Very Merry, Friends

work in progress

• AI. Pactum AI plans to add 30 more to their 100-people team. Aurimas left CPO role at Neptune to start something new. Antanas reflects on building in venture studio model 2024, including Flowtest.ai (no better time to build a startup, he writes). We asked him what non-obvious tools should we try?

Probably quite obvious ones: v0 is a great tool to generate UI, Github copilot for coding assistance. From our recent research in workflows automation n8n seems to be a great tool, Wordware has lots of potential, especially for founders who want to build MVP fast. E.g. Sintra used Wordware to build its product.

Domas released Supergateway – ability to run any community MCP server over SSE. Edmundas on building an AI tool to generate RFP responses – a journey that led to San Diego. basedspace_ community in VNO run a newsletter and Discord. Turing College and FIRSTPICK want to see more of these teams – and launching a program together.

• AI accelerated bifurcation in venture: excitement with enterprise buyers drives broad adoption (tools being bought not sold) and scaling is way beyond expected (quintuple-quadruple instead of triple triple). Good example is Lovable hitting 4m ARR in 4 weeks

• Defence is the hottest category in Estonian tech - Ragnar counts approx 100 companies. Origin Robotics indeed made large strides '24 – since we reported their funding, they closed EUR 5m contract with Armed Forces of Latvia, and EUR 4.5m from the European Defence Fund (EDF) to develop a man-portable ISTAR drone with target laser designation capability. Lithuanian Armed Forces are investing EUR 17m to get laser and night vision products from Brolis Defence. In 2024, Monopulse transitioned from crafting one-of-a-kind drones to delivering a standardized product at scale.
• Building(s). Flanco signs partnership with Portum. Tech Arts (also known as Rupert) is about to get a new owner.
• Fintech. Finbee is entering Poland. myTU introduced Business Visa Debit Card. Gotbilled allows one to anticipate and control payments. Softloans are collecting awards. Children's financial literacy app Poklet is stopping B2C operations, but are open to selling the developed code or offering a B2B service to financial institutions - reach out to Dominykas to discuss more (they have built an iOS / Android app with back-end system running APIs, and integrated educational content for kids).
• Junior Achievement Lithuania celebrated Accelerator X eXpo, with 200 business ideas showcased. Congrats to this promising batch of students!
• People. Lukas Savickas, new Minister of Economy and Innovation has introduced his team, with Marius being in charge of tech and startups. Vaido Mikheim is new head of Startup Estonia. Kristjan-Mart Piirsalu (ex BaltCap) joined SmartCap to oversee investments for the newly established Defence Fund. CyberUpgrade hires Dominykas as growth manager.

Sponsors

Meet our friends pushing the startup scene forward. Want to get involved 2025? Few spots might available in 2025, email to secure one.

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

rounds and capital

• Less rounds and less capital deployed in LT compared to EST this year.. until Vinted closed large secondaries (EUR 340m). Also maybe few more announcements pending?

• Exit with industrials: Cedo, a European leader in sustainable FMCG private label solutions, acquired Plasta Group, one of the largest polyethylene recyclers and suppliers in Europe. Guessing deal size withing EUR 50m-100m range.
• The ops and costs of running a first fund (UK example)

founder's guide

• The “Intangible” Game: How VCs See You
• Repeat Founders and the Risk of a False Positive

• Other strong signals of founder quality, based on data
• Parkinson's Law: It's Real, So Use It (set deadlines)

further insights

• The ultimate guide to holding world-class dinner parties
• Pod with Mark Adam Harold, the ghostwriter behind Gabrielius Landsbergis's Tweets
• The secret sauce of building new cities

• Lukas recommends Nobel Minds 2024 talk to end the year.

future

• 2025 predictions from Tomasz Tungus

• Nikunj Kothari, Koshla Ventures - Year ahead for AI

ecosystem

• Reason behind US tech dominance? Venture Capital, Jeff Bezos believes.

roleplay

• Broad list of startup jobs in Latvia