Lithuania: Europe's Secret Tech Powerhouse?

Edmundas ‘Eddy’ Balcikonis is a co-founder & CEO of TrackDuck startup, which makes simple to use visual feedback tool, ideal for design and web project commenting.

Lithuania is small. Yet it seems to have one of the most innovative and tech-savvy populations in Europe whose startup ecosystem has been growing constantly with record activity in 2014 and more than $100 million in investments over the past few years.

For most of us, the only names heralding from the tiny Baltic state are Pixelmator, a powerful image editor, which in 2014 was announced as the best iPad app of the year, and GetJar, the biggest independent cross-platform mobile app store.

However, as Lithuania’s startup ecosystem gained momentum in the past few years, new promising startups started springing up. Some of them have already got huge traction, received record-big investments and got noticed on a world scale. For the others, everything is still ahead.

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We decided to take a look at some of the companies punching way above their weight in the tech space, and those looking to make a big impact in 2015.

Note: we have confirmed the numbers with all startups except for Vinted, GameInsight and Yplan.

SaaS

Among Lithuanian SaaS startups that are raising money this year the most remarkable, and already funded, are Eylean Board, TrackDuck, Planner 5D, Dragdis.

Eylean Board (on angel.co) is an agile project management software for teams using Kanban, Scrum or any other similar methodology. A 4-person team now generates $200K yearly income and already has big players, such as Tesla, British Petroleum, Sandvik, Velux and many others, among their clients. This year Eylean Board is raising a Series A of $1 million.

TrackDuck (on angel.co) is a B2B SaaS startup, which covers all your digital project feedback needs – from the first mockups to a live website. Launched in January 2014, TrackDuck now has more than 12,000 users in 129 countries. This year they are raising a Series A of $500,000

Planner 5D (on angel.co) is a cross-platform service that allows users to create floor plans and interior designs without any special skills. Currently, it has over 3M users worldwide and is raising a Series A of $2M.

Dragdis (on angel.com) is a visual bookmarking tool for designers with more than 63,000 creatives onboard. This year Dragdis is raising a late seed round of $500,000.

Mobile Worker, Soundest, MobiFOR haven’t been funded yet. Though they are looking forward to raise seed rounds this year.

Mobile Worker is a B2B SaaS startup providing platform for field service and mobile workforce management. In 2014 alone, Mobile Worker reached 15,000 Android App downloads in 160 countries.

Soundest (on angel.co) is an email marketing platform specialized for e-commerce. It helps online retailers increase their revenue through newsletters. Launched in February 2014, Soundest now serves more than 6000 online stores from 115 countries and is the No.1 email marketing service in the Shopify app store. This year Soundest is raising a seed round of $500,000.

MobiFOR (on angel.co) is a SaaS platform that lets users create an online store without a need for programming skills. MobiFOR is looking forward to raise a seed round of $450,000.

Marketplaces

Among Lithuanian marketplace startups, you can find one of the leading global marketplaces for second-hand clothes, Vinted. In 2014, Vinted closed a $27 million round from Accel Partners and Insight Ventures. It has been one of the largest rounds ever in the Baltic States.

It’s also worth mentioning GameInsight (on angel.co), a global games development and publishing giant that moved its headquarters to Lithuania in 2014. GameInsight closed a $25 million series A from IMI.VC and is now looking for a new investment of hundreds of millions.

Other marketplace startups from Lithuania that are worth-looking at are MoboFree, Copictures, CGTrader, ReHobby, JobRely, TutoTOONS, OppSites and Aciety.

MoboFree (on angel.co) is #the 1 social e-commerce marketplace in Nigeria with strong footprint in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana with almost four million registered members. This year they are raising $2.5 million to expand further in Africa.

Copictures (on angel.co) is a one-stop-shop for selling, trading and printing stock images or photos without having to care about the legal details. Currently, Copictures is raising $2 million.

CGTrader (on angel.co) is the leading 3D model marketplace for 3D printing and computer graphics. In 2014 CGTrader grew four times faster than the previous year and now unites 150,000 professional 3D designers globally, offering 100,000 unique 3D models for sale. This year they are raising a Series A of $3 million.

ReHobby (on angel.co) is a p2p marketplace for used hobby equipment. In just 13 weeks, they have managed to hit 2,000-users. This year ReHobby is raising a late seed round of EUR 100,000 to establish their brand in Germany.

JobRely (on angel.co) is a crowd-sourced recruitment platform startup with predictive HR analytics. In the first 9 months, over $120k bonuses were handed out to referrers by 100+ companies in Lithuania. This year JobRely is raising a seed round of $400,000.

TutoTOONS (on angel.co) is a powerful platform for creating your own mobile games without any coding skills. Launched in 2014, TutoTOONS has already published more than 80 games and eight million downloads. They are raising a Series A of $1,5 million.

OppSites (on angel.co) is an economic development platform connecting cities and municipalities with the investment community in a single $250 billion dollar annual market.

Aciety (on angel.co), a B2B search engine for high-end IT services. This year they are looking forward to raising a seed round of $300,000.

Entertainment

In the entertainment field, one of the most remarkable Lithuanian startups is Yplan, a going-out app that lets you to discover and book the best events around you. They have already raised $37.7 million in three Rounds from 16 investors. Yet by the beginning of 2016 YPlan is planning to raise a round significantly larger than the previous ones.

Among others that are relatively young yet worth-looking at are Tinggly, Playgong, EveBUZZ and PlateCulture.

Tinggly (on angel.co) is a global experience gifts company, which is on a mission to change the gift giving culture. Currently, they are raising a seed round of $500,000.

Playgong (on angel.co) is an app based around a community of sports players and built for precise matchmaking, result sharing and local leaderboards. This year Playgong is looking forward to raising a seed round of $550,000.

EveBUZZ (on angel.co) is a social network that helps you to arrange meet-ups with friends or like-minded people nearby.

PlateCulture connects people who love cooking and hosting dinners with people who love eating authentic home cooked meals. Focus market is Southeast Asia.

Fintech

Talking of Lithuanian fintech startups one should check two main players here: TransferGo and WoraPay.

TransferGo (on angel.co) is a London-based fintech startup founded by Lithuanian founders that is currently raising a Series A of $6M. From 2012 till 2014 they grew their active user base by 24 percent month-on-month and become the leading international money transfer service for the CEE migrants.

WoraPay (on angel.co) has just been recognised by The FinTech50 2015 as one of the hottest FinTech businesses in Europe. They help banks and other mobile wallets enable remote mobile payment methods as well as gather access to new markets and merchants. WoraPay is now raising $2.5 million.

Services

Among Lithuanian startups that provide some kind of service you should cast an eye on on PlaceILive, Bliu Bliu, Widerfi and Adtarget.me.

Place I Live (on angel.co) is a location based platform that provides ‘smart’ neighbourhood information to help you find the best place to live. They have 150K monthly active users and is raising a seed round of 700K EUR.

Bliu Bliu (on angel.co) is a B2C education startup making the learning of languages more entertaining and fun. With an impressive growth in 2014 Bliu Bliu is looking forward to raising a Series A of $1.2 million this year.

Widerfi (on angel.co) is a unique APN EU Internet provider in the world with real life implementation in a commercial MNO infrastructure. Currently, they are raising $2.4 million to maintain further growth.

For a country with a population less than half of what you’d find in a city like London, this tiny Baltic state punches way above its weight.