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Startup Extreme is a two-day technology conference in the end of June. Three hundred invited guests, consisting of international investors, tech media, community leaders and tech stars from Norway and the rest of the Nordics, will be experiencing the extremes of Norway’s fjords and mountains.
In the mountains of Voss
Three hundred invited guests, consisting of international investors, tech media, community leaders and tech stars from Norway and the rest of the Nordics, will be experiencing the extremes of Norway’s fjords and mountains, when Startup Norway is welcoming to the first edition of Startup Extreme in June.
The conference is held in Voss, Norway, from June 17 to 19. Here the participants will be exposed to the wild nature of Voss, and put under extreme conditions, which you can’t find at any other tech conference in the world.
During the event, the participant will be doing group activities, with focus on extreme sports and networking. There will be rafting, mountain climbing and challenging workshops, all in the beautiful nature of Voss.
The conference will also feature startups pitching their idea under extreme conditions, such as pitching while skydiving, as well as featuring launches by ICT companies (Information and Communication Technologies).
“We want to make this event unique, something that the startup community has never seen before. We want to challenge the attendants, and make the event interesting for all participating parties.” Says Yvonne Edseth, Chief marketing officer at Startup Norway.
Startup Norway organize the conference. They will facilitate the networking, making sure that media and investors get the opportunity to meet all the best tech startups that the Nordics has to offer, meanwhile making sure that the startups gets teamed up with potential investors.
“Instead of long conferences and 15 minute pitches between startups and investors, we aim to challenge our attendants and focus on teamwork to ensure lasting relationships between the participants”
A unique conference with focus on the Norwegian startup scene
Norwegian industries have been focused on shipping and natural resources, and have had great success within these areas. However, the Norwegian startup scene is lacking behind the other countries in the Nordic region.
One of the reason for this is that the Norwegian startup scene gets less exposure, compared to other parts of the Nordic region, and therefore got a harder time attracting funding.
“We know that the Norwegian startup scene has a lot of potential, and we want to showcase this through our conference, as well as promote other startups from the Nordics.” States Yvonne Edseth.
Stina Liland Nysaether, Co-Founder and Community Builder at Startup Norway, is one of the people behind the concept for Startup Extreme. She is originally from Voss, which is the main reason why Startup Extreme will be held there.
The idea for the conference emanated from her experiences, together with the other people from Startup Norway, traveling around the world, attending the different startup related conferences, trying to promote Norwegian startups.
“We decided to invite them to us, instead of always going abroad. This event is an amazing opportunity for Nordic Startups to promote themselves to the world’s media as well as potential investors. ” explained Yvonne Edseth.
Startup Norway went to Silicon Valley last August 2014, to talk to potential attendees and investors. Initially the investors were not very interested in a conference held in Norway, but that soon changed when they heard the concept behind the event. They were happy with the concept, and the fact that the conference was going to be located in the high mountains and fjelds of Norway.
“The investors liked that we were trying to create something unique and challenging, and not trying to copy other big events such as Slush.”
Attending Startup Extreme
Startup Norway has already disclosed some of the featured guests at the conference, included US investors such as Sean Percival from 500Startups and Dan Bragiel from i/o Ventures. Journalists confirmed to cover the event are Robin Wauters from Tech.eu, Niel Murray from The Nordic Web, Courtney Boyd Myers from Wired UK and The Next Web, together with many more awesome startup people. You can see the rest of the featured guests here!
The opening of Startup Extreme, which will take place at HighTechNorway in Bergen, on 17 June, with Anita Traaseth, the CEO of Innovation Norway, officially opening the event. HighTechNorway is an open event, giving the world the opportunity to meet the lucky people attending Startup Extreme.
Startup Norway is still considering applications for Startup Extreme, as they want to secure the highest quality possible for the event. If you are interested in joining the event, you can apply for a spot here! This event is something you do not want to miss!
