A major European start-up conference taking place in Liverpool this month is a sellout with all the 300 Slush’D tickets now snapped up. Tony McDonough reports

Organisers of the Slush’D start-up conference in Liverpool say the event is now a sellout.

Liverpool Slush’D will take place in Stanhope Street, in the city’s Baltic Triangle on Thursday, September 14, Slush’D is regarded as one of Europe’s foremost start-up conferences.

First revealed in LBN in July, the event will bring together founders, investors and policymakers from across the continent.

Slush was founded by a group of students in Helsinki 15 years ago as a grassroots meetup for early-stage tech founders. It has been called a “celebration of entrepreneurial grit”.

Since then it has evolved to become a major annual event, attracting the biggest names in the start-up and investment community.

Organisers say the Slush model of fostering a tight-knit community of innovators and investors, and tackling the bottlenecks that hinder local start-ups from reaching their full potential has led to “exponential economic gains” for Helsinki.

Dubbed a “celebration of entrepreneurial grit” the conference is now completely sold out with all 300 seats snapped up two weeks before it takes place.

Liverpool, Manchester and London are among the most represented cities for start-ups, with advanced materials, immersive technologies, ecommerce, fintech and life sciences the most popular technologies and sector verticals cited.

Earlier in August LBN revealed the speaker line-up. It includes Oliver Yonchev from Flight Story and Henry Whorwood from Beauhurst. They will take to the stage alongside other notable speakers such as Oxford University’s Professor Chas Bountra.

A drop-in business clinic will be provided in neighbouring ’Dockleaf’ by KPMG, one of the main sponsors of the event.

Other sponsors include Growth Platform, Baltic Ventures, Gather, LCR Angel Network, After Athena, River Capital, Marks and Clerk, Lloyd’s Bank + the University of Liverpool.

This year, Slush has selected 15 partner cities to deliver “Slush’D” events, with meetups being delivered across four continents under the spinoff brand, in cities ranging from Liverpool to Wellington in New Zealand, Delhi in India and Busan in South Korea.

Jonny Clark, director of Liverpool Slush’D, said: “The sheer scale of excitement we’ve seen about Slush coming to Liverpool is extraordinary. Tickets are 20% oversubscribed.

“The event space limits us to 300 people – but the demand from Liverpool’s start-up community sends a clear signal that this city region is more than just a night out or a lifestyle destination.

“It is a feasible place to build globally competitive businesses that can achieve scale, reputation and success.”