Baltic Startup Scene Report 2018 2019 SWG EITDigital-1 PDF

REPORT 2018—2019
The secret sauce

#girlpower
in the Baltic tech scene
OF BOLT, PRINTFUL, AND OTHER

CULTURE-DRIVEN COMPANIES
Biggest
investment deals
WHO RAISED THE MOST IN 2018/2019?
Hiring challenges
in the Baltics
WHAT CAUSES HEADACHES FOR THE
REGION’S FAST-GROWING STARTUPS?
BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019
THE BALTIC
STATES IS
A BOOMING
SPACE FOR
STARTUPS
Despite their small size, the three
Baltic countries are showing im-
pressive results in digitalization
and being a booming space for This is the second time the Start-
startups. Continuously ranked up Wise Guys accelerator and EIT
among places with best tax re- Digital join their forces to publish
gimes, ease of doing business, and the Baltic Startup Scene Report.
tech savviness, the Baltic states While each Baltic country regu-
are quite an interesting phenome- larly comes up with data and re-
non in the European startup scene. ports, the region is rarely analyzed
Estonia alone is home to some of as a whole and benchmarked with
Europe’s fastest growing compa- other countries and regions in Eu-
nies – including four unicorns. In rope.
the meantime, the neighbouring
countries of Latvia and Lithuania Last year’s report was well-re-
are also catching up. ceived – 500 printed copies were
distributed among stakehold-
ers from the Baltics and abroad.
There were also close to 1000
downloads of the digital version
of the report.
For some time, the international
perception of the Baltics was
synonymous with Estonia.
Recently, however, Latvia and
Lithuania have been striding
towards closing the gap. So,
what is the status now? Are
the ecosystems closer in
development than outsiders
consider them to be? This
report sheds light on the true
case of the Baltic ecosystems,
and where they stand in the
larger European context.
After publishing the first report
in 2018, we saw deep curiosity
Fabio Pianesi
and positive rivalry among
EIT Digital Baltic ecosystem players. In the
meantime, many stakeholders
from abroad, like investors, tech
journalists, CxOs of corporations,
were impressed with how the
small Baltic countries have
managed to be frontrunners in
all things digital and startups.
We were happy to see that data
combined with quality insights
sparked in them a deeper interest
in Baltics.
Therefore this year we have kept
the best from the first report, but
also upgraded and added more
founder stories and experiences,
indicated some challenges
faced by ecosystems and
startups, added a new section
on women in tech and top events
to attend, listed not only local,
but also foreign VCs interested
in the Baltics, and last but not
least – added new verticals to
our curated Startups to Watch
list. We hope you will enjoy this
report!
Zane Bojare
Startup Wise Guys

5
CONTENTS
Baltics in a
Nutshell
8 Investment & Funding
10 Biggest Deals
Benchmark
Blockchain and the
12 aftermath of the ICO Baltic Benchmarking
craze 16 with Europe
Living & Working

18 in the Baltics
Startup Visas in the

Ecosystem 22 Baltics & Europe
Tech Events in
28 The Baltics
Startup Funding
31 in the Baltics
Longer Reads
35 Startup Accelerators
Access to talent in the
62 Baltics – what challenges
38 Baltic Women in Tech do local startups face?
Company culture in the

41 Corporate Innovation 65 Baltic startup scene
in the Baltics
Where in the world are

67 Baltic startups?
Startups to
44 Watch

BALTICS
IN A
NUTSHELL

7

8 Baltics in a Nutshell
STARTUPS &
INVESTMENT
NUMBER OF STARTUPS (AS OF JULY 2019)
& INVESTMENT PER CAPITA (2018)
Estonia Latvia Lithuania
Startups per
10,000 inhabitants
3.3
4.9 2.7
650 518 920
Number of startups
Total investment
€ 329.6M
€ 183.3M
€ 85.2M
65.06
248 44.37
Investment
per capita
Source: Latvian Startup Association, Startup Lithuania, Startup Estonia,

Ministry of Economics of Latvia
FACT 01
In 2018, Latvia and Lithuania saw a significant increase in the
amount of startups documented. For example, Lithuania reported
572 more startups than the year before, while the number of
Latvian startups grew by 66.
Startup Wise Guys publicity photo

9
STARTUP
Lithuania saw impressive funding
growth in 2018 – by 788% when
compared to the year before.
That being said, CityBee’s €110M
FUNDING
investment accounts for as much
as 60% of the total investment
raised in that year.
Since 2013, Estonia has seen a However, Latvia is still lagging behind Lith-
linear funding growth – in 2018, uania and Estonia. The funding data shows
there was a 21.4% increase when

that in 2018, Latvia raised 2 times less than
Lithuania and nearly 4 times less than Es-
FACT 02
compared to the year before. tonia. The reasons behind this difference
Both local and foreign VC funds vary – bureaucratic obstacles and insuf-
and business angels are actively ficient industry support at a national level
are some of them.
investing in Estonian startups,
contributing to the country’s Finally, Lithuania has demonstrated in-
creased funding activity when compared
efforts to brand itself as an
to previous years. That is partly related to EU funding and other public intervention
innovation hub. the fact that public authorities have made a give a huge boost to the startup ecosys-
Investments in Latvian startups are also decision to dedicate a part of EU Structur- tem. In 2018/2019, new equity funds were
continuing to grow. According to the Min- al and Investment Funds to various equity launched in Lithuania, including acceler-
istry of Economics of Latvia, in 2018 local instruments, like accelerator funds, seed ators financed from EU structural funds.
startups attracted 85.2 million, which is and venture capital funds, development That gave another impulse for the devel-
over 30% more than in 2017. (growth) funds, and business angel co-in- opment of the ecosystem – there was an
vestment funds. increase in the number of investments,
as well as more possibilities for startups
to get acceleration services and initial in-
vestments,’’ explains Vilija Sveikauskiene,
Senior Project Manager at INVEGA.
FUNDING GROWTH OVER

THE LAST 6 YEARS
Estonia Latvia Lithuania

329.57 PER CAPITA
300 300
250.43
225
200
182.4
150
100
64.00
75
85.2
44.37
0 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Google Public Data, Baltic Startup Scene Report 2017/2018, crowdsourced data
(Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Dealroom.co, Ministry of Economics of Latvia

BIGGEST
DEALS
BIGGEST FUNDS
In 2018 and up to Q3 of 2019, Estonian,
Latvian and Lithuanian startups contin-
ued to attract funds, with the biggest
deals exceeding one hundred million eu-
RAISED BY BALTIC
ros. STARTUPS IN 2018 AND
Estonia is still the leader within the Bal-
tics – 7 out of the 13 biggest deals in 2018
2019 (Q1-Q3), IN EURO.
and 3 out of the 5 top deals in 2019 (Q1-Q3)
belong to Estonian startups. For Latvia,
the size of the most notable deal was 80 150
million euros, raised by the blockchain
startup Bitfury. And while we haven’t
included data from 2019 Q4, it needs to 2018 2019
Lithuania
be noted that Lithuanian startup Vinted
Bolt*
raised 128M euro in the end of November,
thus becoming the first Lithuanian uni- 150M
corn.
Latvia
110
CityBee**
Estonia
100M
80
MOBILITY BitFury
300M
60
51.57
Bolt 50
200M 42.9 Monese

50M Vinted
37.54
Pipedrive
Zego
21
100M SAAS
FINTECH 18
BLOCKCHAIN 15.4
Starship 13.5
11 11
Technologies 10.4
50M FASHION Glia
INSURTECH 10M 9.71 Transfergo
ROBOTICS Realeyes Forty Seven 7.6 Realeyes 5
Globitex
10M GAMING Bank Coolbet Sonarworks
SOUNDTECH
Source: crowdsourced data (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) * Investment received as Taxify, before rebranding to Bolt
Ministry of Economics of Latvia ** Investment by the parent company ModusGroup

11
Bolt (ex. Taxify) was founded in

Estonia, but the business idea
was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, when
one of the co-founders, Martin
Villig, was visiting the city. He
tried to order a taxi online, but
that turned out to be quite a
hassle. That’s when he came
up with the idea and decided to
make ride-sharing easier.
FACT 03
EXPERT
COMMENT 01
Does rebranding
impact further
investment
attraction?
We rebranded to Bolt in 2019 to
bring the brand identity in line with
the company’s broader vision of
transportation that had already
expanded from ride-hailing, with cars
and motorbikes, to scooter sharing
and more. However, our investors
trust us because of our track record
and vision, rather than the name.
Marek Unt
Director of Communications,
Bolt

BLOCKCHAIN
AND THE
AFTERMATH
OF THE ICO
CRAZE THE JOURNEY FOR
TRUST
Last year it was mostly Lithuania shining in It is possible that in the light of fraud and
The ICO gold rush has ended, the media headlines about ICOs and raising scams, serious founders launching ICOs
a reported $500M in ICOs and ranking 3rd might favour the link with e-Residency and
and as the dust settles, only the
globally in raised funds. It has also brought the fact that people behind Estonian-regis-
strongest are left standing. It some scam cases along, causing the Bank tered ICOs as holders of e-Residency status
also makes way for true, lasting, of Lithuania to launch various investiga- have been checked by the Police and Bor-
blockchain-based innovation to tions. This year it is Estonia that stands in der Guard Board, thus earning additional
be launched and implemented the forefront, ranking as the 5th country trustworthiness.
globally by the number of ICOs, according to
to create the groundbreaking
the ICO Bench report. The combination of
changes foreseen by the Estonia’s flexible e-Residency program and The only Lithuanian-based ICO registered
technology. slightly careful and strategic approach to in ICO Bench in 2019 was Swace, a gam-
ICO regulation has led to many internation- ing-related project with an undisclosed
al ICO projects to be registered in Estonia. amount raised, and is currently being ac-
There are many online resources and busi- tively traded. Meanwhile, Latvia has been
nesses established to help ICOs register in rather silent and has fallen victim of some
Estonia. scam cases. For example, the Buratino ICO,
which raised over $10.5M was registered
in Latvia, though research shows founders
FACT 04 are based in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Ministry of Economics

and the Latvian State Revenue
service organised the Tax
Blockchain Hackathon to look
into ways how blockchain
technology could be utilized
for cash register and tax fraud
prevention. The 48h challenge
The Ministry of Economics of the Republic
was driven by the Startup

Wise Guys accelerator and
gathered an international crowd
of blockchain experts and
of Latvia publicity photos
enthusiasts from the Baltic and

Nordic regions.

BLOCKCHAIN
INITIATIVES IN THE
BALTICS
Now that the ICO noise has
settled, more attention has
been directed towards the
serious blockchain projects that
intend on making a difference.
Here are a few of the blockchain
initiatives that are currently
relevant in the Baltics.
EXPERT
COMMENT 02
The ICOs seem to have turned down
their PR to a minimum, but still keep
LBChain - on working on their products. For
The Bank of Lithuania’s example, Monetha claims that it has
blockchain sandbox finished working on its whitepaper
and has fulfilled its obligations to
The Bank of Lithuania was quick to identify the token-holders, the question
Baltic HoneyBadger Bitcoin
blockchain as a major opportunity for the remains - what do they do next?
Lithuanian economy. For that reason, in Conference in Riga, Latvia
In general, there is a lack of buzz
2018 it announced its intentions to develop
a blockchain sandbox for blockchain-based For the third year in a row, one of the glob- about blockchain in the local startup
projects to test their solutions on Lithu- ally leading Bitcoin conferences has been ecosystem but there is also no
ania’s technological and regulatory infra- held in Latvia. It is organized by Hodl Hodl, active leader to facilitate this action.
structure. The project moved into phase the P2P Bitcoin exchange. The event brings Civitta lately got into 3 pan-European
two in 2019, with fintech startups being together globally leading individuals in the blockchain ecosystem development
added to the sandbox to begin testing. 21 blockchain sphere and as they claim them-
projects and will be funding up to 100
startups applied to participate in the sand- selves “The Baltic Honeybadger conference
blockchain projects as part of the
box, out of those - 6 were accepted. is driven by the cypherpunk movement.
We’re not promoting various so called extended consortia.
altcoins, ICOs, banks and other block-
X-Road - Estonia’s chain-based “snake oil”.
proprietary, decentralized New blockchain projects are hardly
information system coming, if they do - they are financed
through grants, rarely equity
X-Road is the information system that laid investments. Hence, the European
the foundation for the digitization of Esto- Commission and local EU grants have
nia’s public services. X-Road went live in a major role to play during the crypto
2001 using the e-ID cards, and was placed market’s downturn in order to finance
on the blockchain as of 2008. The imple-
mentation onto the blockchain was done
FACT 05 new action. There are corporates and
serious SMEs across Europe steadily
by an Estonian company named Guardtime,
experimenting with blockchain,
which remains the dominant blockchain
builder in Estonia and is behind most block- Riga, Latvia is the birth-place however, they do almost no PR for it.
chain-based innovations in the country. of BitFury group - the world’s
largest full-service blockchain
technology company. Danielius Stasiulis
Civitta.ee, BitDegree
BENCH
MARK

15

16 Benchmark
BALTIC
Central Eastern European
countries, which also include the
three Baltic states, had a record
year in 2018 in terms of VC funding
BENCHMARKING – startups based in or originating

from this region managed to
raise €1.3 billion. Baltic countries,
WITH EUROPE
especially Estonia and Lithuania,
have significantly contributed
to this record-breaking year and
account for as much as 46% of
the total amount raised in the CEE
region.
The Baltic countries also look strong next to

the Nordics – the region that is often named
as one of the top-tier tech hubs in Europe.
In fact, if we look at funding per capita,
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania slightly out-
perform the five Nordic countries. Their
exceptional performance, however, has not
extended into the CEE region, where the re-
gion’s startup funding per capita still looks
quite dismal in comparison.
While attracting funds from local and for-
eign VCs doesn’t seem to be a problem,
it still leaves an open question – can the
Baltics become a globally leading startup
hub? Despite the general tech savviness,
impressive funding rounds, unicorns and
buzzing ecosystem, the region is still often
associated with its Soviet past and remind-
ed of its humble size of the market, namely
six million inhabitants per all three coun-
tries.
Startup Wise Guys Batch 10 off-site, founders from CostPocket and Pomodone app.
Startup Wise Guys publicity photos

EXPERT
COMMENT 0317
Estonia’s growth has been
STARTUP FUNDING IN particularly driven by e-Estonia and
THE BALTICS, CEE AND a couple of good exits. However
Estonia is more of a regional player,
NORDICS, 2018 compared to London which is
centralized, and I’m wondering if the
region can be self-sustaining without
finding people and funding from the
outside. At the same time, the Baltics
€ 598.1M
are more internationally-minded
Baltics than other regional players like Latin
America and until recently, France,
which could be the leg up necessary
€ 1.3B to not rely on local markets.
Raph Crouan
CEE Disrupt Venture
Including Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania
FUNDING PER CAPITA,

2018
€ 2.28B
Nordics
Sweden, Norway,
Baltics
Finland, Denmark,
Iceland
€ 99.03
Sources: crowdsourced data (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania),

Ministry of Economics of Latvia, Dealroom.co
€ 85.08
Nordics
€ 4.42
CEE
Including Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania
Source: Google Public Data, Baltic Startup Scene Report

2017/2018, crowdsourced data (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania),
Dealroom.co

18 Benchmark
COST OF LIVING
LIVING &
Life in the Baltic cities is
comparably cheaper than in the
large startup hubs, like London,
Paris, or Berlin. However recent
WORKING tendencies show – as local startup

ecosystems grow, so are company
maintenance costs and living
487.00 3.18 11.00
IN THE
expenses.
Dublin 2475.41
For example, Tallinn, the city with the
BALTICS
arguably most matured startup ecosystem
within the Baltics, is becoming increasing- 617.00 2.98 21.58
ly more expensive over the years. That has
motivated some of the country’s most suc- London 2724.75
cessful tech companies to open offices in
other regions – not just to access custom-
ers and investors in these markets, but also
due to lower operational and employment
costs. 370.00 3.00 16.75
Amsterdam 2461.12
508.00 3.38 11.50
Paris 2059.44
375.00 1.84 8.30
Barcelona 1620.61
155.00 1.54 5.85
Lisbon 1309.90
TechChill publicity photo

19
159.00 2.74 5.00

Tallinn 1114.81
149.00 2.42 5.00

Riga 1012.02
180.00 2.18 4.35

Vilnius 975.85
542.00 3.47 11.23

Stockholm 1918.00
277.00 2.37 4.59

Warsaw 1081.58
488.00 2.70 13.90

Berlin 1768.19
Cost of living (moderate/low spending)*
€800-1200 €2000-2400 407.00 3.31 7.83 194.00 1.09 2.88

€1200-1600 €2400-2800 Tel Aviv 2067.32 Kiev 805.10
€1600-2000
A fixed desk in a coworking space
Cappuccino, regular size
Taxi (5km drive)
* These calculations are based on Numbeo.com
06
algorithms and assumptions about a lifestyle that A fixed desk in a modern, fully-equipped co-working FACT
includes: renting a one-bedroom apartment outside
the city center, using public transport, occasionally space in Riga will cost you 4x less than in London. For
taking a taxi, not spending too much on eating out, the money you’d save, you could buy three return flights
leisure, clothing, moderate spending on coffee, alco- from Riga to London (AirBaltic, avg. price €154).
holic beverages, travel, and not including child-related
expenses.
20 Benchmark
HOW MUCH DOES IT

Six startup founders share the
actual costs of living in the capital
cities of Estonia, Latvia, and
ACTUALLY COST TO
Lithuania.
LIVE IN THE BALTIC

STATES?
TALLINN, ESTONIA RIGA, LATVIA
Gabriel Appleton, 27 Eero Veider, 29 Fabrice Amalaman, 31

Co-founder, Vumonic Datalabs Founder, eXpact CEO, PayQin.com
From the USA From Estonia From the Ivory Coast
Lives alone in a one-bedroom Lives in a shared apartment in the city Lives alone in a one-bedroom
apartment within walking distance center apartment in the city center
from the city center Takes a taxi to work
Rides a bike to work or takes public
Walks to work transport (which is free for locals) Shops at Rimi
Shops at Balti Jaam and Selver Shops at a grocery store in the Eats lunch at the office cantine
neighborhood
Eats out for lunch
Brings lunch to work Low spending on entertainment
Low spending on entertainment
Low spending on entertainment Total monthly costs:
Total monthly costs: 1250 Euro
Total monthly costs:
1000 Euro
700 Euro What’s surprisingly expensive in Latvia?
What’s surprisingly expensive in Estonia? Groceries.
What’s surprisingly expensive in Estonia?
Groceries.
Rent.

21

Most startup founders living
in the Baltics say they find
groceries and rent surprisingly
expensive.
FACT 07
RIGA, LATVIA VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
Ainars Klavins, 31 Jaanika Jelistratov, 31 Laimonas Noreika, 31

Co-founder & CEO, Overly CEO, VITS CEO & Co-founder, ZITICITY
From Latvia From Estonia From Lithuania

Lives with a girlfriend in a 50m2 Lives in a shared apartment outside of Lives with a family (3 people) in a 65m2
apartment in the city center the city center apartment 5km from the city center
Walks to work Takes a bus to work (30min drive) Drives to work by car
Shops at Rimi Shops at Rimi or Maxima Shops at an online grocery store
Barbora.lt
Eats out for lunch Eats lunch at the office bistro
Brings lunch to work (75% of the time)
High spending on entertainment Moderate spending on entertainment
Moderate spending on entertainment
Total monthly costs: Total monthly costs:
Total monthly costs:
1000 Euro 1200 Euro
1300 Euro (per family)
What’s surprisingly expensive in Latvia? What’s surprisingly expensive in Lithuania?
What’s surprisingly expensive in Lithuania?
Groceries. Rent and public transport.
Apparel.
22 Benchmark
STARTUP VISAS IN
THE BALTICS AND
EUROPE Startup visas offer companies
a plethora of benefits. For
example, the chance to enter a
new market or establish and grow
a business in a more startup-
friendly environment than where
you currently reside. And when it
comes to EU member states – it
gives direct access to a market
of 28 countries and over 500m
people. Today, nearly every EU member state has
some kind of startup visa policy in place,
In 2010, Chile became the which allows qualified entrepreneurs and
There’s a significant benefit to countries their employees to receive a temporary res-
first country in the world that
as well. Startup visas are a way to attract a idence permit in the country. Here are the
introduced startup visas. highly qualified workforce, innovation, and best startup visa regimes for non-EU start-
Since then, more than 20 other in the long-term – new jobs and more funds ups and how they compare to each other.
countries worldwide have in the country’s budget.
opened similar programs.
FACT 08
BEST VISA REGIMES FOR

NON-EU STARTUPS
Some of the most popular startup
visas in the EU, compared side-by-side
with startup visa regimes in the Baltic
countries.

23
Estonia Latvia Lithuania France UK* Denmark Italy
Time it takes to
register and 1-2 1-2 3 months
receive a months 30 days months max 3 weeks 1 month 30 days
decision
Online
application
Application
100% in English
Innovator:
Price £966 - £1,277 1,900 DKK
60-180 100 - 400 120-240 96.46
368 eur Startup: (254.69
eur eur eur eur
£308 - £493 eur)
Level of
innovation will
be reviewed
Innovator:
Length of stay 3 years
1 year 3 years 1 year 4 years 2 years 1 year
Startup:
2 years
Length that can

be renewed 183 3 years
days
can apply for 2 years 2 years 2 years
other type of at a time
residence permit
Interview
required
video
Application Home Home Online, then French Online, then Online, then Online, then
location embassy or embassy or in Lithuania consulate in in the local at a Danish at the Italian
in Estonia in Latvia the home UK visa diplomatic Embassy or
country or in application mission Consulate
France center abroad
Amount of 1,680 eur 5,160 eur Nothing set, 18,254.60 £945 for 90 137,076 DKK 50,000 eur
financial you decide eur consecutive (approx. (can be an
“buffer” how much days before 18,374.76 investment)
required in you'll need you apply eur) if alone
bank account
Prior Innovator:
investment Yes (£50,000
necessary 30,000 - for new
eur companies,
per team
member)
Startup: No
Sources: Startup Estonia, Startuplatvia.eu, Startup Visa Lithuania, La French Tech, Gov.co.uk, Ny i Denmark, Italiastartupvisa.mise.gov.it
* The UK has two types of visas for non-EU founders: the Innovator and Startup Visa. The Innovator visa is for experienced business people, whereas the
Startup Visa is for early-stage but high-potential entrepreneurs.
24 Benchmark
BALTIC STARTUP VISAS

IN NUMBERS
The total number of founders that

have received a startup visa in the
Baltics, 2017-2019
Latvia Lithuania Estonia
43 83 70 174 126
(2019 Q1) (2018)
(2018) (2019 Q2) (2019 Q2)
% approved % approved % approved

95 35 28
54 160 407
since since since
March 2017 February 2017 January 2017
11
(2018)
Top 5 most active countries in 2019, based on the number of applications received
1. Russia 1. India 1. Iran

2. Belarussia 2. Iran 2. India
3. China 3. Turkey 3. Egypt
4. Ukraine 4. Russia 4. Pakistan
5. India 5. Ukraine 5. Russia
Source: Startup Estonia, Startup Lithuania, Magnetic Latvia
EXPERT
COMMENT 04
Lithuania pays significant attention in order to attract high-skilled talents
and innovative non-EU entrepreneurs. Startup Lithuania coordinates the
programme called ‘’Startup Visa Lithuania’’ and since the beginning of
2017, an increasing number of startups from non-EU markets have shown
interest in Lithuania. In the first half of 2019, ‘’Startup Employee Visa’’ –
easier migration procedures for startups to attract foreign employees –
was launched. The Lithuanian parliament has also recently passed a legal
amendment that will allow foreigners to obtain the status of an e-resident
starting in January 2021.
Roberta Rudokiene
Head of Startup Lithuania
25
INPUT FROM STARTUPS
Edilson Osorio Junior

CEO, OriginalMy Blockchain
Nationality: Brazilian
Holder of: Estonian startup visa
Ivan Ladan Cihat Kahraman
Co-founder, Marine Digital System Co Founder, VSight
Nationality: Russian Nationality: Turkish
How long did it take to get the
Holder of: Latvian startup visa Holder of: Lithuanian startup
visa visa?
Normally the process takes 2 months, but in
my case, it took 3 – that’s because I applied
just before Christmas.
How long did it take to get the
visa? How long did it take to get the What was the hardest part of the
visa? process?
We were well-prepared before applying, so
the whole process took approximately 2 Approximately 55 days. The hardest part was waiting for my TRP
months. (temporary residence permit) card to ar-
What was the hardest part of rive. My tourist visa was ending, but I had to
What was the hardest part of the the process? travel outside of Estonia. Even though I had
process? a letter that stated I was granted the TRP, I
Getting an appointment with the Mi- still had trouble on the border when return-
When I was applying, OCMA (Office of Citi- gration Department. It took one month ing to Estonia.
zenship and Migration Affairs) was probably for the first stage (visa application) and
not so experienced with this type of visa. one month for the second stage (get- How does the visa function?
Employees were a bit nervous because they ting the accommodation agreement
The Estonian TRP allows me to live and
didn’t fully understand the procedure. and receiving health insurance).
freely travel around Europe for my busi-
How does the visa function? How does the visa function? ness. I can also use public transportation
for free. What it doesn’t allow – to use entry
The Latvian startup visa allows you to live It allows non-EU residents to enter and points for ‘’EU residents’’ in some airports.
and work in Latvia, as well as access other stay in the Schengen zone for 1 year. As I’m usually put in the general queue, which
European markets. a non-EU citizen, it is very practical. is always long.
ECOSYSTEM

27

28 Ecosystem
JANUARY 2020 MARCH 2020

TECH sTARTUp Day
Tartu, Estonia. 29-31 January
North Star AI
Tallinn, Estonia. First half of March
EVENTS
The biggest early-stage business festival in the An applied machine learning & data science
Baltics bringing together startups, investors, conference for developers. The topics range
executives, world-class experts, and media. The from data engineering to meta-learning with
event has grown organically out of the Tartu applications in speech recognition, text pro-
IN THE
startup and student ecosystem. Alongside loads cessing, healthcare, transportation, deliveries,
of hands-on seminars, there are world-class music, movies, etc.
speakers and a pitching stage where young Attendance: 630+ participants 33% interna-
+
talents unveil their big ideas. tional)
BALTICS
Attendance: 4000 participants Best for: developers, CTOs, AI experts, data
Best for: entrepreneurs, business executives, scientists, analysts, and startup leaders
startups, investors
APRIL 2020
The Baltics are booming with FEBRUARY 2020
festivals, events, conferences, GameDevDays
TechChill
and forums where people Tallinn, Estonia. 11-12 April
Riga, Latvia. 20-21 February
from startups, tech, and An international cross-platform game develop-
The largest Latvian startup and technology ment and marketing conference.
businesses can meet and
conference and networking event. Each year,
make great ideas happen. the festival handpicks leading visionaries, UX Tartu
What’s more – they’re all game-changers, and tech-heads to deliver
you the new and the unexpected. For startups, Tartu, Estonia. Middle of April
within less than a day’s travel.
TechChill is the place to meet the most relevant A tech event for UX designers, developers,
As a bonus we have also investors, learn about the industry trends, and product owners.
included some of the hottest gain visibility within and beyond the Baltics.
events in our neighbouring Attendance: 2000+ participants (71% local, Deep Tech Atelier
countries. Explore our event 29% international) Riga, Latvia. 3-4 April
calendar and plan your agenda Best for: the Baltic startup community – start- An entrepreneurship forum dedicated to deep-
accordingly! ups, corporations, investors, tech enthusiasts tech startup creation and development.
MAY 2020
Latitude59
Combine Latitude59 or Login with Emerge, as they’re taking place during the same weekend
Tallinn, Estonia. 28-29 May
The flagship startup and tech event of e-Esto-
nia – the world’s first digital society connecting
investors with startups. A cosy, yet influential
startup festival that focuses on the future of
tech, education, humanity, ethics, government,
living environment etc.
Attendance: 2500+ participants (33% interna-
tional)
Best for: startups, entrepreneurs, investors,
digital governance enthusiasts
Login
Vilnius, Lithuania. 28-29 May
A technology and innovation festival and
conference focusing on creativity. One of the
core activities of the festival is the closing
event including the Internet Awards ceremony,
celebrating the greatest internet projects of the
previous year.
Attendance: 6000 participants
Best for: tech-savvy innovators, digital enthu-
siasts, trend setters, startups, entrepreneurs,
corporates
Latitude59 publicity photo

29
It will take you 7 hours and 40
minutes – or 604 km – to get from
Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn by car.
SEPTEMBER 2020
Fall madness starts with iNovuss, continues with Tech Day, and ends with TechBBQ or Oslo Innovation Week
If you’re up for a challenge, this
makes it possible to visit an event
Baltic Honeybadger Slush +
in each of the Baltic capitals in just
one day! Start with Login (Vilnius), Riga, Latvia. Middle of September Helsinki, Finland. 19-20 November
drive over to Riga DevDays Major Bitcoin conference. The focal point for European and Asian
(Riga), and finish your journey in startups and tech talent to meet with top-tier
Latitude59 (Tallinn). Tech Day international influencers, investors, and me-
Tallinn, Estonia. Middle of September dia. Truly a one-of-a-kind event that allows
startups to connect with investors and the
Estonia’s biggest technology conference focus-
FACT 09 ing on the latest technology news.
+
key players of the fastest growing companies
in the world.
TechBBQ Attendance: 25 000 participants from 130+
countries (including 4000 startups and 2000
Copenhagen, Denmark. 17-18 September investors)
An international tech-startup summit by and for Best for: startups, investors, people & media
the startup community.
+ +
working in tech
Emerge Oslo Innovation Week Tallinn Startup Week
Minsk, Belarus. 29-30 May Oslo, Norway. 21-25 September Tallinn, Estonia. Middle of November
The hotbed for deep tech, founders, community An innovation conference with a series of pitch- Tallinn Startup Week is a five-day celebration
leaders, bigger companies, and investors from ing contests, hackathons, workshops, seminars of the entrepreneurial mindset and startup
across the New East (including Eastern Europe, and company crawls. community with 60+ events across Estonia.
the Balkans and Central Asia).
GeekOut
Attendance: 1500 participants from 22 coun- 5G Techritory
tries Tallinn, Estonia. End of September
Riga, Latvia. End of November
Best for: startups, entrepreneurs, investors A technology conference and show for develop-
The Baltic Sea region 5G ecosystem forum.
ers focusing on newest tools, solution architec-
Riga Dev Days ture, programming.
Riga, Latvia. 26-28 May FinTech Inn
A tech conference and annual meeting point for
developers in the Baltics.
OCTOBER 2020 Vilnius, Lithuania. End of November
A financial technologies conference.
Riga COMM
Startup Fair
Riga, Latvia. First half of October
Vilnius, Lithuania. 21-22 May
A business technology fair & conference with DECEMBER 2019
The main international startup ecosystem event various thematic tracks, for example, fintech
in Lithuania. conference, digital marketing stages etc.
Robotex International
Arctic15 + Attendance: 4800 participants (90% locals, but Tallinn, Estonia, End of November, begin-
the event is foreigner-friendly) ning of December
Helsinki, Finland. 26-27 May Best for: business tech enthusiasts, corpo- The biggest robotics festival on the planet.
The most effective matchmaking event and rates, SMEs
startup-investor conference in North Europe. Devternity
The goal of the event is to enable quality net-
working, foster meaningful relationships, and NOVEMBER 2020 Riga, Latvia. Beginning of December
real returns on investment. Devternity is one of the top tech, IT, and soft-
Digital Freedom Festival ware development conferences in Europe.
Attendance: 800+ participants from 50 coun-
tries Riga, Latvia. Middle of November The second day of the conference usually
hosts a series of practical workshops.
Best for: startups, investors, entrepreneurs A boutique, yet influential technology, start-
up, and lifestyle festival discussing the latest Attendance: 800 people
trends in digital tech. In 2019, Digital Freedom Best for: developers of all kinds – coders,
AUGUST 2020 Festival focused on sustainability, impact, software architects, project executives
and the humanity aspect of tech to discuss
iNovuss and answer what is our role and challenges in
the digital world.
Riga, Latvia. 28-30 August
Attendance: 1600 participants from 30+
An innovation, technology, and music festival
countries
that takes place outdoors. The event is mostly
organised around Latvian speakers and experts. Best for: digital era and tech enthusiasts,
policymakers, investors, startups, consumers
Attendance: several thousand visitors
Best for: Latvian companies, startups, tech
enthusiasts
30 Ecosystem
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
TO ORGANISE
INTERNATIONAL-SCALE
TECH CONFERENCES IN
EXPERT
COMMENT 05
THE BALTICS?
I consider tech festivals as meeting platforms of great minds; and there
is no doubt that where great people meet, magic happens. One cannot
boost innovations in isolation, and the Baltic countries have a lot of
things to offer – great and ambitious talent, a supportive ecosystem,
great infrastructure – we have it all! Tech events help us to make
meaningful connections and build mutual trust, which is the basis for
successful growth in this very competitive innovation environment.
Dagnija Lejina
Co-Founder and CEO,
Digital Freedom
Festival
EXPERT
COMMENT 06
We’ve seen a year on year increase in international visitors at
Latitude59. So much so that in 2019, we had attendees from 58
different countries, including investors from 30 different countries.
There’s definitely a growing interest in the region, so it’s important to
keep organizing such top quality events to showcase the vibrant startup
ecosystems of all three Baltic States.
Maarja Pehk
CEO, Latitude59
EXPERT
COMMENT 07
Startup Lithuania organizes the main startup event in Lithuania,
Startup Fair, as we believe that international events are essential for
FACT 10 a successful startup ecosystem. Such events foster knowledge and
experience-sharing, as well as create great opportunities for startups
to meet foreign investors and partners. We think it’s a long-term
The first edition of TechChill investment, which brings economic and social benefits.
was actually called
TechCrunch Baltics. It was
organized in partnership Roberta Rudokiene
with TechCrunch as a launch
Head of Startup Lithuania
event of the first co-working
space for startups in Riga –
TechHub Riga, in 2012.
31
STARTUP
FUNDING IN
THE BALTICS
Baltic startups have access to
several funding options – from
local and foreign VC funds to
business angels and accelerators.
According to Vilija Sveikauskiene, The lack of funding can hinder the potential
creation of new startups and the develop-
FACT 11
Chief Project Manager of INVEGA
ment of the existing ones. If the founders
(Lithuania), actively supporting manage to establish a startup, without fur- Local investors – VC
startups and providing them ther funding these young innovative com- funds, business angels,
with opportunities to attract panies can succumb, perish, or move out and startup accelerators –
investments is extremely of the country, chasing finance and a more accounted for 18.5% of the
favorable environment for its activity. As a
important for the development of total startup investment in
result, the country can lose its ‘’brains’’ and
the local ecosystem. enterprises that are developing innovative the Baltics in 2018/2019.
products,’’ she warns.
TechChill publicity photo

32 Ecosystem
VC FUNDS Contrarian Ventures
MOST ACTIVE LOCAL Focus: early stage emerging technologies

Portfolio: 15
VC FUNDS LATVIA Startups from the portfolio: Last Mile
(Lithuania), AERO Diagnostika (Lithuania),
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania- Imprimatur Capital HEPTA (Estonia)
based VC funds with at least 3 Focus: pre-series A stage B2B Software & Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 6
investments in 2018 and 2019 Data, Digital Health & Lifestyle, Learning
(Q3), and funds that have a & Training, and Robotics/Automation Open Circle Capital
startups
noteworthy historical activity (15+ Focus: early stage tech
Portfolio: 35
investments) in the Baltic region. Portfolio: 7
Startups from the portfolio: Edurio
(Latvia), Playgineering (Latvia) Startups from the portfolio: Whatagraph
(Lithuania), Teamgate (Lithuania)
ESTONIA Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 1
Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 7
Tera Ventures Livonia Partners
Practica Capital
Focus: seed stage digital startups creating Focus: successful, medium-sized
network effects, applying machine learning companies, market leaders in the region Focus: seed, early and growth stage
and other enabling technologies to and beyond ventures, cross-industrial and tech-driven
business models businesses
Portfolio: 15
Portfolio: 20 Portfolio: 40+
Startups from the portfolio: Finestra
Startups from the portfolio: Monese (Estonia), Scoro (Estonia) Startups from the portfolio: TransferGo
(Estonia), Scoro (Estonia) (Lithuania), ZitiCity (Lithuania),
Sonarworks (Latvia)
ZGI Capital Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 6
Karma Ventures
Focus: companies with proven business
Focus: Information and Communications models and firmly established home PAN-BALTIC
Technology startups with initial markets and now entering new export
commercial traction
Change Ventures
markets or looking to increase capacity,
Portfolio: 14 develop new business directions, Focus: pre-seed or seed stage technology
improve the profitability, or automate startups
Startups from the portfolio: Realeyes
(Estonia), Sonarworks (Latvia) manufacturing Portfolio: 9
Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 4 Portfolio: 20 Startups from the portfolio: Nordigen
Startups from the portfolio: Hansamatrix (Latvia), Giraffe360 (Latvia)
United Angels VC (Latvia), Mobilly (Latvia) Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 3
Focus: early stage B2B, SaaS, marketplace
startups BaltCap
Portfolio: 30
Focus: fast growing companies with
Startups from the portfolio: Bolt (Estonia),
Monese (Estonia), Funderful (Latvia)
LITHUANIA proven and profitable business models; in
cooperation with JBIC IG Partners – early
Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 12 Iron Wolf Capital stage startups in ICT/Deep Tech sectors
Focus: seed to early growth stage startups (incl. Autonomous Mobility, Digital Health,
trind.vc with an innovative product offering, AR/VR/MR, AI, Robotics, IoT)
Focus: early stage B2B, SaaS, marketplace innovative technology, or unique business Portfolio: 100+
startups model. Startups from the portfolio: EKT
Portfolio: 13 Portfolio: 3 (Estonia), Fitek (Estonia), Coffee Address
Startups from the portfolio: Sprana (Lithuania)
Startups from the portfolio: RangeForce
(Estonia), Speakly (Estonia), Vumonic (Lithuania), Millo (Lithuania), Monimoto Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 7
(Estiona-India) (Lithuania)
Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 13 Investments made 2018 – 2019 (Q3): 3 Source: crowdsourced data (Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania), websites of VC funds, Dealroom.co

EXPERT
COMMENT 0833
Polish venture capital funds
FOREIGN VC FUNDS INVESTING are increasing their interest in
IN BALTIC STARTUPS startups from the Baltics. This
interest is mostly driven by the
*Foreign VC funds that have made region’s success stories like
at least two investments in Baltic Skype, Transferwise, Bolt, BitFury
startups in 2018 and 2019 (Q3). or Vinted (among others), and
also the global mindset of the
founders that think of going big
PAN-EUROPEAN SWEDEN from day one due to the small
market size. In comparison, a lot
Draper Esprit Creandum of Polish startups start in the local
Focus: Consumer Tech, Enterprise Tech, Focus: Tech startups (Enterprise market with intention to scale
Hardware & Electronics, Digital Health & Software, Media, Fintech) internationally in a matter of few
Wellness Investments in Baltic startups years.
Investments in Baltic startups (2018/2019): 2
(2018/2019): 2 Recent deal: Bolt (Estonia) – €60M (+ 10 Pawel Maj
Recent deal: Realeyes (Estonia) – €11M (+ 4 other VCs and business angels) Investment Director, bValue
other VCs)
US
POLAND The Entrepreneurs’ Fund
Black Pearls VC
Focus: Deep Tech & Enterprise Software
Focus: Cloud-based B2B Software,
Cognitive Computing
FACT 12
Investments in Baltic startups Investments in Baltic startups
(2018/2019): 3 (2018/2019): 2
Some of the biggest names
Recent deal: Teamscope (Estonia) – €550k Recent deal: Realeyes (Estonia) – €11M (+ 4
(w/ Jaan Tallinn) other VCs)
that have invested in Baltic
startups in 2018/2019 are
Morpheus Ventures Ashton Kutcher, Taizo Son, and
FINLAND Gokul Rajaram.
Focus: Enterprise Software, Robotics,
Inventure Fintech
Focus: Tech startups (Enterprise Investments in Baltic startups
Software, Health Tech) (2018/2019): 2
Investments in Baltic startups Recent deal: Starship Technologies
UK
(2018/2019): 2 (Estonia) – €36M (+ 4 other VCs) Passion Capital
Recent deal: Nordigen (Latvia) – €734k (w/
Focus: Tech startups (Fintech, Enterprise
Seedcamp) Insight Venture Partners Software)
Icebreaker VC Focus: Enterprise Software, Fintech, Investments in Baltic startups
Marketing, Security, Media, Education (2018/2019): 2
Focus: Tech startups (Enterprise
Investments in Baltic startups Recent deal: Lift99 (Estonia) – €2M (+ 7
Software)
(2018/2019): 3 other VCs and business angels)
Investments in Baltic startups
Recent deal: Vinted (Lithuania) – €50M (w/
(2018/2019): 3
Recent deal: Klaus (Estonia) – €1.68M (w/
Sprints Capital & Hubert Burda Media)
AUSTRIA
Creandum and business angels) Speedinvest
TURKEY
Focus: Network Effect, Fintech, Industrial
Revo Capital tech startups
Focus: B2B Cloud, Neo-Commerce & Investments in Baltic startups
Enablers, and IoT startups (2018/2019): 2
Investments in Baltic startups Recent deal: Investly (Estonia) – €564k (+ 4
(2018/2019): 2 other VCs)
Recent deal: Sonarworks (Latvia) – €5M (+ Source: crowdsourced data (Estonia, Latvia,
4 other VCs) Lithuania), VC fund websites, Dealroom.co

34 Ecosystem
BUSINESS
ANGELS
MEMBERS OF BUSINESS
ANGEL ASSOCIATIONS
With 148 members (as of Q3 2019), BUSINESS ANGEL LATBAN
Estonia has the most active
INVESTMENTS IN 2018 LatBAN aims to extend and develop the
Business Angel Network within network of investors in Latvia to support
the Baltic states. They’ve also ESTBAN new and perspective projects. For startups
and investors, the association organises
initiated the Nordic Angel Program
EstBAN helps startups by providing Investment Sessions – events during which
- a training and investment capital, time, knowledge and network. investors and new entrepreneurs meet
program for angel investors in They’re looking for teams with innovative with each other. Follow LatBAN’s event
cooperation with Danish, Finnish business models or solutions for a major calendar on their website.
and Norweigan BAN’s. Startups problem. To apply, the startup should have
at least a team, product/MVP, and strong
have the possibility to receive market validation with relevant traction. Total amount invested in 2018: €2M
investment from these syndicates. The association organizes different
Latvia’s LatBAN has 50 active events for its members, including training, Portfolio size in 2018: 21
members, while Lithuania’s LitBan networking, and pitching events – all Average investment per project: €86K
events are marked on their online calendar.
has 64, even though it only started Recent noteworthy deals: VividTech,
to operate in 2018. Prior to that, ZitiCity
Business Angels in Lithuania Total amount invested in 2018: €7.1M
acted individually or were united Portfolio size in 2018: 99
under private initiatives. LITBAN
Average investment per project:
80K-200K LitBAN fosters business angel activity
Recent noteworthy deals: FoodDocs, through communication, events,
Fractory, GuestJoy, Zelos, VideoCV networking, and syndication of deals –
both locally and across the Nordics. For
startups, LitBAN organises monthly pitch
events, which is a chance for them to
present their ideas to angel investors.
Apply via their website.
Total amount invested in 2018: €1.1M

FACT 13 Portfolio size in 2018: 39
Average investment per project:
50K-100K
Once established,
Recent noteworthy deals: Interactio,
LitBAN quickly gained Attention Insight
great interest from local
startups – in its first year,
the association received
over 140 applications for
investments.
Source: EstBAN, LatBAN, LitBAN

Startup Wise Guys has
been named one of the
35
most international startup
accelerators in Europe
STARTUP
by the Startup Heatmap
project. There are founders
from more than 40
countries in their portfolio.
ACCELERATORS FACT 14
Commercialization Reactor 2009 Superangel 2018

Deep tech, science commercialization Software or hardware with strong software component
21 10 (accelerated) + 19 (received investment)
TALLINN Hugo.legal, Montonio, Lumebot

Squad Robotics, Sizzapp, Verita Cell, InLable
Buildit Latvia 2018 Startup Wise Guys 2012

Hardware & IoT B2B SaaS, fintech, cybersecurity
11 investments 145 (received investments) +
(additional 2 in pre-seed and 1 in seed) 72 (online pre-accelerator graduates)
asya, Lastbit, The Littery, Winmill VitalFields, StepShot, RebelRoam, SkySelect
RIGA
Overkill Ventures 2018 Baltic Sandbox 2018
B2B, smart workplace SaaS, fintech
12 AxDraft, FabControl KAUNAS 15 Searadar, Amberlo, ViaCorex
VILNIUS
Kaunas Startups 2018 70ventures 2019
B2B
Healthcare, education, B2B SaaS
6 accelerated startups,
25 Dear Deer Eyewear 7 investments
Whatagraph
Portfolio size Top portfolio companies Startup Wise Guys, Superangel, Commercialization Reactor, Buildit Latvia, Overkill
Ventures, Baltic Sandbox, 70ventures, Kaunas Startups, crowdsourced data
There are several startup The majority of accelerator programs have can also apply for the Latvian, Lithuanian,
received financial support from the Euro- or Estonian startup visa – it allows them to
accelerators that are active in
pean Regional Development Fund. Baltic continue the development of their products
the Baltics. Most accelerators run Sandbox is the only accelerator that runs in the Baltics after the accelerator program
locally in their home countries, entirely on private funding, whereas Start- is finished.
but there are exceptions, such as up Wise Guys has private funding in two out
Startup Wise Guys, who have been of three countries.
pan-baltic as of 2019, when they Baltic accelerators are also available to
ran their first batch in Lithuania. foreign and non-EU founders. Most pro-
grams require company registration in the
Baltics and, if founders are interested, they

36 Ecosystem
ACCELERATING AT HOME
VS. ABROAD
Five startup founders share their
experience and analyze the pros Moving out of our hometown
and cons of accelerating in their was a lesson in ‘’home
home country vs. accelerating Sigvards Krongorns economics’’, an important test
abroad. of the team’s cohesion, and an
Co-founder of CastPrint
opportunity to build a second
From: Riga, Latvia
regional network of contacts.
Accelerator: Startup Wise Guys, Batch All this has come in handy
9 (Riga, Latvia)
since then.
What are the pros of participating

in an accelerator in your own
hometown?
‘’Home-field advantage’’, meaning – you
work in a well-known environment, and that
makes life slightly easier. Another import-
ant advantage is that you have your sup-
port system (outside the startup ‘’bubble’’)
close by, which significantly helps to push
through the tough moments.
Karl Erik Kalmus

What are the cons of participat- COO at SmartVent
ing in an accelerator in your own From: Tartu, Estonia
hometown?
Accelerator: Startup Wise Guys, Batch
The main challenge to a home-town ac- 10 (Riga, Latvia)
celerator is that being close to family and
friends can sometimes be distracting and
steal some of your attention from the start-
up. What are the pros of participating
in an accelerator abroad?
A completely new network – that’s if you ac-
If you already know where tively attend local events. Also, if you build
a globally scalable business, accelerating
your first customers are, go
away from home will teach you to live any-
for an accelerator abroad – where, commute to anywhere, and make
they’re great ‘’door openers’’ contacts with anyone. And you will need
to new markets, especially that in the future.
if they have their own local
networks. However, if you’re
still not sure who your What are the cons of participating
customer is, apply for a local in an accelerator abroad?
accelerator. There’s a close Your team’s basic expenses, such as ac-
startup community in the commodation and transport, increases
Baltics, which is a great quite significantly. In our case, approxi-
environment for startups to mately 25% of accelerator funding went
define their customers, get towards these additional costs.
first pilots, early traction,
and then go abroad with a
BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019 defined concept.
37
The best place to accelerate
is where your clients are.
If your clients are based in
Germany, there is no point to
join an accelerator in the USA.
And the second important
question is whether there’s
money because sooner or later
you’ll need funds to grow your Adomas Baltagalvis
business.
Co-Founder & CMO at
EddyTravels.com
Think big and go where your
From: Vilnius, Lithuania
customers are.
Accelerator: Techstars Toronto
(Toronto, Canada)
What are the main benefits of

accelerating in Canada?
If your target market is English-speaking
countries, Canada is a good entry-point.
Matiss Brunavs It’s also a great place to develop AI and
machine learning technologies – Canada
Founder & CEO at Squad Robotics is one of the world’s leaders in these tech-
From: Riga, Latvia nologies. And atop of that, the local startup
ecosystem in Toronto is superb – with a ton
Accelerator: Startup Wise Guys of talent, dozens of events happening every James Berdigans
(Tallinn, Estonia) & Startupbootcamp month, and many venture capital funds op-
IOT (London, UK) erating there. CEO & Founder, Printify
From: Riga, Latvia
What are the challenges when Accelerator: 500startups, USA
What are the main benefits and
accelerating in Canada?
challenges of accelerating in the
Moving to a completely new city or country
Baltics?
will take some time to adjust. The overall What are the main benefits of
The Baltics is an excellent sandbox for business culture can also be very different accelerating in the US?
startups to try things out. Local accelera- from what you are used to. For these and
tors are perfect for very early-stage start- other reasons, going through an accelera- The US is a huge market with better-devel-
ups, as well as founders with little or no tor oversees can be quite an overwhelming oped technologies, when compared to the
entrepreneurial experience – this region is experience. EU. A local accelerator is a step towards
more forgiving to mistakes and failures, so entering that market and reaching over 300
it’s perfect for experiments. On the other million people who speak the same lan-
hand, if you start out in the Baltics, scaling guage. There is also the same legislation
the business may take more time due to the across all states (unlike in the EU), which
small market size. makes it easy to do business there.
The program allowed us to
refine our operations and
What are the main benefits and What are the challenges when
crystalize our activities. We
challenges of accelerating in a met with over 150 founders, accelerating overseas?
large startup hub like London? partners, and investors during When you leave home to start accelerating
the program and received overseas, you don’t have a network of con-
When compared to the Baltics, people in
invaluable feedback and tacts as it is in your home country. You are
London have a completely different mind-
on your own. On top of that, you don’t know
set. The market is extremely competitive, advice from them. Techstars
the local culture, policies, and customer
so everyone’s ready to do whatever it takes has an incredible global expectations – you have to start from zero.
to get in front of customers, partners, and network that we can now
investors. Accelerating in a large startup utilize for developing and
hub will definitely push the boundaries of
scaling Eddy Travels.
your comfort zone and broaden your per-
spective, which helps you further grow the
business.
38 Ecosystem
2018 2019
BALTIC
>1% increase
0-1% increase
decrease
WOMEN
20.9
20.8
Sweden
IN TECH
16.2
17.6
+0.1%
19.0
21.1
UK
Ireland
+1.4%
16.6
15.6
+2.1%
In 2019, 17.2% of information and
14.8
14.5
20.3
communication technologies (ICT)
16.6
16.6
19.1
The Netherlands
specialists in Europe were women. +1% Poland
When compared to 2018, that’s Germany +0.3% Ukraine
19.6
18.1
just a 3% increase, which shows = +1.2%
that to close the tech industry’ s France
gender gap, Europe still has a long
15.4
16.1
+1.5%
way to go.
14.4
16.1
Spain
Out of the three Baltic states, Lithuania

Portugal +0.7%
shows the most notable results – over one -1.7%
fourth of ITC specialists in Lithuania are
women. Estonia and Latvia are also above
the EU average.
19.4 24.8 25.7
18.7 21.3 24.8
This year’s data, however, shows that Lat- +0.7% -3.5% +0.9%
via has a decrease in women ICT special- Estonia Latvia Lithuania
ists since 2018. But Anna Andersone, Board
Member of Riga Tech Girls, says that there
is no cause for concern: ‘’If we look at the
absolute numbers, it’s clear that there are
17.2
more women in IT than ever. Today, there 16.7
are already several companies in Latvia
+0.5%
with a 50/50 proportion of men and wom- EU average
en in IT positions. Women’s interest in IT is
growing as well when compared to the past
two years.’’
Sources: Europa.eu, Duo.ua


39
WOMEN IN TECH
ORGANISATIONS IN THE
BALTICS
On the European map, the Baltic states
stand out with rather high representation
of women in tech. Here are five organiza-
tions from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
that are actively working on involving
women and girls in tech.
Johanna, co-founder of Zelos, Latitude59 publicity photo
ESTONIA LATVIA LITHUANIA

Tech Sisters Riga Tech Girls Vilnius girls code
A community organisation with a mission to The first community in Latvia dedicated to edu- A community and a place where IT women of
inspire, educate, and encourage women and cating and inspiring women about technology. Vilnius meet and share their stories.
girls in technology and IT. Mission: To empower women and girls to be Mission: To unite all women developers in Vilni-
Mission: To demystify technology and advance architects of the future. us to inspire, educate, and be more active in the
women in IT. Members: 942 creation of the newest technologies.
Members: 50+ Activities provided: Free practical workshops, Members: 650+
Activities provided: hands-on workshops in inspirational meet-ups, scholarship programs Activities provided: meetups, workshops,
web and software development, robotics and for programming courses, providing #wom- discussions
design, networking events for women who enintech speakers for conferences and other
work in tech, and workshops for teenage girls events, international collaboration and network-
(DigiGirls) to get inspired by tech. ing opportunities.
Future Heroes (ex. Superheroes) Women Go Tech

A growth mindset driven leadership and The first mentoring and counseling program in
business accelerator for 13-17-year-old girls Lithuania for girls and women seeking a career
to unlock their potential and create a positive in the technology sector.
impact in the world. Mission: To empower women to seek out pro-
Mission: To grow and encourage a new gen-
eration of confident and committed women
FACT 15 fessional careers within the tech sector.
Members: 240
leaders. Activities provided: Individual mentoring
Members: >170 sessions, tech workshops and presentations,
Activities provided: leadership and business Women are driving the tech events, conferences, tours and visits to tech
accelerator programs for teenage girls, as well ecosystem in the Baltics companies, community building events and
as diverse masterclasses on different topics activities.
– the majority of the local
(from mindfulness to financial literacy and
accelerators, biggest tech
storytelling) for youth and adults alike.
conferences, and other tech
events in the region are led
by women. Additionally, Baltic
Sandbox, the Vilnius-based
accelerator, launched the first
ever Women in Tech Batch
for female founders and co-
founders in fall 2019.

40 Ecosystem
WHY DOES GENDER EXPERT

COMMENT 09
BALANCE IN TECH
MATTER? It has been proven that diversity in leadership, governing boards,
development of products and services makes firms more productive.
Neurology demonstrates that working in a team of like-minded people
can lull the brain into the state of complacency that will diminish
performance and discourage innovation. Therefore, the gender balance
in teams needs to be fostered to increase the competitiveness,
productivity, and chances of innovations and flow.
Solvita Kostjukova
Co-founder & CEO,
ALINA LLC
EXPERT
COMMENT 10
Aayush Mahadik once said that ‘’you cannot solve a problem with the
mind that created it”. And this is certainly true in the world of tech. As
the use of tech grows – and with it, the problems we wish to solve – so
does the need for diverse and new thinking. To meet this demand, there
needs to be a growing diversity in the workforce enabling this growth.
The expanse of tech knows no bounds, and so those working in tech
need to reflect this with a diverse and rich mix of individuals, spanning
gender, background, education, and society. The wider the use of tech
grows the wider the industry will need to throw the net for individuals to
meet those expanding horizons.
Clare Lain
Former Cyber Strategist,
NATO Cyber Defence Centre of
Excellence
EXPERT
COMMENT 11
Gender diversity in tech matters for several reasons. First of all, it
makes the team more creative – different standpoints and experiences
FACT 16 boost innovation and productivity, as well as lead to better decision
making. Second, employers that are open to diverse candidates, have
more chances to hire the best talents in the market. And finally, gender
According to Crunchbase, diversity allows businesses to reflect customer needs much better –
over $20 billion globally has when you get different perspectives, you can build a product that both
been invested in female- men and women will use.
founded and co-founded
startups so far in 2019.
Out of those $20 billion,
Renata Sumskaite
approximately $5 billion has
been invested in female-only Mentor, Women go Tech
founded startups.

41
CORPORATE INNOVATION
IN THE BALTICS
The average company lifespan of
companies on the S&P Index is
down to less than 16 years from
nearly 60 years. The corporate
answer to this is a general push
towards innovation. A lot of
corporate innovation vehicles
are used from Internal innovation
departments and Intrapreneur
programs to Open Innovation and
Corporate accelerators.
Looking at the Baltics, there are only a few
examples where innovation is run external-
ly, i.e., as a co-creation activity with start-
ups, corporate venture fund, or external
corporate accelerator program. Most typ-
ical cases involve a dedicated Innovation
manager position internally, Intrapreneur
program and internal hackathon or incuba-
tor setup.
CORPORATE-STARTUP
EXPERT
COMMENT 12
COLLABORATION
Nurturing innovation internally can be rather risky. In 2017
In terms of innovative environments, ac- alone - 20 corporate innovation labs were launched per week
cording to the European Commission In- globally, and 90% of those failed to produce any results. 80% of
novation Scoreboard, since 2018, Estonia
innovations are created by someone outside the field where the
has graduated into the category of “strong
innovator”, while Latvia and Lithuania re-
innovation occurred. This reaffirms the practice of using external
main in the “Moderate Innovator” category, expertise, especially from outside the industry, to drive disruptive
though all 3 Baltic countries were named as innovation.
demonstrating the most rapid growth rate,
This practice can be seen by the growing ties between
along with the UK, Malta, Greece, and the
Netherlands.
accelerators and corporations. In 2017 CB Insights reported
67.2% of accelerator revenue coming from corporate
collaborations. The need for this collaboration is quite clear. Most
corporate innovation processes excel at idea generation, whereas
accelerators – in execution.
Farid Singh
Startup Wise Guys

42 Ecosystem
EXAMPLES OF BANKING TELECOMMUNICATIONS

SUCCESSFUL The Fintech movement and the advent of The telco industry has the perfect pre-
challenger banks has made it evident that condition for innovation, having the
CORPORATE for traditional banks to survive, they need infrastructure and funds, side-by-side with
INNOVATION CASES to innovate to suit a changing audience’s a demanding audience, be it the tech-savvy
needs. The good news is they have quite young generation or elderly that need to
The general impression about the cor- a lot of resources at hand to do that. The tap into using modern technologies. Baltic
porate innovation scene in the Baltics is PSD2 directive, anti-money-laundering telcos have also been in the forefront
that it is driven by international corpora- (AML) allegations and client authentication of running international accelerator
tions with their HQ elsewhere and clearly challenges are additional factors why programs and breeding in-house startups
structured innovation programs. This is lately banks seem to treat Fintech startups or co-creating with founders.
mostly related to IT giants like Google, Mi- less as competitors and more as potential
crosoft, Accenture, also Swedish banks - partners and service providers in areas
Swedbank, SEB. In terms of local compa-
ELISA ESTONIA
where startups tend to move faster.
A branch of the Finnish telecommunications
nies, most successful startup-corporate Most banks in the region have set up an
company, Elisa Estonia is known is known for
collaboration cases can be seen in the Open Banking platform and are testing
institutionalized startup collaboration. They’ve
telco sector, although there also seems various formats of collaboration. Here had successful projects together with startups
to be some stirring and movement in the are some examples of bank and startup such as FlyDog, SuperHands, MindTitan, and
energy, forestry and other sectors, where collaboration in the Baltics. Hoopy.
companies are often fully or partly owned
by the government.
CITADELE + KLIX.APP LATVIAN MOBILE
This prevalence of a few industries that
are taking the lead in corporate-startup
Citadele bank is one of the rare cases of TELEPHONE (LMT)
intrapreneurship where a corporation has
innovation demonstrates the extent of created a startup under its wing. Klix.app LMT has dedicated a branch of R&D to
how early-stage this type of cooperation is a universal login system for e-commerce innovative projects and startup collaboration.
is in the Baltics. It is also clear that those checkouts. It is intended to cut 20+ checkout Most recently, they’ve collaborated with the
sectors that are leading the development steps to just a few, to help online retailers sell Zinoo team to test high-altitude internet with a
tend to be those with money to spare. more. The startup is fully funded by the bank, rocket, as well as have previously worked with
which is also the sole shareholder. There is a Aerones, the drone startup that was a finalist at
team of 9 people working on this project and the Slush pitching competition in 2018.
they have established their first customers in
the Latvian market.
TELIA ESTONIA
Telia Estonia has a dedicated startup program
SWEDBANK + STARTUP called VUNK. They have launched 87 projects
WISE GUYS to date through the program. Previsouly the
program included a startup accelerator, which
Swedbank, the largest bank in the Baltics, has
currently works on a case-by-case basis.
established collaboration with an external
accelerator to test their Open Banking platform,
look for business development possibilities and MOQ
change company culture. Fintech programs
An application for shopping by phone developed
are run by the Startup Wise Guys accelerator
by Lithuania’s three largest mobile network
and after 2 successful batches in Latvia, the
operators – Bitė Lietuva, Tele2 and Telia Lietuva.
concept has expanded to Lithuania, where the
They already have over 53 000 active users on
third Wise Guys Fintech program is in action
the app. Mobile operators are shareholders of
in collaboration with Swedbank and other
the company and have funded its development.
corporate partners.
SEB VENTURE CAPITAL

The investment program for Baltic Fintechs
was launched in 2018 with the intention to
invest into 10 - 20 startups from the region.
This financing is available both to startups
working in the financial services area as well
as companies that have ideas for potential
applications in the financial industry, for
instance, through automation, machine
learning, or artificial intelligence solutions.
Currently, no investment in Baltic startups
has been made, however, the bank is in active
negotiations and on the lookout for startups.

43
ENERGY
Energy is facing a revolution as a sector
globally due to limited resources. It is
expected to garner an increasing amount
of collaboration between startups and
corporations to develop new business
models and infrastructure. Until recently,
the energy sector in the Baltics has
been rather conservative, as the larger
companies are fully or partly owned,
and functioning in a closed market. In
recent years, however, there seems to
be movement towards innovation and
energy companies are looking into various
collaboration opportunities.
IGNITIS GROUP
The Lithuanian energy company has set up a
Smart Energy Fund managed by Contrarian
Ventures. This year together with Honda they
have invested in smart battery company Moixa.
They also run an accelerator program called
Accelerator One, and organize hackathons twice
per year. The company is open to developing
proof of concepts with startups and to provide
access to their infrastructure.
LATVENERGO
The Latvian energy provider has teamed up with
smart home solution Istabai to sell white-labeled
smart home solutions to their clients.
ENEFIT
In the Baltics, Enefit is organizing the Enefit
Idea Hub, which is a pitching competition for
startups in smart mobility, smart services and
smart city verticals, complete with a mentorship
program. The winner receives 30,000 EUR for
developing their idea. Marite Aleksandra-Silava, Fintech Community Manager at Swedbank at TechChill
EXPERT
COMMENT 13
Innovation cannot happen in a element. Of course, the telco industry research and that gives amazing
silo. It takes a diverse ecosystem has been one of the clear early adopters opportunities even for large IT
and “bridging” between different in terms of corporate innovation, and companies like us to test things.
mindsets, experiences and it is also very understandable why a For example, we have been working
infrastructures. I like the startup would go to them – they have with the University of Latvia on a
example in Germany, where a a user-base, big data, and extensive project called dBaby - developing
telco company, municipality, technology infrastructure. But this shift a robot that is able to navigate the
and an air carrier are all looking can be seen across many industries. environment and locate and pick up
into ways to develop a drone defined objects, as well as software
In terms of the Baltics, I’m especially
management system for the to control movements and sense
happy to see the academic sector
future. They wouldn’t be able to devices.
become increasingly involved. There’s
properly innovate on their own,
a mindset change towards applied
as each would lack an important
Kristaps Banga
Accenture Latvia
BALTIC STARTUP Innovation
SCENE Lead
Report 2018—2019
STARTUPS
TO WATCH

45
Rather than bombard you with

the typical success stories
and unicorns, we’ve curated a
more unusual list of Startups to
Watch. This year, we’re focusing
on companies that deserve
the spotlight, represent fresh
aspects of each of the verticals
highlighted, have had recent
success peaks, or are well-hidden
treasures – so far, noticed by only
a few.
To put this list together, we crowdsourced
opinions and surveyed a bunch of startup
ecosystem players over the entire Baltic
region: startup organisations, selected
Business Angels and VCs, accelerators and
others. Then, we re-checked the collected
information and opinions heard with start-
ups’ websites, Crunchbase, and other pub-
licly available sources.
This Startups to Watch list is meant to give an insight

into the Baltic startup ecosystem, and not to be
considered as evaluation or ranking of investment
attractiveness or business potential of the startups
included.
Startups were only compared within their respec-

tive industry and categorised into 6 verticals and 3
categories – The Usual Suspects, On the Radar, and
The Hidden Treasure.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

The Usual Suspects are the ones that don’t need
much introduction. They’ve made headlines and are
role-models in their countries. Those are startups
that have raised more than €1M, are global, have a
team of more than 30 people, and are steadily grow-
ing. That being said, we have excluded unicorns and
extraordinarily fast-scaling startups – they already
receive enough attention.
ON THE RADAR
The startups that have already made a mark in the
market and ecosystem and are put into the On the
Radar category. Startups in this category have raised
above €100K, launched their product and attracted
paying customers, and have moved outside of their
home market. These startups have a significant
media presence and/or have received noteworthy
awards.
THE HIDDEN TREASURE
In The Hidden Treasure category, we have included

early-stage startups that have raised below €50K, are
launched in their home markets, are showing great
potential, but might not have any significant traction
just yet. Nevertheless, some of the startups listed
in this category have traction, but lack visibility in
the market and ecosystem. This category is curated,
highly relying on the stakeholders’ input and recom-
mendations.
46 Startups to Watch
B2B & SOFTWARE

AS A SERVICE There are quite a few successful B2B and
SaaS startups that are putting the Baltics
While a small market of 6 million high tolerance for mistakes’’ – on the world map. Estonian startups Pipe-
drive, Scoro, and Realeyes have altogether
inhabitants is probably not something repeatedly emphasized
raised €80.5M – and that’s just in 2018/2019.
the perfect place to test and by a number of startups Latvia, in the meantime, is becoming al-
grow B2C startups, it offers a interviewed for this report. That most a synonym for printing and drop-ship-
lot of advantages for the B2B makes the Baltics a great, low-risk ping businesses thanks to Printful and Prin-
place for testing new business tify. And of course, there’s Lithuania’s B2B
segment. To name a few: easy
startup Oberlo, now owned by the Canadian
access to high-level executives models and products. e-commerce heavyweight Shopify and one
and ‘’the region’s comparably of the region’s exit success stories.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
FRACTORY LOKALISE CGTRADER
Online marketplace for sheet metal Translation management system 3D models for VR/AR and CG projects
fabrication services
SELLFY PIXEVIA
MEETFRANK E-commerce platform for creators Retail automation and analytics
Talent recruitment app automation for creators
EDURIO
Web-based tools for education quality WHATAGRAPH
improvement Marketing analytics and social media
reporting
INTERACTIO
Zero-hardware, real-time translation and
interpretation solution on the mobile
ON THE RADAR phone
PACTUM FULFILLI OMNISEND

AI-based system for contract negotiation Marketplace for digital agency services Email marketing designed for
on a massive scale e-commerce
ASYA.AI
DASHBIRD App for mindful conversations powered
Serverless monitoring and de-bugging by Ethical AI
platform
OROCON
TIMBETER Construction management platform
Digital timber measurement solution
CENOS
ZELOS
3D modelling & simulation software for
Volunteer management app induction heating applications
VUMONIC DATALABS
Market tracking and competitive intelligence
THE HIDDEN TREASURE

SIFR AGROPLATFORMA POMODONE APP
Artificial intelligence for corporates B2B marketplace to connect grain growers, Pomodoro timer for productivity tools
grain buyers, and the stock market
VITS
Virtual health and safety specialist PARTLY
Mobile application that connects trusted
service providers with on-demand job
BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019 opportunities
Aleksandrs, Co-founder of OROCON, Techchill Publicity Photo
FEATURED STARTUPS
OROCON
INTERACTIO
Country: Latvia
Country: Lithuania
Year of founding: 2014 FACT 18 Year of founding: 2016
Founder(s): Aleksandrs Svaikovs, Andrejs
Founder(s): Henrikas Urbonas, Simona Cumakovs
Andrijauskaite, Domas Labokas Investment: €245K
Investment: €1.3M Website: orocon.me
Zelos’ CTO Viktor Lillemae was
Website: interactio.io
once retweeted by Nassim OROCON is a construction site management
Interactio is a mobile system for real-time Nicholas Taleb, the famous solution that helps reduce construction
interpretation in events like conferences, operational problems. Focused on business
Lebanese-American essayist,
training, meetings, webinars, etc. Some of their daily requirements, the software collects data
best-known clients include WebSummit, Google, scholar, statistician. used for business analytics, risk management,
Microsoft, and Amazon. and experience sharing between team
Before Interactio, the co-founders developed members.
real-time audio broadcasting solutions for Prior to co-founding OROCON, Aleksandrs
events. As demand grew, the team took a closer Svaikovs had spent 15 years in construction
look at the problem and realized that there’s a ZELOS project management. Having experienced
huge problem no one is tackling. Just in the US what it’s like to manage six projects in different
Country: Estonia
alone, there are around two million business towns at the same time, he realized that
Year of founding: 2018
meetings every year, a growing Spanish- communication over a long distance is often
Founder(s): Johanna-Mai Riismaa, Viktor
speaking population, and no cost-effective ineffective. Processes, as well as data and
Lillemäe
and easy-to-use solution. So, they created information exchange had to be changed, hence
Investment: €317K
Interactio. the idea of OROCON was born.
Website: zelos-app.com
Where are they now? Five years after In 2019, the OROCON team has grown from 20 to
Zelos is a task management app for causes
launch, Interactio is a market leader in the 35 people, their solution is used in the Baltics,
and communities that get things done with
Interpretation & translation industry, has clients Poland, Finland, and Spain. The startup recently
the help of volunteers. The company gives
in over 60 countries, and is used in close to closed an A round investment and is one of the
cause-oriented organisations the means for
600 events every month. Needless to say, the top solutions in the construction market.
engaging with volunteers in a modern way,
company is growing at lightning speed and has
improving communication, task management,
tripled their revenue in 2019.
and collaboration.
After 15 years of coordinating large volunteer
teams for events and festivals in Estonia, co-
FACT 17 founder Johanna saw an opportunity to make
the crowd management process more efficient
FACT 19
with a simple and standardised job dispatch
format.
In November 2019, Interactio Zelos is one of the very few Estonian startups OROCON is a team of hard-
was used in WebSummit in successfully engaging the non-profit sector. working individuals. There’s
Lisbon – one of the world’s The startup has users in 28 different countries, even an inside joke – when
leading tech conferences. ‘’Our some of their customers including Latitude59, someone asks how many hours
Odessa International Film Festival, and Burning
solution enabled WebSummit a day they work, the answer is:
Man Ukraine.
speakers to address the crowd ‘’From 8am to 8pm, just half of
of 70k+ people in 5 different the day.’’
languages,’’ says Henrikas
Urbonas.
EXTENDED FINTECH
At the moment, Fintech is one of
the dominant startup verticals in
all three Baltic countries.
Interestingly, many of the region’s current Due to Latvia’s friendly peer-to-peer (P2P) The ICO craze that we observed in 2017/2018,
Fintech superstars seem to have been born regulations, it’s no surprise that some of has left a mark on the Baltic Fintech scene,
from challenges that the founders experi- the country’s best-performing startups are especially in Lithuania. How could it not af-
enced while living abroad, especially in the P2P loan providers TWINO and Mintos. An- ter such successful ICOs like Monetha that
UK. Estonian unicorn Transferwise, as well other common segment in the region – Fin- raised $37 million in 18 minutes and Change
as Monese (Estonia) and TransferGo (Lithu- tech solutions related to ticketing and pay- Bank that raised $17.5 million? Now, the ICO
ania), are tackling common challenges peo- ments. Although neither Ridango (Estonia), noise has ceased, but you’ll still find various
ple face when living and working abroad, nor Mobilly (Latvia) are considered startups projects related to crypto and blockchain.
such as money transfer fees and complex- anymore, they’re still worth mentioning –
ity of opening a bank account. their solutions have become an integral
part for people taking public transport or We call this vertical Extended Fintech, as
paying for parking. the list also includes LegalTech and In-
surTech startups. However, you will find
startups tackling KYC, authentication, and
verification in the Cybersecurity vertical.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

INSLY NORDIGEN FACTRIS
Cloud-based insurance software for Account data analytics solution for credit Flexible credit lines and invoice factoring
insurance brokers and agents scoring
XOLO CRASSULA
Company set up platform in the EU Digital banking for entrepreneurs
ON THE RADAR
HUGO.LEGAL LASTBIT.IO COINGATE
AI-powered legal service platform A platform to securely store and manage Payment gateway for cryptocurrencies
cryptocurrency
MONTONIO MOQ
Financing solution with comparable Application for shopping by phone
credit offers
THE HIDDEN TREASURE

CACHET KLIX.APP OONIQ
Personalised insurance for ride-hailing A digital wallet to streamline the Peer-to-peer insurance solution
drivers checkout experience for shopping online
HODL FINANCE
SCORIFF
European Digital lending company
Behavioural business credit scoring
BAILSMAN
Third party guarantee solution

49
FEATURED STARTUPS KLIX.APP

Country: Latvia
CACHET Year of founding: 2018
Country: Estonia Founder(s): Citadele Banka (led by Eduards
Year of founding: 2018 Timofejevs)
Founder(s): Hedi Mardisoo, Kalle Palling Investment: n/a
Investment: €300k Website: klix.app
Website: cachet.me Klix.app is a new checkout standard for smarter
Cachet is a consumption-based insurance shopping. It enables faster checkout for online
platform and wallet, currently focused on shoppers by using previously-stored checkout
gig economy service providers. Their first details, including payment information and
customers included Bolt, Uber, and Yandex.Taxi delivery address. This helps online retailers
drivers. significantly improve checkout speed, cut down
the cart abandonment rate, and, at the end of
When Hedi and Kalle started Cachet, there the day, sell more.
was a heated debate in the media around
ride-hailing platforms and the lack of suitable Nearly 70% of online shopping carts are
insurance products. The price part-time drivers
were required to pay for insurance was unfairly
FACT 21 abandoned because people are unwilling to fill
long forms or remember yet another login and
high. The founders noticed this issue and password. After conducting over 2000 surveys
decided to offer a solution – flexible insurance and user tests, as well as extensive market
products for gig economy workers. HODL Finance was launched research, the creators of Klix.app confirmed
and the founders’ kids were their suspicions: there is a massive demand
In the first two weeks after launch, nearly for a streamlined checkout experience when
10K price offers were generated through the
born in the same year. Now
shopping online. Klix.app was created as a
platform. Cachet also managed to sign up five years old, Vytautas and
solution.
almost 10% of their total target audience to Gintautas call HODL Finance
their platform. their ‘’toddler’’. In one year, Klix.app has grown to a team of nine
people and managed to land ForumCinemas,
As of November 2019, the startup has partnered one of the largest film theaters in Eastern
up with Bolt, Uber, Yandex.Taxi, and BTA Europe, as one of their first clients.
Insurance. Next, the team is looking towards
the hospitality industry with Booking.com and
Airbnb at the forefront. HODL FINANCE
Country: Lithuania
Founder(s): Vytautas Zabulis, Gintautas
Scerbavicius
FACT 22
FACT 20 Investment: undisclosed
Website: hodlfinance.io
The creators of Klix.app
HODL Finance helps crypto apps to offer
banking services to their customers, like have counted that it takes
Neither of the co-founders had crypto-backed loans, interest payment for on average 23 steps for an
experience in the insurance bitcoin, and simple and easy on-ramp services. online shopper to go through
industry. ‘’We constantly All these services are delivered via API. the checkout process. That’s
annoyed our advisor with The idea of HODL Finance was born when the around 95 seconds – enough
wrong insurance terms,’’ says founders started to offer crypto-backed loans in to change one’s mind, get
Hedi Mardisoo, CEO. But that euros to their customers. They quickly learned distracted, and abandon the
that this kind of service is interesting to many checkout.
didn’t stop them – they knew crypto applications, and the rest is history.
the insurance pricing for part-
Today, the startup works with some of
time drivers was unfair, and
the industry leaders and leading crypto
they were determined to solve applications. The startup has also received
the problem. investment from Pirate Equity VC and just this
autumn, made a deal with one of the largest
crypto wallets that the company cannot yet
disclose.

CYBERSECURITY
& VERIFICATION
Due to their geopolitical situation, Looking at the startup scene today, there With the rise of Fintech, the PSD2 directive
are some high growth companies originat- coming into play, areas like verification,
the Baltics have always been
ed from this region: Tesonet (Lithuania), AML, KYC, and encryption are receiving a lot
security- focused. In 2007, Estonia Cujo AI (of Lithuanian origin), and Defendec of attention. And many startups in the Bal-
survived a major cyber attack and (Estonia), to name a few. tics are rushing to tackle these challenges.
later on, cybersecurity became In 2018 Startup Wise Guys, in close collabo-
One of the frontrunners is the YC graduate,
one of the key focuses for the Estonian startup Veriff, that provides web
ration with the Estonian defence industry,
and mobile identity verification solutions.
Startup Estonia organisation. launched Europe’s first Defense AI and cy-
Founded in 2015, the company has raised
bersecurity-focused accelerator program
€7.2M and grown their team to 300 people.
called ‘’CyberNorth’’. The program served
as a magnet for international cybersecurity
startups that came to base their business-
es in the Baltics.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

RANGEFORCE
Cybersecurity training platform
ON THE RADAR
WEBARX INLABLE IDENFY
Web application security platform Most versatile labeling and authenticity Identity verification services
verification system that cannot be
SALV reproduced or compromised, both ONDATO
physically and digitally
AML platform to beat crime Real-time video customer identification
NOTAKEY and KYC services
TRAPMINE
Next-generation endpoint protection Secure way to notarise digital
platform transactions and electronic documents
THE HIDDEN TREASURE

AUTOM8 ENTANGLE
Source code security analysis enabled by Quantum encryption for business and
Founders of Cyex showing a demo at Investor Day
machine learning private communication
KEYSTROKE DNA LAHDES

Behavioural biometric authentication eDocument management system with
service strong customer authentication
CYEX
AI based tool for personalized
cybersecurity exercises

51
FEATURED STARTUPS FACT 24 NOTAKEY

Country: Latvia
ENTANGLE Founder(s): Gints Kiršteins, Jānis Kiršteins,
Country: Latvia Before starting Autom8, the Jānis Graubiņš
Year of founding: 2017 founders were both working Investment: €215K
Founder(s): Maris Kronbergs, Girts Kronbergs at their own Artisan Bakery Website: notakey.com
Investment: n/a
& Patisserie in their free Notakey is a smartphone-based platform that
Website: entangle.tech provides e-businesses and enterprises with a
time. Serkan Cavusoglu
There are many ways how someone with has a Diplôme de Pâtisserie highly secure user authentication, as well as
sufficient interest and resources can single-sign-on and password-less solutions
Certificate from Le Cordon based on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
eavesdrop on your smartphone by exploiting
the ever-growing tech vulnerabilities. Bleu. Their technology provides the same level
Entangle has developed a device that, put of security as hardware-based e-signature
onto your smartphone, creates an encrypted solutions.
quantum communication channel for business Notakey not only replaces inconvenient
and individual users to share confidential AUTOM8 hardware solutions, it also helps companies
information. comply with PSD2 (the second Payment
Country: Estonia
Entangle founders noticed that cybersecurity Year of founding: 2019 Services Directive), designed by the European
and privacy are degrading rapidly, which pushed Founder(s): Pinar Soyata, Serkan Cavusoglu Union. Among other things, the directive
them to develop new tools for communication. Investment: €40K requires stronger identity checks when paying
That resulted in the Entangle quantum Website: autom8now.com online, which is where Notakey comes into play.
communication system. At the moment, the Their solution is already used by a number of
Autom8 provides vulnerability detection –
product is in a prototyping and testing phase enterprise-level companies in Latvia. Some
supported by machine-learning – for securing
and is planned to be finished in 2020. of their biggest clients include the national
enterprise applications. Their approach is a
The Entangle team is collaborating with the revolutionary and highly effective way to secure airline AirBaltic and one of the country’s leading
leading national academic research institution, applications in real-time, allowing to ensure telecommunication operators, LMT.
Riga Technical University, the Faculty of rapid resolution of security vulnerabilities with
Electronics and Telecommunications, in the the highest accuracy.
further development of their quantum-based
Having spent more than 7 years focusing on
technologies.
static code analysis, the co-founders noticed
that the traditional SAST approaches to source
code security are failing in terms of speed and
accuracy. The team felt that there’s an urgent
FACT 25
need for a new approach that would replace the
FACT 23 legacy system with a brand-new perspective, in
order to ensure rapid identification of security Two of Notakey’s co-founders
vulnerabilities. are brothers Gints Kirsteins
In 2019, Autom8 launched their SaaS platform, and Janis Kirsteins, who
Entangle founders are were also involved in the
where students and freelance developers can
creatively spirited – they play test the security of their applications. This development of the Latvian
music and create graphic platform is free to use but has a constraint of 2 State ID Card and electronic
designs in their free time. million lines of code. For now, the startup plans signature architecture.
to stick to this business model for the purpose
of supporting and educating students.
Pinar, Co-founder of Autom8

PROPTECH
In spring 2018, Lithuania Looking at the curated Startups to Watch
list, it becomes obvious that the scene is
introduced the first PropTech
dominated by marketplaces and Proptech
sandbox in the world, aimed at startups that go hand in hand with Fintech
companies worldwide and inviting – P2P lending, crowdfunding, and similar.
them to test their solutions and However, to give you a broader spectrum
launch pilot projects in the Baltics. of Proptech in the Baltics, we have also
included projects related to short-term
It’s also one of the few business
renting, as well as professional imaging
areas where startups and services.
companies from all three Baltic
countries have managed to work
together and create a network
of innovation, called PropTech
Baltics.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

ESTATEGURU GIRAFFE360
Marketplace for short-term property- Subscription product for real estate
backed loans companies to streamline professional
quality photographs and floor plans
ON THE RADAR
CONSORTO BULKESTATE CLUSCO
Marketplace for commercial real estate Real estate crowdfunding and group- Marketplace for construction equipment
buying platform rentals
GUESTJOY
Guest management system
MODERAN
Commercial real estate lease lifecycle
management software
THE HIDDEN TREASURE

VARTUS PROFITUS
Real estate valuation tool Property backed investments
HOUSEYS
Professional short-term rent
management
UNTU
Marketplace for real estate owners and
agents

53
FEATURED STARTUPS FACT 27 VARTUS

Country: Latvia
HOUSEYS Founder(s): Oskars Gavrisevs, Raul Abreu
Country: Lithuania Founders of Moderan take the Investment: n/a
Year of founding: 2018 saying ‘’building a startup is a Website: vartus.eu
Founder(s): Tomas Grizas, Agota Luksaite, marathon, not a sprint’’ very Vartus helps home-owners, home-seeker, and
Eduard Titov literary. The trio say they train financial institutions to assess the value of a
Investment: €30K
their endurance by regularly property before they make a big decision. As
Website: houseys.com
attending the 63K Tartu cross- they say themselves, Vartus can answer any
Houseys is a solution that helps real estate question about the value of real estate with
country skiing marathon.
owners maximize their revenue, provides short- data. The company aims to become a major
term rent and revenue management, as well as player in Proptech in Eastern Europe.
welcome guests to these accommodations.
For the past two years, Vartus has been working
Houseys co-founder Tomas ‘’fell in love’’ with the on gathering data, developing AI tools, and
making strategic partnerships. In 2019, the
idea of the sharing economy back in 2013/2014. MODERAN company partnered with Colliers International,
He put his loft on Airbnb, which helped him
make new contacts in the industry. Soon after, Country: Estonia the global real estate organization and one of
he already had other apartments to manage. Year of founding: 2015 the leading players in the Eastern European
When Agota joined with ‘’bags of experience Founder(s): Kristi Hakkaja, Jaanus Sellin, Raiko region.
in hospitality’’ and Eduard with technical Uri
Their other achievements include collaboration
expertise, the founding team was completed. Investment: €270K
with a number of enterprise-level companies
Website: moderansolutions.com
In the first three quarters of 2019, Houseys and assisting them with their real estate
welcomed more than 7000 guests from 70+ Moderan is a SaaS platform for real estate portfolio valuation. Vartus also works on
countries and generated €500K in bookings. In management automation. Some of the developing custom AI-powered calculators for
2020, the company is planning to reach €1.5M in leading real estate players across the Baltics their clients and plans to expand to other Baltic
bookings and grow the revenue 3.5 times – and and Germany use Moderan to maximize states in the near future.
that’s in Lithuania alone. their property revenue and value – including
Rotermann City in Tallinn, VEF quarter in Riga,
coworking brands TechQuartier (Frankfurt) and
Workland (Baltic).
The founders saw a huge unmet market demand
FACT 26 – 65% of all companies were still managing real
estate in Excel. The existing software solutions
FACT 28
were built for the large players in the industry,
and were too complex and expensive for SMEs.
One of Houseys’ guests once Moderan was made as a solution that fills the Oskars is from Latvia, while
complained that he’s not happy gap. Raul comes from Mexico.
with the apartment. ‘’He said Oskars codes in Java, Raul
As of today, real estate with the combined value
that there was no bed, so he of more than €1 billion is already managed – in Python. Oskars is a
had to sleep in the armchair. in Moderan. According to the founders, even software engineer, Raul – an
But it turned out that he had though the industry is difficult to enter, clients economist. The co-founders
simply missed that there’s are very loyal – instead of churn, existing are very different, yet they both
another room in the apartment customer revenue keeps growing organically. share a passion for solving
And so does the company.
– the bedroom, with a bed and big problems with data and
everything!’’ technology.

SUSTAINABILITY
& HEALTH
The Baltics have a long history While DeepTech, HealthTech, and various therefore no surprise that many startups in
science-based startups are common in the this vertical are tackling questions of how
and tradition of deep engineering.
Baltics, business angels and VCs tend to be people can live longer, heal faster, and di-
While still being a part of the hesitant to invest in early stage rounds due agnose diseases earlier.
Soviet Union, the region was to slow initial traction. Therefore, access to
This vertical also includes startups focus-
well-known for its engineering Horizon2020 and other EU-supported pro-
ing on sustainability – a topic currently
innovations and manufacturing grams like EIT Climate kic and others, have
being more important than ever. There are
played an important role in supporting R&D
companies like VEF (Latvia). examples from the energy sector, Science-
programs in universities and startups.
Understandably, a great focus was Tech, and GreenTech, all working on creat-
The Baltic states are a desireable location ing a better future for humankind.
put on education in the fields of
drawing many international students. Not
science and tech. Decades later, only do universities provide international-
there’s still a strong R&D culture ly recognized education, they’re also tap-
in educational institutions of all ping into innovation, organising various
levels. HealthTech hackathons and programs. It’s
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

ALINA OXIPIT.AI
Clay mineral materials to substitute AI-based medical imaging solutions
hazardous chemicals in construction
SOFTNETA
EXONICUS Medical imaging and intelligence
VR-based medical trauma simulator
ON THE RADAR
POWERUP FUELCELLS CONELUM CASZYME
Sustainable energy generation products Rapid microbiological diagnostic tests Innovative applications and research
for the food and drink industry in the field of CRISPR based molecular
tools
THE HIDDEN TREASURE
PRECISION NAVIGATIONS VERITACELL BRACHYDOSE
SYSTEMS Methodology for enhanced skin renewal Cancer treatment quality control tool for
Software and hardware solutions for oncologists
precise GPS positioning and navigation ARTUSYSTEM
Universal alternative fuel retrofit for
DROPLET GENOMICS
diesel common-rail engines Precision microfluidics for molecular
biology
PVSTREAM
Web-based all-in-one platform that
supports Solar Project development

55
FEATURED STARTUPS DROPLET GENOMICS

Country: Lithuania
VERITACELL FACT 30 Year of founding: 2016
Founder(s): Linas Mažutis, Karolis Leonavičius,
Country: Latvia Dalius Kučiauskas, Juozas Nainys
Year of founding: 2018 Investment: €500K
Founder(s): Aigars Vītoliņš, Arsenijs Sergejevs, The Precision Navigation Website: dropletgenomics.com
Christopher John Dunnill, Evija Vaščenko, Systems team comes from Droplet Genomics develops tools for complex
Kaija Kurme-Jansone, Nikolaos Georgopoulos,
Siberia, or ‘’the middle disease diagnostics. Their solutions are based
Commercialization Reactor Fund
of nowhere’’, as they say on droplet microfluidics technologies, which
Investment: €50K
themselves. ‘’This fact is a allow to analyze patient samples at single cell
Website: veritacell.com
resolution. This provides unparalleled insight
source of a lot of jokes about into complex biological systems, for example –
VeritaCell is a biotech startup developing a
medical kit for surgeons, which enhances skin cold weather, riding bears cancer tumors.
regeneration in cases of large skin wounds topless, traveling to Europe by
The idea of Droplet Genomics came from one
and damages when the skin’s natural ability to bus in 4 days, etc.’’ of the founders, dr. Linas Mažutis. He had
heal is lost. With their product, surgeons can
developed a technology for high-throughput
prepare a solution with the patient’s own cells
analysis of genetic material of single cells.
to be applied to the damaged area. That can be
It became clear that this technology could
done in 30 minutes, straight in the operating
revolutionize how complex biological samples
room, and with no laboratory equipment PRECISION NAVIGATION are analyzed, and therefore has the potential
needed. Areas of application include large
burns, scar and tattoo removal, beauty care, and
SYSTEMS beyond fundamental science applications.
3D skin printing. Country: Estonia As of today, Droplet Genomics is a team of 12,
Year of founding: 2018 they’ve launched 3 hardware products and
The idea came from the University of
Founder(s): Simon Litvinov, Dmitrii Kislenko delivered over 250 orders. The team has also
Huddersfield where two of the founders,
Investment: €88K completed 2 contract research projects and 15
Nikolaos Georgopoulos and Christopher John
Website: prns.io custom manufacturing projects.
Dunnill, did their research on the possibility to
isolate dermal cells in no-laboratory conditions. Precision Navigation Systems is developing
The product is now in its developing phase, software and hardware solutions for the variety
planned to be in the market by the end of 2020. of non-standard applied and infrastructural
tasks using precise GPS positioning
In September 2019, VeritaCell won the local
technologies.
round and went to the finals of She Loves Tech
2019 in Beijing, China. The team attracted
attention and interest from a number of Chinese
Their flagship project – HIVE – is a cloud-based
solution that allows self-driving cars, drones,
FACT 31
companies and investors. robots, and other GPS-equipped autonomous
systems to be positioned, navigated, and How does the Droplet
tracked in real-time and with up to 1-inch
Genomics team stay focused
precision.
and energized? ‘’We’ve probably
Prior to launching HIVE, the team was focused consumed more than 1000
on R&D projects and GPS-hardware. Then,
RedBull energy drinks since
FACT 29 their business model pivoted from hardware to
software and resulted in HIVE. founding the company three
years ago,’’ reveals company
The project Precision Navigation Systems
works on is unconventional, futuristic, and
CEO Juozas Nainys.
The VeritaCell team says
complex. But the team has already proven that
they believe in miracles and they can build great things. One of such things
that science fiction is just a is the largest service for land surveyors, built in
prediction. Russia.
As of today, the company has already connected
HIVE to four GPS reference stations in Latvia,
Estonia, and Sri-Lanka. They’ve also launched
pilot projects with Starship Technologies,
Zubax, Lumebot (Estonia), Motor Ai (Berlin),
PILOT Automotive Labs (Singapore/ USA).

HARDWARE, IOT Now, all robots and jokes aside, startup

founders in the Baltics are well known for
& ROBOTICS
their readiness to tackle complicated chal-
lenges. This is where a lot of unique solu-
tions in the sectors like hardware, robotics,
and IoT have come through.
Lately, seeing Starship the country also hosts one of the
We’ve left out superstars like Starship
Technologies’ autonomous robots largest robotics conferences in Technologies (Estonia) and Click&Grow
in the streets of Tallinn, minding the world – Robotex. (Estonia) from our Startups to Watch list,
their business doing deliveries, Lithuanians, in the meantime, as these startups already have all the global
has become a common sight. are praising their education fame they deserve. Instead, in our curated
list you’ll find a variety of startups that are
Rumour even has it, there might programs in robotics, while
building the next engineering masterpieces
be other robots cleaning the snow Latvians often bring home prizes – from drones to guitar pedals, from sen-
from the streets this winter. And from international Robot Sumo sors to 3D printing, and even a robot-bar-
speaking of Estonia and robotics, championships. tender and robot-muralist.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

OPTOFLUID AERONES NANOAVIONICS
TECHNOLOGIES Industrial heavy lifting drones Multi-purpose nano-satellite bus
Sensors for real-time and on-line dyalisis
quality monitoring
SPRAYPRINTER
Smart spray paint technologies and
robot muralist
ON THE RADAR
1OT GAMECHANGER AUDIO RUBEDOS SISTEMOS
Cellular conectivity for IoT Hardware products for musicians Unmanned missioning and computer
vision solutions for industrial
LUMEBOT HACKMOTION applications
Autonomous street cleaning robots Specialized wrist measurement and
training tool
REBELROAM
Data traffic optimization service and on- VIVID TECH
board Wi-fi routers Interactive shelf edge displays
SMARTVENT CASTPRINT
Software add-on for existing building 3D printed medical casts
automation systems
YANU SQUAD ROBOTICS

Fully autonomous AI and robot APMS and indoor marker sensors for
empowered bartending unit manufacturers of cleaning machines
THE HIDDEN TREASURE

FLOK ATLANT3D AERODIAGNOSTIKA
Narrow-band IoT GPS-tracking device Atomic 3D printer with material Multifunctional fixed-wings drones and
versatility aerial diagnostics services
KINGDOM TECHNOLOGIES
Robotic lawn mower for large terrains SNOWISION
Automatic small-sized sensors for
projecting 3D maps of snow cover
57
Sigvards, Co-founder of Castprint
FEATURED STARTUPS
LUMEBOT GAMECHANGER AUDIO

Country: Estonia
FACT 33 Country: Latvia
Founder(s): Andres Kõiva, Kaspar Kikerpill, Founder(s): Ilja Krumins, Martins Melkis,
Juhan Viik, Siim Medijainen, Alvar Suun, Arnold Kristaps Kalva, Didzis Dubovskis
Kasemaa, Ulf Anso, Joonas Annok, Taavi Sööt Flok once received a Facebook Investment: n/a
Investment: undisclosed message from a customer who Website: gamechangeraudio.com
Website: lumebot.com was interested in ordering
Gamechanger Audio’s mission is to create
Lumebot develops autonomous street cleaning trackers for his giant tortoises. new musical instruments that stretch the
robots that sweep streets from dirt and snow, ‘’That was something new and imagination of musicians and engineers alike.
depending on weather conditions. Their robots funny for us. But apparently, The company was started in 2016 by four friends
make it possible to automate routine cleaning those tortoises are fast!’’ who shared the passion for music.
tastsk and provide street cleaning 365 days a
The founders say they’re honored that their
year.
products – PLUS Pedal and PLASMA Pedal –
The team met at a robot-building competition have already become an important part of
with a special focus on robots for snow artists’ creative processes. Some of the music
removal. Even though they were left second in legends, including Jack White, members of The
the competition, the founders saw the market FLOK Rolling Stones, Tool and Rammstein, are fans of
potential and opportunity for their newly-built their products.
Country: Estonia
solution.
Year of founding: 2015 In 2019, Gamechanger Audio closed another
According to one of the co-founders Kaspar Founder(s): Pearu Praakle, Triinu Hansen successful crowdfunding campaign for their
Kikerpill, the startup has already reached a Investment: €120K latest product Motor Synth – the first electro-
point where the market demand for their robots mechanical commercial desktop synthesizer.
Flok is the next-generation GPS tracker that
is overpowering the ability to supply them. Due It has already received positive reviews from
uses the new LTE-M/NB-IoT technology, instead
to climate change and a lack of a blue-collar globally-known electronic artists Jean-Michel
of 3G. The use of the latest technology allows
workforce, this demand is only going to grow. Jarre and Richard Devine.
Flok to offer the most reliable tracker in the
The startup plans to reach over €45 million in
market with maximum positioning accuracy and
annual revenue by 2025.
a long battery life.
The idea for the Flok tracker was born when one
FACT 32
of their co-founders lost his dog. That’s when he
realized that the market is lacking a reliable and FACT 34
accurate tracking device that would not only
allow you to keep an eye on your belongings, but
also loved ones – family members, pets, etc. Gamechanger Audio’s recent
Lumebot’s office is located in Kickstarter campaign for Motor
Until November 2019, the company has sold
an old sauna building that’s now over 1000 units and is currently negotiating Synth reached its fixed goal of
turned into a robot studio. ‘’We partnerships with some of the leading telecom $50,000 in just ten minutes and
can safely say that we have companies in the Nordic region. Flok is also $100,000 in two hours.
the biggest office sauna in about to launch their Kickstarter campaign in
the US market.
Estonia!’’
- Kaspar Kikerpill

TRANSPORTATION, MOBILITY
& LOGISTICS
The mobility sector is clearly help cities like Berlin, Prague, and While globally ride-sharing is becoming
booming in the Baltics. The mainstream, it’s interesting to see how Bal-
others to embrace the mobility
tic startups are moving towards micro-mo-
region is not only home to Uber- revolution. bility, creating services and platforms for
challenger and European unicorn It’s also worth mentioning that, looking back electric cars, and building hardware-based
Bolt (ex-Taxify, Estonia), but also at the biggest funding rounds in the Baltics, solutions for security, monitoring, and envi-
the mobility sector definitely stands out. ronmentally friendlier commuting.
Lithuanian mobility platform Trafi.
Mobility startups Bolt and CityBee (Lithu-
So far, the startup has raised €14M ania) dominate the top of biggest funding
and has a team of 70 employees to deals in 2018/2019.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS

CLEVERON CITYBEE
Robotics-based parcel terminals and Carsharing for vans, passenger cars and
click and collect pickup solutions scooters
SKYSELECT
Enterprise marketplace for airline industry
AMPLER BIKES
Light electric bike producer
BIKEEP
Commercial bike racks and bicycle
parking systems
ON THE RADAR CARGURU MONIMOTO

The first car sharing service in Latvia Smart GPS alarm/tracker for
COMODULE motorcycles
Digitalization tools for the light vehicle 4SMARTSTREETS
industry SPARK
Smart parking systems
Fully electric car sharing app
ZITICITY
Same-day deliveries for businesses
CHRG NETWORK
THE HIDDEN TREASURE Software platform for EV charging
SEARADAR SIZZAPP
International yacht charter aggregator Vehicle tracking and monitoring device
MARINE DIGITAL GORAMP

Warehouse management system for bulk Online transport management system
terminals
59
FEATURED STARTUPS SIZZAPP

Country: Latvia
SEARADAR FACT 36 Year of founding: 2017
Founder(s): Vjaceslav Gorbacov, Denis Moldovan
Country: Estonia Investment: €50K
Year of founding: 2017 https://www.sizzapp.com/en
Founder(s): Dima Beznasiuk, Max Terbov Ugnė Palionytė, GoRamp’s COO, SIZZAPP is an automotive safety and services
Investment: n/a is the only woman in the four- platform that connects vehicle owners and
https://searadar.com/
person founding team. ‘’We are users with their cars and favorite services via
Searadar is a marketplace for yacht booking. very proud of her,’’ says CEO mobile app.
The company helps professional captains to Jevgenij Polonis. Having spent over 10 years in the industry, the
find and book yachts from all over the world,
founders noticed that while the world is going
with special discounts and custom options.
towards digitalization and connectivity, there
The founders met and came up with a business were no proper solution for private vehicles –
idea when passing their exams for a skipper and decided to build one.
license. They saw a lack of technology in the GORAMP Today, the startup has put a special focus
yacht industry and decided to combine Dima’s
on motorcycle riders and has already caught
skills in IT and Max’s knowledge in yachting to Country: Lithuania
attention from industry giants like Schaeffler
launch Searadar. Year of founding: 2018
AG, ADAC, and Harley Davidson. SIZZAPP has
Founder(s): Jevgenij Polonis, Marius Repečka,
Today, Searadar offers one of the best-known 6 employees and their solution works in 18
Ugnė Palionytė, Justas Maziliauskas
yacht booking solutions in the industry. The countries worldwide, though for now, it’s
Investment: €120K
startup is scaling incredibly fast, despite having only available for purchase in Latvia. The
https://main.goramp.eu/
received no outside investment. As of the end company has 200 users, the team has also
of October 2019, the company had more than GoRamp is a transportation management signed contracts with 20 companies and 2
300 paid charters and over €700K of Gross system that helps SME manufacturing international distributors – ALSO Holding AG and
Merchandise Volume (GMV). companies deal with the problem of Euro DK.
decentralized information exchange and lack of
transparency during supply chain management.
Their solution promises to automate 70% of
manual work, increase communication 4x, and
save 20% of the budget spent on logistics.
FACT 37
FACT 35 The founding team has a total of 21 years of
experience in logistics and, as one of the
founders says, they perfectly know the pains
of the industry and SMEs. That helped them Vjaceslav’s and Denis’ wives
When the British digital build a solution to ease these pains, which is are active users of SIZZAPP,
journalist Stewart Rogers already well-received and recognized. Today, especially when the co-
GoRamp has 15 manufacturing companies as founders are in the office
interviewed one of the
paying customers, and they’ve onboarded more working late. ‘’My wife can
founders of Searadar, he than 500 transportation companies as service
named his podcast ‘’The Bad always check my location
providers.
Boys Of Tech”. ‘’Maybe we look through SIZZAPP that’s
like harsh sea wolves?’’ Dima installed into my car. In a way,
wonders jokingly. SIZZAPP supports strong and
trusted families!’’ Vjaceslavs
says.
Techchill publicity photos

LONGER
READS

61

62 Longer Reads
ACCESS TO TALENT
IN THE BALTICS –
WHAT CHALLENGES
DO LOCAL The total population of the Baltic
states is just over 6 million, but
when it comes to availability of
STARTUPS FACE?
qualified workforce, this region
may look more tempting than some
other European countries.
According to the latest data by
OECD (Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development),
nearly 47% of the Baltic workforce
between the ages of 25 and 34
has a higher education. That puts
the region next to countries like
France, Iceland, and New Zealand.
The countries also see a constant-
ly growing number of graduates in
the field of ITC (information and
communications technology) – in
2018, 4.4% of university graduates
in the Baltics were in ITC. That’s
above the EU’s average of 3.5% and
nearly a 19% increase when com-
pared to the year before.
Finally, the Baltic states are well
known for their multilingualism –
92.6% of the population speaks
at least two languages. For this
and the other reasons mentioned
above, as well as due to compara-
bly lower salaries, several inter-
national companies have opened
their offices in this region.
Take Swedbank as an example. Not too long
ago, the Swedish bank moved its mainframe
administration functions to Riga, as main-
taining the team there was more cost-effi-
cient than in Stockholm. Another example –
the payments startup SumUp that recently
opened an office in Vilnius, and mentioned
Latitude59 publicity photo

63
Daniel, Co-founder of Cyex

the available tech talent pool for recruiting the situation will only get worse. In fact, the choice but to take employees away from
as one of their reasons. overall population is ageing so rapidly that other local businesses. Such practice can
by 2050, the working-age population could mainly be observed between growth-stage
However, there are some but’s.
reach an all-time low. startups that need to scale their teams as
Even though the Baltics can be proud of quickly as their businesses grow.
Already today, local companies are fighting
their highly qualified workforce, there are
for the workforce, as the demand is higher That being said, ‘’it’s important to keep in
also some serious hiring challenges local
than the supply. As a result, to grow their mind that the local workforce making the
businesses are facing. Here are the main
startups, founders often need to import rounds through startups is a natural thing,’’
reasons why some of the Baltic startups
staff from other countries. says Raimonds Kulbergs, serial entrepre-
feel the need to open offices in other coun-
neur, former CEO of Klix.app, now Salto.co
tries, outsource specific skills, and import
co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer. Ac-
their workforce from abroad.
‘’The Estonian startup ecosystem is grow- cording to him, it’s not always about start-
ing very fast, and we’ve reached the point ups luring employees from each other, but
where the demand for talent is simply rather about the general trait of early-stage
much higher than the local market’s sup- companies – they’re very dynamic and
ply. Hiring abroad not only helps to keep changing. And so are their teams.
the quality of hires high, but also brings the
international experience and best knowl-
SMALL POND, STIFF edge in-house,’’ says Julia Jolkin, CEO of IT
COMPETITION FOR
Talent Estonia – a recruiting company that LACK OF
helps Estonian startups find and import tal-
TALENT ent from abroad. PROFESSIONALS WITH
For example, Bolt has more than 40 dif- ‘’UNICORN-LEVEL’’
The small population of the region also
means that the talent pool – in absolute
ferent nationalities working in their Tallinn
offices. According to their recruitment
EXPERIENCE
numbers – is rather limited. In other words, manager Nikolai Kabatsikov, the company Another challenge local startups face is the
there just aren’t enough people to satis- has a team of 10 dedicated recruiters who lack of senior-level professionals with the
fy the hiring needs of global, fast-growing are working on proactively attracting talent experience to grow a company from start-
startups. both in Estonia and from abroad. ‘’Since the up to enterprise level. While the region has
country is small and the scene is vibrant, highly-motivated and well-educated peo-
What’s more, because of the constantly
we are constantly attracting foreign talent ple, they often lack the relevant know-how
high emigration that the three countries
to complement local talent,’’ Kabatsikov to drive businesses to world-class enter-
are experiencing, the number of talent in
says. prises.
the region is constantly decreasing. In the
meantime, there’s also a catastrophically In the meantime, those startups growing For example, one of the most successful
low birth rate, meaning that in the future, their teams locally, often don’t have much Lithuanian startups Vinted, the online mar-
ketplace for secondhand clothing and ac-
cessories, has therefore opened an office
in Berlin. That gives the company access
to experienced professionals that the local
The Estonian startup ecosystem is growing very ecosystem in Lithuania was lacking.
fast, and we’ve reached the point where the
demand for talent is simply much higher than the
local market’s supply.

64 Longer Reads
Latvian startup Lokalise – the globally rec- position. In comparison, stats from the job TransferWise, the Estonian
ognized translation management platform search website Glassdoor show that US unicorn company with their
– is facing a similar problem and plans to employers need approximately 1.7 months HQ in the UK, has offices in 11
open an office in Dublin to solve it. to find a new employee. That’s two times cities around the world. Yet,
faster.
‘’We feel lucky with recruiting a talented its largest office is in Tallinn,
individual in Latvia now and then. How- In the meantime, Ribaciauskaite also notes Estonia – the majority of the
ever, we stand a better chance to find a that it very much depends on the position. company’s 1700+ employees
professional with global-level experience ‘’Junior and non-tech employees are al- are based there.
in hubs like Berlin, London, or Dublin, who ways much easier to find, whereas hiring
can eventually share their knowledge and tech people, especially senior developers,
38
expertise with the bright minds in Latvia’’ may take you up to 6 months. That being
says Petr Antropov, co-founder of Lokalise said, we’ve also tried hiring in Ukraine and FACT
who’s managing the company’s business the US apart from Lithuania, and our expe-
development. rience shows that hiring tech people is al-
ways hard, regardless of the country,’’ she
According to Antropov, since these well-
concludes.
known startup hubs have a high concen-
tration of fast-growing international com- Generally, the longer is the hiring process,
panies, that’s also where the talent is. For the more expensive are the overall recruit-
that reason, startups are taking shortcuts ment costs. It means that for startups with
by opening offices there. fast-growing teams, hiring in larger and
more populated startup cities, such as Ber-
Asked why they’ve chosen Ireland for their
lin or Barcelona, may end up costing less
next location, he says: ‘’Ireland is where
than finding the right talent locally, in the
global companies like Hubspot, Dropbox,
Baltics.
Intercom, and Facebook are based. We’re
looking to source experienced profession- Astra Pudane, assignment manager of the
als from global leaders like these to help us global recruitment company Amrop, notes
to accelerate even further.” that sometimes it’s founders’ expectations
that make the recruitment process unnec-
essarily long and complex.
TO SUM UP
We stand a better chance to find a professional Despite the fact that the Baltic talent mar-
with global-level experience in hubs like ket is quite limited, hiring locally is still rel-
atively easy and cost-efficient. At least, for
Berlin, London, or Dublin, who can eventually now.
share their knowledge and expertise with the As noted by Nikolai Kabatsikov, Bolt’s re-
bright minds in Latvia. cruitment manager, ‘’total talent hiring
costs in Estonia are lower than in West-
ern European countries but higher than in
African markets.’’ This observation comes
ARE HIRING COSTS ‘’The Baltic startup ecosystem is more from a company that operates in over 30
countries globally. Frankly, this sounds
active than ever. The unemployment rate
REASONABLE IN THE is at an all-time low – in Europe, it’s just about right.
BALTICS? 6.5%. What does this mean? Just like the

rest of the world, Baltic startups must find
Due to the rather small talent market and ways to grow in a tight talent market. In the
stiff competition for experienced profes- meantime, we often see startups that ar-
sionals, hiring in the Baltics can end up been’t ready to accept that the Baltics have
ing a long and costly process. reached the Western European level when
it comes to salaries, and are still hoping
According to Rimante Ribaciauskaite, COO to find superstar employees with years of
of the Lithuanian startup Omnisend, it relevant experience for ‘’cheap’’. Obviously,
takes them on average 3.5 months to fill a that’s a challenge,’’ she says.

65
COMPANY CULTURE
IN THE BALTIC
STARTUP SCENE HOW COMPANY
A DIFFERENT TAKE ON CULTURE COMES OUT IN
THE THEME THE BALTICS
Having a fully fleshed-out compa- With a ripening local startup scene, the Bal- Many companies, startups, and scaleups
ny culture is a trademark of every tic states display pretty much every quality have embraced an internal company cul-
successful modern enterprise. that would feel at home in any other startup ture. Some more vocally than others. And
ecosystem, be it that of the United States while there’s no one-size-fits-all approach,
Whether it’s an up-and-coming
or any other developed Western Country. it is clear that the devil lies in the details
startup, operated by a handful While it’s easy to picture colourful yoga and the most important factors to imple-
of college buds, or the corporate balls during a brainstorming session, the menting company culture in an organiza-
hallways of a seasoned compa- reality of the Baltic startups is a bit differ- tion are: early implementation, repetition,
ny. Apart from being a clear sign ent. communication and prioritization.
of a forward-thinking enterprise, To get a better mental image, try pictur- Here are a few ways Baltic startups are
company culture is directly linked ing the same colourful startup scene you’d making these principles present in their or-
to employee satisfaction and pro- associate with the entrepreneurial giants ganizations.
ductivity – a crucial relationship, residing in San Francisco, but distil it with
and one that’s best not overlooked a bit of Nordic restraint, a shared apprecia-
by any business-savvy team leader tion for punctuality and less enthusiasm for
out there. abrupt changes. Clear communication
Practising a blend of team-first culture, of values
horizontal corporate culture and clan cul-
One of the defining factors of a compa-
ture, startups in the Baltics tend to en-
ny culture is making it known to everyone
dorse collaborative process, employee
Today, a healthy, positive within the organization. This lays the foun-
independence, internally-driven work pro-
dation for everyone to be on the same page
company culture is at cess and a family-like atmosphere.
and allows each individual to participate in
the top of the qualities Today, a healthy, positive company culture driving the organization towards one uni-
is at the top of the qualities that job seek- fied goal.
that job seekers hope to
ers hope to find when looking for their new
find when looking for For example, the founder and CEO of Bolt,
job. However, it’s one thing to be aware of
Markus Villig, famously quipped that the
their new job. the concept and an entirely different one to
initial company culture revolved around the
successfully implement it in real life.
idea that “there are no rules”. This has been
a driving factor in continuing their rapid
growth and “move fast and break things”
With the startup scene starting to take
attitude. This is still reflected in their ap-
on its current form only sometime around
proach to hiring, where they emphasize
2011, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had a lot
employee adaptability and resilience.
to take in over a very short period of time.
However, all three states seem to fare rela- Startup Wise Guys, meanwhile, has a set
tively well when it comes to global entrepre- of clearly-defined, get-shit-done-centric
neurial ratings and we believe that adapting values, which must be continually com-
the culture-driven company approach has municated, as their program participants
had a significant impact on that. Is it an ac- change with every batch. Being clear on
curate mirror image of the way companies what they stand for and what their approach
operate in Silicon Valley? Well, not exactly. is has helped attract startups and various
partners that share the same values. As
of this year, they have included a company
100+ founders at the annual Startup Wise

Guys Getaway in Spain
66 Longer Reads
culture and performance module in the ac- conversations on mental health, and Bud-
celeration program, and teach their start- dist monks leading meditation exercises. It
ups early on that aside from product devel- Regardless of the values is no surprise, then, that these values have
opment, they actually have a company and chosen by the startup, trickled further into the cultural fabric of
team to build. local startups.
the most important factor
A different approach to the implementa-
tion of company culture is demonstrated
in its implementation THE PRESENT AND THE
by Printful, which provides new employees
with a list of must-read books, such as “Re-
is the clear and regular FUTURE OF CULTURE-
communication of them,
work” by Jason Fried and Daniel Heinemeier DRIVEN COMPANIES IN
in any way possible.
Hansson to teach employees principles on
“working smarter, not harder”. This contrib-
THE BALTICS
utes to the overall goal of maintaining a lean With a high number of operating startups,
startup approach to a rapidly scaling com- tech hot spots, great entrepreneurial po-
pany. Culture of mental health tential score on the global chart and un-
Regardless of the values chosen by the One aspect of company culture that is re- deniable zeal for getting things done, the
startup, the most important factor in its im- ceiving increasing amounts of attention in Baltics have their fair share of successful,
plementation is the clear and regular com- the startup community is the topic of men- world-famous culture-driven startups.
munication of them, in any way possible. tal health, burnout, emotional resilience,
Is the culture-driven model working for
and grit.
them? Judging by the million-dollar invest-
Yankov highlights that the Baltics are doing ments and new offices opening all over the
Ownership of culture a particularly good job at addressing the world, we’re inclined to believe it does. Is
Culture doesn’t just materialize out of thin cultural aspect of mental wellbeing. there still some room left for growth? Ab-
air – it requires a mindful approach to de- solutely.
“The Baltics, comparatively, are doing quite
fining and aligning responsibilities. This
alright. For example, principles of Asian With nearly a decade’s worth of industry
requires prioritizing the time to define
mindfulness are not new, and are being ac- experience, plenty of role models, and
core values. As noted by expert Stoyan
tively implemented. While traveling around increasing international recognition, it’s
Yankov, startups can take rather different
I still run into startups relying on sweets about time for the companies operating in
approaches in the process. He has inter-
and energy drinks to push through produc- the Baltic states to offer their original take
viewed a number of Baltic startups for a
tivity barriers rather than a health-based on company culture to the rest of the world.
book on performance that he is co-author-
approach.”
ing with Cristobal Alonso.
These trends seem to echo in the start-
“Take for example the founders of Printify
up products as well, for example, one of
and Nordigen. Both are successful compa-
the currently trending Latvian startups
nies from the region, and both agree that
Asya.ai is developing a mindful conversa-
values are important to talk about at an ear- Hubspot is one of the role-
tion app, whereas freshly re-branded Lithu-
ly stage. Yet - they have different approach- models in terms of company
anian startup Qoorio (former Humansapp) is
es towards the way it should be done. Prin- culture in the startup world.
tapping into knowledge-sharing that is not
tify believes the founders should be the They have developed a Culture
based on career-related or academic expe-
ones to set up the values in the first place,
rience, but rather life lessons, thus creating Code. Interestingly, ever
to build up the underlying DNA of the cul-
a platform where people can connect and since first writing it down, the
ture, and then have the team join them on
learn from each other. company has changed the code
the mission. Nordigen follows more or less
the opposite approach. The team, while Mental health in startups and founders 25 times, proving that company
guided by the founders and team leads, is is a topic that has been highlighted by culture is like a living organism.
expected to take a leading role in defining thought-leading events, such as TechChill
the values. The premise is that by including and the Digital Freedom Festival, bringing
the team closely, they will be more likely to in specialists to talk about the need for
“buy in” to the values and really live them.” FACT 39
Yankov highlights that there is no right or
wrong approach, but that what is most
important is consistency, and making the
space for culture a priority. He highlights
that this is not a “sexy” process, but is nec-
essary, because when it’s time for a compa-
ny to scale, it’s too late to start artificially
implementing a culture.

67
WHERE IN THE
WORLD ARE BALTIC
STARTUPS?
Turns out that founders
from Lithuania were
most in favour of
Valencia, Latvians
favoured Barcelona, and
Estonians stayed loyal
to London.
The Baltic countries are a great LONDON – NOT ONLY A

place to get your startup going. A
progressive, tech-savvy society, MAGNET FOR FINTECH “It’s a question of availability of talent,
fast internet connections, a com- which is a bit of a problem everywhere –
London is one of the largest financial cen-
paratively low cost of living for a everybody is chasing the same types of
ters of the world, and by extension, equally
people. But I guess in certain markets you
quality lifestyle. But for startups impactful within a European context. There
would find people more willing to work for
that experience rapid growth, they is no shortage of Baltic startups that have
startups and join the next big thing. These
might begin to start looking else- established a presence in London.
would be the typical startup hubs, like Ber-
where to continue to stimulate Notably, fintech startups are particularly lin, Amsterdam, London. There are a lot of
their business’ growth. drawn to London. This can be attributed startups around, people are used to them
to the city being a major global financial and it’s not considered anything strange
Interestingly, a few cities stand out as com-
center – the UK is the highest net exporter for someone to go and change a very safe,
mon destinations for growth relocation.
of financial services globally, and London blue-chip company job for a startup job. In
Research done by the European Startup
held the title of “top financial center rank- Eastern European countries, I think we’re
Heatmap demonstrates that most sur-
ing” worldwide for five years in a row, until mentality not quite there yet.” says Lauri
veyed participants highlight large cities as
it lost it to New York amid Brexit uncertain- Haav, Head of International Expansion at
their preferred “tech hubs”. In addition to
ties in 2019. Monese.
large cities, the Baltic countries had their
own set of interesting preferences. It turns One such company is Monese. While being Similar to Monese, Revolut also began its
out that founders from Lithuania were of Estonian origin, they opened their HQ Fintech development immediately within
most in favour of Valencia (Spain), Latvians and started working exclusively within the the UK. Only recently has it reverted to its
favoured Barcelona (Spain), and Estonians UK market, and only 4 years later spread Lithuanian origins by obtaining a Lithua-
stayed loyal to London. to the Eurozone (in 2017). Besides London, nian banking license in order to provide EU
they also have offices in Tallinn and Lisbon. transactions. We would be remiss not to
What is it that makes different startup eco-
They note that London offers a wide and mention TransferWise and TransferGo as
systems gravitate to different cities?
diverse, but expensive talent pool, while in Baltic Fintechs with heavy ties to the UK,
We’re on the search to find out. Lisbon they are able to hire locals at a lower both with their headquarters, as well as
cost. their original markets based there.

68 Longer Reads
Attracting startups from

various industries
London demonstrates its strength as a
startup ecosystem by attracting startups
also from other industries. This clearly is a
nod to the larger market as well as to the in-
ternational hub and opportunities.
Latvian 360 imagery startup, Giraffe360,
started operating in London as soon as it
could. In fact, they would pretend they were
locally based before they even were, in or-
der to ease the way of securing meetings
with skeptical locals.
“When developing products from Latvia,
we would often speculate about what
people want in that far-away international
market. Rather than having to philosophize
about what’s happening in the world, just
go to the world.
It opens your eyes to reality. When you’re
in a far away, small market, you get used to In most cases, the
thinking of competitors as something ab- reasons behind
stract. But here, when you realize that 600 Cost-efficient hiring with a
companies are pitching the same client wider talent pool relocation or opening
with a slightly different product, you real- offices in Iberia
ize how hard you have to fight for the same For some Baltic startups, the interest to
client’s attention.” xplains Mikus Opelts, expand to these countries may be driven by are more related to
founder and CEO of Giraffe 360. an interest in the Iberian market, and then standards of living and
potentially expanding to Latin America.
CRM software developer Pipedrive is anoth- For example, Printful opened an office in
access to talent.
er example of a startup that has expanded Barcelona after seeing sales in the Spanish
internationally, including to London. One of market triple over the last year. However, in
the reasons noted was to be able to be clos- most cases, the reasons behind relocation
er to and to serve the “thriving financial and or opening offices are more related to stan-
tech ecosystem”. Therefore the proximity dards of living and access to talent.
The obvious choice – after
to the market that Pipedrive had identified
Not only are founders and their teams
London was ruled out
as a goal was an important factor, a testa-
ment to the size and activity of London’s tempted by moving to sunnier shores, but Interestingly for a fintech startup, London
SMB community. so are many talented international individ- was not Nordigen’s first choice for an inter-
uals, who prefer the quality of life, good national office. After establishing in Riga,
weather, food and wine in the cities like Latvia, their first international office was in
CHASING THE SUN Barcelona and Lisbon. And while other Madrid, Spain. Though London offers plenty
(SPAIN, PORTUGAL) large talent pools like London could still
seem tempting in terms of human resourc-
of available capital and funding, Nordigen’s
product relies on open banking, and they
While London is a common choice among es, the cost of talent is significantly lower considered the UK to have a relatively con-
Baltic startup founders to relocate to, you on the Iberic coast. servative financial environment for their
equally often hear of startups choosing business.
For example, according to Payscale, the
warmer climates in Western Europe. Name- median yearly software engineer salary in Portugal and Spain are certainly not glob-
ly - in Portugal and Spain. London is 52,000 eur, while in Lisbon the al hubs such as London, though they do
same profession has an average of 26,700 provide certain bonuses – a lower cost of
eur per year. That’s almost half. living, an international bunch of individuals
who populate the talent pool, and certain-
As a result, it’s unsurprising that many
ly not unimportant for the northerly Bal-
growth-scale Baltic startups have open
tic countries, they also provide a certain
vacancies in Lisbon and Barcelona – in-
amount of vitamin D that you just can’t get
cluding Pipedrive, Monese, Mapon, Print-
during the Baltic winters.
ful, and more.

69
other cities. Next to San Francisco and Tel

Aviv, Berlin is one of the leading startup and
tech hubs in the world. The city is an inter-
BERLIN – STILL POOR Lithuanians – Berlin-bound national melting pot and coworking spaces
are the ideal and flexible options to live and
AND SEXY? Of the notable startups from the Baltics,
those that have the most interest in Berlin
breathe the concept of “New Work”.”
Berlin is the second most populated city in are overwhelmingly from Lithuania. Berlin was described by its mayor Klaus
Europe, behind London. Over the past five Wowereiet in 2003 in a slogan – “Berlin is
Oberlo, the successful Lithuanian dropship- poor but sexy”. This was intended to attract
years it has established itself as an attrac- ping platform that was acquired by Shopify,
tive location for creative and tech start- students and young artists, to enjoy the
is headquartered in Berlin. TransferGo, who low cost of living while simultaneously en-
ups. On top of reasonable living costs, Ber- have offices in London and other locations,
lin began its transformation into a startup riching the economy. Now, Berlin is ranked
are also significantly present in Berlin. Tra- 19th in the Nomader’s list of best cities for
hub when several high-profile investments fi opened offices in Berlin. Vinted shut its
were made into local Berlin startups, such remote work (of over 1200). The city draws
doors in places such as London, only to lat- plenty of creative, young individuals, who
as $19M into Wunderlist and Bill Gates’ er open up again – in Berlin.
investment of $35M into ResearchGate, are also then potential candidates in the job
kicking off a focus on Silicon Valley-style pool for startups looking to hire.
businesses and investments. “We opened the office in Berlin be-
Many startups are looking to Berlin as their cause of two reasons: first, Ger-
next location for their office, including fin- many was our biggest market and
tech startup Mintos: we needed to fix it. Second, it was
a good place to attract international
talent that would not so easily move CONCLUSIONS
“It made perfect sense to set up an to Vilnius.” As startups grow, they inevitably face the
office in the capital of Germany - we - Thomas Plantega, question of expansion. Whether to ex-
have a lot of investors in Germany, CEO of Vinted pand, and if so, where to. We can see that
also it is a big draw to access the in terms of Baltic startups, clear frontrun-
Berlin talent pool. Our team now has ners in Europe can be found, and those are
professionals joining Mintos from Why are Lithuanians so drawn to Berlin? London, Berlin, Spain, and Portugal.
Paypal, N26, Zalando and other in- Edita Lobaciute is the Global Community
The reasoning for expansion to different
dustry companies.” Lead at one of the major coworking spaces
cities can vary – growing human resource
- Mindspace. She says:
- Mārtiņš Šulte, accessibility, or for increasing proximity
Mintos CEO and Co-Founder “The city feels a bit like a start-up itself. to the target market. What’s interesting is
You can feel the movement and creativi- that for the most part, the target cities with
ty everywhere. Berlin is a very attractive a strong foothold, at least for the Baltics,
city, still pretty low cost in comparison with don’t change.

70 Ecosystem
METHODOLOGY
This report is created as a collection,
comparison, and analysis of publicly
available information, combined with
data and insights from 25+ stakehold-
CREDITS
ers from the Baltic startup ecosystem
(startup organisations, VC funds, Busi-
ness angel associations and individual
investors, accelerators, startups, sup-
port organisations, governmental en-
This report is a result of the joint efforts
tities and opinion leaders). Data about
between EIT Digital and Startup Wise Guys.
Baltic countries has been benchmarked
It could not have been completed without
against other regions, cities and coun-
the help of various organizations and indi-
tries to provide a unique angle in startup
viduals who have participated by providing
ecosystem analysis.
their insight, knowledge, and perspectives
that shaped this report. It is also made pos-
sible by the various previously published
Both quantitative and qualitative meth-
research that this report was abe to use as
ods have been used in the research pro-
a foundation to build on.
cess. In some cases, data has been in-
terpreted and analysis offered through EIT Digital is a leading European digital in-
the lense of the joint EIT Digital and novation and entrepreneurial education
Startup Wise Guys perspective. organisation driving Europe’s digital trans-
formation. Its way of working embodies the
future of innovation through a pan-Euro-
A lack of publicly available, compre- pean ecosystem of over 200 top European
hensive registered data on the current corporations, SMEs, startups, universities
state of startups within the Baltics has and research institutes, where students,
caused us to turn to the next best thing researchers, engineers, business devel-
- crowdsourced data - which has been opers and entrepreneurs collaborate in an
compiled by each of the Baltic states open innovation setting. This pan-Euro-
since 2008. This data has not only been pean ecosystem is located in Amsterdam,
trusted by us, but has also been used as Berlin, Braga, Budapest, Brussels, Eind-
the foundation for reports by the Minis- hoven, Edinburgh, Helsinki, London, Ma-
try of Economics of Latvia, Karma VC, drid, Milano, Munich, Nice, Paris, Rennes,
and more. Stockholm, Trento, and San Francisco.
www.eitdigital.com
As the data used mostly relies on pub-
licly available information, a possibility
Startup Wise Guys is Europe’s leading B2B
exists that the data does not reflect a
startup accelerator, present in all three Bal-
comprehensive and definitive status of
tic states with participants from around the
the topic at hand. With these limitations
world, also voted VC fund of the year 2019 in
in mind, analysis has been made to the
CEE. SWG displays a 77% survival rate, and
best of report authors’ ability and taking
is one of the most active early stage inves-
the most trustworthy raw data available.
tors in the Nordics & CEE region with more
Though the data may contain gaps in in-
than 145 portfolio companies.
formation, it does not diminish the re-
port’s ability to point to tendencies. www.startupwiseguys.com

71
CONTRIBUTORS
Merilin Lukk, Marily Hendrikson, Startup Estonia
Liva Perkone, Latvian Startup Association Startin.lv
Egita Polanska, Startin.lv, Startup Wise Guys
Olga Barretu, Emils Darzins, Magnetic Latvia Startup
Roberta Rudokiene, Egle Karciauske, Startup Lithuania
Anu Oks, Dolores Daniel, EstBAN
Marta Matisone, LatBAN
Daiva Jankauskaite, LitBAN
Skaiste Budbergyte-Zabielaite, LT VCA
Kalev Kaarna, Superangel
Rudolfs Neimanis, Buildit Latvia
Voldemars Bredikis, Commercialization Reactor
Jean-Baptiste Daguene, Aivaras Rastenis, 70Ventures
Max Postnikov, Baltic Sandbox
Andris Berzins, Change Ventures
Toby Moore, Martins Lasmanis, Imprimatur Capital
Arvydas Bloze, Donatas Keras, Practica Capital
Lita Grafa, KPMG Latvia
Ernests Stals, TechHub Riga
Davids Stebelis, Solvita Kostjukova, ALINA
DATA SOURCES Danielius Stasiulis, BitDegree, Civitta.lt
Vilija Sveikauskiene, INVEGA
Latvian Startup Association Marek Unt, Nikolai Kabatsikov, Bolt
Startup Lithuania Raph Crouan, Disrupt Venture
Startup Estonia Pawel Maj, bValue
Baltic Startup Scene Report 2017/2018 Anna Andersone, Riga Tech Girls
Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian open-source in- Clare Lain, NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence
vestment data sheets Renata Sumskaite, Women Go Tech
Ministry of Economics of Latvia Dagnija Lejina, Digital Freedom Festival
DealBook of Ukraine 2019 edition, by AVentures Maarja Pehk, Latitude59
Nordic Venture Capital report, by Dealroom.co Farid Singh, Startup Wise Guys
Central & Eastern Europe: Startup & Invest- Julia Jolkin, IT Talent Estonia
ment Landscape, by Dealroom.co Davis Siksnans, Printful
Google Public Data Explorer Raimonds Kulbergs, Salto.co
Dealroom.co Petr Antropov, Lokalise
Women in Digital Scoreboard 2019, Europa.eu Rimante Ribaciauskaite, Omnisend
Women in Digital Scoreboard 2018, Europa.eu Astra Pudane, Amrop
DOU.ua Lauri Haav, Monese
Numbeo.com Mikus Opelts, Giraffe360
Wework.com Martins Sulte, Mintos
Coworker.com Thomas Plantega, Vinted
Investment and Development Agency of Latvia Edita Lobaciute, Mindspace
(LIAA) Kristaps Banga, Accenture Latvia
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Stoyan Yankov, #perform framework
Development (OECD)
The Baltic Review Research and writing partners: @Truesix
European Startup Heatmap
Design: Liga Felta
Crunchbase
Tech.eu Copyright: EIT Digital, Startup Wise Guys, 2019

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REPORT 2018—2019

The secret sauce

OF BOLT, PRINTFUL, AND OTHER

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

8 Investment & Funding

Living & Working

Startup Visas in the

Company culture in the

Where in the world are

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

Estonia Latvia Lithuania

Source: Latvian Startup Association, Startup Lithuania, Startup Estonia,

Startup Wise Guys publicity photo

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

there was a 21.4% increase when

FUNDING GROWTH OVER

Estonia Latvia Lithuania

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

200M 42.9 Monese

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

Bolt (ex. Taxify) was founded in

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

FACT 04 are based in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The Ministry of Economics

was driven by the Startup

enthusiasts from the Baltic and

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

BENCHMARKING – startups based in or originating

The Baltic countries also look strong next to

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

FUNDING PER CAPITA,

Sources: crowdsourced data (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania),

Source: Google Public Data, Baltic Startup Scene Report

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

WORKING tendencies show – as local startup

For example, Tallinn, the city with the

508.00 3.38 11.50

375.00 1.84 8.30

155.00 1.54 5.85

TechChill publicity photo

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

159.00 2.74 5.00

149.00 2.42 5.00

180.00 2.18 4.35

542.00 3.47 11.23

277.00 2.37 4.59

488.00 2.70 13.90

Cost of living (moderate/low spending)*

€800-1200 €2000-2400 407.00 3.31 7.83 194.00 1.09 2.88

A fixed desk in a coworking space

Cappuccino, regular size

Taxi (5km drive)

* These calculations are based on Numbeo.com

HOW MUCH DOES IT

LIVE IN THE BALTIC

Gabriel Appleton, 27 Eero Veider, 29 Fabrice Amalaman, 31

From the USA From Estonia From the Ivory Coast

BALTIC STARTUP SCENE Report 2018—2019

Startup Wise Guys publicity photo