Efficient Frontier

work in progress

• How did the Baltics perform in raising capital in 2023? Very well, tops CEE list with Estonia, so pretty dynamic despite the slowdown. This Dealroom report relies on good data, finding EUR 293m total invested. However, we are also very reliant on growth rounds as shown here (Nord Security, PVcase and CAST AI) - would be interesting to look at the region with early-stage data isolated. How to Web released a similar CEE report but it seems to suffer from inaccurate data - some figures are off.

• Defence tech having a moment - Estonians, too, gathered tech people for an event. Importantly, the industry gets a closer look overall (AirStreet finds there is no incentive to innovate, small R&D spending and prioritizing shareholder payback). Hopefully, bottom-up tech funding will also bring needed reform in government contracting. Otherwise, limited exits and no scaleable business to grow for founders.

Narrowing down on drones, they suddenly became a defining capability in modern warfare – demand is not exactly an issue (LT is putting aside EUR 30m) for startups building in this space, although nuanced and can be complicated. Economist trying to grasp all industry shifts, potential and risks. Founded by Justas in Denmark, Monopulse built a drone without critical components from China, and with abilities to operate when reception is lost or jammed. Marduk is an Estonian firm with a new UAV detection/tracking system. Origin UAV (Latvia) is bringing a man-portable ISR drone with precision bomb-drop capability. And former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is starting new drone company - White Stork - in Estonia, too. So this is pretty much the drone landscape in the Baltics: