Startup Lithuania, a team of Enterprise Lithuania, a government agency to assist startups in Lithuania, relocates to the biggest startup hub in the Baltics and Nordics, soon to be launched in Vilnius. The decision to move part of the government agency closer to startups themselves clearly represents Lithuania’s aim to emerge as the leading startup-friendly ecosystem in the Baltic region.

Raising the awareness

During the last few years, Lithuania has brought up new innovations to the global tech market and is aiming to become one of the tech leaders in the region. With its talent pool, consisting of 93% of population having secondary or higher education and being 1^st in CEE for the sciences, technology and mathematics graduates per capita, Lithuania is also making policy changes to boost the startup scene in the country, i.e. startup visa, which is about to ease access towards Western markets for non-EU tech entrepreneurs. Startups and tech companies are picking it up, the latest news from Lithuanian startup scene being Revolut recently signing a memorandum of understanding with country’s national bank and announcing plans to establish its development unit in Vilnius.

But the startup branch of the agency Enterprise Lithuania is about to take it even further. “We have helped numerous startups to raise funds, to find international partners, to get covered by the international media, to expand, to get introduced and connected, to join global accelerators, let alone finding employees. This is important as startups often have limited resources, including time. We are also making Lithuania to be recognized as a startup friendly country through various initiatives such as startup visa”, – explains Rimante Ribaciauskaite, sr. project manager at Startup Lithuania – “And so being in the epicenter of the current startup community will help not only to identify startup needs better, but to react and to solve problems on the go”.

Startup Lithuania organizes numerous events, seminars and hackathons, including LOGIN Startup Fair, the main startup conference and trade show in the Baltics. It acts as a one stop shop for creative minds by helping them to materialize their ideas and for startups of all stages by fostering knowledge exchange.

A perfect place to be

For Startup Lithuania, Vilnius Tech Park is a perfect place to achieve their goals and be in touch with the startup community: “We believe Vilnius Tech Park will be the new physical core of the Lithuanian startup ecosystem, abuzz with startups, VC funds, accelerators, freelancers, and creative minds. It is globally accepted that strong communities and, subsequently, successful innovations can only be built inside a united, connected and sharing ecosystem”, – Rimante Ribaciauskaite said.

As Darius Zakaitis, the co-founder of Vilnius Tech Park, states, presence of Startup Lithuania will enrich the community in many different ways. “As one of our goals is not only to provide local startups with opportunities to grow, but also enable foreign tech entrepreneurs serving as a gateway between Eastern and Western markets, having a government branch dedicated to startup ecosystem development on site is the key as they assist with necessary connections to make the process of establishing a startup here smooth as well as help startups scale globally. But what is even more exciting, is that this step clearly demonstrates the priorities of Lithuanian government and they are leaning towards hands-on approach to actually help disruptive businesses in the country.”