Continuing the journey through the startup & VC ecosystems of Central and Eastern Europe, it is time to look closely at yet another Baltic state. After diving deep into the startup conditions in Lithuania, today we will analyze its neighboring country - Latvia.
*The sources for all the data are listed below.
Latvian startup ecosystem - overview
Macroeconomic indicators:
- Currency: EURO
- GDP: €70,535.7 M
- GDP per capita: €37,395.1 per capita
- GDP growth in 2022: 2.80%, projected growth rate: 2.4%
- Population: 1.9 million
- Area: 64,589 km²
- Latvia ranks 41st among the 132 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index 2022
Startup ecosystem overview:
- 500+ startups, with €761,6M in ecosystem value
- 1 Unicorn: Printful
- Soonicorns: Lokalise, Printify
- Around €247M invested in 2021, around €100M invested in 2022
- The biggest rounds of 2021: Printful (€106M) from Bregal Sagemount, Printify (€47M) from Index Ventures, Squarespace, Vinted, Virgin Group, Kristo Kaarmann, FJ Labs, Change Ventures, Dreamers, Shaun Neff, H&M Group; and Lokalise (€44M) from Creandum, Charles River Ventures, Chalfen Ventures, Dawn Capital, 3VC, S16 Angel Fund, Whimsical (€28,1M) from Accel and Basis Set (funding location Latvia, headquarters of these companies have moved abroad),
- The biggest rounds of 2022: Aerones (€39M) from Mantas Mikuckas, Change Ventures, Haniel, Lightrock, Blume Equity; Juro (€29M) from Eight Roads Ventures, Point Nine, Union Square Ventures, Seedcamp, Taavet Hinrikus; Giraffe360 (€15M) from Hoxton Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, Founders Fund, Change Ventures and HCVC (headquarters of Juro and Giraffe360 moved to the UK, funding location - Riga)
- So far, the biggest round in 2023: Naco Technologies (€10M) - €2.3 in a grant from EIC topped with investment capital, MYCABIN (€1.6m) from Merito Partners
- The size of the average investment deal in 2021 (€11,2M) exceeded the one in 2022 (€3,5M). So far, the trend is still on a downward trajectory, with the average investment deal of 2023 being €1,3M (as of June 2023)
- Top Latvian VC investors include Merito Partners, BADideas Fund, Overkill Ventures, Imprimatur Capital Fund Management and Change Ventures
- Top International Latvian Investors investing in Latvia include Startup Wise Guys, Iron Wolf Capital, Black Pearls VC, Bregal Sagemount, Creandum and Dawn Capital, 3VC, Lightrock and Future Positive Capital
VC Investments in Latvia 2014-2022
The total amount of funding in the Latvian ecosystem* in the years 2014-2022 was as follows:
* companies founded or HQ in Latvia, source: Vestbee
And having a broad look at the ecosystem since its inception, here are Latvian startups with the biggest valuations:
Source: Dealroom
- Printful - €0.94B
- Localise- €232—347M
- Printify - €187—281M
- Aerones - €146—219M
- Whimsical - €112—169M
- Juro - €86—129M
- Giraffe360 - €75M
- Mintos - €70M
- Primekss - €41—62M
Biggest funding rounds in 2023
- Naco Technologies - Early VC - €10M – Investors: EIC (grant), investment capital
- MYCABIN – Seed - €1.6M – Investor: Merito Partners
* These rounds were the only in 2023 so far that exceeded €1M, there were many other smaller rounds.
Biggest funding rounds in 2022
- Aerones - Late VC - €39M – Investors: Mantas Mikuckas, Change Ventures, Haniel, Lightrock, Blume Equity
- Juro - Series B - €29M – Investors: Eight Roads Ventures, Point Nine, Union Square Ventures, Seedcamp, Taavet Hinrikus; Giraffe360
- Giraffe 360 - Series A - €15M – Investors: Hoxton Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, Founders Fund, Change Ventures and HCVC
Introduction to Latvian Startup Ecosystem
Latvia, along with Estonia and Lithuania, is one of the Baltic states located in the north of the CEE region. Compared to other countries in Europe, Baltic nations have small local markets and therefore limited economic power, which is especially visible for Latvia - the least developed country out of the other three. According to a Global Innovation Index 2022, which ranks all countries according to their innovatory environment, Latvia is the 41st country in the world, lagging behind its neighbors - Estonia in the 18th spot and Lithuania in the 29th. In the business environment, category, Latvia ranked even lower - in the 61st spot. When it comes to startup ecosystem rankings, Startup Blink ranked Latvia as the 7th country in Eastern Europe and 39th in the world.
It is also visible in the public sector scene, that Latvia hasn’t caught up yet with its successful Baltic neighbors. Estonia's emergence as a leader has inspired significant investments and support campaigns from Lithuania's public sector to foster the growth of the regional startup ecosystem. But Latvia hasn’t experienced a similar change and its reaction to this growing disparity has been lackluster. According to the Labs of Latvia website, in January, a group comprising over 100 members of the Latvian startup community signed an open letter to the Latvian Parliament, asking for their support for the domestic startup ecosystem. The letter highlighted how Latvian startups contribute to the local economy through the creation of numerous highly qualified workplaces, and international publicity for the country, as well as the monetary benefit.
Having said that, it’s essential to state that the Latvian startup situation is not completely bleak, and over recent years, there has been a boost in innovative activities. Ministry of Economics joined forces with other public bodies and private stakeholders, developing different programs and incentives to help the system thrive and drive up more prosperity for the country. Some of the proposals include attractive stock option policies, which allow startup employees the right to purchase their company’s stock at a certain price as well as a startup visa to all non-EU citizens — a temporary residence permit for up to five founders, enabling them to set up an activity in Latvia. There were also three public “exploration funds” set up, specializing in hardware, software, and deeptech.
Even though one of yet another critical challenge of the Latvian business scene is brain drain, there are still many qualified workers in this country, especially in the ICT sector. According to the Latvian Startup Association, ICT students make up 11% of all higher education graduates, and since 2015 there has been a 31% increase in the number of those employed in the ICT industry. These favorable conditions have also been recognized in the Global Innovation Index, which ranked Latvia as the 19th country in the world in terms of ICT use.
What is more, there aren’t that many prominent startups on the international level that have originated from Latvia. To put it into perspective, let’s have a look at the number of exits made by Latvian startups - since the inception of the ecosystem, Latvia has celebrated 19 exits, meanwhile, Lithuania has seen 18 of them only in the year 2022. In 2022, the Latvian startup scene was marked by only three exits - companies Vendon, GetaPro, and Nordigen were fully acquired by foreign companies.
It is not to say however that the Latvian startup scene is a complete wild West - there are a few organizations and supporting institutions that work hard to make their offering to international and local investors, creating an entrepreneurial spirit and building a startup community. Riga is also a city that hosts many well-recognized international startup events, such as Tech Chill.
The country is also the birthplace of one unicorn - Printful, which reached a 1-billion-dollar status in 2021, after just one round of financing.
To finish off this paragraph it is worth adding that there just simply isn’t that much data about the Latvian startup scene out there, be it either external reports or comprehensive databases, on par with its regional counterparts. Public announcements, put out by startups and investors themselves can often leave room for omissions and inaccuracy.
So summing up, the Latvian ecosystem is still in the early stages of maturation and it has much room for growth and acceleration in the upcoming years.
So now, let’s have a look at the funding data from recent years and see how the startup ecosystem has been shaped so far.
Latvian Venture Capital scene - funding data
According to the data from Invest in Latvia, there are more than 500 startups headquartered in the country, however, only 360+ of them are registered in the official database of the Latvian Startup Association. The amount of VC funding provided to these companies is pretty low in comparison to the rest of Europe and other Baltic states. What is more, the amount of funding acquired by local startups hasn’t kept pace with the generally positive trends observed in other countries within the CEE region. As Vestbee reports, the CEE startup scene has experienced remarkable growth, expanding by five times in terms of deal value between 2017 and 2022. In Latvia however, the situation was stagnant even before the pandemic and the war in the Ukraine.
According to data from Vestbee’s reports, local startups secured the biggest number of deals (78) in 2016 and the number hasn’t been topped since. The highest amount of capital - €247M - was raised in 2021 across 54 deals. It was also the year with the biggest average ticket size - €11M. It’s worth noting however that the emergence of Latvia’s first unicorn has greatly contributed to that spike in numbers - Printful has secured a ticket of €106,9M from Bregal Sagemount, a growth-focused private capital firm. What is interesting - prior to this funding round Printful was completely bootstrapped and organically grew by 80% in the year 2020, generating €187.5M in revenue.
In the previous year - 2020- Latvian startups raised €38m across 58 deals, and €116.3m across 52 deals in 2022. So far (as of October 2023), as Dealroom reports, in 2023, there were 20 recorded deals, with the capital amounting to €64.4m. To put these numbers into perspective let’s look at the other Baltic states- in 2022 Latvian startups raised 58,7% less capital than the ones in neighboring Lithuania, 43% less in 2021.
According to Labs Of Latvia, in 2021, startups contributed €43.6 million in taxes to the general state budget, however, it was the three biggest startups, which accounted for almost half of this: Printful (€7.98 million), Mintos (€4.96 million) and Printify (€3.97 million).
The evidence that the Latvian startup ecosystem is still in its early stages of development is further supported by the average size of financing rounds. From 2013 to 2022, over 50% of all funding rounds secured by startups were below €100K, while rounds exceeding €1M accounted for only 24% during this period. Nonetheless, signs of ecosystem maturity are apparent, as the total capital raised remains steady even as the number of funding rounds decreases. This suggests that the average deal amount is indeed increasing, as investors demonstrate interest in Latvian companies in their later stages of development.
In 2020, the average deal amount was €800K, then reached a record-breaking high of €11M in 2021 before declining to €3.5M in 2022. So far, the average deal size in 2023 is €1,3M. However, a closer look at 2023 reveals that there were only two funding rounds in which the investment exceeded €1M: Naco Technologies secured €10M from the European Innovation Council's (EIC) EIC Accelerator in a venture round, and modular home manufacturer MYCABIN obtained €1.6M in a seed round to develop their products in export markets and expand their production capacity. Moreover, seed rounds are ubiquitous in the ecosystem this year - 9 out of 10 biggest funding rounds so far were secured at the seed stage. In 2022, however, most investments had been made at the later stages, including Series B and Series A, with the largest rounds going to Aerones in Series A, Juro in Series B, and Gireffe360 also in Series A.
What is more, the Latvian startup ecosystem was also greatly affected by the current macroeconomic slowdown and war in Ukraine. War-related sanctions are especially affecting the holders of the so-called startup visa. Previously, many such temporary residence permit holders came from Russia. However, in 2022, only 30 startup founders of foreign origin received this visa, a significant decrease from 135 people in 2021.
When it comes to startup technologies and verticals it was fintech, mobile apps, health tech, medtech, deep tech, and AI, which dominated the landscape and captured the most attention from investors. According to the Dealroom data, the highest-valued verticals were Saas (combined funding of €123.8M), E-commerce and marketplaces (combined funding of €73.1M), and deeptech (valued at €49.7M). Moreover, as Dealroom states, the top three sources of funding for Latvian startups in the last 3 years originate from Estonia, the UK, and Germany
When it comes to geography, most of the Latvian startups are headquartered and run in Riga, which is the only city in the startup ecosystem of the country that holds any meaning on the international level.
However, it is worth highlighting that many experts look at the Latvian startup ecosystem with a great dose of optimism - highlighting the successful year 2021 as proof of resilience and adaptability, even despite the difficult global conditions. We can also observe bigger funding rounds happening at later stages which is a very promising sign for the future.
Investors from the Baltic-based Change Ventures noted in the 2022 report that due to the relatively short history of the Latvian ecosystem, the big returns are still to be collected, especially the ones from startups that were set up in recent years. The biggest payments to state budgets in 2021 were made by the more established startups, which have been operating for more than 6 years (precisely the following companies: Printful, Mintos, Printify). What is more, according to StartinLV data, the average startup turnover only starts to exceeds €2K after the company has lasted for more than 6 years, and only after that time, does it become profitable (with the average profit concentrating around 64K€). At the end of 2022, only around 10% of all Latvian startups were operating for more than 6 years - which leaves plenty of room for the future growth of the newly established ventures.
Funding data
As Vestbee’s quarterly reports showcase, some of the biggest Latvian funding rounds in 2022 were as follows:
Startup: Aerones
Industry: Developer of robotized solutions for wind turbine inspection and maintenance.
Funding: €39M, seed round
Startup: Juro
Industry: Contract automation platform that allows executing and monitoring contracts from one unified workspace.
Funding: €29M, Series B, The funding is intended for the development of Juro’s browser-based contract automation platform
Startup: Giraffe360
Industry: The essential 3-in-1 virtual tour camera for real estate agents. Giraffe360 creates HDR photography, virtual tours and floor plans with 98% accuracy.
Funding: €15M, from Founders Fund, a San Francisco venture capital firm with a portfolio including Airbnb, Spotify and SpaceX
So far, there were 10 rounds of financing closed by Latvian startups in 2023. They are as follows:
Startup: Hyperjob
Industry: SaaS recruitment solutions
Funding: Seed round, €535K, April 2023
Startup: FIS.solutions
Industry: Fintech, loan management system for online and offline lenders
Funding: €250K, April 2023
Startup: WeedBot
Industry: Laser tech
Funding: €425K, May 2023
Startup: Aioo
Industry: Retail
Funding: €3M, May 2023
Startup: Hyperjob
Industry: Recruitment CRM platform
Funding: €435K, April 2023
Startup: Aimy
Industry: AI-powered staff planning tool
Funding: €250k, April 2023
Startup: Swotzy
Industry: Simplified shipping tool
Funding: €90K, April 2023
Startup: Naco technologies
Industry: Deep tech
Funding: €10M in funding, including a EUR 2.3M grant from the EIC Accelerator program, march
Startup: Trace.Space
Industry: AI software for product building and delivery
Funding: €1.41M in pre-seed funding, making it the largest ideation stage investment raised by Baltic founders to date.
Startup: InDemo
Industry: Investment platform
Funding: €500K, January 2023
Startup: MYCABIN
Industry: Modular home manufacturer
Funding: €1.6m, March 2023
Comparison to other Baltic states
To get an even deeper understanding of the Latvian ecosystem it is worth putting it into a broader context. As was mentioned before, all three of the Baltic states are very interconnected - not only from a location point of view but also culturally and economically. Out of all three countries, Estonia is a clear leader, already almost at parity with Europe's best both in terms of startups per capita (1107) and the number of unicorns (10) - these numbers are unprecedented in the whole CEE region. Moreover, according to the Change Ventures report, all three Baltic states were affected by the global funding slowdown, with the number of rounds dropping by 30% from 1H to 2H 2022 and capital deployed from €1.5B to around €325M. Estonia still receives the biggest share of funding rounds, especially at later stages, though Lithuania and Latvia are growing and their early-stage round trend indicates that they will also develop larger growth-stage funding opportunities in the coming years. What is very visible however is that Latvia has the smallest number of later-stage funding rounds - according to Change Ventures, there were only 4 growth series (A and above) in 2020, 7 in 2021, and 4 in 2022.
Latvian VC funds
There aren’t that many active VC investors in the Latvian ecosystem. There are some specific funds however such as Change Ventures, which focus on all of the Baltic states, not only Latvia. When it comes to the individual investors - they are gathered in an active organization of Business Angels - LatBAN, which greatly supports the formulation of the Latvian startup community through regular gatherings and pitching sessions. The organization consists of 44 high-net individuals, which have so far invested more than €15,6M across 200 investments. LatBAN is a part of the European Business Angel Association and regularly cooperates with other bodies - such as Estonian Business Angels, Riga TechHub, and Nordic Secondary Fund. When it comes to international funds, some of the most active in Latvia, with the most prominent companies in their portfolio, include Startup Wise Guys, Iron Wolf Capital, Black Pearls VC, Bregal Sagemount, Creandum, Charles River Ventures, Dawn Capital, 3VC, Lightrock, Future Positive Capital, Change Ventures, Practica Capital, Superangel and Revo Capital.
Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent Latvian VC companies:
Merito Partners
The Latvia-based fund helps entrepreneurs reach their full potential, operating according to the ESG principles. They manage three separate funds - Merito Growth Capital Fund I (provides flexible growth financing to developing companies predominantly across New Nordics and invests EUR 0.5 – 5 million per transaction), Merito Sustainable Energy Fund I (currently fundraising, targeting industrial scale photovoltaic (PV) energy projects in Latvia) and Merito Self Storage Fund (developing a network of self-storage facilities in the Baltic States).
BADideas Fund
BADideas.fund is an early-stage angel syndicate that provides 50k-100k funding for startups in Central and Eastern Europe. It was founded by experienced entrepreneurs who have walked the path of startup building and have raised funds from investors. The syndicate provides members with an investment memo with an analysis of the investment case and then members decide whether or not to invest. BADideas.fund is committed to helping startups in CEE succeed.
Change Ventures
Fund operating mostly in the Baltic states which offers €100k-500k in pre-seed capital initial investments, along with follow-on capital in seed rounds, hands-on support to reach product-market fit, and a deep network of later-stage investors and partners. When making a decision they often look at the team and its probabilities of succeeding globally. The Change Ventures investment team is also supported by a broad community of founders, angel investors, limited partners, and venture partners.
Overkill Ventures
This Latvian-based fund backs pre-seed & seed stage startups across the Baltics, Nordics, CEE & CIS, developing B2B technology solutions. It has invested in 38 pre-seed startups and has had multiple exits. However, at the current moment, Overkill is not making any new investments, only following back on the previous ventures
ZGI Capital
ZGI Capital is the fund management company that manages the ZGI fund, which was founded to support entrepreneurs and provide them with start-up capital for their businesses. The total amount of assets available for venture capital investments is EUR 7.4M. The fund acts on behalf of various investors including the State.
iTech Capital
This innovative private equity and venture capital investment manager have been investing in successful tech businesses since 2010. They usually invest globally at around Series A and beyond. They value talent and believe in human potential independently of origin, background, and other circumstances. Along with capital, they provide a broad range of professional expertise to the chosen companies to accelerate growth and consolidate their first-mover advantage.
New Nordic Ventures
NNV is a seed-stage VC fund that invests in B2B startups from CEE and CIS regions and helps them in their international expansion. They support mostly seed-stage B2B software startups founded by experienced founders who plan to relocate their HQ to the EU and build European or international traction in the right customer segment. They prepare their portfolio companies for the next round of investment and lead or co-invest in that round. Their initial investment starts from EUR 200-300K.
Baltic Tech Ventures
Baltic Tech Ventures is an accelerator with an angel group focused on seed and early-stage investment in the Baltic region. They invest in technology companies with the ability to scale globally and with capable and promising management teams.
Imprimatur Capital Fund Management
Imprimatur Capital Fund Management is a venture capital firm focusing on high-technology companies at the early stages of commercial development. They usually invest in start-ups that are based on innovative intellectual property, are led by strong teams, and have high international growth potential.
Recently raised funds:
- In April 2023 the Latvian equity firm Merito Partners announced the first, €17M closing of its next fund. The firm plans to invest from €500K to €5M in startups and companies from the New Nordics (Scandinavia and Baltics).
- In May 2023 pan-Baltic investment fund Change Ventures launched a new fund with a target size of EUR 20M. According to Change Ventures, Fund III will look into a diverse range of startups – from software and hardware, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, B2B software, and SaaS to consumer businesses. Through this investment fund Change Ventures will continue to focus on Baltic founders and the diaspora.
Institutions supporting startup innovation
Labs of Latvia
Media platform providing information about Latvian startups, technologies and innovations, reporting on most recent funding rounds and informing the public about all major happenings in the ecosystem.
Latvian Private Equity And Venture Capital Association
This institution aims to foster startup growth in the country, informing entrepreneurs and the public about the possibilities of receiving venture capital financing, promoting the exchange of knowledge and experience of the members of the association, representing the interests of the industry to state institutions and legislators and ensuring the cooperation with international and foreign Venture Capital associations.
Riga Tech Girls
The first community in Latvia dedicated to educating and inspiring girls & women about technology. They create workshops about the basics of computer programming & other valuable skills needed in the information age and foster the entrepreneurial spirit in Latvian women by organizing meetups with inspirational women from IT as speakers, where they share their success-story and tell about the industry.
LatBAN
As previously mentioned the network of Latvian Business Angels aims to extend and develop the community of investors in Latvia and support them in their future projects. They gather around 50 members and provide not only funding opportunities but also mentorship and knowledge exchange to up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the region.
Latvian Startup Association (Startin.LV)
It is a platform that enables startups to initiate ideas, be heard, and receive support in
fulfilling their needs and solving problems. The objectives of the Latvian start-up association are to represent start-up interests, gather up-to-date insights, and represent start-up's joint interests as well as to unite all ecosystem members. They also collaborate with ecosystem representatives, governmental institutions, and universities to support their members and provide information and consultations.
Tech Chill Foundation
TechChill Foundation is a non-profit offering the network, skills, and know-how to boost the success of the Baltic founders. They strive for creating meaningful connections between partners – startups, investors, customers, or employees. Tech Chill is most known for their annual conference which takes place in Riga and unites the Baltic startup community - fastest-growing startups, most innovative corporations, investors active in the region, media representatives, and talented tech enthusiasts.
Accelerators
Altum For New Startups
A state-funded loan program for newly-established startups or startups-to-be. They can receive up to 150K EUR in funding for current assets, real estate projects, buying equipment, machines, and shipping vehicles. Designed for startups to-be-founded or an already existing startup <5 years old.
Buildit Accelerator
An accelerator for hardware and IoT startups that have an MVP or a working prototype, It offers an intensive 4-month program in Riga helping startups to become “investable” and connecting them to a wide network of industry professionals, investors, and more. There is also a pre-seed investment of up to 50,000 EUR for best-performing teams and an option to be invited to the follow-on program focusing on further development, including attracting investment. The program is open for startups within the industries of hardware, IoT, mobility, productivity, smart living, energy, health tech.
Commercialization Reactor
A 6-month acceleration program for deep tech startups registered in Latvia at early-stage before sales with at least a laboratory prototype ready for demonstration – TRL 4 or higher. The program offers up to 50K EUR in pre-seed investment, weekly group sessions and workshops, meetings with coaches, help with product development, market development, access to industry networks and a possibility to be supplemented with a follow-up seed funding round (up to 250K EUR.
Prototech
A governmental support program that provides prototype development assistance for science-intensive industry entrepreneurs, in collaboration with several local universities. Offers up to 15K EUR in funding, access to well-equipped prototyping labs and mentorship. To be eligible, the entrepreneur has to have an idea that represents the smart technology sector, shows novelty and sustainability, and has a high commercialization potential.
Unilab
A university incubator aimed at commercializing science-intensive ideas and creating deep tech startups. Accepted teams enter a 4-month program, which ends with a demo day attended by potential investors and experts providing their feedback. The program is meant for students with a STEM background.
Magnetic Latvia Pre-Incubation Program
It’s one of the biggest programs on the list, carried out by 11 regional Business Incubators and 9 support units, as well as the Creative Industries Incubator in Riga. It is funded by the state-own LIAA agency. It is aimed at fresh businesses at the beginning of their entrepreneurship journey, with ideas that cannot be connected to trade, financial intermediation, commercial services, and gambling sectors. Startups receive support in business idea validation and development, business model development, mentorship, business training, access to coworking space and office equipment, and a wide network of industry professionals.
Magnetic Latvia Incubation Program
This program is aimed at startups with at least 3 years of experience with a working prototype or a developed product. It is carried out by 13 business incubators and can last for up to 4 years. It offers 50% co-financing for the development of prototypes and design, bookkeeping, legal and marketing services, workspace rental costs, as well as purchasing materials and equipment.
Ventspils Prototyping Hub
One of the newest prototyping hubs in Latvia aimed at promoting the development and production of new products and business development in Ventspils. The program is open to the general public and offers technical consultations in the development and production of prototypes and parts, including the development of 3D models of parts as well as access to a wide range of equipment and more.
Make Riga Hackerspace
A community-operated prototyping hub for tech enthusiasts in Riga. The members of the community meet monthly.
Ignition Qualifiers Program
A 5-week program by the Commercialization Reactor, financed by LIAA, prepares the next deep tech entrepreneurs to start their business journey. It is designed for deep tech startups, which can receive weekly 2-hour sessions, a boot camp, and work groups led by experts, know-how about building a deep tech startup and commercializing scientific findings as well as an opportunity to attend the annual Deep Tech Ignition Event.
Startup Wise Guys
A well-known pan-European firm also runs its programs in Latvia. It offers both acceleration and pre-acceleration services. The pre-acceleration, equity-free training program is designed for early-stage startup founders to help them in business idea validation. To be eligible startups should work on a draft or have at least an MVP, and be in the process of building market research knowledge. The acceleration program is for B2B startups, primarily developing SaaS solutions with an already working MVP and building initial customer traction, MRR, or revenues.
Urban Mobility Pre-accelerator
A 2-month program for established mobility start-ups willing to scale their solution and grow. It is hosted and managed by innovation movement VEFRESH, and aimed at incorporated mobility startups from Europe, especially Eastern Europe and the Baltics
Expanse Capital
EXPANSE Capital – Baltic Life Science Venture builder operates right at the frontiers of life sciences and healthcare systems. They aim to use innovative strategies to envision what a better future might look like, supporting and bringing new technologies to the Life Science markets, creating new businesses based on the concepts of the future of healthcare systems that will have a positive impact on human health, improve the quality of life, while expanding the possibilities of medicine and making it accessible to all. They help startups grow and enter new European market through a variety of services from providing access to partners network and integrating into the EU innovation ecosystem to supporting in product launch and certification.
Startups
There is one unicorn company in Latvia - Printful. It is a print-on-demand drop shipping and fulfillment company that helps people turn their ideas into brands and products. The other two most developed companies include two soonicorns - Lokalise, a translation management system built for agile teams who want to automate their localization process - and Printify, yet another innovative and smart printing tool. All of these companies have raised their biggest capital rounds in 2021, contributing 62% to the total amount of startup funding in that year.
Below, you can find a list of more interesting Latvian, which has captured investors' attention and are worth watching:
Longenesis, offers a platform for biomedical organizations to accelerate clinical research.
WeedBot, a high-precision laser welding technology startup
Aioo, a Latvian retailer of mobile device accessories and used smartphones
Mapoon, a local fleet management startup
DeskTime, time tracking software company
Areones, is an innovative company that develops robotic technology for wind turbine blade maintenance services.
Nordigen, is a free open banking API that provides PSD2 data connections to all major European banks.
GreenGrowth, a data-collecting platform that provides real-time precise yield monitoring.
Supliful, platform that makes it easy to launch and operate scalable CPG brands with one click
Finfra, an artificial intelligence and blockchain technology company.
ATOM Mobility, a Latvian player in the e-mobility space
Kora Sustainability, app allowing users to see the impact of their actions in real-time, and rewards users for taking steps to reduce their ecological footprint
Corebook, is an online brand guidelines platform helping develop and maintain brand integrity for companies across the globe.
CopyMonkey, offers an AI product description generator for the e-commerce industry.
Balcia, insurtech startup
Selfnamed, a self-service platform for private-label cosmetics
Adventum Tech, creates and provides hardware and software solutions to prevent structural collapses in construction projects
City Light, a smart street light solutions provider
Nao technologies, aims to create specialized nano-coatings and new materials that replace the need for platinum and other expensive materials in the mass-scale production and usage of hydrogen.
Sun Finance, a Latvian-based global fintech startup
Abillio, an invoicing and payments platform for cross-border freelancing
Fixar, the Riga-based drone and software developer
Copy Monkey, a platform generating content for e-commerce based on AI or machine learning technology.
LANDE, is a crowdfunding platform that helps farms obtain capital using machinery, land, or future harvest as collateral.
Fermentful, developing a fermented plant-based drink to support your mental and physical
wellbeing.
BirgerMind, a non-invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) enables fully paralyzed patients to communicate independently
BeeSage, data-driven beekeeping for productivity and sustainability.
PrintOnPack, an online marketplace to find the most suitable flexible packaging provider.
Huntli, is an all-in-one solution that helps fight financial fraud and stay up to date with day-to-day compliance.
Aimy, a personal AI assistant who ensures optimal staffing using artificial intelligence.
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Sources:
Vestbee Reports: yearly and quarterly
Vestbee blog: monthly funding rounds, weekly news
Crunchbase information, press releases
Dealroom, Pitchbook, EU startups, Linkedin pages and publications
