Baltic startup ecosystem in H2 2023 — FIRSTPICK and Change Ventures report

In the Baltic region, the number of growth investments significantly increased with 9 growth rounds generating 5 times more capital than in the H1 2023. Lithuania also became the leader in the market, generating 47% of the Baltic growth funding in the second half of 2023.

FIRSTPICK and Change Ventures, early-stage venture capital funds, have published a new semi-annual publication that overviews the region’s investment landscape for the second half of 2023. AIN.Capital shares the key figures.

Lithuania secures largest investments in the Baltics

Over the last six months of 2023, 23 Lithuanian startups raised €262 million, 38 Estonian startups — €243.5 million, and 19 Latvian startups — €34.7 million. Estonian startups were the leaders among the Baltic states in pre-seed, seed, and series A rounds, but the capital raised by Lithuanian startups shows its rapid catching up in growth rounds.

Increase in growth and seed rounds

• Growth investments showed a rapid increase in the H2 of 2023. Nine growth rounds produced five times more capital in H2 than in H1 of 2023, amounting to €425.7 million. Three funding rounds in Lithuania generated €200 million, 47% of Baltic growth funding.
• Nord Security, Lithuania’s second unicorn and a cybersecurity startup, and PVcase, a cleantech startup that develops software for designing solar plants, attracted the largest investments in the country at the end of 2023, raising €100 million each. Seed funding also increased, reaching €69.2 million.
• However, the pre-seed rounds were significantly lower in H2, amounting to only €14.6 million compared to €22.7 million in H1 of 2023. Series A funding rounds also did not show any positive changes, with only four A rounds amounting to €30.7 million raised in total.

• In H2 2023, the dynamics of pre-seed round sizes in the Baltic startup scene showed clear stability, both at the median (€300,000) and the continued wide spread between the largest and smallest rounds. This tendency shows significant differences in the amount of capital that pre-seed teams can attract.

In general, H2 2023 observed distinct shifts in seed round financing in the Baltic startup ecosystem. Median investments increased to €2.05 million, reflecting an uptick in typical funding round size. This reflects the increasing prevalence of late-seed as well as bridge/extension rounds being raised at the seed stage.