On Wednesday, two new Lithuanian startup accelerator programmes in the fields of educational and game technology were presented. They will boost the growth of startups that are active in these fields in the country and increase their potential to gain a foothold in the international market. The international accelerators have been attracted to Lithuania by the Startup Lithuania team at the Innovation Agency Lithuania.

“Over the last few years, we have been working very actively to make the name of Lithuania appear on the global map of startups. The launch of the Game Tech and Ed Tech accelerator programmes is an important step towards Lithuania becoming a leader in these fields and attracting international attention. This will help to establish more new startups in the country and in a few years’ time we are already planning to see the first results of these two programmes,” says Karolis Žemaitis, Vice-Minister of the Economy and Innovation.

Agreements regarding the accelerator programmes have been signed with Game BCN, a technology hub and game technology accelerator from Spain, and xEdu, an educational technology accelerator based in Finland. xEdu will provide acceleration services together with the Lithuanian company Civitta.

“A total of 60 startups will be able to participate in these accelerator programmes: 30 from the Ed Tech field and 30 from the Game Tech field. Lithuanian startups will not only be able to receive funding of up to EUR 62 000, but also additional financial instruments from their partners. We will announce the call for participation in these programmes in the near future, and the amount of funding for both areas will be EUR 1.9 million each,” says Karolina Urbonaitė, Head of Startup Lithuania.

According to Ms Urbonaitė, both the field of educational technology, which covers the application of new technologies in education – from language learning apps to digital courseware, and the field of game technology, which enables the creation of future solutions for the world of education, media and entertainment, are fast-growing and evolving areas worldwide.

“We want Lithuania to become a place where startups seek to build and develop their Ed Tech and Game Tech businesses. It is worth creating specialised accelerator programmes, since investors these days are increasingly specialising in certain areas and are therefore more familiar with the market itself and the various challenges it presents. When startups and investors speak the same language, it becomes easier for them to pitch their idea and find the best solutions together. This not only makes it easier for startups to develop high-level products and services, but also to attract international partners and funding,” shares the Head of Startup Lithuania.

xEdu , which will run the Ed Tech accelerator programmes, is a Finnish company specialising in the design and development of educational technology solutions. Their activities include the development of innovative educational tools and applications to improve the learning experience worldwide. xEdu collaborates with various educational institutions and startups to drive the digital transformation of education.

Game BCN, which will develop the Game Tech accelerator programme, is a Spanish company specialising in the incubation and acceleration of video game development. Its activities include supporting game development startups with training, mentoring and resources to help them successfully develop and release their games. Game BCN collaborates with a wide range of companies and organisations in the game industry to promote innovation and growth in the video game sector.