Erik Bernhardsson – Modal Labs is the Founder and CEO of the AI unicorn Modal Labs, an infrastructure platform for data and AI teams. Previously, he served as CTO at Better.com, scaling the engineering organization from 1 to 300 people. Before that he spent nearly seven years at Spotify, where he amongst other things built the company’s music recommendation engine.

Renate Nyborg – Meeno is the Founder and CEO of Meeno, an AI-powered relationship advice app designed to help users navigate everyday personal and professional relationships. Previously, she served as CEO of Tinder, leading the world’s largest dating app, and has also held leadership roles at Headspace and Apple.

Julia Delin – Cheque is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cheque, a fintech company helping businesses get paid faster on invoices without loans or credit. Previously, she was CEO of SSE Business Lab and later led SSE Ventures, where she invested in early-stage startups across the Stockholm ecosystem.

Arne Halleraker - FJ Labs is a general partner with FJ Labs. They pride themselves in being one of the most active early stage investors in the world with over 1000 investments and a special focus on market places. Our co-host for the evening, and a friend of Anders since university.

Noora Saksa – Slush is the CEO of Slush, one of the worlds leading startup events bringing together founders, investors, and operators from across the global tech ecosystem. What began as a four-month volunteer role evolved into a five-year journey leading the organization, where she now oversees a team of 50 full-time employees and 1,800 volunteers.

Thomas Walle – Unacast is the President and Co-Founder of Unacast, a location intelligence company helping businesses understand real-world human mobility through data and analytics. Previously, he was part of the early team at music streaming platform TIDAL before its acquisition by Jay-Z in 2014.

Wendy Xiao - Northzone is a founder turned VC. She is a longtime partner with Northzone, one of the Nordic VC pioneers. She is an outdoorsy person who loves experiences in nature - so we will definitely invite her to our Nusfjord event on the Lofoten Islands next year..!

Luis Wenus – Nolla Health is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nolla Health, an AI-powered skin health platform combining instant assessments, personalized treatment, and access to medical professionals. Previously, he was part of the founding team at Worldcoin, where he helped build and scale the company’s market operations and growth team.

Sára Nožková – Flox Intelligence is the CEO and Co-Founder of Flox Intelligence, an AI company developing wildlife intelligence systems that help humans and animals coexist across infrastructure, transportation, and industrial environments. Previously, she worked with connected and autonomous mobility systems at Kista Science City.

Einar Saevarsson – Encore Pro is the CEO and Founder of Encore Pro, a platform helping venues and event teams manage ticket sales, audience insights, and live event operations. Previously, he co-founded Billetlugen and Eventim Nordic, and has worked in ticketing and live entertainment for more than two decades.

Morten Bruun – Hebbia works on product at Hebbia, building AI for finance. Previously, he co-founded FlashDocs, an AI presentation platform acquired by Hebbia, and has a background at Google and McKinsey.

Kasper Juul - Kin is the founder and CEO of Kin, a personal AI for clarity and performance. He’s passionate about helping people think better and perform at their best. When he’s not building Kin, you’ll find him ski touring, chasing adventure, or tutoring MIT students on innovation.

Pål Høye – BlueJam is the CTO and Founder of BlueJam, an AI strategy platform helping organizations turn strategy into execution. Previously, he served as CTO at CB Insights, where he led technology teams and platform development for the market intelligence company.

Leif Lundaas – Align Ventures is a Venture Partner at Align Ventures, investing in AI, robotics, and deep tech companies. Helped secure Figure´s last megaround. Previously, he worked as a portfolio manager across hedge funds and investment firms, with a background spanning AI, autonomous systems, and clean energy investing.

Helgi Hermannsson – OneTeam is the Co-Founder and CEO of OneTeam, an AI-powered workforce management platform for non-desk industries. Previously, he founded Sling, an employee scheduling and workforce management platform later acquired by Toast, where he also went on to serve in a senior leadership role.

Charlotte “Coci” Alholm – Slush is the President of Slush, where she leads the investor, startup, and partnership teams. Previously, she served as Head of Partnerships, leading a team of six and working with partners supporting more than 3,000 startups annually.

Herman Båverud Olsson – Solva is the Co-Founder and CEO of Solva, an AI platform for insurance claims operations and decision workflows. Previously, he helped scale insurtech company Lassie and worked with AI workflows at BCG X, leading machine learning and data teams across insurance operations.

Hayley Barna – First Round is the founder of Birchbox, a company she grew from a school project to a 200 person team with hundreds of millions in revenue. The company was backed by on of the leading NY VCs - First Round. Now she is a partner at the firm and leads their NY Office.

Christian Bjelland – Lowercarbon Capital is an Operating Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, a climate-focused investment firm backing companies working on emissions reduction and decarbonization. With a background spanning investing, growth, and company building, he has also advised and supported companies including Redesign Health, Hello Alfred, and Trident.

Andreas Johansson – Cheque is the Co-Founder of Cheque, a fintech company focused on shortening payment cycles and helping agencies get paid faster. Previously, he served as CEO of SSE Business Lab, one of Scandinavia’s leading startup incubators, supporting founders and early-stage companies across the Stockholm ecosystem.

Anders Mjåset - Mesh is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Mesh. Mesh runs the largest startup hubs in the Nordics and also the largest startup recruitment platform, called The Hub. Our latest venture is the Mesh Collective network. The goal with Collective is to connect the key founders and investors in the Nordic region, to accelerate Nordic innovation in the Nordics and beyond.

Niels Martin Brochner - Paradox is Founder and CEO of Paradox, an AI company focused on improving organizational decision-making and knowledge sharing. Previously, he founded and led Contractbook, a contract management platform that became a leading European player.

Trond Riiber Knudsen– TRK Group is the most active business angel in Norway, with 150+ investments. Senior executive roles in McKinsey. Born in Ethiopia and focused on the Nordics and Africa. He also helped launch Katapult and Antler.

Aya Fabricius - Mesh is one of the main reasons why we are here in New York. The community focused serial entrepreneur and creative is the Head of Network at Mesh, which makes her responsible for the development of Mesh Collective, our top level startup network.

Oli Bjorn Stephensen – BASTA is the CEO and Co-Founder of BASTA, a platform bringing branded auctions to websites and social media channels. Previously, he held senior product and technology roles at Sotheby’s and Madison Square Garden, working across digital products, commerce, and transformation.

Helle Platou – reMarkable works on US growth for the Norwegian unicorn reMarkable in New York. Previously, she spent over six years as a management consultant, and before that she started her career in NY as a model.

Defne Keser – Slush is Head of Investor Relations at Slush, working with investors and early-stage startups across the European tech ecosystem. Previously, she worked with the investment team at b2venture.

Juliane Stensrud Mjåset – ANTI is a Strategic Advisor at ANTI, a Norwegian creative studio focused on branding, storytelling, and digital experiences. Previously, she co-founded MOS, a creative agency working with startups and growth companies.

Lisa Mallner – the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a Commercial and Economic Policy Advisor focused on technology, investment, and startup ecosystems. Her work spans international business development and partnerships across the Nordic innovation landscape.

Nikolai Philip Pyke – Capsignal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Capsignal, a fundraising platform helping startups manage investor outreach, fundraising processes, and investor updates. Previously, he founded HAYK, a mobility startup focused on EV-sharing solutions for businesses and residential areas.

Kristian Elset Bø– Homi is the founder of Homi, an AI-powered platform rethinking the home search experience through collaboration and smarter matching. Previously, he was a Founding Engineer at YC-backed Wordware, who raised the largest YC round to date in early 2025.

Marius Maaland– Drippa is the Co-Founder of Drippa, an AI startup building tools for product organizations and engineering workflows. Previously, he worked as Tech Lead at IndyKite, leading platform architecture and enterprise delivery. Has experience across startups and enterprise software in both Europe and the US.

Gavin Zaentz – Leadpoet is the Co-Founder and CEO of Leadpoet, a platform focused on helping sales teams identify high-intent buyers and reduce reliance on cold outbound. Previously, he worked on US equities products at Nasdaq and was a General Partner at JGH Capital.

Anders Cederholm – Arturel is the Founder and CEO of Arturel, a Danish design company creating acoustic panels from recycled PET materials to improve sound and wellbeing in homes and workspaces.

Victoria Bager – Boardway is the Co-Founder of Boardway, a platform focused on modernizing board recruitment through a combination of technology and human evaluation. Previously, she worked as Senior Commercial Advisor in Tech at the Trade Council in New York, supporting Nordic companies expanding into the US market.

Karl Liapunov – Nordic Narrative is the Founder of Nordic Narrative, a platform focused on connecting the Nordic startup ecosystem with US founders, operators, and investors. Previously, he led Energy & Climate Tech initiatives at Startuplab and worked in energy technology investment banking at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

Anders Evju – Evju Consulting is a go-to-market and operations advisor with experience scaling gaming, mobile, and SaaS businesses. Previously, he held leadership roles at companies including Game Cloud Network, Playphone, and I-play, helping grow international operations, revenue, and strategic partnerships across the gaming industry.

Gustav von Sydow – EQT Ventures is a Partner at EQT Ventures based in New York, where he works with founders and helps expand the firm’s presence across the US and European startup ecosystems. Previously, he co-founded Burt, a startup studio focused on building and supporting early-stage companies.

Fredrik Guster – Investcorp is a Partner at Investcorp, where he focuses on private market and alternative investment strategies. Previously, he worked across investment and capital markets roles at firms including Barclays and Goldman Sachs.

Sorosh Tavakoli - Stockeld Dreamary is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded, ran and exited Videoplaza, before deciding to introduce good cheese to the US... Has been in NY for 2-3 years and is rumored to be moving back to Stockholm with his family soon:)

Anastasia Trofimova – Sundae Foods is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sundae Foods, a grocery technology company building creator-led and AI-optimized shopping experiences. Previously, she co-founded YOUR BEET and worked as a consultant at BCG, advising companies on growth and operational strategy.

Stephan Flytlie Roche – Grannenfelt Finance works with capital raising for Nordic growth companies, supporting fundraising processes in the €1–20m range. Previously, he worked across sales, investor relations, and business development roles in the Norwegian startup ecosystem, including at CVX Ventures and Remoto Solutions.

Aleksander Skjoelsvik – Meta is a Senior iOS Engineer working on Instagram, with previous engineering experience at WhatsApp, JPMorgan Chase, and WePay. He is also the founder of TransKey, a language translation app for iOS with more than 300,000 users, and has built mobile and web applications with over 10 million combined downloads.

Sims Tullos – Amesto Global is a Partner at Amesto Global, where she works on international growth and expansion strategies for startups and scaleups operating across the US, Europe, and the Nordics. Her work focuses on business development, strategic partnerships, and supporting companies scaling into new markets.