*ship Startup Festival

*ship is an international acceleration and development platform for early-stage startups. It is also an excellent learning environment for anyone interested in entrepreneurship. The event includes the traditional Pitch Captain Competition, in addition to which we offer a mentoring program for competing startups. There is more to the event, especially from the visitors’ perspective, which you should read more about below.

*ship sails to Xamk – Kotka Campus 8.-9.5.2025!

Pitch Captain Competition rewards:

1st place with 10 000€

2nd place with 5 000€

3rd place with 2 000€

What to expect from *ship?

Register as a visitor

This year, visitors enjoying the event and competition can listen keynote speeches and participate in Creator*ship workshops. In addition, our partners will organize *ship side events like a Junior *ship competition for secondary school students, an ES meetup for members of Finnish higher education entrepreneurship communities, and a roadshow for investors hosted by Fiban! Imagine, all this in one event!

Register

Visitor info-package

Navigate in *ship with Tavata

Browse the event program, plan your own schedule, book meetings, and network with fellow *ship participants!

Sign in to Tavata

Create a user profile in TAVATA
After profile creation click on “+” or/and “join by code” and enter the access code for *ship Startup Festival: UHQF
Customize your event-specific profile by selecting your role and writing a brief description.
Browse other attendees and schedule meetings with them.

Startups!

Applications are now closed!

Thank you to all the startups who applied to the Pitch Captain Competition! The application period ended on April 14th, 2025, and we received an impressive number of exciting entries!

Next, we will select the competing startups who will take the stage and pitch for these amazing prizes:

🥇 First prize 10 000 €

🥈 Second prize 5 000 €

🥉 Third prize 2 000 €

Support material for startups

Take a look at our partner Fiban’s (Finnish Business Angels) tips and support materials for building a good pitch.

Find out more

Creator*ship workshops

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