Another one

work in progress

• Machines, starting with Hostinger which grows... another 50%+, hitting EUR 275M EUR in 2025! Choose your multiple on this, but already evident now this team is in the unicorn territory. Having 4.6M customers, Hostinger has a massive base to launch new products, and assume some many thousands today are needing VPS for OpenClaw to play...

• Bolt in 2o25: delivers strong. $14B GMV run-rate. $3B revenue run-rate.
• Vinted was third in terms of customers of any fashion brand – UK in 2025.
• Idea for prediction markets: when (if) Vinted will take over Bolt in size? In terms of GMV, Gemini thinks it's ending 2027 at aroud 20B+. In terms of revenue, harder to predict as Vinted Go and Pay can increase the take rate significantly - now it is much smaller.
• Fintech. TransferGo EMI licence expanded, and – cards are coming! SME Bank 5yr birthday. ConnectPay launches their own in-house core banking system. Chargemont is growing. You can even build a startup around taxes: 1stopVAT stood out hiring a lot last year, citytax has been selected as the winner of the tourism challenge under GovTech Lab Ukraine. Who will repeat Kasparas' exit?
• Bootstrapping stories win some internets, and I feel obliged to help founders understand that while VCs are great, make sure you are aligned. Anyhow, ton of Baltic companies are bootstrapped.
• Sports. Tournated launches white-label platform for the US Padel Association. Walk15 partners with Adidas.
• Who is set out to power e-commerce players? World-class talent have scaled the likes of Vinted (C2C), Kilo, Burga, Orbio World, etc. Who is bringing up new tooling? Some fresh players with links
  • Top of Funnel (Acquire): Genus AI, Modash, Holo AI, Billo, crush
  • Mid-Funnel (Convert): RedTrack, Kaching Appz, Callsy AI, Analyzify, ProfitKoala, Matrixify, Outcraft.ai
  • Retention & LTV (Retain): Omnisend, Ace Waves, Chargemont
  • New Revenue Lines: FYUL, eany.io, Supliful
• Builder gonna build something. We've put together that serial founder list, but nothing compares to these true stories – like Dmitrijus (Coingate) launching at Taxi company in 2011. If you feel you're not good enought – might feel even worse looking at Donatas and his discipline. Povilas (Mentum, later eany.io) ends the chapter, smth new coming.

Calendar. Vilnius Startup Meetup - tomorrow, Tuesday (Aneli Capital with Greet). Cafe Cursor Vilnius at Kalve Coffee! March 2nd, Monday. Workshops, free coffee and credits. Hostinger is hosting the first OpenClaw community meetup, Feb 26, afternoon.

sponsors

Cloudvisor [AWS partner, launches now affiliate program – more here]
Hostinger [online presence accessible to everyone worldwide, hiring]
Google For Startups [cloud credits up to $350K, faster growth]
Oxylabs [Step into the world of web data gathering]
VIALET [Business accounts for growth, hiring]
Ace Waves [Enterprise ready AI agents for CS, hiring]
Surfshark [Top 50 among fastest growing in EU, hiring]
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Eldorado.gg [world’s largest in-game trading marketplace, hiring]
Saily [eSIM data for international travel, hiring]

rounds and capital

• Copla has raised €6 million in a Series A funding round led by Iron Wolf Capital. US-based Operator Stack also participated, alongside existing investors including Specialist VC, SuperHero Capital, FirstPick, NGL Ventures, Loggerhead Partners, and a group of angel investors.
• Rizon lands $2M pre-seed round, by Market One Capital. Launched five months ago already with 170,000 app installs. Transaction volume is growing 245% MoM.
• Scoro has acquired Envoice, known for AI-powered bill and expense management.
• Lost Astronaut house – run like a treadmill – and they are eyeing Amsterdam and Barcelona next. They are also applying venture studio concept by listing ideas that founders can pick from to build.
• Viktorija reflects on three year anniversary leading Coinvest Capital.
• Baltic countries put together BIF3, at EUR 225M.

three questions

Copla closed €6M Series A round! We are thrilled to chat with Aurimas Bakas, Founder and CEO. So thrilled, that we had four questions this time.

You are a serial entrepreneur (last startup exited to SumUp) — how have prior exits changed how you’re building Copla?

The Paysolut journey and exit to SumUp were transformative.

First, the problem Copla is solving became clear during those years. Our customers were licensed financial institutions, and we saw that many treated ICT compliance and cybersecurity too lightly despite the risks—that was alarming.

Second, as founders, we are much sharper and more focused. Two of the Paysolut founders are now building Copla, and we operate with a clearer playbook: we prioritize better, make decisions earlier, and execute in parallel.

Finally, we handle uncertainty very differently. We react to setbacks with more perspective and less emotion. Building a company is still complex—but the nature of the complexity is now something we understand and navigate far better.

You rebranded from CyberUpgrade to Copla — what is the new message and brand?

We started by solving a cybersecurity problem, but over time we realized that, in most organizations, compliance is what actually drives cybersecurity behavior.

That insight led to Copla—a compliance platform that bridges the gap between “on-paper” compliance and real operational cyber resilience. The new brand reflects a broader and more accurate mission: helping organizations turn regulatory requirements into meaningful, continuous security practices.

Full interview – our website here.

roleplay

founder's guide

• New product and company ideas (incl side hustles)
• In Sales, use all your cards

brand + design

w/ rokas from achoo

• The canvas isn't the starting line. Designers are vibe-coding and prototyping directly in AI now. Figma just became the convergence layer to edit what you generate.
• Building Brands for Humans & Agents. Leapfrogging the traditional agency model with "Agent-First Brand Kits." Instead of just PDFs, delivering visual craft for humans alongside structured knowledge for agents.

If agents are building your surface area, they need real-time access to your voice and guardrails. That info currently lives in formats agents can parse, but can't act on.

further insights

• Interesting read: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans
• Great Ben Evans: How will Open AI compete? (Gap with Anthropic is narrowing)

ecosystem

• Why Sweden has so many unicorns?
  • Recycling exits back into early-stage bets (active angels)
  • 2003 tax reform - founders can defer capital gains tax on unlisted company shares if they reinvest
  • Deep equity market
  • Culture compounds over time
• Time for upgrade: economists point that Baltics have picked low-hanging fruits (cost advantages, etc.) and turning from efficiency-led economy to innovation-driven one is... a major lift. Double down on technology, hello.
• It's only Eimantas, the public sector hero - Lukas joined Employment Service, vibecodes a tool to easier build a strategies, tailored for public sector orgs.