Twelve Startups pitch at A’Pelago Pitch Challenge 2025 Finals

The A’Pelago Pitch Challenge 2025 culminates in its finals on August 21, 2025, during the A’Pelago Initiative Day 2 at the Ruissalo Shipyard in Turku. Twelve pioneering startups have been selected to pitch their blue economy solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time: protecting marine ecosystems, reducing pollution, and strengthening the vitality of archipelago and coastal regions.

The winner of the competition will gain valuable visibility, expert connections, and the opportunity for a €25,000 investment, awarded at the A’Pelago Initiative event. The investor jury and prize investor will be revealed during the finals.

You can find the companies at the Venture Booth area during A'Pelago Initiative 20-21.8.

The 12 A'Pelago Pitch Challenge 2025 Finalists

• Lentola Logistics uses drones instead of boats or cars to reduce carbon emissions, lower transportation costs, enhance accessibility and connectivity, and create new job opportunities in the archipelago.
• Lokala - strengthens the habitability of coastal and rural regions by offering a digital marketplace where people can buy produce directly from the source. This platform helps local producers and service providers reach customers without intermediaries, increasing their visibility and income.
• eMathStudio - makes it possible for people to understand technology, science, economics, and ecosystems, so that each and everyone can contribute to building a more sustainable future. eMathStudio offers help and support, as well as verification and standardised grading, equally to all, which removes gender, societal and cultural biases from learning.
• OW-Ferment develops a soil fertilizer based on 100% bio-waste that enhances microbial activity and destroys harmful bacteria, pathogens and pesticides in the soil improving plant growth and overall ecosystem balance. The solution enables combatting agricultural runoff into the Baltic Sea.
• FimusKraft - turns bio-waste into energy, fertilizers, and raw materials while cleaning water, removing pharmaceutical residues, and adding oxygen. They enable local, efficient wastewater treatment and drives circular solutions that cut waste and emissions
• NPHarvest - prevents eutrophication, cuts greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment, and reduces Europe’s dependency on Russian imported fertilizers. Their patented process recovers up to 90% of nutrients while simultaneously decreasing treatment costs and creating a new revenue stream for their clients.
• Coconord - transforms discarded coconut husks into sustainable growing media, reduces farmers’ dependence on peat and rockwool, lowering CO2 emissions, and accelerating the global shift to eco-friendly soilless farming. End-of-life reuse closes the loop, preventing waste and advancing a circular economy.
• Nexamass is making maritime biomasses eligible as raw material in industrial use. Inducing harvesting along the coasts and in the seas, processing and transportation all the way to the industrial plant which is producing consumer goods.
• EWK Finland - offers non-toxic, thermal solutions to fight weed. Their hot water method effectively kills the roots of weed and invasive plants without any risks for humans and the environment.
• Nemo Seafarms farms keystone marine species to remove excess nutrients, provide habitat for wildlife, and produce feedstock for biorefineries. The concept can be deployed coastally or offshore as part of nature-positive infrastructure for wind farms and other platforms.
• Ocean Eye - provides incentives for marine biodiversity conservation, citizen science data, as well as funding for coastal communities and projects that can further improve marine ecology.
• Reverlast - transforms retired wind turbine blades into durable floating infrastructure, cutting CO2 emissions and replacing plastic or concrete pontoons for marinas, real estate, and solar platforms.

Read more and get investor cards of the companies here.

The A’Pelago Initiative is the leading blue economy event in the Baltic Sea region, bringing together startups, investors, researchers and decision-makers for two days of collaboration, inspiration, and concrete action around the future of the blue economy. Held at the historic Ruissalo Shipyard in Turku on 20–21 August 2025, the event serves as a unique meeting point where A'Pelago Ecosystem startups, scaleups, and industry leaders from more than ten countries connect with over 30 venture capital investors and corporate partners. More information and tickets here.

As part of A'Pelago Initaitive Program the A’Pelago Pitch Challenge, dedicated to blue economy innovations, offers young and promising companies the chance to showcase their ideas, receive expert feedback, and access growth opportunities. The competition is open to startup companies that are developing globally scalable solutions to improve the health of oceans and coastal communities.

More information:
Patrik Anckar I co-founder
patrik@apelago.fi