By Supantha Mukherjee and Anne Kauranen
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Tech entrepreneurs and buyers meet in Finland on Wednesday at Slush, one in every of Europe’s largest start-up occasions, with a concentrate on whether or not funding circumstances will ease, the impression of Donald Trump’s election victory and the prospects for AI-driven development.
Slush, which will get its title from November Finnish climate, offers a chance for enterprise capitalists and start-up founders to check notes to see whether or not funding can buck the pattern of three years of slowdown and whether or not corporations can observe the likes of Klarna and Revolut into preliminary public choices.
“Looking ahead, there are reasons for cautious optimism. AI continues to attract significant investment – nearly $40 billion globally in 2023 – showing confidence in its transformative potential,” Slush CEO Aino Bergius informed Reuters forward of the occasion, because of be attended by 13,000 folks.
One in all Europe’s largest enterprise capital corporations Index mentioned the two-day occasion got here “amid a streak of optimism” in European tech, pushed by funding in AI.
“There is a lot of capital in the market, and we can feel that it is being actively deployed,” Anastasija Plotnikova, CEO of crypto startup Fideum, mentioned.
In the meantime, a number of the startups headed to the occasion had been extra cautious over a turnaround.
“While I hope to see some stabilisation in funding conditions next year, I remain cautious,” mentioned Mathilda Strom, founding chief working officer of Bioptimus, an organization growing a basis mannequin for biology, citing financial uncertainty and better rates of interest.
Funding to rising tech firms in 2024 is ready to have fallen for the third yr in a row, however a window for brand new listings is opening once more, enterprise capital agency Atomico mentioned in its trade report on Tuesday.
Nonetheless, Francesco Ricciuti, a deeptech VC investor, at Runa Capital, mentioned the fallout from the U.S. election might have a adverse impression on the trade if Trump’s promise to impose doubtlessly hefty tariffs on a swathe of products was realised.
“Tariffs will play a pivotal role as supply chains in many technological sectors are deeply interconnected and fragile,” Ricciuti mentioned.
