AI Savanna

work in progress

• AI. "There's literally no point opening a laptop in the morning if you are not building an AI agent" – on point Mikas' comment as we observe many founders starting something new with AI. Here's few recent projects happening (can't keep up!)
  
  Evergrowth | Leya AI | sintra.ai | ana | Clarus.AI | FlowTestAI | Ocoya | Psynotes.ai | Cor | WhiteBridge.ai | Hero.ai | AskToSell | Octocom | Alphanome.AI | Amigo: Software Engineer | AQ22 | AI Masters | isLucid | Superinterface | Milda.AI | Cyberalert.AI | Marty Kausas is building up momentum for the "next Zendesk"
  
  Magnus (byFounders) thinks "AI is simultaneously extremely overhyped and also insanely unbelievably underhyped"– choose your lense. And if you are in sales, this Jason Lemkin take resonates quite a bit:

I think that will be the death of outbound. Not all of it. But the final death of the crappy cadence. And the death of the outbound motion for many. Too many today don't want to put in the human work to do it right. Even with a big AI assist.

• Creators. Ben and Gajus, Contra founders, visiting Vinted in Vilnius. Contribee has a large scandal as one of the founders took cash from the platform (not approved). Many got involved, including early investors Coinvest Capital to help sort the situation, but looks like remaining team understimate the severity of the problem and how critical reputation is for this (15min have more detailed report). P.S. We did not have any issues with Contribee so far, but likely will have to move.
• Restaurants are hard to run, these Baltic startups want to help
  Saltz.app – premium ingredients marketplace
  Greet – simplify your venue operations
  Tabelo – fastest QR payments solution
  FoodDocs – food safety management
  ÄIO – Future-shaping fats and oils
  DSERVE – self-ordering system
  Spindl – next generation restaurant OS
  ForgetBill – ultra-fast payment platform
  biteful – smarter HoReCa orders
  
• From restaurants to insects – as these topics get more interwined. Sifted reports Ÿnsect raised over $600m, yet need more money as they start producing at scale. Under the radar, burning cash is Divaks, but they are growing team, to – slated for launch in 2026 in Marijampolė. Despite high expectations, Cogastro (software for insect farms) struggles to break-through.

• People moves. After acquisition, Martynas Basokas becomes CEO of M1. BaltCap announces Ege Metsandi as CEO and member of the Board. Ricardas left Sprana - open for challenges. Lina Maskoliune assumes CEO role at Profitus, Migle joins as CMO. Egle Girdzijauskaite joins Go Vilnius as Head of Comms. Karolis (Portland based) is open for new BD challenge. Danatas departures from SAVY. Tadas is now lead at Hero.ai - AI-powered cryto decisions.
• Co-founder of the Joiner app, Jurate is also opening Naked Noah – a wine shop in Vilnius (I can see some synergy there).
• Happenings are scheduled, such as Startup Meetup (Aug 20th), LitBAN Angel School (Sept 10th), Startup Fair (Oct 3rd), Baltic VCA Summit in September 5-6 (discount with code Tech_Philomaths).

sponsors

Meet our friends pushing the startup scene forward

Cloudvisor [AWS partner dedicated to startups]
PayPal [Global integrated payments solution]
Vinted [largest C2C European marketplace, always hiring]
Tech Zity [tech hubs and campuses across Lithuania]
Presto Ventures [investing in startups at the forefront of security, defense, aerospace]
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Wargaming [award-winning game developer, careers]

rounds and capital

• Together with Market One Capital, Practica Capital co-leads EUR 2m seed round for eany.io, a Lithuanian startup shaking up the B2B commerce world for electronics, household, and DIY goods. Started by seasoned founder, they are rapidly building.

• Incogni, Surfshark team, has acquired US-based IronWall. Ironwall works with superior courts, social work departments, and law enforcement agencies to search and remove personal information from websites in violation of state and federal privacy restrictions. 
• Okredo has received EU funding – EUR 1.5M – to develop multi modular AI-driven scoring system. The new system will facilitate sophisticated credit risk management, fostering business growth in European and global markets.
• monitok closed a pre-seed funding round, securing $450,000 from an Asian investment firm (undisclosed). Developing a hybrid crypto exchange.
• Swedish HR benefits platform Benify is reportedly for sale (they have 47 team members in Lithuania)
• Estonian Viacurrent, an employee financial wellness platform, secures investment from Rockstart.
• Latvian electric minibus manufacturer Electrify has secured 1.5 million euros from the venture capital fund ZGI Capital (they might be looking at Altas Auto; their electric bus share is 22% and business is growing 25% annual)
• Latvian investment platform Mintos has raised EUR 3.1M from 3,300 investors in a crowdfunding campaign.

Tech Philomaths'community

• Startup lists for the Baltics - Drone startups, Marketplaces, Sportstech
• Repeat Lithuanian founders -

founder's guide

• Kotryna (AQ22) is reading how to raise capital. What are other resources? After EUR 3.5M+ raised by Fundraising School Batch #1, Bad Ideas Fund is inviting for the second batch – 5 weeks of fundraising A-Z learning, 100% online.
  • Also YC guide to fundraising
  • Eric Paley on fundraising process
  • Vimcal learnings fundraising
  • Make it easy to invest
  • 23 rules of storytelling by NfX
  • The right mindset for raising venture money
• This is productive and good stuff for all early founders – Everything We Teach at YCombinator in 10 Minutes (thanks Siim)
• Raising capital in Germany - notaries are good business, too.

further insights

• Simas (Vinted) brings data to confirm that capitalism isn't making us lonely (actually the opposite). Now who to blame?
• 8 Brutal Truths You Need To Hear As A Writer (to actually make money) - pod
• CNN: Meet Dominika Banevič, teenage breaking superstar who wants to ‘write history’ in the Olympics’ newest sport
• Founders from CEE have their scars

If there were an ad about CEE founders, it might say "Life's tough enough, so we keep it simple."

roleplay

ecosystem

• Education snapshot – focus on high degrees and failing on vocation training, investment into research sprawls across the country and quality falls..
• Video review of Vilnius' biking infrastructure - by Dutch blogger
• What economic policies matter most?

It's not uncommon to think that support the economy needs is pretty much monetary – subsidies, grants, tax reductions. But that is not the vehicle to progress from efficiency-based economy to an innovation led. What is actually meaningful and works? It's that simple:

Investment in education and skills development
- Improving STEM education at all levels
- Promoting lifelong learning and reskilling programs

Research and Development (R&D) support
- Public funding for basic and applied research
- Tax incentives for private R&D investment

Promoting entrepreneurship
- Reducing barriers to starting businesses
- Providing access to venture capital and startup funding

Fostering industry-academia collaboration
- Encouraging partnerships between universities and businesses
- Supporting technology transfer offices

Open innovation and data policies
- Promoting open data initiatives
- Encouraging collaboration between large companies and startups

Targeted innovation incentives
- Offering grants or prizes for solving specific challenges
- Implementing innovation-focused procurement policies

Regulatory flexibility
- Creating regulatory sandboxes for testing new technologies
- Adapting regulations to keep pace with technological change

International collaboration
- Participating in global research initiatives
- Attracting foreign talent and investment in innovative sectors