Top 10 Best Unicorns In Latvia

Top 10 Unicorns In Latvia

Unicorns: In the past, Latvia relied heavily on technology. During the Second World War, minox microscopic cameras were used by spies in this country.

1. Printful

After North America, Europe is Printful’s second-largest market. A fulfillment center near Barcelona, Spain, leased by a print-on-demand drop shipping company.

Approximately 40 new jobs will be created in the area when production begins at the new facility in early 2020.

A key supplier is close to Barcelona so Printful can add new products to its European offering through its proximity to a key supplier. In addition, with its Latvian facility, it will be able to serve customers throughout Europe better and meet customer demands for faster shipping. Portugal and Spain, for example, will receive their orders within 24 hours.

Compared to 2017, Western European sales grew 150% in 2018. Due to the high demand for shipping to Western Europe, we want to improve and provide fast shipping from Spain. Our strategy in the U.S. is to be closer to customers by hosting facilities on either coast,” says Printful CEO Davis Siksnans.

Printful will continue to focus on Spain for its growth. They will open a new branch office in Barcelona where the company plans to hire 20 new software developers and other I.T. professionals. Spanish is now available on Printful’s website.

The Printful company specializes in custom printing and on-demand warehousing. Over 13 million items have been fulfilled since the company launched in 2013. They fulfill and ship online orders for businesses such as clothing, accessories, and home & living items. In addition to its California, North Carolina, Latvia, Spain, and Mexico fulfillment centers, Printful currently employs over 700 people worldwide. Drop shipping company with fulfillment centers on both coasts of the United States is the only one to offer print-on-demand products. 

As part of the group’s technological development efforts, Printful Latvija will invest EUR 1.1 million, according to its spokesman Janis Palkavnieks.

In the next few months, Printful Latvia expects to invest EUR 1.6 million in its Latvian plant, which sells to European and Asian markets.

Printful Latvia has already invested EUR 1.1 million in its production and technological development, with a total investment of EUR 2.7 million. Currently, 19 people are employed at the plant, and 20 more will be hired by the end of the year.

He explained that Printful Latvia serves 600,000 online stores and aims to become the leading company in Asia and Europe.

Printful Latvia earned EUR 350,000 in profit in 2017, according to the information available at Firmas.lv.

Online retailers can sell their print products with Printful by outsourcing textile printing services. Many brands use Printful’s services, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Storenvy.

Just two million people live in Latvia, a country not well known for its corporate leadership. Yet, a five-year-old business started by two young entrepreneurs has grown into one of the world’s leading printing, fulfillment, and drop shipment companies.

The company employs hundreds of people in both the U.S. and Latvia and has offices in Los Angeles and Charlotte, as well as its headquarters in Riga.

After starting his career as a serial entrepreneur at 18, Siksnans met Liberts, a Latvian Mark Zuckerberg-like figure.

Siksnans began creating websites for friends when he was 13 years old. I knew I wanted to be in management and I.T. when my high school and university classmates started their careers.

The concept for Printful was conceived from Liberts’ previous business, StartupVitamins, where motivational quotes are printed on posters, clothing, and other items. In Latvia, Siksnans worked on software design and marketing while physically printing these items from his home in the U.S.

The business grew and needed a reliable drop-shipper, but lack of customer service, long fulfillment times, and poor quality frustrated them.

Additionally, there was no API so Siksnans couldn’t automate the ordering process. In that case, we decided to start our own company, since if it is a need that thousands of stores have, then it must also be a need for StartupVitamins.”

Since starting five years ago with three types of products (t-shirts, canvas, and posters), the business has grown to a $64 million turnover enterprise that offers embroidery, screen printing, and more to over 700,000 businesses. More than a million users are expected to register by 2018.

According to Siksnans, a combination of factors is responsible for the company’s extraordinary performance.

In addition, he notes that younger generations are less likely to buy items from Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, or H&M but rather from smaller brands and, increasingly, printed clothing. In turn, this has greatly contributed to the success of print-on-demand.”

As social media has grown, many social media stars also monetize their followings, promote other products, and make money through online advertisements and e-commerce shops. In addition, the print-on-demand system offers lower startup costs, no inventory, and zero inventories, say Siksnans.

Printful is not their first business; they had a Facebook advertising budget since day one and a good marketing team.

We love working with American-Latvians living in the U.S. or Latvia, who bridge the culture gap and help us from the very start build a credible website,” he explains.

A further advantage was their partnership with multiple e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, now a publicly-traded company, at an early stage.

In addition to them, many others have also ridden the wave. As Siksnans points out, partnerships are highly beneficial to both parties.

In addition, they capably identified the benefits to the business of selling quality merchandise at a profit on-demand. At one-time costs, something many businesses, even today, have yet to realize.

The company has doubled in size each year and now employs more than 400 people, 250 in Los Angeles and 150 in Riga, Latvia, divided between its two U.S. facilities. Over 6.5 million products have been printed in five years.

Siksnans recalls how difficult it was in the company’s early years before it started making money. To meet payroll, he had to borrow cash from his other businesses, but customers wanted his products, and the business grew. To turn a profit, we had to deal with our capital injections as short-term costs.

Company overview

2. Mintos

In 2019, investors took advantage of unprecedented growth on the leading European loan platform. – 

Over a quarter of a million investors registered with the company, taking 40% of the market share in lending investments.

It has been a year of significant growth for Mintos, a global platform for investing in loans at scale – almost three times the number of loans financed through its platform has grown in the last year. In contrast, it has received awards as the year’s best alternative financial platform. In addition, 4.3 billion euros have already been invested through the platform since it launched in 2015. 

A total of 70 million euros has been earned by more than 250 000 individual investors through Mintos. Every month, nearly 20,000 investors choose Mintos as their loan investment platform. Mintos currently provides 190 jobs in four European offices – Riga, Berlin, Warsaw, and Vilnius.

Over the past 12 months, total finance volume over platforms offering loans in Europe amounted to 6.36 billion euros, according to Brismo, Britain’s leading industry market research company. It was the leading platform in the European Union during this period, capturing 40% of the total market share with 2,58 billion euros invested through Mintos.

Since most of our costs can be covered by our turnover, we can grow rapidly with minimum capital investments. In our view, and based on comparable data, we have built a company whose value could now exceed 100 million euros despite only attracting 7 million euros in investments. The Mintos CEO and co-founder Martins Sulte say the company intends to maintain its current growth rate in 2020.

Grumpy Investments has raised €5 million for Mintos, a Latvian peer-to-peer lending marketplace. With the financing, the fintech startup will offer its users personal IBAN accounts and debit cards and double its team size due to its global expansion.

In addition to receiving salary directly into their Mintos account, investors can make or receive payments from around the world with their IBAN accounts. Furthermore, investors can withdraw money from ATMs and make transactions worldwide with the Mintos card.

Mintos is applying for an e-money license that will allow it to do so. However, in line with the European PSD2 legislation, Mintos will protect the money held by investors.

Eighty-seven thousand investors from 71 different countries are a customer base of the fintech startup. By the end of 2018, Mintos expects to have 100,000 registered investors and 300,000 by 2019.

Mintos co-founder and CEO Martins Sulte said, “We are providing customers with a personal IBAN account and debit card, which marks a major leap forward in our services. The IBAN details of every user with their accounts will soon be available to their friends, customers, and companies to receive payments, use a debit card to pay, and invest in loans worldwide and earn profits. We’ll make it even easier with our upcoming mobile app.”

Mintos’ CEO and co-founder Martins Sulte explained: “We have been profitable since January 2017, but we see vast opportunities for growth on a larger scale. The additional funding will help us develop new products and services for customers worldwide, hire the best team, and expand geographically to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.”

As the world’s largest marketplace of its kind, the company has already enabled investments in loans worth more than €1 billion. By lending to individuals and businesses, investors earned nearly 12% net returns and received €26.7 million in interest.

It has offices in Warsaw, Mexico City, and Riga, Latvia, employing 60 people.

Company overview

3. Gamechanger Audio

On the southern bank of Riga’s Zunds river, gray Soviet tower blocks are battered by a biting wind. In between them lies a rusty red garage, once the Latvian startup’s headquarters, which Ilja Krumins points out.

He tells Sifted that the garage was cooler. He misses the experience.

Krumins, 27, lights up while climbing the stairs of the building nearest to the hipster loft where he works.

In addition to Stevie Wonder, Marilyn Manson, and the Rolling Stones guitarists, this change of venue marks the team’s rapid ascent.

The effects pedals made by Gamechanger Audio aren’t what you are used to.

It launched its first product, the Plus Pedal, in 2017. This device can layer sounds on top of each other like a piano pedal.

Among the startup’s other products was the Plasma Pedal, which they launched last year. Again, a new way of distorting noise is achieved using high voltage electrical discharge.

A total of 7,000 effects pedals were shipped to customers worldwide in 2018, Gamechanger Audio’s first full year of sales.

From Roxy Music to Royal Blood, the song has fans.

During his studies at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London, Krumins discovered that music tech was ripe for disruption after playing guitar on the Latvian gig circuit. “Nike sneakers keep coming out with new models that don’t do anything different,” he explains.

Together with Kristaps Kalva, Mārtiņš Meļķis, and Didzis Dubovskis (two of whom work as engineers), Krumins founded Gamechanger Audio in 2015. Between 6 pm and 1 am, they did most of the Krumins family’s work on their first note-holding piano pedal for electric guitars.

His prototype was bent from sheet metal by a local steel door maker, and a local artist cast his foot pedal (after trying and being unable to Google how to cast aluminum himself).

Investors were less supportive, however. When Krumins recalls one pitch’s chilly reception, he says, “there was dead silence.”. It seems that some people were confused as to what the Plus Pedal was and thought that it was the real thing.

The Plus Pedal was crowdfunded on the team’s website in 2017. Across the first day of preorders (and in a total of €200,000), Gamechanger Audio raised more than $80,000, with Jon Carin (of Pink Floyd fame) cashing in. Krumins laughs as he tells the story. But, of course, they thought we were Latvian scam artists since we appeared so suddenly out of nowhere.

Their overnight success prompted them to quit and move out of Krumin’s family kitchen.

Payment systems, websites, shipping, and tracking were all the focus of attention. Despite placing orders in January, the small team didn’t begin sending orders until August after securing a manufacturer in Ventspils. As a result, stock ‘to spare’ was only available a year later, in December 2017.

Customers were upset as a result of these delays. Krumins emphasizes the importance of keeping people informed: “Silence only makes people angry.”

On Indiegogo, Gamechanger Audio raised €300,000 for the launch of the Plasma Pedal in its second crowdfunding round in 2018. When used, Krumins says, the product produces a bright blue high voltage lightning bolt that turns grown men into children. It is currently used by Jack White (of The White Stripes) and heavy metal bands like Rammstein and Tool.

Its latest product is a synthesizer generated from spinning electromotors that produces sound. Krumins believes that his company will be able to continue pushing boundaries that big names like Yamaha and Fender will not. In his opinion, already established companies need to innovate continually, but at a smaller scale, as they have too strong a foundation to make such bold moves.

Now that Game Changer Audio is stocked by 65 retailers, including the world-renowned Chicago Music Exchange, it has €100,000 monthly revenues.

In Latvia’s Digital Freedom Festival (a tech event that embraces both traditional and art-based businesses), Dagnija Lejina says investors should pay more attention to arts tech startups.

At another Latvian startup festival called TechChill, Lejina told Sifted that few investors understand the music and arts industry.

Globally, the effects pedal market is expected to reach $9.93 billion by 2021, with over one million pedals sold annually in the U.S. alone.

According to Lejina, investors must sharpen their knives to avoid missing out on opportunities, especially in an age when experiences are everything. As such, music and art tech have a bright future.

Company overview

4. Twino

Peer-to-peer lending platform Twino announced yesterday that it had financed €1 billion in loans. This month will see the start of a crowdfunding campaign.

Using the money raised, the company will expand its operations in Europe and continue to develop its products.

This startup was founded in 2015, serving almost 60,000 private investors in 30 European countries through its mutual lending platform. More than 30 countries are represented by its 58,000 users.

“TWINO expansion includes a digital app that will combine all assets in one place for European retail investors after securing an investment brokerage license last year,” said Anastasija Oleinika, CEO of TWINO Investments. In addition, all assets will come with a customized approach in terms of Impact score, such as shares, bonds, CFDs, ETFs, and crypto.”

TWINO Investment’s Armand Broks said: “Retail investor participation has doubled since 2020 but still only represents 5-7% of European trading volumes versus more than 25% in the U.S. 

 With Twino swinging into the black, its founder steps down as CEO.

To focus on bringing in new talent and exploring new opportunities, Twino founder Armand Broks is stepping down as CEO.

The Chief Financial Officer of the company, Anastasija Oleinika (pictured), has replaced Broks.

Twino, an investment company for European investors offering unsecured European consumer loans, announced pre-tax profits of €13 million in 2018 versus a loss of €7.2 million in 2017.

In addition to lending to real estate and development projects, Twino is considering expanding its Asian market.

It operates in several European countries, including Latvia, Poland, Russia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan.

Over 30 European countries have invested in the company.

Oleinika has managed Twino’s finances and business operations for almost three years. Twino’s Russian operations were also driven by her.

During the past three years, Twino has also issued loans totaling $860.3m (€1bn) worth €1 billion (£860 million).

Twino Group protects investors against losses through a buyback guarantee.

Twino noted that the U.K. was its second-largest investor base, representing 12 percent of its investments. Germany accounted for 33 percent of its investments.

During this crucial time in the company’s growth, Broks is delighted to have Anastasija leading the team. Many new business development projects are underway, and we are evaluating the potential of new markets, such as Asia.

“Reaching €1 billion is an important milestone for us and demonstrates the company’s continued growth.”, Oleinka said. In addition, our financial results are testimony to the success of the restructuring process we began in 2017.

Company overview

5. Sonarworks 

Sonarworks is one of Latvia’s top startups in investors’ eyes after finding EUR 700,000 in its third round of investment. A total of EUR 1.5 million has already been invested in the company. AIF Imprimatur Capital Technology Venture Fund and FlyCap Investment Fund I AIF are among the third-round investors.

Helmuts Bēms, Company co-founder and chairman, states that Sonarworks has become the world’s largest digital sound correction company since entering the market in 2015. Our Reference 3 calibration software is currently used by more than 5,000 studios around the world, including home studio enthusiasts, recording students, and artists including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga. However, the company’s team makes it successful – people who care about music and can influence the company’s direction.”

To eliminate sound shortcomings in speakers and headphones, Sonarworks has developed a unique technology. Using the latest investment, they will create a new product for a wider market. Sonarworks co-founder and project manager Mārtiņš Popelis says it will ensure that every listener will hear music at the same level of quality as the original recording, regardless of the device used to play it.

Giga-Award-winning producers use Sonarworks’ precision audio software, which recently raised $6 million in funding. Sonarworks plans to expand its machine learning audio technology into global consumer electronics devices using the financing.  

With Sonarworks, you can enjoy the best sound experience possible for every type of music lover and creator. Professional audio was the company’s first focus in 2012. 

In addition to Grammy-winning engineers, its patented technologies are used in over 70 000 studios worldwide, including Lady Gaga, Madonna, Rihanna, Adele, Coldplay, and other A-list artists. As part of its mission, Sonarworks now strives to make personal sound experiences available to every music enthusiast around the globe.  

“The pandemic taught us how essential it is for modern society to have great audio and video technology. However, according to our research, the sound is perceived differently by different people, so one size does not fit all when it comes to audio. In bringing Sonarworks’ transformative technology to consumer electronics manufacturers, Helmuts Bems, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said that this investment would help the company grow internationally and help bring personalization to any audio device. 

Global V.C. fund Almaz Capital led the round. It has offices in Silicon Valley, Central and Eastern Europe, and a presence in Asia. The fund invests in disruptive B2B software companies. 

“We believe in local entrepreneurial and engineering talent, which is why we invested in Sonarworks – the world leader in sound calibration and personalization. Aleksandr Andreev, Venture Partner at Almaz Capital, expressed excitement about further exploring the Baltic deep tech ecosystem. 

Investing in Sonarworks, the company continues to grow internationally, offering opportunities for tech innovators interested in audio and audio engineering to join the team. Globally, Sonarworks is prepared to reach 1 billion devices with its next-generation audio technology, thanks to its rapid growth.

Company overview

6. Nordigen 

Due to a free open banking API, the Latvian fintech company Nordigen is shifting to a freemium model. The company believes Tink or Plaid’s banking aggregation APIs are too expensive to make open banking a reality. So, Nordigen plans to provide a free API for accessing account information rather than paying for analytics and insights services.

A broad term, open banking encompasses aggregating accounts, verifying ownership of funds, and initiating payments. Data from third-party financial institutions is the most basic layer of open banking. For instance, you can view all your bank accounts from one interface if you connect to other bank accounts.

They can access a bank in two ways. First, application programming interfaces (APIs) are provided by some banks that allow you to send requests and receive data back.

According to the PSD2 directive, all financial institutions must have open APIs, but many still haven’t started. For example, screen scraping is usually used by available banking API companies. However, it’s slow, requires a lot of server resources, and sometimes breaks because they mimic web browser interactions.

It wasn’t designed purely for PSD2, which means it’s lightweight compared to existing APIs. That’s how we can afford it. According to Nordigen co-founder and CEO Rolands Mesters, scaling free users would not significantly increase our costs.

This means that Nordigen’s API does not cover every European bank. However, a total of 300 European banks are currently supported by the startup. As long as it’s free, there’s no cause for complaint.

Open banking data and premium insights are free on Nordigen’s freemium platform. Fintech companies and developers in 31 countries, including the U.K., can use Nordigen’s free API to connect to more than 2,300 banks in Europe. The Financial and Capital Market Commission of Latvia regulates Nordigen, authorized in 31 countries as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP).

Company overview

7. Cenos

Induction heating simulation software from Cenos continues to expand its reach by democratizing simulation software. In addition, with version 3.0, the level of customer support has been raised to a whole new level.

Using the latest software version, you will be able to get simulation results more than twice as fast as before due to multi-CPU acceleration. There has been a lot of interest in a scanning application, which has become more convenient to use now. By integrating instant LiveChat with simulation engineers right into the software, customer support has been taken to a new level. 

“We found that enterprise-level computer simulation software was underserving the needs of this industry.” However, due to the advanced technology, custom solutions like Cenos can only offer particular functionality. So, whether you are a professional or a hands-on engineer, we have extremely easy software,” says M. Scepanskis.

Cenos Induction Heating sim software has been used by more than 50 companies and 100 universities globally since its release two years ago. 

CENOS, a Latvian startup created by physicists, will be accelerated by one of the world’s top startup accelerators, 500 Startups. At the Digital Freedom Festival in 2018, the startup qualified for the accelerator’s second selection stage.

CENOS is a 3D computer simulation software that helps manufacturing companies worldwide reduce up to 80% of their time creating industrial products. Computer work and automation in the industry are complemented by smart and autonomous systems made up of big data and machine learning algorithms. This is a problem for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies who cannot afford digital tools such as engineering modeling or computer simulation.

And this is where CENOS can help,” says Vadims Geža, co-founder and head of product development at the startup. Of the 250,000 industrial manufacturing companies in the United States, 240,000 are small businesses employing up to 20 people. The founders of CENOS estimate that globally small and medium-sized enterprises account for 90% of the total number of registered companies, which clearly outlines the potential of this Latvian-created product.

The CENOS startup was founded in 2017 by three graduates of the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Physics and Mathematics – doctors of physics and mathematics Mihails Ščepanskis, Raimonds Viļums, and Vadims Geža. The team was accepted into Tallinn’s Startup Wise Guys accelerator training program.

“Our team consists of 10 people – physicists, engineers, programmers, and salespeople. Our clients are Germany, Poland, Canada, the USA, Mexico, and Brazil. Last year, the turnover of the startup exceeded 100 thousand euros, which is five times more than the previous year. This year too, we plan to continue our growth and attract seed investments for development,” says Mihails Ščepanskis, co-founder and director of CENOS.

With investment from 500 Startups, CENOS has completed its pre-seed investment round, raising a total of EUR 362,000 for company development. Investors in the startup include the Baltic and Eastern European pre-seed accelerator and fund – Startup Wise Guys, as well as business angels from the United States, Norway, and all three Baltic countries. In addition, CENOS investors include former engineers who have held senior positions in multinational companies such as Ford, Gillette, and Kongsberg.

CENOS is the third Latvian startup to be included in 500 Startups. Previously, the Latvian startups Printify and Funderfal also graduated from the acceleration program. However, unlike its predecessors, CENOS is the first startup to retain its company registration in Latvia after attracting investments from the U.S. fund.

Cenos provides enterprises with 3D simulations allowing them to test solutions they have developed, saving time and money. It is one of four Latvian enterprises awarded a 60,000 euro grant for further development under the EU-funded BOWI project.

Cenos was founded in 2017 by three mathematicians and physicists with work experience in the US, Germany, and Latvia. Its mission is to help talented engineers test their ideas’ durability in a computer simulation rather than real life, saving considerable time and money. Since its founding, it has attracted over 600,000 euros in investments, conquered 14 countries on three continents, and will soon open an affiliate in Mexico. Its clients include global brands such as Volkswagen, Samsung, and Timken. 

“If the project is successful, we will aim for a larger European grant to make the platform a place where a community can create the applications it needs using various application program interfaces. We create a community which not only uses our products but helps to improve them,” says Mihails Ščerpinskis, Cenos co-founder.

The company exports most of its services. Its Latvian client is EPM Rīga, a spin-off from the University of Latvia’s Institute of Physics. It makes innovative metallurgical mixers and pumps for aluminum producers. During the collaboration, its representatives asked for a broader package of services.

So Cenos’ invited the EPM Rīga team to participate in the BOWI (Boosting Widening Digital Innovation Hubs) project to develop a solution for this client. As a result, under the auspices of BOWI, an application program interface (API) is being developed, envisaging a third-party platform for companies to create individual computer simulation solutions. This project will allow EPM Rīga and other firms to become more customer-friendly and competitive globally.

The BOWI project assists in developing a network of Digital Innovation Centres and help these centers to increase capacity, collaborate with experienced colleagues in Europe, and develop innovative products. One of the centers is the “Latvian I.T. Cluster,” which can serve as a guide for any Latvian company to facilitate digital development in our country. 

Ščepinksis says that Cenos hopes to become a Latvian “unicorn.” The plan is to create a range of services related to products for the electromagnetic industry. “Of course, it is nice to stand under a shower of confetti and bathe in the taste of success, but I believe the company’s greatest success indicators are our profits, the people we employ, and the taxes we pay. Those are the things we are most proud of. We are Latvian patriots, and we are proud that we are from here,” he says.

Company overview

8. Printify

On-demand printing is being reimagined by 80-person startup Printify in Riga, Latvia. As a result, Zazzle, Society6, CafePress, or Teespring no longer need to be the platforms where small merchants can sell their customized products. Instead, you can sell clothes, accessories, and more directly on your online store using Printify, a custom clothing maker, using your designs, logos, art, or photos.

Printify founder and CEO James Berdigans told TechCrunch that the “first wave” of on-demand printing companies requires merchants to sell their products through their platforms.

Berdigans pointed out that merchants cannot build their brands. For example, the Teespring brand is made at the end of the day, not your own.

A former Khosla Ventures general partner, Ben Ling, launched Bling Capital five months ago as a venture capital fund to invest in 500 Startups graduate Printify.

According to Ling, Printify is ideally suited for enabling micro and boutique brands. In addition, the high-quality, low-cost, fast Printify printing platform can be used by consumers and small businesses alike.

Following a major pivot, Printify raised $1 million in a round led by Berdigans, Artis Kehris, and Gatis Dukurs. To attract customers, the company “pretended to be the manufacturer.”

Berdigans said the idea was terrible. You are not a very honest company, even though you are not lying.”

With Printify, manufacturers can connect with e-commerce stores through a B2B marketplace. Moreover, it handles mundane tasks like billing, manufacturing, and shipping for store owners to concentrate on growing their brands. As a result, its catalog has increased by 30% month-over-month since the switch, and hundreds of unique products have been added.

Printify most commonly caters to people who are self-taught digital sales experts, political campaign employees, designers, and artists. Merchants can price their products with a fixed pricing scheme, while Printify knows exactly how much they charge. Other print-on-demand marketplaces do not allow merchants to determine their margins, such as those above “first wave” businesses.

For Printify, you pay a small fee rather than a small portion of revenue share as you do with Zazzle. As a result, we expect our sellers to see a 50-60% profit margin on t-shirts selling for $25 if the production cost is $10.

Company overview

9. Lokalise

An international venture capital firm led a Series A round of funding for Latvian SaaS translation startup Lokalise. Additionally, capital300, an Austrian fund, and many angel investors participated in the funding series.

In its early stages of development, Lokalise was a bootstrapped company without seeking outside funding. It is one of the biggest investments in a Latvian startup, representing one of the largest for the first time.

Software, websites, apps, and other digital assets can be translated and localized with the company’s platform. Unfortunately, despite technological advances, most companies still use large, cumbersome Excel files to translate and localize their software.

Lokalise addresses this pain point for its users. Localized content can be pushed directly into the software using the company’s platform, so the translation team can perform translations in parallel with the software development team, reducing idle time.

Additionally, the platform allows for remote collaboration and easy monitoring of workflows by managers.

After being able to scale effectively without external funding, Lokalise’s founders believed the company could grow even faster. With 1,500 customers in 80 countries, the company was founded in Riga in 2017.

Lokalise began as a handful of coders building a solution to a problem they were experiencing, says Nick Ustinov. However, the larger opportunity became evident when top-tier customers began knocking on our doors.”

Some Fortune 500 companies currently use Lokalise, including Revolut, Yelp, Virgin Mobile, and Notion.

Translation and localization are major headaches for companies seeking global expansion, says investor Mike Chalfen.

“Lokalising changes that.”. Customers are raving about it. With its beautiful design and complex integrations, it can disrupt the business processes that are currently in place in the industry. He explains that he is excited to be a part of such an ambitious team and build a new category leader with them.

Covid-19 caused the company to go fully remote, allowing talent to be recruited from anywhere in the world. Since the company needs the best talent to grow, much investment money will go there, according to the founders.

The customer-centric nature of Lokalise’s product makes us impressed. Despite bootstrapping, capital300 has been able to achieve fast product-led growth, including during the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Eva Arh.

Company overview

10. Giraffe360 

Mikus Opelts is the co-founder and CEO of Giraffe360 – camera technology for property digitization. The company currently is servicing businesses in 18 countries and, in 2018 and 2019, was identified as one of the top 25 Property Technology startups in Europe. The total funding raised is €2 million. In addition, Mikus is sharing how Giraffe360 got so far so quickly.

Giraffe360, the London-based Latvian prop-tech startup specializing in digital photography, has launched its new camera – model 3, following its £1 Million funding round in January.

In the new camera model, which the firm manufactures individually, The best digital images and cutting-edge functionality are provided to real estate agents. The new photography and floor plans appear in the agent’s inbox shortly after clicking the button on the camera.

Giraffe360 CEO Mikus Opelts explains: Our system combines a camera and a laser and operates automatically. From camera click to online presence, we aim to create quality marketing content for agents.”

The camera appears clean and sophisticated from the outside. Simple two-button controls make it easy to use, and the automatic-rotating head suggests its powerful capabilities. There are no restrictions on where it can be installed – in huge rooms, small rooms, industrial spaces, gardens, or even tiny bathrooms. Every environment is compatible with it.

As a business, Giraffe360 focuses on delivering a win-win solution for everyone involved in the property marketing process. For the client – showcasing their property in much higher quality, for the applicant – enabling virtual access through different visual forms like virtual tours and floor plans with great detail and accuracy, and for the agent – saving up to 90% of their photography costs and cutting out up to 70% of waste viewings.

According to Opelts, fine photography benefits everyone. There are unprecedented developments in the property industry right now. Agents who listen to consumers already notice the benefits of a tech-led home-selling strategy.”

An investment round of 4.5 million U.S. dollars has been completed by the Latvian robotics company “Giraffe360”. Its representatives say HCVC (Hardware Club) and Change Ventures are the main investors in this round, alongside LAUNCHub Ventures and Hoxton Ventures.

Real estate companies subscribe to Giraffe360’s unique technology. By using this product, you will be able to generate accurate 3D room layouts, high-quality photos, and virtual tours instantly.

Similarly, 3D dot clouds are a digital content format. Creating real estate ads with Giraffe360 is easy.

There are currently 26 countries using Giraffe360. Giraffe360’s sales office in the U.K. has the largest number of users.

In Europe, social exclusion rules have boosted customers’ interest in our technology. As a result, it has become even more important to present properties remotely. Our cameras’ production and digital processing capacity are continually increasing to serve the rapidly growing number of customers. They opened the Riga camera factory last summer. Similarly, we continue to build up the Giraffe360 team in Liepaja, commented Mikus Opelts, CEO and co-founder.

Room scanning can be done with Giraffe360 using cameras and software. In 2016, Mikus and Madars Opelti founded the company in Latvia. The company has more than 70 employees in Liepaja, Riga, and London.

The company has received 6.8 million dollars in investment during its operation.

Company overview

edited and proofread by nikita sharma