Rudolph 2022

work in progress

• Baltic Year. The number of financing rounds is down 35%, but large ones still allowed to score EUR 1.6B in total - just 15% decrease. More from FIRSTPICK:

Estonia sending best regards with almost €1.3B in funding, with Bolt alone contributing €628m...

Lithuania saw €241 million invested, a number down 49% from the €419 million invested in 2021.

Latvian startups attracted €67 million, down 73% from the €246 million raised in 2021.

• Female founder showcase: Emile, Samphire Neuroscience, and Dr. Monika Hauck, Founder of Repair Rebels
• Angels. LitBAN had a good year - now uniting 300 angels (more than around 260 in Estonia), and invested EUR 14.5m - 40% growth (but less than approx EUR 29m in Estonia). Confidence will grow with exits, as Justinas is wishing in this interview (in LT). Even better - more will be playing the long game, just like Marc Randolf (co-founder of Netflix) does.
• AI. New list of AI players is in the making. Will include Technote (data platform), Apex Intelligence (building data), Feetsee (by Diabetis - AI-based FDA-registered medical monitoring device for prevention of diabetic foot ulcers) and many more.

AWS announced Cloudvisor as the winner of the Rising Star Partner of the Year - EMEA award. Chosen among thousands of AWS partners in the EMEA region proves Cloudvisor is one of the leading AWS partners empowering startups to scale. Book a free consultation today. AWS + Startups = Cloudvisor 🖤

rounds and capital

• Practica Capital has announced the first close of its third fund at EUR 32m and targeting a final close of EUR 70m. The generalist VC will focus on marketplace, SaaS and deeptech startups with Baltic founders from pre-seed to Series A. The first close has been anchored by the Estonian and Lithuanian branches of Swedbank, other LPs include the cofounders and early team members of Vinted and Tesonet.
• Spike, makers of the API aggregation and an ETL solution for data from wearables and IoT devices, announced the closing of a $700,000 pre-seed round. Led by Geek Ventures of New York City, with participation from CEAS Investments and APX.

• Contrarian Ventures startup Vianova I/O raised EUR 6m round from a roster of new strategic investors (La Poste Ventures, X Ange, Baloise CH).
• CIVITTA Ukraine team helped secure EUR 10.5m  funding from Horizon Europe EIC Accelerator for Ukrainian green tech startup Releaf Paper. An actual paper from fallen leaves, imagine that!
• More startups have raised, and we anticipate more coverage early next year.

roleplay

Drop a link to your job posting here, and select to show one or two weeks. Free for early-stage teams.

founders' guide

• How to Avoid Being Replaced as CEO by Your VCs
  (never ask for a third check!)
• How to write a great investor newsletter
• All the first-time VC funds launched in the Nordics in 2022
• Pmarca Guide to Career Planning

 The first rule of career planning: Do not plan your career.

• Early-stage founders’ compensation report from Creandum + Slush. It says A) Series A is a major unlock B) Geo does not matter in the early stage, matters a lot later C) How much is raised - is not so important D) Fintech founders pay themselves more.

insights

• Top VCs are placing bets on Generative AI startups - FOMO is real, and 15-min grocery delivery is sooo last year.
• So far, remote is no good for R&D, time zones seem to kill innovation.
• Swedish Startup "Clones" - Rocket Internet in Scandinavia, too
• CFO's Tech Priorities - most outdated software -  ERP, FP&A, Treasury Management & Cash Forecasting, and Accounting.
• Do you ski? The political economy of snow, slopes and skiing

things planetary

• Inventure seeking more energy startups, outlines the transformation in the market
• YC Request for Startups: Climate Tech
• The Time for ‘Catalytic Government’ Is Now

Rather, catalytic policies are a recognition that the market alone won’t work fast enough and with sufficient direction to meet the twin challenges of the exponential age: climate change and technological disruption. The risks of leaving things to the market—where the industry oversupplied us with dating apps and 10-minute delivery services—are too great.

three questions, previously

• Magnus Hambleton, Investor, byFounders
• Povilas Poderskis, Development Director, Darnu Group, ex-COO Nord Security
• Gytenis Galkis, Venture Partner, Superhero Capital
• Daniel Kratkovski and Dominykas Milašius, co-founders, Delta Biosciences
• Kasparas Aleknavicius - Co-Founder and CPO, Loctax
• Andrius Milinavičius, General Partner, Baltic Sandbox Ventures
• Laura Korsakova, Founder and CEO, Psylink
• Paulius Uziela, Investment Manager, Coinvest Capital