Startin.LV, Kronvalda bulvāris 4, Riga (2026)

27/05/2026

What if global challenges became opportunities for meaningful action? 🌍

Climate risks, inequality, digital inclusion and sustainable communities are all deeply connected challenges shaping our world. Meaningful change happens when people come together to create practical solutions.

The Global Challenges Hackathon is a 24-hour co-creation experience where participants will work in teams to develop early-stage startup and social innovation ideas responding to real-world global challenges together with mentors, innovators, and international partners.

Through collaboration with experts and Global South partner organizations, participants will explore real-life challenges, build solution concepts and simple prototypes, and discover how ideas can create positive impact both locally and globally. Challenge themes and problem statements will be announced soon.

💡 What will teams create?
Teams will develop early-stage startup and innovation concepts addressing global challenges, including digital products, platform ideas, service solutions, and prototype tools.

✨ What to expect:
• Inspiring teamwork and collaboration
• Mentoring from innovators, entrepreneurs, and social impact experts
• Hands-on problem solving
• Early-stage startup and solution development
• New connections and global perspectives
• Exciting prizes and opportunities for further idea development

Explore ideas, test solutions, and turn early-stage concepts into meaningful starting points for future impact.

❗ We welcome participants from all backgrounds and no previous hackathon or technical experience is needed ❗

👥 For participants aged 15–30; you can apply individually or with a team (2–4 people), and we will support participants through matchmaking and community-building activities.
📍 Startup House Riga, Lastādijas iela 12 k-3, Riga
📅 September 18 (evening)–19, 2026
📝 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/dpJCDtTE

Because meaningful change starts when communities create solutions together. 🌱

Latvijas Platforma attīstības sadarbībai - LAPAS

25/05/2026

Are you an expat founder in Riga, or someone building, planning to build, or dreaming about building a startup in Latvia? Then this event is for you 🌟

👉 Join the Expat Founder Meetup Riga on May 29 at 16:00.

This informal meetup is designed to help you plug into the local startup ecosystem, meet fellow international founders, and learn about available support opportunities in Latvia.

💡 What to expect:
• Meet other international founders & builders
• Learn who’s who in the Latvian startup ecosystem
• Get an overview of available LIAA state support programs
• Share your startup, ask for help, or offer something during a 1-minute open mic
• Stay for networking afterwards

➡️ More info and registration here: https://luma.com/5zhnk5zp

Hosted by Ieva Felman, Startin.LV and Startup House Riga.

22/05/2026

📈 The Baltic VC ecosystem is regaining momentum:

We visited KPMG Latvia and LVCA to hear the highlights from the Baltic Private Equity and Venture Capital Market Overview 2025:
💰 €749M raised by PE/VC firms in 2025, a major rebound after the difficult 2024
🗺️ 116 active funds across the Baltics
🤝 243 deals involving Baltic companies
💡 ICT (which includes a lot of defencetech) and Energy remained the dominant sectors, while 🧬 Life Sciences saw notable growth

For Latvia, investment activity remained rather cautious (€11M invested by Baltic funds), but the outlook ahead looks stronger as the new ALTUM-backed funds Outlast Fund, Buildit VC and BADideas Fund are now entering active deployment phases.

Standout success story: Aerones raised €54M, the second-largest VC investment in the Baltics this year - though the investment came from abroad.

Particularly interesting insights came from Mikus Krams from TraceSpace:
👉 In today’s AI-saturated market, pre-seed rounds are often bets on teams and vision, and less on real traction.
👉 Global investors can sometimes move faster than local ones — and once international investors commit, local confidence follows.
👉 Baltic and European founders are still often far too conservative when pitching to US investors who expect extravagant pitches.
👉 For investor confidence, one strong, recognizable customer can matter more than dozens of smaller logos on your website.

You might have missed out on the discussion, but the report is live with a lot of in-depth data - go read it! Of the 1.4B EUR of dry powder held by Baltic fund managers, about 671M is expected to be deployed into Baltic companies soon, and at least 89M of that is planned for Latvia. So, hopefully we’ll see more Latvian startups in local dealflow! 💸

19/05/2026

🚀 Excited to be part of the conversations shaping the future of startups and innovation in the Baltics and beyond!

From May 20–22, Latitude59 will bring the global startup community together in Tallinn for three days of bold ideas, meaningful conversations, and new connections.

This year’s theme, The Global Village Experiment, is all about bringing together different perspectives, skills, and experiences to solve real-world challenges. Expect conversations around AI, automation, defense tech, Europe’s innovation race, and more.

🌍 3,500 attendees from 70 countries.
📍 Tallinn, Estonia.
🤝 And yes, Startin.LV will be there too. See you there!

👉 More info: latitude59.ee

05/05/2026

🤔 Want to get a better, data-driven view on Latvia's surging deeptech scene? While with a focus on the investment landscape, this Deeptech Atelier conference side event will be valuable to anyone who wants to base their understanding of Latvia's deeptech ecosystem on real data. Join us at 14th of May 15:00, on-site at Fantadroms.

📊 Startin.LV will present expanded deeptech insights from Latvian Startup Report 2025, Iron Wolf Capital will give the regional context from their freshly published Baltic Deep Tech Report 2025, and our local investors at Buildit VC will cap it off with their boots-on-the-ground insight on the deeptech investment landscape.

🥂 We hope you'll also use the opportunity for networking at the end - people who are brought together by data, stick together! Also - don't forget to register for free to Deeptech Atelier.

Check it out: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7457377925613469696

Part of the FINEST SCALEUP project.

30/04/2026

📣 Latvian founders - this is your moment to go global! 📣

If you are a startup entrepreneur ready to test the strength and full potential of your business, the Entrepreneurship World Cup is for you!

🌟 Why this matters?
• Compete for a $1,000,000 prize pool
• Get in front of global investors and ecosystem leaders
• Unlock real opportunities to scale internationally

🌟Who can apply?
Startups registered in Latvia and established within the past 10 years.

🌟What's at stake?
This years' total prize pool amounts to $1 million, along with additional investment opportunities and support for global growth.

Apply by 31 May and earn your chance to break into the Top 100 startups globally and secure a spot at the finals in Riyadh this November.

➡️ Find out more here: https://ewc26.short.gy/GEN

Supported by Swedbank Latvija in partnership with Latvijas Tirdzniecības un rūpniecības kamera, Latvijas Investīciju un attīstības aģentūra - LIAA and Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV.

29/04/2026

🎉 Congratulations to our member PrintyMed, as well as P-Agro Minerals, for being selected among Latvian startups for the EIC Pre-Accelerator! In total, 70 early-stage deeptech startups from 22 countries will receive €32.5 million in EU funding, marking a significant investment in science-driven innovation across Europe.

“Within the framework of the EIC Pre-Accelerator project, we will optimize and validate the functionality of spider silk membrane for specific applications, as well as integrate this membrane into an organ-on-a-chip model – which will increase our TRL level and get closer to the first sale. This is a really important funding for us, which will help us overcome the “valley of death”.” – Jekaterina Romanova, CEO of PrintyMed 🧪

📊 The EIC Pre-Accelerator received many applications, with 320 startups awarded Seals of Excellence, meaning they met the quality threshold but were not funded due to competition and limited resources. Seven of these were from Latvia, raising the question of whether such evaluations could better inform national funding decisions.

For example, through a transfer fund mechanism that allows ERDF resources to be channelled toward Horizon Europe instruments, including support for highly evaluated EIC applications, helping to create stronger synergies between Cohesion funding and Horizon Europe. Similar approaches are already used in countries like Lithuania, Malta, Germany, and Poland.

Alternatively, Latvia could introduce a middle-intensity lump sum grant aligned with EIC project funding levels, helping startups attract early-stage private investment by combining a Seal of Excellence or strong EIC evaluation with targeted public support.

This is one of the advocacy topics we’re currently working on at Startin.LV. If you’re interested in contributing or sharing your perspective, we’d be happy to connect. 🤝

28/04/2026

Great news for Latvia’s innovation ecosystem! 🚀

Startin.LV is becoming a strategic partner of the EIT Community Hub Latvia for the 2026–2028 period, strengthening the bridge between Latvian startups and Europe’s largest innovation network.

The EIT Community Hub in Latvia connects local innovators with 10 European Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), spanning key sectors such as health, climate, energy, digital tech, mobility, food systems, and more.

💡 What does this mean for startups in Latvia?
- Access to European acceleration and scale-up programmes;
- Support for expansion into new markets, including the US and Japan via EIT Global Outreach;
- Direct connections to industry partners, mentors, and investors;
- Funding opportunities and support for pilot projects.

📊 Proven impact:
From 2021–2024, 215 startups and teams supported, 22 innovative products brought to market, and €8.1M in funding attracted, including companies like Aerones, CellboxLabs, Longenesis, and PrintyMed.

Together with Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte (Riga Technical University) and UniLab, this strategic partnership will help build a stronger, more connected pipeline for innovation-driven teams.

👉 The focus now is on scaling opportunities for Latvian startups across Europe and beyond.

🤙 Curious to learn more about this? Reach out to us!

22/04/2026

Latvia’s startup ecosystem is already driven by strong momentum with founders building export-ready companies, investors providing access to capital, and universities strengthening the knowledge base.

Still, Latvia’s potential is much higher than current results show. Faster growth requires more founders, stronger investment confidence, and a more supportive environment.

📄To change the current movement, we have prepared the working paper - Latvia's Startup Action Plan based on ecosystem discussions, international examples, and policy analysis. It outlines steps and clear priorities.

➡️You can find the plan here: https://startin.lv/learn-support/

What now? We're asking for feedback from founders, investors, ecosystem organisations, and policymakers. The final version will be published in autumn.

24/11/2025

Building in Latvia?
On 27th November, we’re opening the doors of Startup House Riga for a different kind of founder meetup:
No formal stage. No panel. Just real stories from people building here and now.
📍 Location: Startup House, Lastādijas iela 12-k3
🕖 Time: 19:00–22:00 (doors open from 18:30)
What to expect:
👉 Show up, grab a drink & a snack – nothing fancy, just a relaxed atmosphere.
👉 Meet other builders– founders, operators, product people, techies, creatives.
👉 Take up to 5 minutes with the mic and share:
- What you’re working on
- How you landed in Latvia / Rīga
- Any ask (what you need) and/or offer (how you can help others)
🎙️ (If you’d like to speak, email [email protected] so we can save you a slot)
This is for you if:
- You’re building (or want to build) a startup in Latvia
- You’ve recently arrived or you’ve been here for a while and want to plug into the community
- You prefer genuine conversations over formal panels
We’re glad you’re building here. See you in Startup House! 🚀

Startin.LV

27/05/2026

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