Brancoy Summit 2026: 80+ Commerce Leaders, One Spring Day at Löyly

Sometimes you just get lucky with the weather. April 9th gave us blue skies, a still sea, and the kind of golden light that made Löyly's seaside terrace look like it was designed for exactly this.

Over 80 commerce professionals gathered in Helsinki for the first-ever Brancoy Summit® — and what followed was an afternoon of sharp talks, honest conversations, and the kind of energy you can't manufacture. People stayed. People talked. And by the end of the evening, it was clear this needed to become an annual thing.

No Stage, No Script — Just Substance

We didn't want a conference. We wanted a room — or in this case, a sunlit waterfront restaurant — where the right people could sit down together and talk about what's actually happening in commerce right now.

The format was intentional. Focused talks, generous breaks for conversation, good food, and zero filler. No panels where five people say the same thing slightly differently. Just practitioners sharing what they know.

And it worked. The conversations between sessions were just as valuable as the sessions themselves — small groups forming on the terrace, drinks in hand, sun on their faces, getting into the details on everything from IP strategy to paid social scaling.

What We Talked About

The programme covered the full arc of building and scaling a commerce brand — from protecting what you've already created to unlocking entirely new channels through AI.

The Biggest Shift in Commerce — Mathias Heide Horn, Shopify The headline keynote landed exactly where it should. Mathias walked us through how agentic commerce is fundamentally changing the way consumers discover and buy — and why brands that move now will define what comes next.

Your Brand Is Worth More Than You Think — Heikki Lindroos, Byro A sharp, eye-opening session on intellectual property. Through the story of a fictional Nordic DTC founder, Heikki revealed the three threats most growing brands never think to address: marketplace copycats, undervalued IP in exit negotiations, and the content ownership gaps hiding in every influencer partnership. The room went quiet. In the good way.

Growing a Strong Brand — Nea Mertsalmi, Finlayson Nea shared the Finlayson story — from 1820 to a modern commerce brand that still knows exactly who it is. Heritage, evolution, and knowing when not to change. A brilliant talk.

Building a Global Pet Brand — Jasmit Horkama, PAIKKA Honest, specific, and packed with lessons for anyone thinking about taking a Nordic brand global. Jasmit didn't hold back on what worked, what didn't, and what she'd do differently.

Build a Business That Scales Fast with Paid Social — Miika Vähä-Kreula, Robust Goods A founder's perspective on aggressive growth through performance marketing. No theory — the actual playbook, with numbers.

Trust + Discovery = Conversation — Joost Scholte, Clearer.io Joost explored how trust and product discovery are merging into something new. A thought-provoking look at what conversion really means in a world where attention is the scarcest resource.

The Feeling

Here's the honest part. We had a moment of doubt right before the doors opened. Eighty people on a Thursday evening in Helsinki? That's a big ask. A few people had asked us beforehand — "are you actually going to fill the room?"

They filled the terrace, too.

The networking breaks stretched. The after-event drinks turned into strategy sessions. The karaoke turned into — well, let's just say some memories were made.

One piece of feedback captured the whole evening perfectly: "Fantastic event, perfectly timed talks, great venue, and some incredible laughs at the karaoke after."

That's exactly what we were going for.

Thank You

To our partners — Shopify, Gorgias, Klaviyo, Clearer.io, Svea Payments, and Paytrail — thank you for believing in this before it existed.

To everyone who showed up, stayed late, shared openly, and sang loudly — you made this what it was.

Next Year

Brancoy Summit is now an annual event. The second edition raise the bar. The next one raises more.

See you next spring.

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