Make some space

work in progress

• A reminder, dear philomaths:

So here is the list of some friends trying hard – let's help them

• Evaldas – Guideless – create AI-narrated video guides in mins
• Valdemaras – dhub – Markdown editor for docs and static sites
• Mantas and the team – Scout4.me – never miss a price drop for a product
• Gintare and the team – ademt.ai – stop affiliate ad fraud
• Lukas and the team – cashcoach AI – better personal finance
• Marius and Andrius - Alterleap - AI analysis for alternative funds investors
• Skarbe – AI CRM – hits #1 on product hunt
• Rolands (ex Nordigen w/ exit) – BirdyChat – home for work convos
• Builder movement is incredible, a fresh new wave of talent is making things, and they need space with culture installed. Riga is launching, too – welcome SHIPYARDAI. This is a basedspace_ call for founders – EUR 10k and you go shipping. 20+ founders jumped headfirst into the basejump Weekend Challenge by Lost Astronaut. Come join: high-speed co-founder sprint (50 vetted founders, engineers, and builders in one room; 60 seconds each on the mic to pitch your mission, or your skills).
  • Iron Brand writes how not to wait – "A note to everyone waiting for the right idea".
• Auto and moto shows: which Baltic startups go? LABA7 brings Innovator Award from SEMA. Monimoto has become a leading brand in its segment. CarVertical, Elinta Motors and Elinta Charge, Inbalance Grid, also the likes of Mbito and OBDeleven.
• VC nature. Want to invest? It's all sales, all day and every day. Want to take from VC? That might be a great idea, but you need to understand the game on both sides.
• Vinted and nexos.ai are doing alright

• Water vehicles. Swedish X Shore sinks despite EUR 100M raised (Candela still pushing forward). SUBmerge Baltic is hiring a mechanical engineer. Superangel backed impressively designed Kranken.
• Platform. Kilo Health Turns Kilo™ – becomes true platform play, as they are looking at how to get from EUR 234M to 1B in revenue. There will be more ventures, investing, and co-founding: Kilo is interested in both early-stage (pre-seed) startups (50k to 1M tickets) and more mature Series A-stage businesses (up to 10M tickets).
  • Kilo's portfolio includes successful brands such as Moérie, Pulsetto, Bioma, Her Bodhi, ColonBroom, and RatePunk, as well as new brands Agava, Iteractive, and Go Health.
• Deeptech healthcare. What an impressive report on BBC about Sentante, enabling remote surgeries. Allergomedica turns self.co and raises EUR 1.2M equity + EUR 1.36M grant. Misslabaratory and Samphire Neuroscience will be meeting investors at Slush.
• Snowball – update from Kipras at Practica Capital: 50+ startup ventures have already been founded by Vinted and Nord Security alumni. Also, here is Localise mafia in Latvia.

rounds and capital

• BaltCap exits Biosala (later LIVIN) with a record return to LPs. From 2M to 20M in seven years, turnaround and expansion – great to see.
• Self.co (former Allergomedica) secured EUR 2.56M in combined venture and grant funding; round was led by Iron Wolf Capital, with participation from Coinvest Capital, NGL Ventures, and support from Innovation Agency Lithuania, who awarded a EUR 1.36M grant.
• Monopulse (Lithuania/Denmark) secured EUR 1.12M loan from ILTE Lietuva to expand our UAV production capacity within the strategic sector (see interview below).
• In Estonia, Leil raises €1.5 million to make hyperscale storage infrastructure accessible for all – led by Karma, with Specialist VC joining.
• Balnord Fund I launches with a 70M EUR fund (might reach 100M), backing frontier and dual-use technologies – like Astrolight they already have in portfolio. Go Gabriele!
• AI-first founders, meet Inception Fund – new New Nordics early-stage VC from Stockholm.
• 10M dedicated for AI grants about go live (138k per project), expect suddenly companies registering in Klaipeda and small towns.
• Egged Transport from Israel acquires 51% of TOKS.

Fantasy VC. You are seed VC investor. You can travel back in time to lead a seed round for one of these companies - which one would you choose?

(A) Omnisend (B) Ovoko (C) Burga or (D) Cast AI. Vote here

three questions

Monopulse just announced EUR 1.12M loan from ILTE Lietuva - we are thrilled to talk to Justas Poderys, the Co-founder and CEO.

What led you to founding Monopulse?

We founded Monopulse almost five years ago because we had a strong belief that drones would become a real game-changer in modern warfare. Back then, most people still saw drones as hobby toys or gadgets with limited use. We looked at it differently, we saw how autonomy, sensors, and smart electronics could completely reshape how missions are carried out. Then the war in Ukraine happened, and everything changed overnight. Suddenly, the world saw what we had believed in all along. Today, we don’t need to convince anyone that drones are the future of warfare, because that future is already here, and we’re proud to be part of building it.

What is the commercial traction?

We’ve built a strong order book with confirmed demand from both local and international buyers. That’s something we’re really proud of, considering how fast this market is moving and how demanding it is. With the core technologies and fundamentals now in place, we’re in a great position to scale, expanding across new UAV and USV verticals, introducing new payloads, and deepening our partnerships with European defense and research institutions. The foundation is solid, and now it’s all about growth and execution.

What are your key priorities next?

Our number one priority right now is to strengthen the team, especially on the engineering and sales side. We’re growing fast, and the next phase requires more hands and minds to keep up with the momentum. In parallel, we’re setting up a dedicated UAV manufacturing line to bring more production in-house and boost capacity. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes: new products, new facilities, and new partnerships. So definitely keep an eye on this space as some exciting announcements are coming soon.

sponsors

Cloudvisor [AWS partner dedicated to startups]
Hostinger [making online presence accessible to everyone worldwide, hiring]
Google For Startups [cloud credits up to $350K, expert support & faster growth]
Oxylabs [Step into the world of web data gathering]
VIALET [Business accounts for growth, hiring]
Surfshark [Top 50 among fastest growing in EU, hiring]
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Superangel [Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A for tech companies]

Happy Birthday Google Baltics!

further insights

• X is now very predominantely right-wing as you noticed
• Venture, especially in the US, became very much AI and power-law driven

roleplay

ecosystem

As 🇱🇹 government struggles, here are software product ideas to help
(works for any government, but not likely to buy)

1. ReputationLess
Background screening for new public officials (WhiteBridge.ai could have helped already)

2. ProcureWatch
AI that spots favouritism in public tenders, detects bad timing, suspicious bidders, etc

3. GovCareer portal
Website that loads + some basic UX, current is https://portalas.vtd.lt/, unfortunately

4. PayMirror
Understand true pay - convert compensation coefficients into euros

5. GovGlassDoor
Avoid terrible managers and understand org structures

6. BackdoorScan
Security scoring for digital infrastructure - perhaps Buck4Bug could help

7. Go Lexical / Jargon Decoder
ChatGPT currently, translator

8. ShadowOrg
Needs manual input, maps de facto who runs things in every org