Flying narratives

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.

three questions

Venture, media, writing – super interesting chat with Eleanor Warnock (now advising Bek Ventures and writing, more), ex-Atomico, Sifted, WSJ.

What’s the kind of advice you find yourself giving VCs most often?

The first piece of advice I find myself giving VCs most often is: if you want to build a strong brand, you cannot be afraid to be different. Marketing is, at its core, about differentiation. Tired, generic positioning like “founder-friendly” and “high-conviction” will not make you stand out. Most of the time, it’s a combination of fear and laziness that holds investors back from putting forth bold narratives, but the lack of a bold narrative can also be a sign that a firm’s investment strategy lacks the edge necessary to be successful.

Second, communicating is important, but you are not the ones who are in the trenches building companies daily. If you have the chance, give priority and space to the founders in your portfolio. For example, if a journalist reaches out to you, consider passing that opportunity on to a founder. If you are publishing content, highlight your founders and their experiences (while being respectful of their time!)

AI-generated content is everywhere, and often surprisingly human-like. What is the smartest move for writers and creatives in this moment?

Use AI. Don’t be afraid of it. You will only know its limits and strengths and be able to form your own conclusions if you use it. This is what I’m trying to capture with my newsletter, Chief Word Officer, about writing and AI by talking to marketeers, speechwriters and novelists who are actually using these tools on a daily basis.

This is an important time — when these tools are being tested and developed — for writers and creatives to get involved and help shape the narrative. We cannot leave everything to American Big Tech companies. I am particularly interested to connect with writers and creatives from non-Western cultural backgrounds on these topics. We need this kind of collaboration.

What are some of your favourite or most memorable artefacts at the intersection of tech and media? (anything - articles, logos, landing pages, pods, photos)

• The video of a real dog barking at Boston Dynamics’s robot Spot (link) always sticks in my mind. We’ve written a lot about the uncanny valley effect of looking at almost human, not quite robots or representations. How do other species feel when they see machine versions of themselves?
• The Tiny Awards, which celebrate “the best of the small, poetic, creative, handmade web”, bring me back to the days when we were all making little websites and the internet was overflowing with intimacy and creativity.
• I loved the recent interview between the Japanese music star Utada Hikaru and author Yuval Noah Harari, which was hosted by NewsPicks, about AI’s impact on creativity. He seems so callous about allowing tech to take his job, while Utada's passion and curiosity really shine through — the contrast mirrors how I see many in the tech world think about these tools versus the more humanist approach of actual creatives.

What are you working on these days?

These days, I am busy with a mix of advisory work and writing. I advise startups on storytelling and communications, and support the incredible team at Bek Ventures. My current writing projects include my newsletter about AI and writing and starting my second novel after finishing a first one this year.

founder's guide

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

sponsors

Cloudvisor [AWS partner dedicated to startups]
Hostinger [making online presence accessible to everyone worldwide, hiring]
Google For Startups [cloud credits up to $350K, expert support & faster growth]
Oxylabs [Step into the world of web data gathering]
VIALET [Business accounts for growth, hiring]
Surfshark [Top 50 among fastest growing in EU, hiring]
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Superangel [Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A for tech companies]

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.

roleplay