By Peter Green | Nordic Startup News | Helsinki
AI startups competing for a place on stage during Slush week shared the spotlight with the everyday work of building companies at Maria 01 NEXT. Held on 23–24 September 2026 at the Helsinki startup campus, the two-day festival drew more than 1,000 visitors, according to organiser Maria 01.
The gathering, powered by KPMG, connected founders with investors and specialist support through pitches, workshops and informal meetings. Around the campus, conversations carried on between sessions and after the competition results.
Day one brought a Northern Light Accelerator and Maria 01 startup showcase, discussions on finance with KPMG and Light, and introductions to Business Helsinki’s startup services. A panel with Maria 01’s Sarita Runeberg, Slush’s Kasper Mäkelä and UpCloud’s Miika Sivonen, moderated by Camilla Mikama, explored European digital sovereignty and the infrastructure choices facing growing companies.
The headline pitching event, Pitch What’s NEXT with Anthropic, featured 11 startups presenting to representatives of Anthropic and Felix Capital. The advertised format gave each company three minutes to pitch and three minutes for questions.
AIATELLA took first place, followed by MultivisionDx and Taiga. Their pitches spanned cardiovascular diagnostics, cancer diagnostics and the modernisation of enterprise software. Anthropic’s Nick Carmont named Jack Parker, Karolina Punovuori and Mikko Ilari Laakkonen as the three winning pitchers. All three companies earned the opportunity to appear with Anthropic during Slush week in November.
The following morning began with Builders’ Breakfast with Sami Marttinen. Across day two, the programme tackled questions that extend beyond a product demo: company culture, growth, security and turning AI prototypes into working products. Sessions involved organisations including Miltton, Google, brun-ch ai, Into Security, Vanta and Hive Helsinki.
A separate pitching event, Pitch of Finland: Turning the Investor Chair, brought eight startups before a jury of Elias Aalto, Kim Väisänen, Noora Keskievari and Pekka Samuelsson. Hosted by Claes-Mikko Nilsen, the format mixed investor questioning with the turning-chair theatre of a live show. Maria 01 reported that some founders would continue their conversations with investors afterwards.
The formal programme gave way to the official afterparty at Arcade5, with pizza and karaoke adding a different kind of microphone session to the evening. Networking, a lounge and music were all part of the afterparty.
For the competition winners, the next milestone is the chance to present during Slush week. For the wider community, the festival also created time for the less formal exchanges that continue after the stage lights go down.
Sources:
Maria 01 NEXT official event programme
Maria 01 organiser wrap-up and day two recap
Maria 01 day one recap and competition results