Top 50 Enterprise Startup Investors in Latvia in November 2024

ZGI Capital is the fund management company that manages "ZGI fund”, that was founded to support entrepreneurs lacking start-up capital for their business. The total amount of assets available for venture capital investments is of EUR 7.4M. Combined with bank financing, this will allow to finance investment projects with total assets of up toEUR 30M. The fund acts on behalf of various investors including the State.

Uldis Sipols

Has built up and been the leader of Kongsberg Norspace in Horten, Norway and its predecessors over a period of more than 30 years, starting with AME space division in 1984. AME Space AS, a separate company created in 1986, became Alcatel Space Norway (ASN) in 1989 after an MBO in 1988. As MD lead ASN to an international leading position, developingand manufacturing satellite electronic products for satellite manufacturers world-wide, growing the company from 15 to 130 employees and sales exceeding 20 million Euros. Started Norspace, who took over the business of ASN when Alcatel closed ASN in 2003 following the satellite industry downturn in 2001-2002. After another successful build-up of Norspace over eight straight profitable years sold the company to Kongsberg in 2011. Retired from the position of CEO of Kongsberg Norspace end of March 2015.Kongsberg Norspace products are now (2015) found in over 200 satellites, mostly used for telecommunications.Presently engaged as board chairman, board member and investor in various companies.

NNV is a seed stage VC fund. We invest in B2B startups from CEE and CIS region and help them to expand internationally

FlyCap AIF is a Venture Capital Fund of total size of 15.75 MEUR. The Fund provides growth capital for Latvia based SME’s in a form of investments in equity and mezzanine capital.

Lauris Liepa

We are a seed stage venture capital fund based in the Baltic states, backing ambitious Baltic founders anywhere in the world.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) aims to improve the European Union's economic, social, and territorial cohesion by resolving imbalances across its various regions. ERDF funds initiatives for which the European Commission and national and regional governments in member countries share responsibility. Each member state'sgovernment decides which initiatives to support and is responsible for their continued supervision.

EIT Urban Mobility is an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. Europe’s leading community for impact-driven start-ups and scale-ups in urban mobilityWe want to move cities toward a more sustainable future by partnering up with start-ups and scale-ups like yours. Our Impact Venturesdivision gives you access to funding and support channels to deliver financial, environmental and social impact on the urban landscapes around us. Our tools are: Funding through grants and equity investments, Knowledge and training through partner-led programmes, networking and introductions through dedicated support to our equity portfolio companiesOur investments provide you with a boost on your growth journey, and our network connects you with the right stakeholders in the public policy sector — on a regional, national and European-wide scale — to put your company on the map and bring your urban mobility services to the people who need it the most.If you’re like us and have a drive to shape the cities of our future, join our community of engaged and esteemed impactful ventures by applying for one of the many different programs we offer.

Nicolai Torgersen

Indrikis Liepa

Povilas Urbonas

AngelsBAND - business-angels in Belarus, support for startups with brainy funding

Ratmir Timashev possesses a rare combination of proven business savvy, forward-looking technical knowledge and market vision. Ratmir brings to bear more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience building, advising and investing in successful technology companies. As Veeam Software’s Co-Founder and Senior Vice President, Marketing and CorporateDevelopment Mr. Timashev is responsible for strategy and process execution on acquisitions and investments to expand Veeam’s total addressable market (TAM) as well as to build and lead the Veeam Global Marketing Organization in executing the marketing plan and strategy.In 1997, he founded Aelita Software, provider of award-winning Windows Server systems management software. In 2004, Aelita was acquired by Quest Software, and after ensuring the successful continuation of Aelita’s products and strategy at Quest, Ratmir founded Veeam Software to provide similar systems management solutions for modern virtualized data center infrastructures. Over the last decade, Ratmir’s vision and drive has seen Veeam to become one of the largest private software companies in the world with revenue booking projected to reach $1 Biillon in 2018 and 3,000 employees worldwide. Veeam has become the leader and the innovative provider of data management and protection by creating a new market category of Availability for the Always-On Enterprise.Ratmir earned a master’s degree in Chemical Physics from the Ohio State University in 1995. He continues to share his knowledge and ideas to fuel innovative IT solutions around the world.

Angel Parn

GITA Agency participates in the private and public sector knowledge, innovation and commercialization of research results and promote innovative entrepreneurship. One of the important directions of the formation of information society projects and programs necessary for the management and coordination of the implementation of the uniform policy.

Point Nine Capital is a Berlin-based venture capital firm focused exclusively on early-stage Internet investments in areas like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), online marketplaces, and mobile.The fund and its managers, Pawel Chudzinski and Christoph Janz have backed a number of highly successful Internet companies such as Delivery Hero, Clio,Shiftplanning, Vend, Typeform, and Zendesk from their earliest stages.

Siena is a VC firm mainly investing in startups in Estonia and California

Swedbank AB (formerly Föreningssparbanken) is a Nordic-Baltic banking group offering retail banking, asset management, financial, and other services.Swedbank is a modern bank firmly rooted in Swedish savings bank history.

Miko Malberg

Amazon Web Services provides information technology infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services. Its products and solutions include cloud computing, compute, networking, storage and content delivery, databases, analytics, application services, deployment and management, mobile services, applications, AWS marketplace software,startups, enterprises, partners, government and education, websites and web applications, big data and HPC, gaming, and digital media as well as backup, storage, and archive. The company also provides AWS management console, documentation, SDKs and tools, downloads, platforms, Java, JavaScript, mobile, PHP, Ruby, Python, Windows, .NET, resources, forums, tutorials and articles, whitepapers, training and certification, and AWS user groups for developers. In addition, it offers compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services; and mobile services, websites, and backup and recovery services. Amazon Web Services serves the government, education, and non-profit sectors in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, and internationally. Amazon Web Services was founded in 2006 and is based in Seattle, Washington. It has data center locations in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. It operates as a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc.

Smartup Ventures is a venture capital, a company that creates value by helping businesses grow faster. We create ventures by joining forces with everyone who shares our values and ambitions. By building strong partnerships with entrepreneurs, talents, business developers, angel investors, and venture investors.

Baltic Tech Ventures is the only publicly traded VC fund with an angel group focused on seed and early stage investment in the Baltic region. Investors can get involved with BTV in two ways: gaining exposure to the entire BTV portfolio by buying shares (NASDAQ:BTE1R) or by direct angel investment into one or more BTV portfolio companies. BTVangel investors benefit from the ability to invest directly into the Baltics' most promising startups on the same terms as the smartest money in the region. Unlike with other VC opportunities, BTV investors can select the companies they invest in, with low investment minimums, no management or success fees, and no lockup. BTV startups are fully vetted by BTV. BTV financials are fully audited, with regulatory oversight under Nasdaq.

Maksim Zakurdaev

Microsoft for Startups is a global program designed to help startups scale with free access to Azure cloud and a streamlined path into selling alongside Microsoft and our vast partner ecosystem.

We are a first check investor helping overlooked founders from peripheral European ecosystems defy the odds and create breakout companies.

We've been investing in pre-seed and seed stage product companies since 2012, from our home in London.

Mamba is the number one Russian online dating service, which cooperates with major portals including Mail.Ru, Rambler and MSN.com and over 30,000 others. The company’s database holds over 18.6 million registered users, over 40% of which are active. Mamba primarily targets customers in Russia and the CIS and is also going to launch dating servicesabroad. The business model is centered on the “pay as you go” principle: the users are more inclined to pay for additional instant low cost services, rather than bigger monthly subscription. Company’s billing system is one of the largest in the world with more than 40 possible ways to pay for Mamba’s services. According to various estimates, Mamba controls about 85% of the market.

Envac is one of the most innovative players in the global waste collection industry and inventor of the pneumatic waste collection system.

Marat is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry and early stage investor. He is the founder of several successful companies, including a consumer finance bank, few e-commerce companies and investment fund. He serves on the board of his several portfolio companies (Bioloka, Wow Cube, F3 and RelesticaHolding), utilizing his knowledge and expertise in Blockchain industry which he joined to in 2013 as a partner in Bitfury Group. In both as a fund and as an angel investor, Marat have invested in 30+ fin tech, e-commerce, blockchain technology, educational, healthcare and gaming companies, providing business expertise and financial & advisory support to founders. Marat has a master's degree in finance & business management and a bachelor's degree in law. In his free time, Marat likes surfing and skiing!

River Venture Partners is an angel syndicate that focuses on supporting early-stage entrepreneurs in digital media, marketing, e-commerce, entreprise and education technology.

Vesna Investment offers financing for internet start-ups. During the post-investment stage Vesna Investment will become an active partner, providing support and experience.

AdFirst.vc is a venture capital firm designed to co-invest with other VCs in early and expansion stage start-ups. They perform Marketing Due Diligence ads tests for start-ups and help the investor evaluate the reachable audience, check the marketing competencies of the team, and reduce the cost of attracting customers. Testing allows to confirm thecompany's capitalization and eliminate marketing risks. In the future, they oversee the marketing strategy of the project in order to control KPI.

Capitalia, a company listed on Nasdaq Baltic stock exchange, is the leading financer for small and medium enterprises in the Baltics. As our focus is set on SME’s we are able to provide financing that serves as a supplement or as an alternative to the loans issued by commercial banks. Since the founding of Capitalia in 2007 we have issued financingto more than 1000 companies and consulted more than 100 businesses in various financial matters.

Nikita Sergienko

Active investment firm that calling founders with a great product vision across diverse industries

ASP Asset Management enables clients to form investment syndicates for high-risk projects, allowing smaller investments across multiple startups to diversify risk.

Mail.ru Group was founded by Yuri Milner and is the largest Internet company in the Russian-speaking world. It is one of the largest Internet companies in Russia, and the world's seventh largest Internet business in terms of page views. Mail.ru Group operates two of the three largest Russian language social networking sites(Odnoklassniki.ru and Moi Mir@Mail.Ru), the two largest instant messaging networks in Russia (ICQ and Agent), Russia's leading email service, Russia's second largest Internet portal and Russia's largest online games company.Mail also holds strategic equity stakes of 32.49% in vKontakte, Russia's largest social networking site, and 25.09% in QIWI, formerly OE Investments, one of Russia's leading payment-processing companies. It also holds small minority stakes in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon.

Founder and managing partner of River Venture Partners angel syndicate. Venture partner at VC firm Newio. Tech investor focused on early-stage investments in B2B software companies in Northern Europe. Supporting investors and entrepreneurs in building digital businesses that change people's lives. Former chemical engineer, strategist, digitalproduct development executive, founder of SanomaVentures and Managing Director of KPN Ventures.

Almaz Capital is an international venture capital firm investing in early stage, capital efficient technology companies. A unique bridge fund headquartered in Silicon Valley, Almaz Capital connects Eastern European/former Soviet engineering and entrepreneurial talent to the U.S. market and helps build global businesses. The firm invests inhigh-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence and blockchain applications, data engineering, cybersecurity, industrial IoT, networking architecture and infrastructure. Its investors include Cisco, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. Founded in 2008, Almaz Capital has invested in over 30 portfolio companies and has had nine exits to date.

Elar is a full-stack engineer with 12+ years of experience. He has worked for different start-ups during his whole professional career and wouldn't change start-up life for anything. Elar was also the first employee of Estonian flagship startup Pipedrive. If he's not working then he's probably playing piano, writing music or hikingin the endless forests of Estonia.

The Fund for the Promotion of Venture Investment in Small Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere of Moscow was established by the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy of Moscow.

Lauri Isotamm

Richard Frank

Louis Paulsen

Lev Dolgatsjov

The first, indelible impression that most visitors get of the Latvian capital is its majestic skyline, as viewed from the left bank of the Daugava River. The slender Gothic spires of the Old Town’s many churches attest to the city’s long history, which stretches back to the 13th century. The panorama’s pleasing harmony is just the most visibleindication of the superb aesthetic sense that has shaped much of the city’s architecture up to the present day.Nowhere is that aesthetic more pronounced than in Centrs, the central part of Riga, which is the city’s economic, financial, and cultural core, as well as a UNESCO- designated World Heritage Site. One will find a breathtaking range of architectural styles in the historic centre – from Baroque to Classicism, from Renaissance to Art Deco, from Romanesque to NationalRomanticism. Furthermore, Riga’s wealth of Jugendstil or Art Nouveau buildings, complete with their fantastically ornate flourishes, stands out as unparalleled anywhere in the world. Yet equally unique are the many 19th century wooden buildings that have proudly withstood the pressures of commercialization and gentrification, retaining their place in Riga’s architectural cornucopia and currently undergoing state- of-the-art facelifts.But Riga is much more than just its history. Proud of its heritage, it is a thoroughly modern city with a highly developed infrastructure and opportunities for a variety of activities and entertainment. A city with rich musical traditions, today it boasts an excellent opera, several world- class choirs and outstanding classical orchestras, not to mention jazz, rock, and Riga’s skyline blues ensembles, plus a variety of other popular music bands performing in both concert halls and clubs.At the vanguard of dramatic art not only locally but on the European scale, the New Riga Theatre has much to offer to locals and visitors alike. Riga’s museums are definitely not dusty repositories of the past, but are instead putting an increasing emphasis on interactive displays and modern technologies, while the many art galleries compete with each other in trying to predict the trends of the future. Add to that the varied shopping venues and myriad cafés, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, and you get Riga in all its lively variety.What has always been central to the energy of the city, however, is its people. Located by an important waterway, the Daugava River, which connects the city to the Gulf of Riga and the Baltic Sea and thus to far-off lands, Riga has always been a transportation hub and a crossroads, where different cultures meet and intersect. Among its more than 700 000 inhabitants there are Latvians, Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, and other ethnic groups. All have left and are still leaving their mark on the customs, cuisine, and the very appearance of Riga. While the city’s relatively compact, urban space is ethnically mixed, it features many distinct neighborhoods, each with its own unique history and landmarks.Among Riga’s many treasures are its beautiful, well-tended gardens and parks, which occupies a substantial portion of the city’s territory. In fact, there are several good-sized forests within the city limits, where the locals love to take Sunday strolls, jog, watch birds, pick mushrooms in the autumn, and go skiing in the winter. In the spring, when the city’s many orchards are in bloom, white petals can be seen drifting through the air; then come the purples and pinks of lilacs, which are particularly spectacular along the crooked, dreamy side-streets of Pārdaugava, on the left bank of the river, to be followed in late June by the pale honey of blossoming lindens that line Riga’s stately boulevards.

Rein Raudjarv

Andris K. Berzins is the Managing Partner at Change Ventures. He attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Early-stage VC searching for the next Superheroes.