Eight Lithuanian startups developing innovative products have set off for the journey of the Startup Lithuanian Roadshow 2014 project organised by Enterprise Lithuania, during which they will introduce themselves to the global investors and future partners. Lithuanian startups stood out from the crowd from the first stop in Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel and attracted the attention of local investors, start-ups and media. There was no attendant of DLD Innovation Festival left, who wouldn’t have heard of the bunch of active Lithuanians visiting the conference and the city last week. Checkout the photos here.

Lithuanian startups are in love with Tel Aviv, one of the most startup friendly ecosystems in the world and here is what they say after returning back home from this vibrant hub of innovations:

Rytis Laurinavičius, CEO of Soundest:

“Entrepreneurship is so live in Tel Aviv that you can even breathe it. Everybody is keen on innovation: from taxi drivers to large venture investors. This environment inspires so much.”

Simona Andrijauskaitė, CMO of Cloud Mic:

“DLD Tel Aviv conference was an amazing experience: many events, valuable networking sessions and great interest in Lithuania!  Thanks to Enterprise Lithuania, Lithuanian startups stood out from the crowd.” 

Šarūnas Legeckas, CEO of Place I Live:

“I was really surprised how easy is to approach different people at DLD conference – like in no other big conference in the world. I was amazed how Israeli people are helping each other, promoting their own country and doing everything for the common good of their nation – we need to learn that in Lithuania.”

Mindaugas Zagorskis, CEO of Pipeline Pharma:

“Israeli VC's met Lithuanian startups and co-operation started!”

Artūras Jonkus, CEO of Rotten Wifi:

“Open people, sunny place, and innovative atmosphere!”

Tadas Deksnys, CEO of Inside Warehouse:

“Straight forward thinking, open-minded and helpful entrepreneurs is a must for building a great ecosystem but it seems Israel has even more than that!”

Reda Štarė, CEO of Plate Culture:

I loved buzz of startups and welcoming, open minded people. DLD was a great even to meet all of them!

The international DLD Innovations Festival was attended by the representatives of international corporations, such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, delegations from various countries. Lithuanian startups were active participants in the conference – were establishing new contacts, introducing not only their own companies but Lithuania as well and attended a number of various events.

Lithuanian startups participated in a speed dating session with local startup community, visited of local startups and media offices. The teams from Lithuania have been invited to individual meetings with the representatives of Battery Ventures – the fund with over three decades experience, branches in the US and Israel, and almost three hundred investments made by now.  Such VC funds as Blumberg Capital, Rhodium, Carmel Ventures, Genesis Partners, Microsoft Ventures with hundreds of investments made into innovations have also shown interest in the products developed by the Lithuanians.

"We have established strong business contacts with Israel and its companies. Partnerships with the companies engaged in life sciences and IT are most valuable for Lithuanian entrepreneurs, since these sectors are highly advanced in Israel.  We hope that this cooperation will help the Lithuanian representatives of these fields to enter international markets," said Mantas Nocius, Managing Director of Enterprise Lithuania.

This visit in Israel wasn’t the first one for community of Lithuanian startups. 17 entrepreneurs travelled to Tel Aviv back in autumn 2013, when the Startup Lithuania Roadshow project was organised for the first time. Following the visit, the teams continued negotiations with the investors they met in Israel for a few months. The negotiations ended successfully for two of them: WoraPay mobile wallet received investment from Entree Capital fund, while the team TrackDuck developing a tool for website designers and their customers received investment from Kima Ventures.

After the negotiations, founder of the start-up WoraPay Aurimas Bakas in particular noted the global way of thinking of Israeli investors, their ability to look far ahead and instead of searching for specific innovative products, they rather evaluate possibilities and potential on international scale. “With Israeli VC fund in most cases you will get smart money, and a board member who really knows how to build companies,” said Aurimas Bakas.

Founder of TrackDuck Edmundas Balčikonis added that the Israeli investors remind him of Americans – they are keen on risk and focus more on the technological aspect of products and the growing number of their consumers rather than generating high income.

Startup Lithuania Roadshow is a bridge to the most startup friendly ecosystems in the world. It is dedicated to investor ready startups, which are looking for seed or venture funding. The bridge is being built by Enterprise Lithuania and Startup Lithuania for the second year in a row.