Nordic Startup News Early Stage Startup News From The Nordics
Earlier on the first SXSW day, Capital Factory hosted the European Startup Embassy’s “Founders x Funders” session — a focused networking event connecting European startups with investors and ecosystem players during SXSW week.
The format was simple. No stage, no long pitches. Just people meeting people in the Capital Factory’s amazing facilities, with some Pizza and Beers (very startup style)
The European Startup Embassy (ESE) has been building bridges between European startups and the US market for years, organizing delegations, soft-landing activities, and curated networking events across key innovation hubs. SXSW in Austin is one of its natural touchpoints, and at least for me (and our Finnish group) this was the first ESE SXSW event. Good job CEO Vladimira Cincurova and her team, we will definitely work for some Nordic presence for the upcoming SXSW shows.
During the week, ESE helped coordinate multiple European activities — linking founders, investors, and national initiatives from across the continent. Rather than one centralized EU presence, the approach was distributed but connected.
At Capital Factory, the tone was more focused than at the evening Startup Crawl. Fewer demos, more discussion around funding, partnerships, and entering the US market.
The event was organized together with Moonshot Platform, bringing in a mix of early-stage founders and more experienced operators already on the ground.
Finnish participants were present, although not highlighted individually in the official program, reflecting a broader trend this year: activity happening across many smaller nodes instead of one big Nordic or European hub.
In practice, it meant that if you were a European startup at SXSW, this was one of the key rooms to be in.
