On October 9, Lithuania’s largest startup ecosystem event, “Startup Fair,” brought together for the 13th time a vibrant community of startups, investors, and innovation enthusiasts from Lithuania and around the world. The event culminated with the “Pitch Battle” — where seven top-performing startups were invited to negotiate a record-breaking investment amount totaling €17.3 million.

Global Names and Trends

“Lithuania is successfully establishing itself as a regional innovation hub — this year, in the Global Innovation Index, our country climbed two positions and reached its highest ranking ever, 33rd place among 139 countries. Lithuania’s growing importance on Europe’s innovation map can be strongly felt at ‘Startup Fair,’ which each year becomes a productive space for ecosystem players to meet, exchange knowledge, and network,” said Edvinas Grikšas, Lithuania’s Minister of the Economy and Innovation, who opened the event.

As usual, “Startup Fair” offered a wide range of talks and discussions. Among the most notable guests this year were Uri Levine, one of the founders of the navigation platform Waze; Kateryna Kruk, Head of Regional Public Policy at Meta; and Jeff Cabili, a nonverbal communication and storytelling expert and founder of the How2Captive platform.

The event addressed global trends and specific challenges faced by ecosystem participants. Topics ranged from Europe’s competitiveness with Silicon Valley and the search for AI-driven value creation, to building unicorns and the nuances of startup communication with international media. In total, attendees could listen to 25 talks, success stories, and discussions across two stages.

Investments and Awards for Startup Growth

By the end of the day, 39 selected startups from 10 different countries competed for investors’ attention in the “Pitch Battle” finale. Seven startups stood out and were recognized by industry leaders.

Among them were startups from Lithuania, Estonia, and the United Kingdom: Fivrec, Dnamic, Traxlo, Boomio AI, Luna Robotics, PowerUp Energy Technologies, and BOLDR.

The winners will negotiate with investors for a record-breaking potential investment amount of €17.3 million. The prize fund was established by the Lithuanian Business Angels Network (LitBAN), Coinvest Capital, BSV Ventures, Latvian Business Angels Network (LatBAN), Plug and Play Lithuania, and Aneli Capital.

The “Pitch Battle” participants competed not only for investments but also for additional prizes.

• Fondia Lithuania awarded €3,000 worth of legal services to the startup Misslaboratory.
• Sorainen granted a €3,000 legal services package to Traxlo.
• TRINITI JUREX and Ogilvy introduced a new strategic support package for startups covering legal and brand protection services — this prize went to .lumen.
• Traxlo also received the TalentHub award — a €3,000 recruitment services credit.

The Goal – Keep Up the Growth Momentum

“The ‘Pitch Battle’ final once again demonstrated the maturity of Lithuania’s innovation ecosystem. The event featured numerous promising solutions that earned positive feedback from industry leaders. This reflects the overall growth and vitality trends of the Lithuanian startup ecosystem, which continue despite geopolitical challenges.

According to the latest Dealroom report, in 2024 the total value of Lithuania’s startup ecosystem increased by €2 billion. And even though 2025 isn’t over yet, investment volumes have already surpassed last year’s total, reaching more than €174 million this year. This is significant growth — but it’s crucial not to lose momentum,” said Karolina Urbonaitė, Head of the “Startup Lithuania” division at the Innovation Agency.

The main “Startup Fair” conference was accompanied by side events organized by partners, as well as the “Investor Camp” held on October 8 at the Energy and Technology Museum, dedicated to investors. Startup representatives, investors, and other industry professionals also had opportunities to exchange contacts and build business relationships during informal networking sessions.

The “Startup Fair” event is organized by the Innovation Agency’s “Startup Lithuania” team together with the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation. Main event partners – SEB Bank, Karma.vc, Kilo Health, and Go Vilnius.