“London is London. The closest place to Silicon Valley you can get in Europe in terms of the mindset, talent and even physical distance,” says Domas Sabockis, CEO of Dragdis, participant of Startup Lithuania Roadshow 2014. In the second quarter of this year London attracted one third of total investments into European startups.  As London is one of the hottest spots of innovative business in the world, it was settled as the second stop for 8 companies, participating in the Startup Lithuania Roadshow 2014, organized by Enterprise Lithuania.

During their visit in London, Lithuanian startups presented their businesses at TechCrunch Disrupt, one of the largest tech conferences in Europe. To stand out from 150 startups and thousands of tech fans, Enterprise Lithuania organised united Lithuanian pavilion where each of the 8 startups had their own stands. The Lithuanian stands have been visited by Lithuania's ambassador to the UK Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė and investors from the world's venture capital funds such as Accel Partners, Index Ventures, etc. Check out the pictures here.

“Taking part in one of the Europe's major IT conferences opened great opportunities for the whole Lithuanian startup ecosystem. By running its own pavilion Lithuania showed the world that the country has a strong and rapidly growing startup community. The connections established with foreign investors, the media and the startups of other countries will help Lithuania to host events and seek investors in the future,” says Mantas Nocius, managing director of Enterprise Lithuania.

This is not the first visit of Lithuanian startups to London and TechCrunch Disrupt. Last year the participants of the pilot project Startup Lithuania Roadshow had stands at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in Berlin. In London a separate event was organized to pitch for the investors. During their visit to London, one of the Lithuanian startups – WoraPay, was invited to join the London-based accelerator Level 39.

Other Lithuanian startups are successfully booming in London as well. TransferGo is operating in London for the second year, while the last-minute event booking app Yplan is already among TOP 10 must have apps for Londoners.

According to the organisers of TechCrunch Disrupt, the investment of venture capital funds in European startups made up over EUR 2.1 billion in the second quarter of 2014, the largest amount of quarterly investments since the dot-com bust in 2001.

Below you can find London visit impressions and comments from Lithuanian startups:

Mindaugas Zagorskis, CEO of Pipelinepharma:

“London is the capital of European startups and TechCrunch Disrupt is a big event. However, you should work very actively with VC's on individual level if your goal is to raise capital.”

Artūras Jonkus, CEO of Rotten Wifi:

“TechCrunch Disrupt Europe is one of the most important events for startups in Europe. Excellent speakers, interesting ideas and important contacts.”

Rytis Laurinavičius, CEO of Soundest:

“London is probably the hottest startup hub in Europe. It is always great to be there and get some inspiration. We had several very good meetings with venture funds and couple of them seems to be promising.” 

Tadas Deksnys, CEO of Inside Warehouse:

“London is definitely the hottest spot in Europe for startups as well as investors and TechCrunch Disrupt brings them all together. You can only blame yourself if TC Disrupt doesn't turn into your personal success story.”

Augustas Štaras, CMO of Plate Culture:

“TC Disrupt was all about connections with people from funds, industry peers and other startups. This is the place where you want to be –  TC Disrupt and London were all about fast pace environment."

Šarūnas Legeckas, CEO of Place I Live:

“Every time I come back from London I am amazed by its vibrant and diverse startup community, pool of talent and startups. And imagine most of them together with some exceptional leaders and best VC funds under one roof – this is the TechCrunch Disrupt. It is a great source of inspiration to create, build, innovate and celebrate success.”

Simona Andrijauskaitė, CMO of Cloud Mic:

“Unique London spirit, colourful startup exhibition alley and strong TechCrunch network made this visit an unforgettable experience. All TechCrunch readers must visit TechCruch Disrupt at least once in their lives!”