Still early days
work in progress
- Edtech. Five actual cases of AI in education - already live. Not to forget Ukrainian-founded Preply, which recently closed $120m to challenge Duolingo with AI. Locally, Domas joins EditAI, aiming to boost creativity for educators. MOKOSI was selected to join Cohort 1.0 of the EdTech Accelerator in Malta. Delfi listed 9 edtech startups so that we don't have to.
- Shipping. Jonas built Memowrite into MVP in 4 weeks (step by step), turning life stories into books. Vytenis bringing AI and branching out products: Meeting isLucid and CallCenter isLucid.
- Deeptech. Voima Ventures started a science challenge for deeptech teams - the winner to receive EUR 1m investment. A new report finds that Baltic deep tech startups raised a record €233M in 2022, and over €93M in 2023 so far.
- Interview. Almost 100-minute-long talk with Tadas Burgaila from Kilo Health. Already at 78k views - do we still need to share this link? (in LT)
- Events. Startups can claim reimbursement for attended events, including the upcoming Web Summit (direct flight from VNO to Lisbon, NOV 13th - 16th)!
- People. Greta Mieliauskaite is now the Managing Director of Lithuanian PE VC association. Invega got new CEO, Dainius Vilcinskas. Arune returns from OECD to the driver's seat of GovTech Lab Lithuania.
rounds and capital
- NordicNinja announced a second, EUR 200m fund, which will search for deeptech, climate, digital society scale-ups, late seed / series A onwards. Primarily geo-targeting New Nordics.
- The Knotty Ones has raised EUR 250k bridge round. New interim CEO Ieva shares how they pulled together a female syndicate to back this beautiful brand, along with Coinvest Capital. Nicely done, and with fashion/consumer products expect more active participation from high-profile creators/celebrities (Giedre Dukauskaite joined the round). P.S. A related new report on diversity in venture - it's simply a path to better returns.
- FitMe, which was Slaptomane previously (diet programs) claims to have raised EUR 550k for growth. The guys behind backing it seem to be Monetha founder Andrej Ruckij and Moon Cosmetics founder Vytautas Tauginas.
- Stuart Energy had to sell its hardware charger technology to IGLU Heat Pumps. Now focused on EV charging management and monetization software.
- SOLIDU is about to kickstart its crowdfunding campaign.
founder's guide
- Good one - don't build a brand, build personal and organizational prestige.
Identify a timeless topic where you have a meaningful perspective, and have an atypical perspective.<...> Pick a format that feels the most comfortable for you, typically this is either a blog post or a conference talk. <...> Develop an explicit distribution plan to share your content.
- Morgan Housel's elegant essay on material wealth and respect. Keep that in check.
Steve Jobs didn’t have any furniture. It didn’t matter. He’s a genius. He’s Steve Jobs. Material stuff makes no difference when you’re respected and admired for internal traits.
- Framework to making friends in business
- Lulu Cheng Meservey gives a masterclass on non-boring corporate communications (podcast)
- Are investors asking for moats? Here are all your options
further insights
For years the FBI ran its own encrypted phone company to intercept messages from thousands of people around the globe. One country was critical to that operation, whose identity was unknown to the public. Until now.
- Point Nine believes AI can accelerate vertical SaaS adoption within traditional industries - simply because it requires less change. And here is a new paper based on an experiment run with BCG consultants (check the article to see all the nuance though)
Consultants using AI finished 12.2% more tasks on average, completed tasks 25.1% more quickly, and produced 40% higher quality results than those without. Those are some very big impacts.
A new study on venture returns from Pitchbook:
- There isn't a significant performance difference between generalist and specialist funds. Specialist VC funds tend to outperform generalist funds, though this performance gap narrows considerably when generalist funds incorporate a team of specialists.
- Firms that excel tend to be either highly generalist (with strong diversification) or highly specialist (with strong concentration in specific areas).
recovery thoughts
ambition. How do you measure ambition? Yet one can feel it in the air, and most importantly - it is contagious. So you really want this infection to spread wide.
how to gauge a community? In one study, the frequency of tech meetups proved to be the best prediction of tech ecosystem success. These "social glues" are often underestimated, but they are critical to keep energy levels high.
basketball. This comparison to LT tech strikes often. Not sure where it comes from - is it team spirit, starting as an underdog, or hunger to prove? And then - top performance that catches you by surprise.
responsibility. You're being looked at, and increasingly closely. This public scrutiny will only increase with any further success, and the cost of missteps will grow. Will most successful founders start to feel the burden of a "public figure"? I bet they somewhat do already. And yet, expectations keep growing, from "bringing new business culture", to "elevating the economy", and more than that.
centre of gravity. Strong positioning and capital at Lithuanian pre-seed and seed investors, string good pipeline of new teams - expect more of Baltic tech scene to run around Vilnius in the next several years.
how to gauge a community? In one study, the frequency of tech meetups proved to be the best prediction of tech ecosystem success. These "social glues" are often underestimated, but they are critical to keep energy levels high.
basketball. This comparison to LT tech strikes often. Not sure where it comes from - is it team spirit, starting as an underdog, or hunger to prove? And then - top performance that catches you by surprise.
responsibility. You're being looked at, and increasingly closely. This public scrutiny will only increase with any further success, and the cost of missteps will grow. Will most successful founders start to feel the burden of a "public figure"? I bet they somewhat do already. And yet, expectations keep growing, from "bringing new business culture", to "elevating the economy", and more than that.
centre of gravity. Strong positioning and capital at Lithuanian pre-seed and seed investors, string good pipeline of new teams - expect more of Baltic tech scene to run around Vilnius in the next several years.
roleplay
Nord Security - Content Manager
Bored Panda - Head of Operations (News Department)
TransferGo - People Business Partner
Burga - Creative Strategist
CarVertical - B2B Communications Specialist
Civitta - Consultant, Innovation and Startups
Cloudvisor - Inbound Sales Manager
Bored Panda - Head of Operations (News Department)
TransferGo - People Business Partner
Burga - Creative Strategist
CarVertical - B2B Communications Specialist
Civitta - Consultant, Innovation and Startups
Cloudvisor - Inbound Sales Manager
Simple, tactical advice - your startup job search
three questions, previously
- Sten Tamkivi, Partner, Plural and Partner, Taavet+Sten
- Rytis Lauris, Co-founder and CEO, Omnisend
- Andreas Helbig, Partner, Atomico
- Domas Janickas, Co-founder at edON
- Milda Jasaite, Senior Director of Corporate Development, Vinted
- Darius Zakaitis, Founder & CEO, Tech Zity
- Roman Novacek, Partner, Presto Ventures
- Lina Zakarauskaite, Principal, Stride.VC
- Justinas Pasys, Managing Director, LitBAN
- 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
Member discussion