Slush opens in Helsinki with focus on profits over growth

Startup and investor event Slush 2019 opened on Thursday in Helsinki, where discussions centered on a shift among companies on profits over growth, according to organizers.

The focus of investors has shifted from growth to profit, said organizers of the two-day event attended by some 25,000 people.

Timo Ahopelto, a Finnish investor and the chairman of the board of Slush, told national broadcaster Yle on Thursday that during the last half a year attitudes in places such as U.S. Silicon Valley have changed towards "going back to traditional pillars of business."

"That means profitable growth and not just growth," Ahopelto said, while noting the availability of risk investment money has had both positive and negative repercussions.

"Companies that have a functioning business model, and can actually change the world, get faster to the real growth cycle as money is available. But the negative side is that when a lot of funding is available, mistakes are possible," he said.

Andreas Saari, CEO of Slush, told Finnish language business daily Kauppalehti on Thursday that Slush has "never wanted to be naively techno-optimistic."

As the world's leading startup and tech event, Slush has been arranged in Helsinki since 2008. The debates this year will include ethical questions and the clashes societal regulation may bring.

The event is also a forum of for exchanges between experienced entrepreneurs and beginners.

Last year, Slush announced the launch of Slush Academy for training future startups, but the project has been delayed now.

Saari told Kauppalehti that they first had to find the best person to run it and such a person has now been found. Concrete plans would be announced later, Saari told Kauppalehti.