Connected Innovation Future Tech Delegation confirmed for Slush, Helsinki

The Connected Innovation team are delighted to confirm that we have finalised the delegation of six early-stage tech founders from Norfolk and Suffolk that we will be taking to Slush in Helsinki in November.

Slush proudly proclaims itself as the most founder-focused event on Earth — and after attending twice, we can confidently say it lives up to the hype. The whole event is designed to inspire founders and, more importantly, to connect them with investors, entrepreneurs and partners, who can help turn bold ideas into thriving ventures.

The Future Tech Programme, which is funded by Connected Innovation, Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council and delivered on the ground by Connected Innovation members Akcela Ventures and Innovation Labs Group, has helped founders to raise over £1.4m since it started in 2024.

Connected Innovation Programme Manager James Allen said: “we are delighted to offer this opportunity for six exciting start-ups across Norfolk and Suffolk, adding further value to the Future Tech Programme. We are working with other regional innovation ecosystems, national innovation support partners and Government departments to maximise this opportunity for the founders and our region. We will be putting on a package of support for the founders over the summer to help them with their preparations for Slush and maximise their prospects with investors.”

Details on the six founders:

• C-J Green, Co-Founder of CleverGoose: CleverGoose gives managers clear, confident HR guidance exactly when they need it, no jargon, no waiting, no guesswork. Designed for people who aren’t HR experts but still need to make the right call. CleverGoose delivers step-by-step digital support for handling real-world people issues.
• Justinas Kairys, Founder of Opendatabay: Opendatabay is an AI-powered data marketplace built for speed, precision, and scale. Opendatabay helps organisations find, explore, and monetise high-value datasets – with a focus on NLP, healthcare, synthetic data, and research-grade content. Unlike traditional data platforms that are fragmented and manual, Opendatabay uses advanced large language models to automate data discovery and intelligently match users to the most relevant datasets in seconds.
• Sarah Roberts, Founder of Far From: Far From connects skilled travellers with premium hosts offering accommodation in exchange for project help. From restoring country homes to supporting creative ventures, Far From matches capable people with meaningful placements; all vetted, structured, and built on trust. Designed for professionals taking a career break or travelling with purpose, Far From offers an alternative to traditional tourism and outdated exchange sites.
• Mark Thomas, Founder of Appnalysis: Too many great apps fall short — not for lack of talent, but for lack of clarity. Appnalysis brings that clarity back, helping agencies and product teams make faster, smarter decisions through instant actionable insights that combine app-store data, SDK signals and market context. Built in Suffolk and backed by Innovate UK, Appnalysis has launched its MVP and is now scaling through agency pilot programmes across the UK.
• Carole Osborne, Founder of Aidos: Aidos is an AI driven safeguarding tool that makes children and teachers in photos unidentifiable, protecting against exploitation, blackmail, and harmful manipulation. Designed for schools, Aidos extends safeguarding into the digital world. Every shared image – on websites, newsletters, and social media – is automatically protected, yet retains the essence of the original image, allowing schools to communicate as they normally would.
• Jonathan Laker, CEO and Founder of Quick Brew Content: Quick Brew Content (QBC) helps time-poor SMEs position themselves as industry leaders on LinkedIn without writing a word. Their AI generates and schedules tailored, high-quality posts with minimal user input. There are 67 million LinkedIn pages globally and 96% are underperforming by not posting content even weekly, the opportunity is huge. The team have built their MVP, proven results via founder-led experiments (3,000+ impressions in 10 days), and are preparing to launch.