Baltics
Introduction
The Baltics region is an increasingly important player in the European startup ecosystem. With a population of just over six million, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have produced multiple successful startups, including TransferWise, Bolt, and Vinted.
The Baltics is known for its advanced digital infrastructure and tech-savvy population, providing a fertile ground for innovation. In fact, the Baltics have already produced 12 unicorns.
The region’s startup scene can also count on pioneering government support, including startup visa programs and e-residency schemes allowing entrepreneurs and talents to anchor in the region, and attractive policies to attract foreign tech companies and retain homegrown successes.
VC investment into Baltics startups has experienced significant growth, with steady increases across all funding rounds categories:
- Pre-seed investments started at $6.4 million in 2015Q1 and peaked at $13.9 million in 2021Q2, while seed investments began at $11.45 million in 2015 Q1 and climbed to $30.35 million in 2022 Q2.
- Series A investments started at $5 million in 2015Q1 and rose to $71.5 million in 2022 Q2, and Series B investments began at $22 million in 2015Q1 and peaked at $89.3 million in 2020 Q4.
- Mega rounds and Mega+ investments were also made in the region, with $660 million in 2022 Q2 and $690.8 million in 2022 Q3 invested respectively.
Venture Capital
By Stage
VC investment by investment stage into Baltics startups over the past decade, in a quarterly overview.
By Industries
Leading Industries
In the Baltic nations, the leading industries receiving the highest amounts of venture capital were Transportation, Food, and Fintech, which makes up the majority of total investment into the Baltics region.
Spotlight: Deep Tech
What is Deep Tech?
Deep Tech is fundamentally new science and engineering. Deep Tech companies apply a novel scientific or engineering breakthrough for the first time in the form of a product. This means there is technical risk in getting the idea to actually work.
Deep Tech starts with an extended R&D phase and involves a higher share of technical staff compared to conventional ventures. Deep Tech also often involves the development of hardware and/or IP which are more capital and time intensive.
To find out more about how Dealroom defines Deep Tech, explore our 2023 European Deep Tech report here.
Dealroom x IWC: Deep Tech Landscape
Dealroom.co, in collaboration with Iron Wolf Capital has created the below Deep Tech startup landscape where you can explore over 300 Baltics founded or headquartered Deep Tech startups on Dealroom.co.
Explore 300+ Baltics Deep Tech startups on the Dealroom platform
Deep Tech overview in the Baltics:
Over the last 5-10 years, both Deep Tech VC investment and overall VC investment has increased significantly across the Baltic nations.
Meanwhile the proportion of investment that goes into Deep Tech companies against the overall trend varies between 3-12%, the proportion has grown over recent years, with 2022 seeing 13% of total investment go into Deep Tech startups in the Baltics.
The below table showcases the top funded Deep Tech startups by industry over the past decade.
Click on the column headers to order the funding data by year.
Related Content
Taxonomy: To learn how Dealroom defines its entities, taxonomy, filters and more, click here
Report: Explore the Dealroom X Startup Lithuania Ecosystem Report (February 2023)
Report: Explore Dealroom's recent Central and Eastern Europe report (November 2022)
Report: Explore Dealroom's European Deep Tech Report (January 2023)
Report: See how the Baltics ecosystems compare on a global scale on Dealroom's Ecosystem benchmarking.
Dealroom Data: Explore 1.7k+ funded startups based in the Baltics.