BalticVC

Stapes , a Riga-based maker of vibroacoustic beds that help reduce stress, has raised €50K from a Latvian fund and accelerator Buildit . 

Riga-based investment firm New Nordic Ventures backed a US AI-powered training platform for brokerage companies and real estate teams Agently . The amount of the round is undisclosed.

Riga-based platform for digitizing and delivering of bulk materials transportation Viangoo has secured €100K as a follow-on investment from state-owned development finance institution Altum. In March, Viangoo also achieved its highest monthly turnover to date – almost €400K. Last month, it also saw a record amount of cargo delivered in one day – 117. 

Latvian LongeVC has invested in the US biotech startup Rubedo Life Sciences , which developed a drug discovery platform that helps to identify and target cells that cause aging. The €37,3M Series A round was led by Californian Khosla Ventures and London-based Ahren Innovation Capital, with participation from Saudi Arabian non-profit organization Hevolution Foundation, California-based VC R42 Group, Houston-based Modi Ventures, Singaporean Cerigo Investments, Californian investment firms Shanda Group and Refactor Capital, Italian Angels for Growth, and others.

Latvian AI-based career assistant Orbit8  has raised €155K out of its €200K target. Latvian fund and accelerator Buildit and a syndicate of Latvian business angels via investment funds ASP Asset Management AIFP and CR Capital (launched by Orbit8 founder Voldemars Bredikis) have already secured the funding. The expected valuation of Orbit8 after fundraising is €1M.

Latvian fintech inGain   has raised €650K from Estonian Trind VC, Budapest-based Fiedler Capital, Latvian business angels network (LatBAN), and several business angels. 

Tallinn-based AI copilot for small and large sales teams, Salesforge  has raised €470K from Latvian BADideas.fund , Estonian Spring Capital, Budapest-based Fiedler Capital, and Maciej Zawadzinski, a business angel from Poland.

Education platform Edurio , based in Latvia and the UK, has raised €636K from Lithuanian Practica Capital and some business angels from Latvia, the UK, and Australia. 

Riga-based New Nordic Ventures has invested in the Latvian verification platform for banks and other financial institutions Verifeye Online . The amount of funding was not disclosed, but New Nordic Ventures typically invests between €200K and €300K in the early stages.

Latvian LongeVC has invested in Zagreb-based biotech startup Ani Biome . The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Polish fintech AvaFin with Latvian roots has been acquired by South African retail bank Capitec. Capitec's stake in the company has increased to 97,69% after acquiring 57,03% of AvaFin for €26.3M. Following the acquisition, AvaFin's management will hold 2.31% of the company.

Garri Zmudze, a business angel and co-founder of Latvian LongeVC, has invested in three US-based startups.

Latvian medtech SepsiScan has recently raised €50K from the Latvian Commercialization Reactor Seed Fund.

Latvian augmented reality social networking platform RedFrog  has raised €50K from Latvian accelerator Buildit. The deal was closed in December 2023. 

According to the Lithuanian startup landscape report , in 2023, Lithuania maintains its position as the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the СEE region. The report shows that between 2018 and 2023, the Lithuanian ecosystem's value grew by 7.1 times. This is more than in Estonia and in Latvia, as well as in other Central European regions. By 2023, the value of the ecosystems in CEE increased only by 3.6x, in Estonia - by 2x, and in Latvia - by 5,9x.

Vilnius-based ed-tech Leya AI raises €1M in a pre-seed round from Czech V-Sharp Venture Studio, Finnish investment company Inventure, Latvian BADideas.fund, and several business angels.

Latvian Startups Association Startin.lv elected five members for its new board. One of the new members is head of operations at the Latvian BADideas.fund and head of customer success at the Latvian education platform Edurio Madara Knutina. Another newcomer is a Vice President at London-based bank account data tool GoCardless and a co-founder at Latvian fintech Nordigen Rolands Mestersan. An ex-board member of Startin.lv and a co-founder at Endurio Ernest Jenavs also joined Startin.lv.

Latvian BADideas.fund invested  in Ukrainian startup Respeecher , which developed a solution to replicate voices and produce synthetic recordings. The deal was closed in December 2023. The serial investor from the US Gary Vaynerchuk, New York-based ff Venture Capital, Ukrainian ICU Group, and SID Venture Partners also participated in a $1M pre-seed round.

Latvian solution for preventing excessive electricity consumption Peak Save raised €50K from Latvian accelerators Buildit and Commercialisation Reactor. The investment was provided as a convertible loan. Peak Save received this support after joining the 16th Batch of Buildit, an acceleration program, organized from September to December 2023.

Latvian Capitalia  has invested €85K in an Estonian proptech startup Rendin , and €50K in Latvian-founded VR startup Girrafe360 . This was told to BalticVC by Capitalia.