The leading start-up event in the Baltic States, Startup Fair, is returning to Vilnius, Lithuania, on the 3rd of October. It will host over 2,000 participants and 430 investors from 68 countries who will listen to over 60 notable speakers, see a startup competition for investment, and gather to network.
Organised by Startup Lithuania, the national startup ecosystem facilitator, the “Startup Fair. Pulse 2024” event will feature international speakers, including prominent figures like investor Wouter Vorstman, NileBorn founder Jorgen Persson, investment director at Industrifonden Rebecka Löthman Rydå, and DN Capital associate Raoul Fiano. During the event, selected startups will have a chance to test their ideas in the Pitch Battle, where the top 1-3 will get the opportunity to raise funds from Lithuanian Business Angels Network (LitBAN) and Coinvest Capital. The Pitch Battle prize pool amounts to a record €3 million highlighting the incredible appetite to invest in innovative start-ups across Lithuania.
Known for its leadership in cybersecurity and ranking as the second-best city for medical technology in the EU, Vilnius is set to showcase its innovative spirit. Held for the 12th time, the event invites us to talk about current entrepreneurial trends and essential topics, such as the impact of AI, and dive into networking with the Lithuanian start-up ecosystem.
Lithuanian startups to watch, all in one place
According to Karolina Urbonaitė, CEO of Startup Lithuania, last year, Lithuania’s start-up ecosystem has been significantly boosted by government initiatives. For example, the non-profit governmental agency, Innovation Agency Lithuania established InnoHub Lithuania in Silicon Valley enabling Lithuanian start-ups to seek connections in the US. The Ministry of Economy and Innovation has also worked with Plug and Play, a start-up accelerator, which has committed to implementing five acceleration cycles for 60 start-ups in Lithuania within three years.
“In some cases, growing a start-up in Lithuania is easier than in the US, which is considered a start-up paradise. Here, innovators get a lot of help and support from the state. The start-up community is also a sharing and collaborative one,” said Urbonaite.
Based on Crunchbase data, global venture capital funding for AI start-ups increased by 4% to 12.2 billion USD in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Lithuania also has success stories to share. In June, SpikeAPI, a Lithuanian-founded AI start-up, secured 3.5 million USD in a seed funding round, while in May, a developer of AI-powered stores, Pixevia, announced a 1.5 million EUR investment.
Today, Lithuanian start-ups mainly operate in Business Software (25%), FinTech (15%), HealthTech, Life Sciences, and Wellness (10%) Advanced Manufacturing (7%), and AdTech and Creative Technologies (6.5%). Lithuania is also one of the few EU countries where the life sciences sector has reached an 11-fold increase over the decade, with the highest 33% growth rate in Europe.
According to Rūta Pukenė, Acting Head of the Startup Association Unicorns Lithuania, significant breakthroughs have occurred in green innovation and biotechnology, with the FinTech, HealthTech and e-commerce sectors all continuing to perform well. As Europe is also reinforcing its defence technology capabilities, there are many opportunities to create high-value-added businesses, so it is more important than ever to identify the relevant problem, take risks and create real value by empowering technology.
According to Dealroom, Lithuania’s start-up ecosystem is valued at 13.7 billion EUR, attracted 292 million EUR in VC investment in 2023 (100 million EUR by Nord Security and PVcase each), and is home to nearly 1,000 start-ups employing 18,000 people .
