, the Startup100 tries to measure buzz for Finnish startups across the web. It’s a good tool to see what’s popping and catches startups before you’ve heard of them.

The Hub

Danske Bank’s startup directory, TheHub.io, is active in Finland. It offers a startup directory, job board, and investor tools.

4. Follow (or offer to coach) at local accelerators

Kiuas

Kiuas has gathered a lot of buzz in Finland. They run a couple accelerator concepts and have an online platform for sharing knowledge and matching potential cofounders together.

Sampo Accelerator

Sampo Accelerator provides early-stage startups in the Baltic, CEE and Russia region with two short duration programmes to help them build a well functioning business, rather than merely closing an investment round.

HelsinkiXR

Helsinki XR Center is an incubator for talent in the field of virtual and augmented reality (VR & AR).

Terkko HealthX

Terkko Health X is an ambitious early stage accelerator program for health and life science teams with the potential to reshape the industry.

Mutiny

Mutiny is a cutting-edge accelerator program for ambitious early-stage teams with the potential to reshape the future.

5. Stay on top of local event calendars

Join some online events and see where Helsinki entrepreneurs present their ideas and learn from each other:

The Maria 01 Calendar
FiBAN Calendar
Epicenter Helsinki’s Event Calendar
And of course, Helsinki Business Hub’s events.

And more.

Want to look deeper into the Helsinki startup ecosystem? The experts at Helsinki Business Hub are here to help you find what you’re looking for.

Angel investing in Finland is easier than you think.

We help international Angel investors to find quality dealflow from Finland and build meaningful connections with local Angels. We’re just one phone call away.