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2022 Lithuania tech predictions

2022 Lithuania tech predictions
Photo by Liuda Brogiene on Unsplash
Might not happen at all - but what if it will?

I. Vinted raises > $500m to expand in the US market

Consider industry is at massive growth (grew 21x faster than traditional apparel last year), second-hand trade is only a small fraction, and Vinted seems to have a working recipe. Also - sustainability investing momentum will help.

II. Nord Security announces IPO plans, to list in Amsterdam / London

Why not? Have been building corporate / governance structure, a leading global consumer brand.

III. Sustainability & environment trends accelerate markets - and some startups

Who will ride the wave? Depends a lot on the ability to hire & execute, including fundraising. But these guys have plenty of support - their consumers and investors badly want them to succeed.

Candidates include (random order) In Balance Grid, Elinta Motors, Elinta Charge, Citybee, Trafi, Cogastro, Rubbee, DoW, Monimoto, Walk15, Foros, Hector, PV Case, Ziticity, Dancer.

IV. "Family startups" show off

Some startups grown under/with larger organizations (Tesonet, Hostinger, Kilo Health) will make more leaps and might be getting some external capital, too. Candidates - Surfshark, Zyro.com, Oxylabs, Tyler Health.

V. Crypto / Web3 investors will pick some locally

Expect some of these to get significant growth rounds, by dedicated Web3 funds. Candidates include CoinGate, DappRadar, Syntropy, LossLess.

VI. Angel investors and early-stage gets competitive

Consider that # of financing rounds have barely changed in the last 3 years (around 60), so all the € growth is with later-stage startups (larger deals). As LitBAN grew 3x just 2021, many angels will be pondering about access to the best teams. But these founders will be also chased by

  • accelerators SWG, 70V, Katalista Ventures, Baltic Sandbox also now Tesonet and Kilo Health
  • super angels  - Mikuckas, Janauskas, Lašas and Estonian/Latvian founders
  • regional early-stage investors (Lemonade stand, VNTRS and alike)
  • global early-stage brands (YC, ODX, GFC, Speedinvest,  also EF & Antler)

Investors above add brand, services, network, & founder advice to the € they invest. Angels will start to reflect on their value-add.

VII. Growth rounds by the ones we haven't talked about recently. And growth by fintech, too.

Candidates include Argyle, Eneba, RRR, Ondato, .kevin, Kernolab.

VIII. There is life beyond B2B SaaS

There will be more colour in Lithuanian success stories, new industries and new business models. We are keen to hear more about deep-tech (Brolis spectroscopy on-chip, Biomatter designs?) and cloud (CAST AI), Edtech (some of them will strike - Memby, Teachers Lead Tech, BitDegree, Turing College, others), consumer and DTC (Smart Vision, Millo, Rocketo, ZENOO), and Health (Oxygen, Mindletic, Revolab, Tyler...). Also marketplaces. Also gaming. Also?..