After spending way too many months apart, we were finally able to relaunch Maria 365 (the biggest Maria 01 community party of the year) last fall – and what an event our startups and guests made it into!
When our team started to gather ideas for this year’s event and browsed through the Maria 01 Impact Report for inspiration, the vast diversity of industries, teams, and nationalities we actually have among our 1400 members seemed to be something catching all of our eyes. To us, Maria 365 is all about giving everyone the opportunity to get a glimpse into what everyday life at Maria 01 is all about. With this in mind, we started thinking about how we could showcase the diverse representation of startup members and industries we actually have.
After doing some quick math, we realised that inviting our 180+ startup founders from over 50 different industries up on stage to give a quick 3-4 minute presentation would mean over 12 straight hours of pitching. Okay, even for us that seemed too grand at this point. Maybe next year!
However, devoted to the idea of showcasing and celebrating the fact that Maria 01 is not an industry agnostic community, a pitching day that actually would work in practice started to take shape.
The Road to the Maria 365 Startup Showcase
The 180+ startups and 12 straight hours of pitching have now been narrowed down to 40 of our startups at the forefront of tech innovation, divided into seven different tracks, whose pitches will be evaluated by a jury of journalists, investors, and other experts from the startup ecosystem.
What is at stake? The Maria 365 Pitching Day hosted on the 22nd of September is the road to this year’s main event – the Maria 365 Startup Showcase on the 6th of October. With the help of journalists from media like Kauppalehti and Tekniikka&Talous, investors from VC firms like Inventure, Maki.vc, and industry experts from KPMG and Danske Bank Growth, we are looking for ten finalists to take the stage at the Maria 365 Startup Showcase. Our finalists will be selected based on how well they succeed in presenting information about their business model, team, the problem they’re solving and market potential through their pitch.
Claim your ticket – we promise you a stellar show
Who our ten finalists sharing their stories with us at this year’s main event on the 6th of October are, will be revealed on the 23rd of September. Our finalists will spend the following week with our experienced startup and pitching coach, Aape Pohjavirta, working on perfecting their pitch and presentation skills to deliver a stellar show. Registration for the main event on the 6th of October is already open, and with a full house last year, we recommend you sign up now to secure your spot.
The best way to follow the Maria 365 Pitching Day on the 22nd of September is on Instagram and Twitter. And hey, if you happen to be around the Maria 01 Campus in Helsinki on Thursday, stop by – the doors to the Pitching Day will be open!
