So it happened that two Central Baltic Interreg funded programs realized having almost identical events roughly at the same time. Northbound Startups was about to organize a shared hybrid event in Tehnopol and Turku Science Park and New Nordic Leads had plans for two separate physical events in two cities across the Gulf. No matter the importance of our message, three events in one week for the same community of startup founders and early stage investors would have been an exaggeration. So we decided to combine forces.
Seldom has the planning process been so smooth than this. Both programs brought their features in the table and those fit together seamlessly. Civitta, FiBAN and EstBAN did good job in arranging venues and putting up the program in Tallinn and Helsinki and all organizers evoked their networks for participation, either on-site or online. The event itself was spread on three days and the concept was exciting, remembering that we still had to take the covid situation into account. It all started in Tallinn with an on-site pitching event for real audience. Startups and investors were mostly local, spiced up with few Finnish and Swedish investors. The next day Northbound Startups had simultaneous networking dinners in Tallinn and Turku and the Demo-week ended in Helsinki with the similar pitching and speed-dating event as in Tallinn few days earlier. Again the participants were mostly local with some investors from the Baltics. And because the cross-border matchmaking was still out of question in its full extent both main events were streamed. All in all we reached more than hundred investors in the Central Baltic region during these three days.
Below some shots of the events. Photos taken by Wasim Al-Nasser, Silver Raidla and Arto Branders. Special thanks to Johanna Ahtiainen from FiBAN, Anu Oks from EstBAN and Grete Gutmann from Civitta, not to mention the technical teams in Korjaamon Vintti, Helsinki and Erinevate Tubade Klubi in Tallinn. This concept was definitely worth of testing.
