Creativity is back

work in progress

• Consumer. Rykliai (Sharks) was fun to watch – will there be more tech ideas? Full support for Garmio founders (just launched their app). I wish they would have mentioned Shazam exit to Apple (who needs an app just to know the song??), or perhaps told how Dupe got 30m views in 60 days (find Burgaila's shirt... but 1/5 the price on Vinted??). Today for anything consumer and social, creativity and virality are the foundations. Nikita Bier is out with a third release – going after Snapchat via iMessage. Boardy, an AI robot, raises EUR 8m seed from Creandum - literally networked its way through.
• People. Monika is stepping into the role of CEO at Wedio, a film and photo equipment rental marketplace. Ramute Varnelyte is the new CEO of IPXO. Ignas Pranskevicius is new CEO of Altas Auto. Kipras joins smeGo as Chief of Sales LT. Juozapas joins Superhero Capital as an Associate. Lukas is now COO at Pulsetto.
• Visual inspection will be redefined with AI. We are tracking as Rokas with Laelaps (see founding team), as well as GREÏ (part of Scalewolf now).

• Defence. New funding program will soon be available – via Innovation Agency. Interview with CBRX founder Kaziemieras on cloud security (in LT). Unbound Autonomy joins Plug and Play Accelerator. Mantas learns by 3D printing fix-wing drones. Airvolve finally released renders:

• AI awards. Congrats for the winning teams – Neurotechnology, Biomatter, Spike Technologies, EditAI, Ligence, and others.
• Thanks for trying – Estonian KWOTA has made a decision to cease operations.
• Crypto. Coingate continues to ride crypto payment wave, as their new report shows consistent growth in transactions. Nervousness with discussions online whether Binance could move to Latvia. Tautvilas' text on decentralized syndication protocol RSDS was featured on Hacker News.
• Food and drinks, please. We recently listed some restaurant-related tech players, and a few started an exciting growth track. Saltz marketplace wants to rapidly expand in Europe. Äio is well regarded in Estonia. Greet had a strong year, grew 12x!
• Calendar. Engineering Summit: ML/AI sessions v2.0, next Tuesday.
  Bigger and now regional - Vilnius AI Summit 2025 is happening April 15-16. Secure 10% discount with code techphilomaths.

sponsors

Thank you for making Tech Philomaths possible:

Cloudvisor [AWS partner dedicated to startups]
PayPal [Global integrated payments solution]
Oxylabs [Step into the world of web data gathering]
Vinted [Largest C2C European marketplace, hiring]
Tech Zity [tech hubs and campuses across Lithuania]
Presto Ventures [investing in startups – security, defense, aerospace]
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Wargaming [award-winning game developer, careers]

rounds and capital

• Lithuanian fintech ArcaPay is being acquired by Ebury, which is expanding into Baltics and Finland. ArcaPay offers international payments, and currency risk management services tailored to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Founded in 2011, the company has grown to serve about 1500 clients. LT entity closed 2023 profitable, with EUR 1.3m in revenue.
• Vytautas, co-founder and CTO of Science Card, is raising a crowdfunding round.
• Latvian Naco Technologies raised EUR 2.5m from Radix Ventures, along with existing investors Impact Ventures, KENDRIS Capital, and deep tech-focused fund the Untitled Ventures.
• Siena Secondary Fund launches Fund II with first investment into the Estonian B2B SaaS startup Katana
• EIF commits EUR 20m to a fund managed by Latvia-based SG Capital (mainly SMEs and small mid-caps in the Baltics)