We meet

work in progress

• IPOs in Europe declined - GP.Bullhound signals Baltics might need to help out. They also list 50 most promissing European scale-ups, but only Flo from names we want to see.

• ERP. Very large "inception" rounds still happen in the continent – typically when you have repeat founder+massive market+strong VC conviction. ERP world is a world of pain, thus Light - finance platform for multinationals - got fueled with EUR 13m seed from Atomico. In Estonia, Katana is more focused inventory management, has 1500+ customers and playing with LinkedIn to get more leads.
• Go US. Surfshark making noise in the NYC, providing with food and coffee in exchange for... privacy data. (Your marketing budget is probably smaller than Surfshark - here is another approach, for B2B sales, to try)

• Ag + climate. Interesting pod (or Proto Industrija video) with Laimonas Noreikia from HeavyFinance – how they work in agriculture, connect to climate, views towards venture, and more. Will another technology player emerge? Auga Group is raising EUR 75m to bring their farming technologies to the market. Otherwise – there are too few startups in the space!
• Defence. Tailwinds for the industry in the Baltics - big congrats BROSWARM for winning NATO Innovation Challenge. Unmanned Dynamics came second. Besides multiple startups in the field, keep an eye on Brolis Defence – they shifted products, revenue dropped to EUR 6m revenue 2023, profitable, and surging income this season. Second ScaleWolf Accelerator celebrates graduation with 13 teams.
• New. Antanas (SearchNode exit) is building Flowtest.AI (AI agent for QA testing), and also started a newsletter to document the journey. Jonas and Lukas launched scammerblock to protect people from scammer calls (respect for the hustle – they really push hard with distribution, as one should with consumer products). Zygi Krupskis is building and selling Persy Booths.
• Y Combinator. Made a list of Baltic entrepreneurs who have YC experience.
• People moves. Andrew joins Evergrowth as CRO. Liucija Sabulyte will lead GovTech Lab. Arvydas Pleta is now CEO of 3o - Out Of Office. Povilas Sabaliauskas assumes CEO position at Pulsetto. People move to join Repsense - they have grown quickly!

founder breakfast VNO - join us

• Excited to host a founder breakfast in Vilnius - we have Magnus Hambleton from byFounders, early stage New Nordics investor (ex-operator, loves DeepTech, HealthTech, AI/ML, and Dev Tooling). Register here - we have limited spots, and it will be fun.

rounds and capital

• RoboLabs was acquired by Hawk Infinity. They have grown accounting service / automation startup from 200k investment (70V portfolio) to EUR 4m revenue last year.
• Ivan Ivanka launches i1x Venture Studio in Vilnius. Promises to revolutionize B2B startup ecosystem.
• New PE fund: Raft Capital secures EUR 50m, in search for growing Baltic companies for majority stakes.
• Estonian Sunly Future Ventures (Erki Ani, co-founder of Beamline, and Rasmus Udde, Sunly) will back pre-seed cleantech startups. SFV’s target size is EUR 50m, they have SmartCap Green Fund committed EUR 20m, and Sunly EUR 5m, too.
• Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First and Climate Change cohorts are now receiving applications from Europe + Israel based startups.
• Invega calls for two new fund managers (early stage venture capital), dedicating EUR 40m in total.

sponsors

Privileged to receive support from a group of core sponsors, who decided to get onboard. They have some newsletter invites, too!

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 early-stage B2B startups and marketplaces],
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Wargaming [award-winning game developer, careers]

resources

• Startup lists for the Baltics - Drone startups, Marketplaces, Sportstech
• Repeat Lithuanian founders - including above mentioned Antanas from SearchNode, Laimonas from HeavyFinance, Robolabs founders...

founder's guide

• Repeat Founder Cycle – if you are somewhat successful
• "Just ship something, even you're embarrased by the MVP" - no longer works
• How to create software quality
• Advice for European startups raising pre/seed in the US
• Yield is All You Need: Why IRR on CAC is the Only Metric that Matters
• How much founders own stock when companies go public?
• Five post formats for B2B founders leveraging content
  • Personal story with biz takeaway
  • Story-based listicle
  • Polarizing industry opinion
  • Client case study
  • Commentary on trending industry topic
• A fund manager’s secret weapon: an EA

further insights

• This is rather hilarious - Bessemer Venture shares their antiportfolio (missed startuos) and what partners were thinking when they passed to invest in the likes of Apple, AirBnB, Tesla, Coinbase, Atlassian, Ebay... the list continues.

• Nathan from Air Street on how to find a unicorn as venture capitalist.
• Why it is easy to fail – or "become an asshole" – in a VC role
• Ever wondered how Microsoft got into OpenAI? It involves Musk..

ecosystem

• Tech Zity Vilnius constrution begins – and TutoTOONS join as future tenants

• It took a bit of time for Portals to take off – but now connecting NY and Dublin, Benediktas Gylys project gets ton of coverage (NBC video)
• 9 founders in January 2009, when Estonian Founders Society was formed; 15 years later – 220 founders, 10 unicorns, and thriving industry.
• Google.org has announced funding of 500k USD to Riga TechGirls to upskill women in AI in Latvia. 

roleplay

Change industry, role? Few good tips on this podcast epizode.