One Year of Vaasa Startup Factory
From the beginning, everyone involved believed in the same simple idea. If you give people a welcoming space to explore entrepreneurship and provide stimulating activities and support, interesting things start to happen. The Factory offers collaboration spaces, flexible work areas, meeting rooms, and individual rooms for rent.
Inspiring year and busy summer
Throughout spring and the entire year, the focus the Factory was to inspire people and to showcase entrepreneurship as a valid career choice. Over 110 different events took place at the Vaasa Startup Factory in its first year. From local entrepreneurs sharing their story, to trainings, pitching competitions, and community organized activities. The Sprout programs gave early-stage teams and aspiring entrepreneurs an accessible way to learn the basics of developing an idea and taking first steps. The first 2026 round is already on its way with a new round to follow for the coming autumn.
One of the best examples of the Factory’s impact came in the summer. The organisation of Summer Bloom 2025, an incubation program as a summer job. Twenty students joined the program and had the unique opportunity to spend their summer developing their ideas and get paid for it! Over the summer they received guidance, sparring and support from the local startup network. The feedback by the participants was overwhelming! And not only that, when pitch day arrived, they presented their work to a panel that included experts from START Helsinki, Antler, Maki.vc, the City of Vaasa and Hanken Business Lab. It was a clear sign of how fast ideas can mature when people have structure and community around them. Additionally, selected participants got the opportunity to join the Next Level Growth challenge, a startup competition co-organized with partners VASEK, VES, Botnia Ventures and the Chamber of Commerce. This pitching event showed for the first time the real impact of the Vaasa Startup Factory as half of the finalist had come through the Factory’s pipeline. And not only that, one of the Summer Bloom teams won second place! Amazing job to everyone involved.
A region that builds together
The Vaasa Startup Factory is closely connected to the wider regional ecosystem. All six higher education institutions contribute to the shared startup space, which gives students a clear route to explore entrepreneurship and to meet mentors, coaches and partners across the city. Further partners such as the Vaasa Entrepreneurship Society and VASEK help to make the Startup Factory the hub for entrepreneurship in Vaasa.
Being open and inclusive are one of the cornerstones of the Startup Factory and by bringing different people from different backgrounds together, we believe we can create more meaningful connections. These connections have helped create momentum that feels larger than any single organization.
The Factory is also becoming a practical home base for startups that want to stay close to the community. Five startups currently rent offices in the space, and more are on the way. They are not only tenants. They host sessions, give feedback to newcomers and help shape the culture day by day.
The glue that keeps it all together – our community
More people discover the Factory every week. Some come to work on concrete ideas, others come to learn and many simply come to see what is going on. The online community has grown quickly as well, with close to one thousand people following along on LinkedIn. Daily, 50-80 people find their way to the startup factory for various reasons, but the most important outcome is not a number. It is the sense of belonging. Teams share what they know, celebrate the small wins and keep each other moving forward. We couldn’t have imagined or even dreamt of the integrative power the Vaasa Startup Factory is showing to have.
Picture by Hendrik Morkel
Looking ahead
Year one showed what is possible when a community has a place to meet and a reason to build together. Many different activities were tried, some were successful, some not so much. But we always had fun and we learned every day. The Startup Factory is now ready to step into the world and take its next steps.
Year two will focus on growth and bringing the different aspects together. Just a few highlights to look out for in 2026. A new membership model will launch soon. It will offer perks and a clearer way for people to take part in the community. Summer Bloom will return in 2026. It will welcome more teams and aim for even stronger impact. Connections to the best startup ecosystems in the world will bring new opportunities. And who knows, maybe there will even be opportunities to get some small funding to develop your idea to be ready to be pitched to Business Angels and VCs.
Thank you all for an amazing first year in the Vaasa Startup Factory.
Philipp Holtkamp on behalf of the full Vaasa Startup Factory Team