On 25 September, the most promising Lithuanian and foreign startups will compete in the international competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle” that will be held during the LOGIN Innovation and Technology Conference. Lithuanian Business Angel Network (LitBAN), the Co-investment Fund and the Venture Capital Fund 70 Ventures will look for investment opportunities at the Event. TRINITI business law firm has also set up cash prizes for legal services, and “Cloudvisor” will donate free credits of cloud computing services. 

“The competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle”, which takes place every year in Lithuania, is the place where both startups and advanced innovative businesses can present their idea and check to what extent investors are interested in it, whether or not the solution proposed is topical and whether it is worth further development. We are pleased by the fact that during this competition investment for the implementation of the idea can be obtained during this competition, the partners of the competition set up additional prizes for the business development. A successful show guarantees notoriety and more attention from the part of the entire startup ecosystem participants”, – says Roberta Rudokienė, the Head of the startup ecosystem development unit “Startup Lithuania” of the Public Institution Enterprise Lithuania.

According to R. Rudokienė, investors, who are looking for investment opportunities during the competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle”, have the ability to see good business ideas and they pay much attention to the assessment of the development potential of startups

“As we observe what investors choose to invest in during this competition, we can say that it is very important to clearly identify the problem and the solution for it, to give explanations about the product, and to provide a brief presentation about its functioning, to identify a competitive advantage, to show market and global potential, as well as a business plan model, the steps planned and the team experience”, – states the Head of “Startup Lithuania”.

Will consider each startup individually 

This year, the startup having best presented its business idea will be able to take advantage of investment of as many as up to 70 thousand euros provided by the members of the Lithuanian Business Angels network (LitBAN), the Co-investment Fund and the venture capital fund 70Ventures.

Justinas Pašys, the Managing Director of LitBAN, notes that the business angels in their network are from different fields of activity. So, an investment syndicate that is being formed will choose the most promising early-stage startup. “Not only the proposed idea will be evaluated, but also the team, competitive environment and experience. The startups participating in the competition, which the business angels will like most, will be given the opportunity to continue negotiations with investors. This “Pitch Battle” competition will give a chance to draw attention to oneself quickly and effectively”, – states J. Pašys.

The competition is also a good place for investors to meet in one place the developers of companies seeking investment and to assess their maturity and readiness to accept investments. “As can be seen from the data from the last year, there can be a wide choice of startups. Therefore, the probability of making an investment in a successful company increases”, – adds J. Pašys.

J. Pakšys, after being asked what currently are the startup business ideas which have the greatest prospects of attracting the attention of investors, reveals that an increased interest of the members of LitBAN business angels in companies operating in the fields of life sciences, artificial intelligence and green innovation can be seen. “Software as a Service” (SaaS) software rental solutions and B2B businesses are always popular. The syndicate, however, is not limited to the aforementioned fields of activity, and each startup will be considered individually.

“The business angels are particularly interested in the strategy suggested and what result will be achieved through the use of the investment received. I always recommend going straight to the point during the idea presentation, because there is not much time and usually not enough of it to deliver even the key details of the business idea. I also suggest the participants to be sincere and not to promise the things, implementing which, as they know themselves, will fail. Maintaining a reputation as a trusted founder is of particular importance in our small ecosystem. Startups have already achieved something, that has a working product, have invested their time and money, and that gives an impression of solid founders receive the greatest deal of interest. The business angels invest their personal money. So, they want to entrust their funds to people who are passionate about their idea and believe in it”, – states J. Pašys.

Activities should only be started with sufficient legal knowledge

Legal preparation is of great importance for the successful development of a startup. Therefore, TRINITI business law firm has established three prize winning positions at the startup competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle “, that will be provided legal services for the relevant amounts of 3 thousand euros, 2 thousand euros and 1 thousand euros.

Giedrė Čiuladienė, the Associate Partner at TRINITI, notes that innovation determines the nature of the required legal knowledge. Proper settlement of intellectual property issues is one of the most important tasks for both the company itself and the investors. Choosing the appropriate legal form of the company and preparation of necessary documents for successful startup activities and investment is another important task for the startup founders”, – says G. Čiuladienė.

This is not the first time that TRINITI sets up the prizes of free legal services at the competition “Startup Fair”. The winner-related experience in the last year showed that this helps a startup to organize the relations between the founders and to establish a company. Legal areas that need to be arranged to ensure stable operations and make the startup attractive to investors are also identified. “We notice that startups having won our prize are usually fairly quickly granted an investment, and the legal services provided help to make a better impression on investors and to make easier a decision to grant a required amount of funds. With a view to the future, properly regulated legal risks prevent disputes, and even if they arise, the resolution is fairly quick and easily predictable”, – said G. Čiuladienė.

So, in choosing the startups participating in the competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle” which are to be provided with legal services, the representatives of TRINITI will assess the potential of the startups for further successful development. “Our expectation is that a startup should have a clear business plan, that it would have named for itself the uniqueness of the product it develops or of the services it provides as well as the target customers, that it would have provided for growth opportunities and sources of income, and that the founders would have clearly divided roles between each other, who is responsible for which area. Such startups are ready to receive an investment. It is therefore very important for them to have a legal part arranged”, – says G. Čiuladienė, and adds that the belief of the founders in their idea and passion about it that can be clearly seen in their eyes are the most important things.

Cloud computing capabilities to support the startups             

“Cloudvisor”, which is an official partner of AWS (Amazon Web Services), has set up 10,000 US dollar worth AWS credits for one startup participating in the startup competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle “, which will not necessarily be the winner of the first place and of the big investment.

“AWS is the provider of cloud computing service, which has been a world leader for many years. Technologically advanced startups like Uber, AirBnB, Stripe and many others operate on the basis of its services. So, a startup that intensively uses technology in its business model and has ambitions for intensive growth will get the most out of this prize. In choosing the winner of this prize, we will definitely look for the strongest startup not only in terms of the business idea but also in terms of intensity of technology use and innovation. Thus, startups using artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms, data analytics, etc. in their activities will definitely get a lot of attention “, – says Augustinas Vilkelis, the Country Manager (Lithuania) of “Cloudwisor” and one of the panel member of the competition “Startup Fair Pitch Battle”.

In his opinion, in order for startups to succeed in this competition, most importantly, they should be themselves and should clearly demonstrate their ambition to grow globally. “Lithuania has never been and will never be big enough, and operating on this market alone would prevent growing up a solid startup. Therefore, it should be only seen as a place for testing own initial ideas and assumptions”, – notes A. Vilkelis.

About the competition:

The Innovative Business Competition is part of “Startup Fair “, the largest startup event in Lithuania. For 8 years in a row, it has been organized by the startup ecosystem development unit “Startup Lithuania” of Entrepreneurship Promotion Agency Enterprise Lithuania. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the activities of the “Startup Fair”, such as presentations, discussions, creative workshops on topics relevant to startups and B2B meetings with investors were moved to virtual space, and in this year the startup competition is organized during the LOGIN conference. More information about “Startup Fair”: https://startupfair.lt