By Supantha Mukherjee and Anne Kauranen
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Tech entrepreneurs and investors meet in Finland on Wednesday at Slush, one of Europe's largest start-up events, with a focus on whether funding conditions will ease, the impact of Donald Trump's election victory and the prospects for AI-driven growth.
Slush, which gets its name from November Finnish weather, gives an opportunity for venture capitalists and start-up founders to compare notes to see whether funding can buck the trend of three years of slowdown and whether firms can follow the likes of Klarna and Revolut into initial public offerings.
"Looking ahead, there are reasons for cautious optimism. AI continues to attract significant investment - nearly $40 billion globally in 2023 - showing confidence in its transformative potential," Slush CEO Aino Bergius told Reuters ahead of the event, due to be attended by 13,000 people.
One of Europe's largest venture capital firms Index said the two-day event came "amid a streak of optimism" in European tech, driven by investment in AI.
"There is a lot of capital in the market, and we can feel that it is being actively deployed," Anastasija Plotnikova, CEO of crypto startup Fideum, said.
Meanwhile, some of the startups headed to the event were more cautious over a turnaround.
"While I hope to see some stabilisation in funding conditions next year, I remain cautious," said Mathilda Strom, founding chief operating officer of Bioptimus, a company developing a foundation model for biology, citing economic uncertainty and higher interest rates.
Funding to emerging tech companies in 2024 is set to have fallen for the third year in a row, but a window for new listings is opening again, venture capital firm Atomico said in its industry report on Tuesday.
However, Francesco Ricciuti, a deeptech VC investor, at Runa Capital, said the fallout from the U.S. election could have a negative impact on the industry if Trump's promise to impose potentially hefty tariffs on a swathe of goods was realised.
"Tariffs will play a pivotal role as supply chains in many technological sectors are deeply interconnected and fragile," Ricciuti said.