The Innovation Agency invites start-ups to benefit from a €150.000 subsidy to fund their travel to tech, startup and international events. Liudas Kanapienis, CEO of “Ondato“, a world-renowned start-up that participated in last year’s “WEB Summit“, says that participation in such events can be extremely beneficial when attracting new partners and customers, and creating business relationships.  

Success comes from attending events

The start-up “Ondato“, who develops remote customer recognition technology, was recently ranked by “The Financial Times” as one of the TOP 1000 fastest growing businesses. “Last year, we had a booth at “Web Summit“ conference with the aim of attracting investors and customers. There, we met potential partners and were able to talk more about our solutions and cooperation opportunities. The booth also helped to attract new visitors, who had the opportunity to learn more about our activities,” Mr Kanapienis said.

“Ondato“ representatives had a booth at the conference, giving them the opportunity to create new partnerships during the conference, and they also took part in a panel discussion, giving several presentations to share their success story. “Web Summit“ brings together the representatives of the biggest and most important technology companies, so the conference is also a valuable meeting place, according to Mr L. Kanapienis. 

“As for the main factor that made “Web Summit“ such a success, it was a long-term effort. There is no secret ingredient – constant presence and speaking on stage expands a speaker‘s track record and eventually enables them to climb on a bigger and bigger stage,“ says Mr L. Kanapienis. 

Invites start-ups to take advantage of subsidies 

According to Karolis Žemaitis, Vice-Minister of Economy and Innovation, the Lithuanian start-up ecosystem is one of the leading in Central and Eastern Europe.

“In 2023, start-ups that were founded and established in Lithuania attracted as much as €292 million in investment, and over the last 5 years, the start-up ecosystem has grown by more than 7 times its size – up to €13.7 billion – and today accounts for a third of the total value of the Baltic region. Young businesses will play an increasingly important role in the economy of the country and labour market in the future, which is why business financing and funding are crucial for growing a business and establishing a foothold in international markets,“ says K. Žemaitis.

Gintarė Narakienė, Acting Head of Startup Lithuania, echoes the sentiment that it is very important to acknowledge the financial aspect of participating in such events. She points out that young businesses tend to avoid attending events due to the significant travel costs while she reminds people that there are many opportunities for companies to receive funding specifically for this kind of networking opportunity.   

“Last year, we had the most interest in participating in the “WEB Summit“ event with 29 start-ups participated in the event, thanks to funding from the Innovation Agency. This year, the amount of EUR 150.000 will be allocated to reimburse part of the travel costs to the events, with up to EUR 3.500 per start-up. We hope that this will encourage businesses to travel to foreign events – to increase internationalisation, expand the circle of partners and grow“, said G. Narakienė.

CEO of “Ondato“ adds that from his own experience, he can say that they would not have been able to afford to attend such international conferences at the early stage of establishing their business.  

“The conference was a great opportunity to increase our visibility and broaden our circle of partnerships. We are still using the programmes and going to conferences together to represent our solutions along with the Lithuanian innovation sector,“ said Mr L. Kanapienis.

“Startup Lithuania” will present the start-up ecosystem of our country at the following international events in 2024: ”TechBBQ” in Denmark, “Web Summit” in Portugal and “Slush” in Finland. If you have a start-up business and you are planning to attend these events and join the activities of “Start-up Lithuania” at these conferences or apply for funding, you can contact the ”Startup Lithuania” team. 

This year’s funding is split into two phases. Those who plan to travel to events before 15 July and wish to receive a travel grant are invited to complete the application form in this invitation, while those who plan to travel between 16 July and 31 December are invited to apply for funding here.

More about the funding you can learn HERE.