A hidden gem of the Baltics, Latvia is full of innovative passion and has been pioneering in the tech scene for decades. Did you know that we even have Latvia to thank for bringing us jeans?
The country has been thriving over the past decade, reaping the benefits of a well-educated talent pool, a low cost of doing business, and well-established infrastructure that is enabling tech innovation and development at scale. With free wifi available across Riga, there’s no wonder that the remote-working generation is increasingly opting to make Latvia their launch location. Further, co-working is almost a cultural trend among the Latvians – co-working and free wifi everywhere? It’s a startup paradise.
The capital Riga is undoubtedly a hub of startup activity, becoming host to events such as Tech Chill, but other cities like Jurmala and Daugavpils are also getting in on the action. Latvia’s ecosystem now registers over 400 startups and in 2021 was regarded as one of the most startup-friendly countries in the world.
Here, we wanted to recognise 10 early-stage startups that are putting Latvia on the global startup map. All of these startups are founded post-2017 and have caught our attention for being particularly unique and innovative.
ATOM Mobility – Founded in 2018, ATOM Mobility is a Latvian player in the e-mobility space. According to the company, 4,000 cities around the world are yet to access e-mobility, resulting in heavy traffic, CO2 emissions, and parking problems. ATOM Mobility helps entrepreneurs to launch and operate e-vehicle sharing platforms by providing all IT solutions needed for fleet sharing just in 20 days. The platform gets rid of the headache of setting up sharing solutions, reducing barriers in even the smallest of cities. ATOM provides branded mobile apps for riders, giving a powerful panel to manage vehicles, customers and follow the stats. It includes apps that are fully customized to each brand. It also offers integrations with multiple types of vehicles – keeping up with growing mobility trends. Already, ATOM is connecting companies with micro-mobility solutions across 70 cities worldwide. Micro-mobility is one of Europe’s strongest growth sectors, and ATOM is empowering companies of all sizes to get in on the action and join the mobility revolution.
Kora Sustainability – On a mission to create a new economy that rewards sustainable living, Kora was born in 2019 with a seed round of around €773k. Kora’s app allows users to see the impact of their actions in real-time, and rewards users for taking steps to reduce their ecological footprint. These rewards can be spent with participating businesses and the wider Kora community. So far, the company claims to have reduced 28,319kg of CO2. Kora wants to help save the planet, empowering everyone to see the value of each small action in the battle against climate change.
Meredot – Founded in 2019 by a group of engineers and scientists who wanted to prove that people didn’t need to compromise to charge their electronics wirelessly, that wireless charging can be efficient, faster and more convenient than the cable-based charging process, Meredot is now providing green solutions to wirelessly charge mobility, robots and drones. The company believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards an electric transport charging infrastructure future, the better. Meredot’s proprietary Wireless Chargers combine hardware and software for ultra-scalable, reliable and manageable charging of e-scooters and other micromobility units. While e-mobility is booming, so is competition amongst the market to fuel the growing range of electronic vehicles. Meredot is on track to become a key player in the industry and picked up €303k to expand in 2021.
Corebook – Founded in 2020, Corebook is an online brand guidelines platform helping develop and maintain brand integrity for companies across the globe. On a mission to make fixed-format PDF brand guidelines a thing of the past by 2025, the startup has already built up a strong community of global clients, makers and advisers across Europe and North America. Branding is an essential part of growing any business, but so often it’s made more complicated than it needs to be. Corebook is here to make the process more streamlined and has raised around €90k to do so. Not only is branding crucial to a business’s success, but in this increasingly digital age, a brand needs to be instantly recognisable across platforms, and it is about time this design process gets a digital uplift. Corebook is well placed to emerge in this market area as a key player.
Exponential Technologies– Founded in 2019, Exponential Technologies is on a mission to enable rapid industrial innovation. The startup’s cloud solution enables rapid material innovation in industrial manufacturing, speed up the search for process parameters and material recipes. The unique solution allows the simultaneous optimization of machine configurations and material recipes, which allows faster and more focused material development. The company is on a mission to drive mass adoption of additive manufacturing among manufacturers. To do so, it relies on AI and machine learning algorithms as well as data and materials science: by combining them, it is able to help users optimize their printing parameters so that they go even further in deploying 3D technologies.
Asya.ai – Asya Artificial Intelligence lab is on a mission to boost conversation mindfulness and intelligence. Founded in 2019 by Dr. Evalds Urtans and designer Ariel A. Tabaks, it is a cutting-edge machine learning research hub in the heart of Riga. Asya is a mindful conversation app that helps people improve their communication skills with real-time AI feedback. Using computer vision, biometrics, deep learning and data, Asya analyzes human emotional experiences to create more meaningful conversations. Since 2019, the startup has been working with commercial clients – particularly useful for sales teams – with clients such as Giraffe360. In addition, since the beginning, the company has been focused on the concept of ethical AI – using the tech to help improve emotional connections between partners and families. Via the app, you can monitor your listening skills and ability to read over people’s emotional state – helping people become more mindful in their daily life. So far, the company has raised about €150k
CopyMonkey.AI – Making copywriting workflows faster, cheaper, and improved, CopyMonkey offers an AI product description generator for the ecommerce industry. The solution is able to auto-generate hundreds of product descriptions for your online shop at once, giving businesses the ability to edit copy, rather than start from scratch. Through the app, users add product data into the description generator. CopyMonkey then generates multiple product description options. Then, users can pick the description and perfect it with built-in editing tools. Ecommerce is a rapidly growing area, and often one of the most challenging parts is to develop the website in a way that is engaging and has the best language to maintain customers’ interest. CopyMonkey is offering a simple way to build exciting and informative websites. The platform is available in 7 languages, allowing for localisation (an essential part of ecommerce success) and already has more than 100 stores as clients since its 2020 launch.
CENOS – Beginning 2022 with a €1 million funding boost, CENOS is a young startup democratizing access to engineering software. Founded in 2017, CENOS represents a generational shift in engineering software, making it easy, affordable and secure to use by every engineer. The CENOS platform provides simulation and modelling software for engineers, promoting better, more efficient design, in a shorter time, by replacing physical tests with computer simulations. It leverages open source algorithms to offer engineers affordable, high-end simulation and modelling tools, featuring inviting UIs and a rapidly expanding breadth of capabilities. Its open-source approach and SaaS platform address fundamental barriers in the world of engineering design.CENOS currently has about 130 community users already – academic and hobbyists who access the software free for non-commercial purposes and who provide the nucleus of new open-source contributors.
Longenesis – Medtech startup Longenesis is working towards providing a technological bridge between healthcare institutions and the biotech industry. Founded in 2017, the company aims to help identify and unlock the hidden value of biomedical data to accelerate drug and treatment discovery – improving healthcare outcomes. In 2021 the startup picked up €1 million in its mission to digitise drug discovery. Medical data is sensitive and confidential, creating obstacles for researchers needing large and detailed datasets. By introducing digitalization and consent-enabled showcasing of biomedical assets, as well as putting the emphasis on patient-centricity, Longenesis will help to reduce recruitment costs and accelerate biomedical research. The healthcare sector is under immense pressure at the moment, triggered of course by years of pandemic, but ultimately also due to underlying problems in the sector. Digitisation, such as what Longensis is offering, is one such way to help alleviate the crisis.
DesignScan – Founded in 2019, DesignScan is providing the missing link between brands, local dealers and buyers via its ecommerce platform for interior designers. Buying furniture and design products online can be tricky – how can you check quality? How can you trust the item will look as good in your home as it does on the screen? This is where DesignScan comes in. The platform shows only high-quality furniture from different brands that are available in showrooms. Design Scan also makes it possible to contact retailers directly and put all your questions to them. In 2020, the young firm picked up €800k as part of the mission to make buying furniture online more accessible.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
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February 24, 2022 at 08:00AM by contact@bcurdy.com, Khareem Sudlow
