Slush 2026

The numbers

Every figure links to where it came from. Attendance for an event that has not happened is a projection, and each row says so rather than presenting it as a count.

• Main days18 to 19 Nov

  Official dates. Wednesday to Thursday. 17 November is Day 0 for specific ticket types. Slush FAQ

• Crowd, 2026 stated12,000

  Official FAQ figure for 2026, not 13,000. Broken down as 5,800 startups, 3,300 investors, 2,100 partners, 300 media. Slush FAQ

• Startups, stated5,800

  Organiser's 2026 breakdown on the FAQ. Treat as a target until after the event. Slush FAQ

• Investors, stated3,300

  Same official 2026 breakdown. Slush FAQ

What it is

Slush is Helsinki's founder and investor gathering. The 2026 main event is 18 to 19 November. The official FAQ puts the room at 12,000 people this year, with a Day 0 on 17 November for investor and founder ticket holders. It is a curated startup event, not a public consumer fair. EIT and the Slush site both publish those November dates.

Who goes

Early-stage founders and the funds that meet them. Media have their own allocation. If you need a consumer-tech launch, IFA or CES is the better week. If you need Nordic and European seed and A-round density in two days, this is the room. Investor Office Hours sit on the main days.

Side events

Slush publishes an official side-event page. Search Slush side event and start there, not on a random aggregator. Y Science is named as a signature life-science side event in the 2025 recap, with 1,500 attendees claimed for that format. The 2026 list was still being built from last year's page when last checked. Unofficial nights fill Helsinki around 16 to 19 November and show up on Luma. Day 0 on 17 November is ticket-gated, not a public pre-party. Aspire does not run those nights.

Tickets and costs

Tickets are on slush.org. Pre-registration is how the cheaper tiers are sold. November in Helsinki is dark and cold. Stay walking distance from the venue or on a direct tram. The FAQ is the honest numbers page. Use it rather than last year's Wikipedia attendance, which records a much larger 2019 peak.

Worth knowing before you book

The useful meetings are booked before you land. The two main days are short. Treat 17 November as part of the trip if you hold the right ticket. The afterparty was marked sold out on the official site when last checked. Do not plan the social half around a public ticket that may not exist.