Funding, Dealflow And Startup Traction From Latvia: October

    1 funding round, 18 startups looking for funding, 4 awards, 6 traction reports and more. Stay on top of Latvian startup scene in one scroll:

    Funding rounds

    FlyCap invests €600K in manufacturer of AirDog Hanzas Elektronika

    FlyCap has invests €600,000 in Hanzas Elektronika, the company behind HansaMatrix. This is the manufacturer of the best drone of CES 2015 AirDog, one of the 3 leading electronics manufacturers in the Nordic and Baltic region. The company has ambitious expansion plans, including the building of a “Science Park” – a coworking space and business accelerator for startups in Latvia.

    Find out more here.

    Prize money & Awards

    BuyerDeck wins the Gold Award at MassChallenge UK

    Buyer portal creation tool for B2B sales BuyerDeck , co-founded by a guy from Latvia and the UK who could not close a sale, won Gold Award at MassChallenge UK 1-minute startup pitching competition. The winners are dubbed highest-impact startups among a pool of 89 contestants. In addition to the status, BuyerDeck also received £25,000 prize money.

    6 finalists of ERGO fintech academy selected, winner announced

    ERGO fintech academy organized by business incubator Eegloo has announced 6 startup teams.

    Despite not being a fintech startup, the tool for 360-degree exploration of spaces and premises Giraffe 360 has been selected as the winner of ERGO Fintech Academy organized by Eegloo on Oct 30. The startup received €2,000 prize money.

    ZoomCharts receives the Rising Star title

    The makers of interactive user interfaces for data exploration ZoomCharts that managed to attract 40+ B2B clients worldwide with zero marketing budget are now actively expanding international sales. The team has even received Rising Star title from the union of top Latvian exporting brands The Red Jackets.

    MIITO nominated for Designs of the Year 2015

    Berlin-based futuristic kettle Miito, co-created by Latvian designer Jasmina Grase has been nominated for Designs of the Year 2015 award. The product is doing well, currently trending in Top 3.

    You can still cast your vote here.

    Startup traction

    Mintos reaches €5 million invested through its platform

    The international P2P lending marketplace that connects investors with borrowers or loan originators Mintos that recently opened its operations in Georgia, is celebrating €5 million invested through its platform.

    Fabula launches in Finland

    Following goals set at their recent funding round, e-book streaming service Fabula launches in Finland, with more countries to follow. The app now hosts more than 12,000 books in 7 languages, including 300 Finnish titles ranging from Kerjäläinen ja jänis by Tuomas Kyrö to Odininlapsiby Siri Pettersen, sourced from 11 local publishers. The service is available for Android, iPhone and iPad.

    Find out more here.

    CheeksUp among the 7 best startups selected for Relevant Health Accelerator

    The Relevant Health, a health technology startup accelerator in the Washington, DC metro area, has announced its inaugural class. The 7 companies selected include Latvian CheeksUp: an interactive therapy game for children with facial disabilities.

    Find out more here.

    Clusterpoint moves from a database to a computing engine

    Clusterpoint database as a service co-founded by a former Google backend engineer announced its 4.0 version this week.

    Essentially, Clusterpoint goes beyond just letting their users store data in the cloud. Now they can also process the data right then and there and even run computations.

    Find out more here.

    Lineup of Latvian startups for Web Summit Dublin

    One of Europe’s biggest startup events, Web Summit Dublin takes place on Nov 3-5. 183 startups have been shortlisted to pitch at the event: 87 in alpha and 96 in beta mode. Latvia is represented by three companies: fintech tool Swipe that helps SMEs obtain quicker invoice payments, Blue Bridge Technologies solutions for healthcare, health insurance and wellness, as well as ZoomCharts – an user interface SDK for interactive data exploration.

    GaGaBeer brings Latvian beer to Google Play

    GaGaBeer announced the launch of their Android app this week. The team aspires to bring all information about Latvian beer in one place.

    Read the announcement here.

    Dealflow

    Dealflow from Latvia for Q3: 18 startups raising over €5 millionseed money

    18 Latvian startups looking for over €5 million seed money. Hot deals from B2B to B2C, from apps and games to health and nanotechnology.

    1. MaxTraffic – a platform for e-commerce sites to help them turn abandoning visitors into customers.
    2. Conelum – makes mandatory milk tests in dairy industry 50x faster.
    3. InSelly – the easiest tool for mobile selling on Instagram.
    4. MAHYDY – a heavy metal startup developing a new technology of anti-corrosion treatment for structural steel. Reduces bath maintenance costs 6X, reduces payback period till 2-3 years, improves the environmental friendliness of production.
    5. Spatial Initiatives – Developing next generation precision rangefinders for 3D imaging and survey instruments using only recently available multi-pixel photon-counting detector technologies.
    6. CheeksUp – an interactive speech therapy game for kids with 3D face movement tracking in real-time.
    7. PranaJet – a gadget for stress management by breathing using unique biofeedback method.
    8. Trip.Center – building the most convenient and powerful travel planning tool in the world.
    9. BranchTrack – changing how corporate training works through an elaborate yet user-friendly customer simulations platform.
    10. Adaplab develops new generation software products for industrial controllers in oil, gas and wind farm industries. The technology works 3X faster and 2X more efficiently than competing solution, increasing process stability 5X.
    11. Snowision is an automatic sensor system to monitor snow cover in Alpine ski resorts, saving up to 50% of their costs.
    12. ET Tech – B2B SaaS platform for HR and recruiting, which assesses professional competence using person’s eyes’ movements.
    13. Koatum – a med-tech startup developing a unique medical implant coating method, which provides 100% rejection safety and up to 2x faster healing.
    14. DexLab – technology that allows to produce dextran from natural, cheap and widespread materials, one of which is considered chemical waste.
    15. Nano Ray-T – produces all types carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with extremely high purity in 99.5% and stable characteristics.
    16. Adiabatic Nano Technologies has developed a method for adiabatic compression of monosilane that can be used for production of nanoscale silicon compounds, of high purity and extremely low dispersion for various energy, electronics, medical and other applications.
    17. Nano 55 – a revolutionary simple, one-step nano carbon tubes production technology.
    18. Reach.ly empowers e-retailers with information about individual behavior of a visitor and provide tools to engage in real-time.

    Find out more and reach out to founders here

    Other

    The founder of Infogr.am Uldis Leiterts wants Latvian startups to talk about the money

    The man who started Infogr.am talks about differences between garages in Tartu and Silicon Valley, 1€ to start a company and open policy discussions behind closed doors. All that on a quest to get Latvian startups talking about the money.

    See our candid conversation here.

    Finance ministry to deny the micro company status to 37 industries

    Latvian Ministry of Finance announced that companies in 37 industries will be prevented from functioning as micro companies. Among others, this includes IT, programming, research, science and other industries typical for innovative startups.

    We have surveyed 160+ Latvian startup founders, asking whether the change will negatively affect them and how they would react.

    You can see the results here.