The Salo Sprint Brought GSAI Batch 1 to a Powerful Finale

The Salo Sprint on 3-4 February 2026 marked the culmination of the first batch of the GSAI programme, bringing together startups, investors, and experts for two intensive days focused on scalability, AI-driven growth, and investor readiness. 

A total of 15 startups from Sweden, Estonia, and Finland met once more, this time in Salo, to conclude nine months of learning, experimentation, and international market discovery. 

The sprint opened with a welcome from Yrityssalo CEO Jyrki Moilanen, highlighting Salo’s role as an emerging environment for growth-oriented startups. 

Measuring the Shift: Scalability Before and After 

A defining moment of the sprint was the second scalability assessment led by Davide Sola. Having worked with the teams earlier in the programme in Gävle, this session offered a clear before-and-after perspective on how each startup’s scalability readiness had evolved. 

Founders revisited assumptions made at the beginning of the programme and compared them with their current strategies, now shaped by validated market insights, refined business models, and concrete AI development. The assessment highlighted measurable progress in focus, operational maturity, and strategic prioritisation. 

The results were tangible. 14 out of 15 companies have achieved scaled-up status, and 12 out of 15 have successfully implemented AI augmentation in their business. 

Scaled-up status means that the startups have demonstrated validated market fit and implemented a soft landing in their target market. Concretely, this has included milestones such as: 

• Raising investment 

• Developing and refining the business model 

• Launching a new product or service 

• Expanding the core team 

• Generating revenue from their foreign target market 

These outcomes reflect not only strategic clarity but real, measurable business progress across the cohort. 

“The first time we conducted our scalability assessment, we hadn’t fully considered the risk of being copied. Revisiting it for the second time changed our perspective. We’ve now strengthened our model to the point where we can confidently say it’s built to be truly hard to replicate.” 
– Mari-Liis Tamm, Co-founder, Raalio 

From Market Discovery to Investor Pitches 

With the Market Discovery Missions already completed, the Salo Sprint focused on outcomes rather than hypotheses. Guided by Richard Hainsworth, startups shared how customer interviews, pilot cases, and local market insights had reshaped their value propositions, pricing logic, and go-to-market strategies. 

Sessions by guest experts Mari Luukkainen on accelerating growth with AI and Tuomas Pahlman on investor expectations during fundraising translated these learnings into practical preparation for investor conversations. 

The second day of the sprint was dedicated to pitch presentations for investors. Each startup presented its refined growth story, demonstrating increased clarity, confidence, and ambition. The pitches reflected not only technical and commercial progress but also the founders’ readiness to engage with investors and scale internationally. 

“Presenting the entire business – its history and operations in 3 minutes is a hard task. The main purpose of pitching is to lure the investors’ attention. I am impressed how everyone managed to stay focused and deliver the message.” 
– Johan Willdeck 

“With AI being part of startups nowadays, VC investors look for companies that can clearly describe how they use AI in order to stand out from the crowd.” 
– Samela Kivilo 

The Road Ahead

As Batch 1 concluded, the Salo Sprint stood as a strong finale – celebrating progress made while marking the beginning of a new chapter. For the startups, the journey continues with clearer direction, stronger networks, and concrete next steps toward growth. 

For GSAI, the sprint closed the first batch with confidence and set a strong foundation for the upcoming international cohorts to follow. 

“Cross-border learning in scaling enabled by using AI already appears to have delivered excellent results for the participating companies at this stage. Through the collaboration of top-tier expertise and ambitious, driven companies, success stories are clearly in the making, and I look forward to following them with great interest.” 
–  Johanna Puhtila, Project Manager, Interreg Central Baltic. 

About GSAI

GSAI – Growth and Scaling through AI is a joint initiative by Movexum (Gävle, Sweden), Yrityssalo (Salo, Finland), AI Sweden (Sweden), and Tehnopol (Tallinn, Estonia). 

The programme runs from 2025 to 2028, supporting 45 startups from the Central Baltic region in scaling their business through the strategic application of AI. The aim is to help startups expand or improve their value proposition or business model to enter their first or next EU market. 

GSAI – Growth and Scaling through AI is a joint initiative by Movexum (Gävle, Sweden), Yrityssalo (Salo, Finland), AI Sweden  (Sweden), and Tehnopol (Tallinn, Estonia). The programme runs from 2025 to 2028, supporting 45 startups from the Central Baltic region in scaling their business through the strategic application of AI. The aim is to help startups expand or improve their value proposition or business model to enter their first or next EU market. Funded by: Interreg Central Baltic Programme