BalticVC

In 2025, startups in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania raised €607M in venture capital — an all-time record for the region and a 20% increase compared to 2024 (€505M). This is a turning point after two years of decline: the ecosystem has matured, rounds are less frequent but significantly larger, and foreign investors are actively returning.

In 2025 investment in Latvian startups grew by 190% to €73M. However, the actual amount may be even higher, as not all companies have publicly announced their investments. In 2024, the amount was much more modest – around €25M.

Objective and methodology of the survey The BalticVC media team conducted its second study of the Baltic startup ecosystem, the Baltic Startup Survey. The partner of the survey became Yellow Rocks! The study was conducted in the form of a survey of startup founders from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

The combined value of Estonia's 30 most valuable technology companies has grown by 35.2% to €27.7B in just two years, according to the TopTech 2025 report .

According to Startup Estonia , the turnover of the Estonian startup sector grew by a quarter in the first half of this year to a record €2.421B. In comparison, last year the turnover of the startup sector in the first half of the year amounted to €1.9B. However, investments in the first half of the year showed a clear downward trend.

Salaries in Lithuanian startups increased significantly in the second quarter of 2025, exceeding €4.6К per month, according to data from the association Unicorns Lithuania . 

In the first half of this year, Lithuanian startups attracted €167.7M in investments - 5 times more than in the same period last year. While the amount of investment has increased significantly compared to the first half of last year, when a total of €32M was raised, the number of startups that received it has dropped by 12% to 15 companies, according to data tracked by Unicorns Lithuania , a Lithuanian startup association.

According the annual survey of Baltic Private Equity and Venture Capital Market Overview 2024 from KPMG , fundraising activity decreased to €265M (down 67% year-on-year). This is after two outstanding fundraising years in 2022 and 2023, when Baltic fund managers raised more than €1.5B. 

According to the Lithuanian startup association Unicorns Lithuania, there are currently almost 1,1K startups operating in Lithuania. In the first quarter of this year, they paid €128.2M in taxes - 19% more than a year ago and 5% more than in the previous quarter, according to Unicorns Lithuania data.

According to new data published by Invest Lithuania, the national investment attraction agency, the number of fintech companies operating in Lithuania in 2025 has reached 282. This is a 2% increase compared to the same period last year, when 276 fintech companies were operating in the country.

In 2024, members of the Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) invested a total of €15.8M in startups. In 2023, the figure was €13.32M.

In the annual PitchBook 2024 Global League Tables ranking, Baltic venture funds FIRSTPICK , Coinvest Capital and Startup Wise Guys ranked  among the top three most active venture capital investors in CEE taking second and third place.

According to Startup Estonia , the turnover of startups in Estonian county Ida Viru in 2024 amounted  to €5.4M, an increase of 66% compared to the previous year. 

Startup Estonia presented data on Estonian startups for the year 2024.

Estonia's e-residents opened 4,818 new companies in 2024, an average of 400 new companies per month, which is an absolute record in the 10 years of the program's operation. 

In 2024, funding for startups in the Baltic countries decreased. However, the situation stabilized somewhat in the second half of the year. This is the conclusion reached by Change Ventures and FIRSTPICK in a new report on startup funding in the Baltic States for the second half of 2024. 

Estonia has retained its status as the leading EU country in AI for the second year in a row, scoring 15% more points than Germany, the runner-up in the Startup Ecosystem Awards. France, Switzerland and Romania also made it into the top five. Estonia ranks 6th place in the world country ranking.

According to Dealroom's latest report, Lithuania's startup ecosystem continues to grow strongly. Last year, its total value increased by €2B, and in the decade since 2014, the value of Lithuanian startups has grown 39 times - from €419M to €16B.

Venture capitalist with Estonian roots Steve Juvertson, founder of the US fund Future Ventures, gave an interview to BalticVC in which he spoke about his vision of the future of AI and other modern technologies. He also explained how he chooses companies to invest in and gave some advice on how Baltic startups can find their place in the international market.

We want to share a podcast, made by Google AI-pilot. It consists of a short review of the Baltic Startups Survey 2024, revealing its main ideas in plain English. If you prefer to get information informally, you should listen to it.