Working Class
work in progress
- We examined a four-day work week concept as popularised by some politicians. Our sophisticated quantitative analytical framework drives us back to... 996. More on that from Tomas and basedspace_.
- Latvians have launched some truly interesting business models combining hardware+software. HackMotion (new pod episode) is bootstrapped and profitable, other success stories of course are Aerones, Giraffe360 (FY 2024 accounts showing GPB 6M revenues), as well as Natrix. Also – drones, of course.
- Sustainability. Where is the opportunity in climate? Financial architecture, according to Contrarian. Also, examples of how great climate-first businesses continue to get built, at scale. InSoil Carbon Farming Program was verified by SCS global. Esgrid turns two.
- Founder venues. As people get excited about FR8 in Finland, we can't be more thrilled to see basedspace_ movement. From humble beginnings at Tech Zity, they are about to move to a larger, 750 sqm premises at this emerging campus. More builders are getting a roof!
- How is HR tech doing? "In an experiment with 70,000 applicants in the Philippines, an LLM voice recruiter beat humans in hiring customer service reps, with 12% more offers & 18% more starts." Co-founded by Karolis, YC-backed, Humaans seems to be growing well with impressive customers. MELP celebrates 5th birthday, Juozas sounds like they might have raised a round. It is time and place to build AI-enabled recruitment firm. TeamFill helps screen candidates faster. CoFive is going after the market.
- People. Jonas Gilys joins 15min as CCO (ex-mediatech), the group is actively hiring executives. Jurgis, Performance Lead at Adtractive, is leaving the firm. Toma is leaving Google. Martynas joins Spike Technologies. Ugnius steps up as Head of Data and Strategy at Coresignal. Roberts is the CEO of Latvian Startup Association.
rounds and capital
- We are hearing a brand new software acquirer is being born in Vilnius – waiting for news to come this week.
- Vocal Image – 12M ARR, 50,000 users – raised $3.6M seed round led by Educapital, with participation from Specialist VC and G-FUND.
- Another AI superstart from Estonia – Practica Capital wins to lead EUR 1.8M pre-seed for Creem, alongside Antler. $1 million in annual revenue in just 10 months since being founded.
- Latvian Tournated has closed a $750,000 funding round: Scandiweb, Shijiazhuang Chaofeng Sports and an international padel organization.
- Funds. How many unicorns does Donatas (Practica Capital) need to return the fund? Fun talk on venture investing. byFounders launch III fund, 100M+ size, with Magnus Hambleton now joining as a partner.
- Peter Thiel-backed SNÖ Ventures is winding down, partners will go on to raise solo GP funds.
founder's guide
- AI for Enterprise – great piece and examples by a16z
Oil Wells vs. Pipelines: Two Strategies for Building AI Companies - Consumer founders: The Distribution IS the Brand
- How to build an AI company in a new market.
- Don't follow a pattern:
After 15 years of investing, our biggest learning is that truly great founders have something that is almost impossible to fake: deeply unconventional life choices and highly atypical personalities that give them the creativity and edge to build something extraordinary.
further insights
- Wanting this is fine, however
ecosystem
- Estonian e-residency proves simple mechanics: customers and revenue they bring compound, as long as they don't churn.
In the first six months of 2025, e-residents and the companies they established contributed €68M to the Estonian state budget. This is twice as much as in the same period in 2024.
+adding to this: one of these e-residents is Brazilian Gabriel, Creem founder, who drove $1m revenue in 10 months and just closed a round from Practica Capital+Antler. He explains how Estonia is winning the talent race.
- Swapnil believes height restrictions for buildings in Vilnius push prices up in the central parts of the city.
