work in progress

• Creators. Starting with creativity itself, Miskay Biotech reminds us – it's a choice. Slow Ventures has a creator fund and made its first investment: Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator. Timely reminder that Crafty Panda has 19M youtube subscribers! I would bet on Kenislovas, very differentiated and surprisingly scalable (128k subscribers).
• Fintech, broadly. Marius and Andrius launch Alterleap – AI platform for alternative funds investors. SME Bank to hire product owner for business cards – so that's the product to come next. UK Unicorn GoCardless to potentially be acquired next month.
• Indie rock. Martynas with Livity hits 10k MRR (picture). Tomas (TinyIMG) reunites with Shopify friends in Hanoi. Jonas having fun building skaler.app – never thought he will be a B2B entrepreneur, but he's alright! How Rokas uses micro communities to launch and find initial users.

• Ideas into startups. Love when founders convert thoughts into interesting writing. I give you a quote – and a startup.
  • But the real difference between a prototype and a product is knowing what you are building, and why it matters – Dovydas, Klero AI
  
  
  • The first version of our platform shipped in April 2024. But in reality, it's been 10 years in the making – JB, Evergrowth.
  • For the first time in history, we’re seeing the rise of a truly internet-native financial system — and at its core is one simple, powerful idea: A dollar in the cloud. – Ignas, Rizon.
  • I know it’s a bold move, but I believe this space is ready for change. Fulfilment shouldn’t be a luxury that only the biggest players can afford – Julius, OrderCrab (new)
  • The biggest bottlenecks in computer vision (CV) aren’t just about model architectures - they’re about how we handle data – Natalija, Stealth mode.
  • Human engineers have all of these tools at their disposal, yet they still make silly mistakes all the time. AI wouldn't. – Mantas, Supernaut.
• Growing old is great. Like this comparison: not letting some forests go truly old, we won't have a flourishing ecosystem. Oxylabs joined to back Ancient Woods Foundation.
• People. In June, Julija took on the opportunity of managing the Startup Lithuania Accelerator powered by Plug and Play. Katrin Isotamm, Esgrid co-founder, quits the startup. Benas Matkevicius, NBA Champion and Boston Celtics scout, is joining Walk15 as an Advisor. Martynas, SDR team lead, says goodbye to Oxylabs. Arunas Penkaitis going for new challenges, leaving LT. Dominykas joins Corner Case Technologies.
• Rumours. Psst – second season seems to be coming, application form is live

rounds and capital

• Marty Kausas announces Pylon's $31M Series B led by a16z and BCV, showing impressive progress in a short time (also a great example how founders can use linkedin to accelerate B2B reputation).
• Better Medicine raised €1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Soulmates Ventures, Specialist VC, UT VENTURES LTD, and several angel investors.
• Funds. Impellet Ventures started investing Fund III, which is great – they already have couple Lithuanian startups in portfolio. Redstone Nordics has launched a new €25m fund to back startups tackling ocean challenges, with a special focus on the Baltic Sea. Orion Securities are getting new ownership. Neil Murray on pre-seed investing in the Nordics: But then I realised most pre-seed funds live in this middle while the best companies were being built at the edges.

founder's guide

• 25 investors who are open to, or actively talking about, seedstrapping.
• Sourcing angel investments (if playing it competitively)

further insights

• Bessemer's top AI predictions for 2025
  • The browser will emerge as a dominant interface for agentic AI
  • 2026 will be the year of generative video
  • Evals and data lineage will become a critical catalyst for AI product development
  • A new AI-native social media giant could emerge
  • The incumbents strike back as AI M&A heats up
• While Facebook might be "internet for old people", don't underestimate Zuck – he rolls and rolls, now Threads caught up with X in MAUs...

ecosystem

• Estonian government will invest €50M over 4-5 years in a venture capital fund managed by the national investment fund SmartCap.
• Vilnius is growing truly well, but let's not forget – we are still catching up in terms of total EV.