Adjustments

work in progress

• Delicious. 12eat (self-service micro market) continues to grow, in staff and likely in revenue as well. Another nice curve of hitting EUR 1m revenue is with 7pack, a meal kit supplier. Brite drinks should help you focus. Abroad, after the Delivery Hero gig, Tadas joined Calo as VP of Product (meal plans/kits). Magic Broth getting accelerated at EIT Food in the UK.
• Pains. Adjustments & pivots (and bankruptcies, too) are perfectly normal in the startup world, and more so when macro brings headwinds. Syntrophy just cut 20% of the team, earlier Interactio did more, adjustments seem to have happened for Whatagraph, and several more startups. Not a problem - talent will get (got?) hired elsewhere very quickly, and we support founders making these tough calls (handle people with grace). Not to get inspired by Musk and Twitter, but reductions do bring back clarity, urgency, and increased pace of shipping. When there is no downside, everything starts creeping down.

• Q3. What is actually happening with startup performance? Market correction mostly is in the US, it does affect  EU, but to a lesser extent. It also affects growth funding more than the early stage. Lithuania lives with both a) slowdown in venture rounds b) growth in performance. How come? Financing challenge has mostly been local (less capital available), while the vast majority of growth comes from larger scale-ups, which are either profitable or well-funded. Unicorns LT report Q3 2022 compares to Q3 2021 to find +45% increase in taxes paid,  +14% increase in average salaries, +18% growth of employees working in startups.

• Crafty news. It took a bit of time for Bored Panda to reveal 2021 results - revenue climbs 43% to over EUR 22.8m, and something in the space was acquired, too. Hiring senior executives. Other startups leveraging media in the Baltics? Cybernews seem to have good customers. Dailycoin has its niche.
• Story. Tom Okman telling Nord Security story in Slush (video).
• Calendar. Wrap Up of 2022 & Vilnius TechFusion“Startup Awards - Dec 8th.

rounds and capital

• LABA7 secures second investment round - EUR 640k from broad LitBAN syndicate and CoInvest Capital. After securing a sweet KTM deal, LABA7 seem to have found a sharp wedge into the industry. Nice to see also CoInvest Capital making deals - looks like we are promised a few more this year, great!
• Business Angel Fund exits Optonas, which has received more R&D funding and grew revenue above EUR 1m.
• Vulkaza's founders (Norwegian / Lithuanian, an Antler startup) pushing relentlessly to close the round, and seem to be in a good spot by now.
• Estonian creator platform Modash raised $2m from Change Ventures and other investors, including angel Tomas Slimas.
• Polish funds with fresh powder. OTB Fund II, EUR 150m for early growth deeptech in Europe. Simpact Ventures, early stage impact startups in CEE, EUR 20m. bValue raises €72 million of its EUR 100 million growth equity fund for profitable, growing CEE companies, tickets EUR 5-15m.

roleplay

Now you can drop a link to your job posting here, and select to show one or two weeks. Free for early-stage teams. Highlight stock options - our audience is mostly senior talent looking for upside.  

founder guide

• Startup to exit: Lessons from a first-time founder
• How to Find Clarity When You’re at a Career Crossroads

• How much dilution should founders factor in for financing rounds?
• What is product-market fit and how do you find it? With Andris from Change.

insights

• Fading away? Evernote is acquired by Bending Spoons.
• Dimming the sun to cool the planet is a desperate idea, yet...
• In the aftermath of venture trying to fund everything (more so in the US), discussions begin about what other models can be used for non-venture scale firms ($10m but not $100m)? Rev share and other models.
• 180+ Swedish tech startups & scaleups founded and led by women
• Are girls being designed out of public spaces? | LSE Research (video)
• Interview with Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine (Money Stuff daily newsletter). We empathize:

But mostly I have no repeatable process, I just wake up and panic until there’s a newsletter.

ecosystem

• Get inspired: American Dynamism 50 highlights 50 companies — that are kickstarting American renewal. Also a new interview with Flexport’s CEO and Founder, Ryan Peterson - no lack of ambition there.
• War ecosystem: 200+ Ukrainian entrepreneurs, who went to fight

three questions, previously

• Gytenis Galkis, Venture Partner, Superhero Capital
• Daniel Kratkovski and Dominykas Milašius, co-founders, Delta Biosciences
• Kasparas Aleknavicius - Co-Founder and CPO, Loctax
• Andrius Milinavičius, General Partner, Baltic Sandbox Ventures
• Laura Korsakova, Founder and CEO, Psylink
• Paulius Uziela, Investment Manager, Coinvest Capital