Most Challenging lithuania-Based startups
Transcription
Most Challenging lithuania-Based startups
Startup WIKI 2013 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 10,00 Lt / 2,90 € 2,50 £ / 4,00 $ TOP State Support for Fledgling Business 93 Success Factors for Fledgling Business Startup Infrastructure in Lithuania What Is the Demographic Picture of Startupers? ISSN 2029-8056 Most Challenging Lithuania-Based Startups 2013 gruodis / 2014 sausis Nr. 12 (29) BZN Start is a business magazine which publishes only inspirational and positive stories. We share with you first-hand knowledge of HOW to build a business. Drawing on the stories of people from the business, sports, and entertainment world as well as lay citizens who have set up their own enterprises, we will attempt to encourage active and creative people to undertake initiatives. 5 Overview 6 What changes are taking place in the technology business? 44 Technology Startup 68 Pupil Startup 63 Startup Immigrant 70 Startup Student 65 Startup Franchise 72Spinn Off Startup 66 Startup 40 + 74 The Picture of Most Challenging Opinion Success factors for fledgling business 10 State Support Funding and subsidies for startups and business development 12 State Support Free services for those planning their own business and those who already have one Photo: © BFL / Butautas barauskas, Andrius Ufartas, from personal archive 16 Business Guide For those who seek quick success 18 Startup Infrastructure Startup communities, science & technology parks, and accelerators 21 Startups WIKI 2013 23 Startup Atspausdinta ant perdirbto popieriaus Lithuania-Based Startups Leidėjas UAB „Glaveckaitė Media“. Redakcijos adresas: J. Galvydžio g. 3-304, LT-08236 Vilnius. Tel. + 370 5 274 5840, e. p.: [email protected], www.bznstart.lt. Mėnesinis iliustruotas leidinys. Leidžiamas nuo 2011 m. spalio 15 d. Vyr. redaktorė Živilė Glaveckaitė. Redakcija: Dario Malinowski, Gintaras Gimžauskas, Jana Saifulinaitė, Juliana Miliut, Karolina Kondratjevaitė, Povilas Sabaliauskas, Rasa Petrauskaitė, Justina Ūsaitė, Tomas Fedaravičius. Tekstus redagavo VšĮ Kalbos ir komunikacijos centras. Viršelis ir žurnalo dizainas Gabrielės Rybinaitės („MIRANDA Design Solutions“). Viršelio nuotrauka BFL/ Butauto Barausko. Teisininkė Irma Perveneckaitė, e. p. [email protected]. Pardavimo vadybininkė Lina Matukienė, e. p. [email protected], pardavimo asistentė Agnė Kačėnaitė, e. p. [email protected]. Reklama e. p. [email protected], tel. + 370 6 555 9232. Portalo dizaineris Marijanas Medinskij, e. p. marijan.medinskij@bznstart. lt. Prenumerata internetu: www.bznstart.lt/prenumerata, e. p. [email protected] ir tel. + 370 5 274 5840. Spaudė UAB „Spaudos kontūrai“. Tiražas 6 000 egz. Tiražas audituojamas UAB „MOKAM“©. Platinti šio leidinio tekstus ir vaizdo informaciją galima tik gavus raštišką redakcijos sutikimą. Už užsakovų reklamos turinį ir klaidas redakcija neatsako. Kitas numeris bus išleistas 2014 m. vasario 1 d. 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 3 Overview Are Taking Place in the Technology Business? By Tomas Fedaravičius Photo: Flickr.com Changes taking place in the technology business over the past years was at the core of my talk with CEO of Vilnius-based Northtown Technology Park (Šiaurės miestelio technologijų parkas), Gediminas Pauliukevičius. Just a decade ago, young people creating world-changing technologies in a garage would have been something you could hear about only in the Silicon Valley, but not in Vilnius or Kaunas. 4 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) Guys, You Are Worth of Millions! CEO of Northtown Technology Park told me about exciting Lithuanian scientists’ visits in foreign countries 5-10 years ago to present their ideas to potential investors. At that time, we lacked in knowledge not only of how investment infrastructure operates, but also of how to present yourself in an attractive way. “A group of IT specialists, we went to an investors’ forum in the United States. After the Lithuanians presented their ideas and technologies, investors asked: ‘How much do you want for your technology?’ Our specialists pointed out 10-20 thousand USD. The Americans joked: ‘We can give you the sum right away, but maybe you shouldn’t be selling yourself so cheaply? Guys, put in some work and you’ll be worth of millions!” Pauliukevičius recalls the first attempts to attract foreign investors. We Have Become More Open We have gradually picked up the skills to present and evaluate ourselves adaquately. Furthermore, scientists have started to look for possibilities of attracting investors in Lithuania too. However, at first Lithuania-based business angels and venture capital funds used to demand majority shareholding of the startup in exchange for major early-stage investments. Later they began to realise that after selling their idea and business, scientists tended to become demotivated to go on working for the investors who had taking over their startup. At present venture capital investors do not normally claim for more than 30 percent of the startuper’s shares and are much more willing to share their expertise and advice. “Mutual understanding has been built up. Earlier there was a popular notion that after revealing the idea to an investor, the latter would simply steal it. However, the exciting thing about the technology business is that without knowledge you can’t create here anything. Investors make business with investments, but not by creating technologies, so the idea theft is a tale rather than a real fact. Why not be the first to develop the idea and break through your competitors?” explained Gintaras Pauliukevičius. Bankruptcy Perceived As a Life Lesson Competition in the technology business is fierce. Only one out of ten startupers manage to achieve successful growth of their business. Nevertheless, Pauliukevičius thinks that we can look at these figures from a different point of view. If you try to succeed ten times, your technology will appear to be worth of something while you will have learned a lesson from your mistakes and will be able to create a successful business. Low ability to handle failures is still undermining Lithuanian people’s entrepreneurship. In the US and Israel, famous for technology startups, bankruptcy is perceived as a serious lesson while in our country it is considered a 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) The new generation of entrepreneurs base their activity on different algorithms of success. There is much more openmindedness and courage to test one's own ideas in the global market too. Gintaras Pauliukevičius Photo: from personal archive What Changes shame and a sign for a loser. Things are getting better though; the new generation of entrepreneurs eagerly acquire expertise abroad and base their activity on different algorithms of success – instead of complaining and lamenting they go on working with determination. There is much more open-mindedness and courage to test one’s own idea not only in Lithuania, but also in the global market. More Attractive Infrastructure for Cooperation Between Science and Business “Lithuania will soon enjoy one of the best infrastructures for cooperation between science and business: science parks and valleys as well as investment zones with great conditions for scientists and technology companies. However, to my mind, Lithuanians alone will not manage to create as many technology businesses as this infrastructure would allow for. Therefore, we need to attract more strategic foreign technology companies to these science valleys, so that smaller businesses could form symbiotic clouds around them. I have no doubts that our country then will become home to businesses that will be making Lithuania’s name known all over the world,” concluded Gintaras Pauliukevičius. 5 Opinion for Fledgling Business Expansion Makes Young Entrepreneurs Burn Out Photo: Dreamstime.com 6 Head of Business Customers Department and Board member at Lietuvos Draudimas insurance company Before beginning to explore factors for success, we need to answer one question: how do people become entrepreneurs? I would classify those willing to start a business into three groups. The first group includes people who are born entrepreneurs. Business is their vocation. Without even completing any studies, they are capable of finding a field of activity where they can excel. This type of people normally achieve good results and manage to create a successful business. Yet there are only a few of them. The second group is much larger and consists of people who complete some kind of studies, work in different enterprises for some time, acquire relevant experience, and after they have accumulated some expertise, decide to start a business of their own. The third group comprises those who have been dreaming about the freedom businesspeople enjoy since childhood, but never do too much and never invent a wheel. To put it simply, these people tend to copy. Some of them are successful, the others are not. We shouldn’t forget that any story of success we come to enjoy contains a lot of stories of failure. Only no one talks about them; on the contrary, there is a tendency to conceal them. You need to understand that not everyone achieves success. I am convinced that a person who has chosen to walk the entrepreneurial path must be able to assess her/ his potential and decide which she/ he is better at – creating or executing. Personal qualities are vital to success in business. Another question to ask yourself is how you are going to position your business – are you going deep and narrow or wide and shallow? I would suggest the first variant for starters, i.e. explore one field in depth and do what you are best at. It is crucial to understand that a successful entrepreneur is the best expert in her/ his field. Expansion makes young entrepreneurs burn out: they run short of energy, resources, and the ability to manage business. Thus leave development for the future and take up the activity in which you excel. 5 Things You Need To Know If You Want To Achieve SUCCESS, According to Darius Nedzinskas There are no unfavourable market conditions for business; there are only unfavourable, unwise, and untimely solutions. A startuper is like a one-man band, so it is very important to keep playing your piece to the end. It is not a business plan laid out in the paper by specialists, but personality that affects the investors’ decision. As the saying goes, ‘Measure nine times, cut once.’ When you start a business of your own, measure ninety-nine times and from all perspectives. I don’t believe in spontaneous ideas. I don’t believe that an ingenious idea can pop into your head out of the blue, when crossing a street. I think that it results from all experiences and knowledge that have accumulated in the unconscious over the years. Jurgita Blazgienė Head of Small Business Support Department at Swedbank A Good Start Is Just the Beginning Nowadays it hardly takes a few days to start a business. Nevertheless, to turn a startup idea into a thriving business, you need not only ambition, but also a considerable deal of expertise. Even a good start is just the first step on the entrepreneurial path. Think About Development After One Year Beginning entrepreneurs need to deal with a series of challenges over the first years. You form a reliable team, look for customers, and attempt to ensure a steady supply of goods and services. From the very first days, you are bound to face various financial issues, plan marketing solutions, build your competitive advantage, and analyse the legal context of your business. Once you have overcome the first-year challenges of searching for solutions, it is time to think about development possibilities. Banks can help fledgling businesses to assess their actual potential for development and choose the right pace for growth. However, to achieve success in your first talk with a bank, it is vital to do the homework beforehand and assess the financial state of your enterprise thoroughly. It Is Important To Know the Answers The bank that provides financing and the enterprise that receives the funds share the same expectations: we want the enterprise to operate profitably and manage its finances responsibly. Therefore, bank specialists will need to know the enterprise better before making the decision. We are going to ask you not only about the shareholders’ participation in the business, but also about the market for the business, your competitors, and the strengths and weaknesses of your business. Be prepared to say what risk factors your enterprise might face and how you are going to handle them. We will also be interested in what the stability of your business is based on and how you are planning to ensure its viability. Your competence is important to us too; we assess the background and experience of the company’s directors as well as their expertise in the sector. We will also want to know how the enterprise has managed to handle various commitments: whether it has always managed to settle mobile phone and utility services payments in time and whether it has never been late to fulfil other financial obligations. Knowing the answers to these questions is important not only for the bank, but also for entrepreneurs themselves. Only after you have analysed your business environment, thoroughly explored your competitors’ markets, and become aware which factors foster the development of your business and which undermine it, you can expect a successful future for your company. Photo: from personal archive Photo: BFL / Andrius Ufartas SUCCESS Factors Darius Nedzinskas Photo: BFL / Butautas Barauskas Opinion Long-Term or Short-Term Financing? Before going to the bank, decide what exactly you need financing for. Fledgling businesses are often challenged by a lack of working capital: your business has moved into full swing, your products or services are in demand, you are developing more and more contacts with potential partners, but a lack of working capital interferes with smooth activity. Short-term financing solutions are best when your customers are late to pay the accounts or when your suppliers offer an attractive price for the product you need right now. Long-term financing may be required when a company starts to plan development, acquisition of real estate, or purchase of commercial equipment. If you have the answers to all the questions above, your enterprise is transparent and open, has sorted out its priorities, and seeks sustainable growth, which means that you and we can work together. 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) Šarūnas Sakalauskas Deputy Vice-Rector of Mykolas Romeris University Success Is Not a Result; It Is a Process Success is a notion that can be perceived in a number of individual ways. For instance, with reference to fledgling businesses, Sir Winston Churchill's insight speaks for itself: 'success is the ability to move from one failure to another without losing enthusiasm.' Measuring success becomes clearer when we agree on the criteria. When assessing success for fledgling business, I would like to single out one of the criteria as the most important one. It is the ability to be modern, i.e. the ability to capture and manage global trends and universal pulse in a culturally meaningful way. I am personally attracted to peer-to-peer (P2P) businesses, in which intermediaries are no longer necessary, and resource exchange takes place directly between consumers. It has now become very interesting to observe changes related to this aspect in the financial services sector and music industry. I think that timely awareness of the P2P principles may be a fairly good start for success of any business. For success is not a result; it is a process. 7 State support State support Investment and Business Guarantees (INVEGA) UAB Portfolio guaranties Currently Offers Loan Funding and Subsidies for Startups or Business Development INVEGA invites to learn more about business funding possibilities in Lithuania and venture to launch and develop your own businesses. More information on the measures administrated by INVEGA is available at www.invega.lt. 10 I. Soft Loans for Startups and Business Development Microloans FOR WHAT: startups or business development, investment or operating capital needs. HOW MUCH: up to LTL 86,000 from the Entrepreneurship Promotion Fund (VSF). WHO CAN APPLY: small and micro enterprises (up to 1 year) social businesses self-employed natural persons under a business certificate or carrying out individual activity under a business certificate and seeking to launch or develop their business. EXTRA BENEFITS: a recipient of a VSF loan can not only benefit from INVEGA guarantee of up to 80 percent of the loan amount and recover as much as 95 percent of the paid interest but also receive compensation for the share of remuneration of its employees. The recovered funds can be further invested in business development; therefore, such instruments this way facilitate the initial stage of a startup and help to safely develop a new business. Microloan lending comes with free training and consultations for startups and assistance in drafting and implementing business plans. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT: those planning to launch their business can apply for microloans to the Lithuanian Central Credit Union or the nearest credit union by June 30, 2014 or make a toll-free call at 8 800 11 211. More information is available at www.lku.lt. Financial instruments Soft loans and credit lines from the Open Credit Fund (AKF) FOR WHAT: for business development, both for operating capital needs and new investment. HOW MUCH: one AKF credit can reach up to LTL 1.5 mln. WHO CAN APPLY: an SME entity. The banks Medicinos bankas, AB Citadele bankas and AB bankas Finasta are the Fund’s lenders for small businesses. HOW DOES IT WORK: The selected banks that take part in the implementation of this instrument must add at least 25 percent of their own funds to the AKF funds. As a result, the total loan amount of the instrument can reach LTL 2 million. Bank interest for both loans and credit lines usually ranges from 5 to 6 percent. When borrowed from the AFK, the banks currently can offer approximately 3.5 percent interest. Shared risk loans FOR WHAT: for investment and operating capital needs if the SME activities expand due to such funding. HOW MUCH: loans of up to LTL 16.5 mln. WHO CAN APPLY: an SME entity. HOW DOES IT WORK: the banks must add at least 50 percent of their own funds when issuing this type of loan. If the project and enterprise satisfy the requirements, the enterprises can take advantage of INVEGA guarantees and partial interest claim when taking out loans. The loans are granted by AB Šiaulių bankas, AB SEB bankas and Swedbank. More information is available at www.sb.lt, www.seb.lt, www. swedbank.lt. 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) FOR WHAT: to credit small and medium enterprises. HOW MUCH: 80 percent of the loan amount is guaranteed, this way reducing the obstacles for SME entities to receive funding when there is a lack of collateral. WHO CAN APPLY: an SME entity. HOW DOES IT WORK: the selected banks apply more favourable collateral requirements and lower interest rates to the recipients of guaranteed loans. The instrument is implemented by Nordea Bank Finland Plc Lithuania Branch and AB Šiaulių bankas. More information is provided by the banks implementing the instrument at www.sb.lt and www.nordea.lt. II. Guarantees for Reduction of Risk and Collateral Requirements Individual guarantee for business success FOR WHAT: to solve the problem of unattractive or insufficient collateral. HOW MUCH: the repayment of the first tranche to the credit institution is guaranteed of up to 80 percent of the loan amount. The credit institution ensures the repayment of the remaining non-guaranteed tranche through the collateral offered by the SME entity by pledging the assets acquired for the loan funds. WHO CAN APPLY: an SME entity. paid interest. WHO CAN APPLY: SME entities that have been granted an INVEGA loan with guarantee or without. Guaranteed INVEGA loans Non-guaranteed INVEGA loans The purpose of the loan Investment and operating capital needs Investment in Investment and production and operating capital equipment (by 31 needs 12 2013) The maximum loan amount Up to LTL 2.5 mln Compensated share Up to 50 percent Up to 50 percent 95 percent Compensation period By 30 09 2015 By 30 09 2015 By 30 09 2015 Support for youth employment (Support for the first job) FOR WHAT: to be used by employers who have hired employees without work experience, i.e. for the calculated wage of a young person (up to the age of 29 years) who has his or her first job. HOW MUCH: compensation covers 23.3 percent of the calculated wage but not exceeding LTL 1,700. Wage is compensated for no longer than 12 months. WHO CAN APPLY: private and public legal persons (except for budgetary institutions), foreign branches of companies and agencies in Lithuania, which have hired a young employee, can apply for the instrument. VSF loans Up to LTL 86,000 and those above 50 years old) or to LTL 25,000 if the applicant is from the priority group. WHO CAN APPLY: recipients of a VSF loan (except for social businesses) if: the loan is used op (factual spending of the loan funds under the loan agreement with a credit institution). the employee(s) are hired under an employment contract. the calculated monthly wage of the employee(s) is not smaller than a monthly minimum wage. the wage of the employee(s) is not compensated through other programmes. Applications to INVEGA must be submitted by May 31, 2014. Applications to INVEGA must be submitted by September 30, 2015. Support for preservation of created jobs III. Non-Repayable Business Aid Partial compensation of interest FOR WHAT: to reduce business funding costs. HOW MUCH: as much as 95 percent of interest of the VSF loans. Loans with INVEGA guarantee or without are subject to up to 50 percent compensation of the FOR WHAT: to be used from the end of August 2013 by business starters who have used or will use a soft VSF loan for startups or business development. Under the instrument Entrepreneurship Promotion Subsidies, their employees will be subject to partial wage cost compensation. HOW MUCH: the maximum aid amounts to LTL 20,000 if the applicant does not fall into the priority group (young people up to the age of 29 years, the unemployed, the disabled 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 11 Free services State support Technostartas Support for technology business startups For who: everybody who has ideas about creating an innovative business based on latest technologies. Natural persons seeking support for their new startup businesses are welcome to take part in the project Technostartas to be selected among 45 best ones who will get assistance in establishing their technology companies. Startups will receive a fixed size 12 month service package for startup incubation. The package will contain the rent of premises at science and (or) technology parks, running costs and acceleration services based on pre-defined business development plan by the mentor. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? Ideas for the evaluation should be submitted by March 1, 2014 by filling out a simplified application at MITA website at http://idejubankas.mita.lt/. 12 For who: given to all of those who just started or are wishing to launch an innovative business (for domestic or international market, with a great development potential and based on high tech). Basket holders are entitled to counseling of professionals. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? http:// www.verslilietuva.lt/lt/paslaugos/ paslaugos-pradedantiems-versla/ inovatyvaus-verslo-pradzios-krepseliai/ First business year baskets FOR WHO: given to people under 30 years old wishing to go into a traditional business. A basket holder who establishes a company within 6 months from the receipt of the basket can get 50 hours of consultation time and 24 hours of training time. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? http://www.verslilietuva.lt/lt/paslaugos/paslaugos-pradedantiemsversla/verslo-pradzios-krepseliai/ For Those Who Already Have One Startup Lithuania events For who: a series of free educational events for startups or those interested in the field. Events will present basics of teambuilding, business plan drafting, employment of virtual tools, conducting marketing analysis, image formation and idea selling, etc. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? www.startupLithuania.com Hackathons Silicon Valley Comes to the Baltics FOR WHO: the largest 2-day conference in the Baltic States for promotion of youth entrepreneurship and motivation. Conference speeches will be given by successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, the event will be attended by representatives of foreign startups. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? http://svc2baltics.startuplithuania.lt/ For who: 48-72 hour events intended to team up enthusiasts who in several dozens of hours produce an innovative product idea and develop a prototype. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? www.startup Lithuania.com 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) Startup Lithuania Roadshow Expert counseling and ideas for implementation For who: small and medium enterprises (SME). Participants are invited to check the feasibility of their ideas and estimate market potential. Businesses often face the problem of limited financial capabilities to embody their ideas; as a result, they are left unimplemented or postponed for the future. Approved ideas will be forwarded to two experts. Their conclusions will be delivered within 30 working days from the day of the receipt of the application. A SME entity can offer up to 10 ideas. All enterprises that will have benefited from expert consultations on the idea implementation will be entitled to a free of charge market analysis in Lithuania and two chosen foreign countries. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? It only takes registering your idea at http://idejubankas. mita.lt/ by January 31, 2014. a project designed to attract international investors’ attention to Lithuania’s startups. Selected and trained teams of the best Lithuanian startups go on roadshows to foreign cities where they present their ideas to investors as well as take part in various international technology conferences. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? http://www.startuplithuania.lt/en/ startup-roadshow Startup Nitro Academy a series of free educational events, during which startups can have a round table discussion with foreign professionals in their field, ask questions and get answers, as well as benefit from business consultations. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? http://www.verslilietuva.lt/ 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 13 Photo: Flickr.com For Those Planning Their Own Business Startup baskets Startup Nitro State support VALSTYBĖS State support PARAMA For who: EU support instrument InnoVouchers LT are available to aspiring innovative micro, small or medium enterprises, entrepreneurs, or other legal persons that meet the definition of a SME entity. The applicant must be operational for a minimum of 6 months with a turnover of no less than LTL 10,000. The applicant must be a legal person that has been operational for a minimum of 6 months. BENEFIT: innovation voucher is quick money for business as it is subject to simplified procedures of support allocation. Support in the form of innovation vouchers is given for applied research and experimental development projects which aim at creating and improving technologies, products and services: to conduct a feasibility study and develop product layout, prototypes, industrial and other type of design, etc. . Entrepreneurs have a list of over 1,200 academic and research institutions to choose from for the services to be rendered. The maximum project cost (fixed amount) is LTL 20,000. Funding intensity of MITA is up to 80 percent of the amount requested. The funding is allocated as de minimis aid. HOW TO BENEFIT FROM IT? Invitations are published at http://www.mita. lt/. InnoVouchers LT statistics for 2013 (2nd call) Scientific institutions have offered as many as 1,251 services for business A total of 228 applications have been submitted 178 applications have been awarded funding Allocated financial support amounts to LTL 2.5 mln. 14 Photo: Flickr.com Innovation Vouchers For Those Who Already Have One Success Stories Coffee Inn (Keturi kambariai UAB) and Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) What problem is tackled? Coffee grounds go into municipal waste and are disposed of in landfills. It has been estimated that dry coffee grounds contain around 15 percent oil. This kind of waste could be used in a more productive way by extracting added-value oil. Coffee grounds after extraction become highly valuable raw material for compost producers. The decision on the investment in the production of oil from coffee grounds requires data on the costeffectiveness of production process. Result achieved: methodology of oil production from coffee grounds has been prepared. E-Verslo Klasteris UAB and KTU Ecococon UAB and KTU What problem is tackled? Increasingly more people choose ecofriendly and energy efficient houses. The company is producing straw bale panels which meet all of the ecological criteria, yet, they fail to satisfy requirements for low-energy buildings. Building a straw bale panel house mostly involves almost natural materials, such as wood, straw, and clay. The technology of straw bales insertion into panels is unique. It requires conducting research into the concordance of physical properties of straw bale panels and low-energy buildings. Result achieved: optimisation of the structure of stuffed straw by achieving the highest possible thermal insulation and the lowest possible thickness of a panel. Optimal strength of plaster adhesion has been determined, in addition to density and water vapor permeability in straw. What problem is tackled? How to make payments without a confirmation from the central e-wallet server, this way ensuring a faster payment for services. It requires a security module in the service provider’s terminal and an algorithm for secure data recording on the card, also ensuring information synchronisation with the central ewallet server later. Result achieved: a prototype has been created which allows a secure and direct payment by e-wallet without having to use its central server. 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 15 Business Guide Business Guide 2 For Those Who Seek Quick Success Is being ambitious a positive or negative personality trait? I am convinced that it would be difficult to find a thriving entrepreneur who would be lacking in ambition. For there is a driving force in ambition that keeps you moving forward. On the other hand, it is an unreasonable ambition that young entrepreneurs often stumble upon. According to Algimantas Variakojis, partner at Business Angels Fund I, one of the chief mistakes that entrepreneur beginners make is that they seek to get everything fast. “Rush rarely helps; it most often hinders”, the finance expert says. 16 Photo: BFL / Butautas barauskas By Karolina Kondratjevaitė Success is not about breaking the rules; it is about having the courage to discover new, alternative ways Algimantas Variakojis 1 Ask Yourself Questions You must admit that when doing even the simplest of the jobs in a rush, you make mistakes. We notice and correct some of them at once, but the other ones may take their toll on us. “I’m not suggesting procrastination; however, before starting a business you should think twice about what you are going to do and with what resources,” says Variakojis. “Ask yourself questions: are there other ways to what I’m going to do? do I have alternatives?” The expert advises that you never limit yourself to plan A. Don’t Rush to Buy Furniture “Some young entrepreneurs rush to register their enterprise, purchase furniture, computers and other facilities, hire employees, pay out big salaries and only after this do they start thinking about what they are really going to do,” Variakojis says, pointing this out as the critical mistake that entrepreneur beginners make. akojis has another observation to share. “Young people lack in communication experience. They have a hard time paying attention to another person, hearing others’ opinions and ideas. Many of them go to extremes to advocate for their truths. One should keep in mind that the aim of the interview is to attract investments, but not to prove that you are a smarter negotiator and can vanquish your investor,” smiled the expert. 3 Find Out What Can Be Improved “Ideas don’t breed in the air. You need to look around and observe who does what and how, spot the drawbacks and ask yourself in what way it can be done better,” says Variakojis. “If one has the opportunity, I recommend that they travel more and spend some time working abroad.” In his opinion, knowing the foreign markets is of great use. Get Experience Algimantas Variakojis is convinced that before starting your own business it is useful to spend some time working in a similar industry: a finance specialist should try a bank, an IT professional an information technology company, etc. “This way you will find out about different drifts in a certain business, about employee recruiting and – even more important – firing procedures, about different types of employment contracts and in which cases and for what reasons they are made as well as about how one should advertise their business and sell their ideas,” says Variakojis. 6 7 Don’t Be Afraid To Share “It has been already said a lot about the situation when a person has a good idea, but is afraid of sharing it with others,” says Variakojis. “I would advise these people to remember one thing: an idea that you haven’t begun to realise equals to an idea that hasn’t been realised at all. Sometimes you need to take a risk.” 8 Don’t Be A Jack Of All Trades “One faces yet another problem when the business is run by the ‘I’ll do it all myself’ principle,” says Algimantas Variakojis. “This is when small but indispensable tasks such as book-keeping and report writing swallow up the greater part of the entrepreneur’s time and effort. When there is no work sharing, the product created by the entrepreneur is not fully accomplished or is intended just for a small target audience. You need to ask yourself: am I the one who can do the work best? And be honest with yourself,” the expert advises. 9 Discover Your Truths And Rules “People wish to get well-defined instructions on what they have to do in order to get or achieve something. Blind obedience to rules is a mistake. However, don’t get me wrong – success is not about breaking the rules; it is about having the courage to discover new, alternative ways,” the finance expert believes. As an old saying goes, haste makes waste; my interviewee nods his head in agreement. “Correcting mistakes made in haste will only delay success. Therefore, be patient,” says Algimantas Variakojis. 4 Be Prepared As The First Five Minutes May Be Crucial “Similar things can be pointed out about the presentation of a business plan. Young people come to an interview with potential investors or partners completely unprepared,” continues to share his insights Variakojis. “You must be aware of how important the first impression can be. Most often the decision to invest or not to invest is made during the first five minutes. Remember that there can be no second time. Therefore, do your best to prepare: make a presentation, answer (first of all, yourself) all possible and impossible, clever and stupid questions, look for criticism,” advises the expert. 5 Learn To Hear Another Person With reference to the presentation of ideas to investors, Algimantas Vari- 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 17 INFRASTRUCTURE FOR STARTUPS IN LITHUANIA INFRASTRUCTURE FOR STARTUPS IN LITHUANIA Startup Communities Mobile Applications Laboratory App Camp FOR WHO: university students who have ideas and, with the help of scholars and professionals, want to put their knowledge into practice by creating innovative solutions and contribute to the building of mobile app ecosystem and finding solutions to the problems dominating the market. WHERE: http://appcamp.lt Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of Vilnius University; Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre of Kaunas University of Technology; second laboratory pavilion of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University; Faculty of Technologies of Klaipėda State College Startup Lithuania Hub Vilnius FOR WHO: for all of those who have an innovative business idea or have been developing an innovative business. WHERE: http://www.startuplithuania.lt FOR WHO: anyone (no age limit) who wants and uses a computer rather than a telephone for their work. WHERE: http://hubvilnius.lt Verslauk.lt FOR WHO: for those planning to set up their business or those who already own one. No age limit set, yet, the focus is on younger people. Members due to their different experience have certain limitations in communicating. Verslauk Management Club unites only those who have their own business or are managing it as well as winners of previous competitions. Usually all participants of the Verslauk competition are welcome to join the community. WHERE: http://verslauk.lt KTU StartupSpace FOR WHO: young entrepreneurs, businesspersons, hackers, designers, and all of those who want to change the world. WHERE: http://startupspace.org Kaunas University of Technology, Studentų st. 67, Kaunas Northtown Hub FOR WHO: developers, app creators, young entrepreneurs, and all those who have big ideas and are looking for the right place to realise them at. WHERE: http://www.smtp.lt/ Science, Studies and Business Valleys Financial Instruments for Investment Attraction in Private Equity of Young Businesses in Lithuania: Early stage venture capital funds: Business Angels Fund I, http://www.versloangelai.eu Science and Technology Parks is an intensive 3 month mentoring programme and a financial instrument for startups. It presents an opportunity for young people who lack useful social contacts and experience to get valuable information and help in order to develop their business idea. However, only the best selected candidates enjoy investments from the accelerator. Sunrise Valley Science and Technology Park http://www.sunrisevalley.lt/ Kaunas High-Tech and Information Technology Park http://www.techpark.lt/ Northtown Technology Park http://www.smtp.lt/ Klaipeda Science and Technology Park http://www.kmtp.lt/ Venture, http://www.venture.lt Visoriai Information Technology Park http://www.vitp.lt/ BaltCap, http://www.baltcap.com Practica Capital, http://www.practica.lt Business angel LitCapital Asset Management, http://www.litcapital.lt is a private individual who invests in young companies personally or through his or her company. Normally they are capable of funding smaller and bigger projects whose costs range from EUR 25,000 to EUR 500,000. Agricultural Science and Technology Park at the Lithuanian University of Agriculture http://www.lzuu.lt/mtp/ Science and Technology Park TECHNOPOLIS http://www.technopolis.lt/ Accelerators: Baltic Valley http://balticvalley.lt/ StartupHigway, http://startuphighway.com Nemunas Valley http://www.slenis-nemunas.lt/ Startup.lt, http://www.startup.lt Santara Valley http://www.santariskes.eu/index.php?340964278 Accelerator Panevėžys Science and Technology Park http://www.pmtp.lt/ Venture capital fund KTU Regional Science Park http://www.ktc.lt/main.html is a financial instrument for entrepreneurs. The fund makes capital investment directly or acquires operational enterprises. The highest value of the venture capital fund lies in their useful contacts and experience. Science and Technology Park of Institute of Physics http://www.fimtp.lt/ Liepiskes Technology Park http://www.litepa.lt/ Santakos Valley http://www.santakosslenis.lt/ Sunrise Valley http://www.sunrisevalley.lt/ ! Flickr.com nuotr. IMPORTANT: to attract venture capital funds’ investment, a company should be marked off by rapid growth. More information available at www.mesinvest.lt/uploads/ files/dir8/1_0.php 18 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 19 WIKI 2014 TOP 93 Most Challenging Lithuania-Based Startups Startup Technology Startup Statup ommigrant Startup Franchise Startup 40 + Pupil Startup Student Startup Spinn off Startup Startup is a project implemented by a young company or a company/person/ group of persons in any business field and for not longer than 3 years. Startup is distinguished by a new business model and uniqueness. All Startups can be found at: http://bznstart.lt/startup 1. BizRecommends Start up By Juliana Miliut www.BizRecommends.com Founder: Kęstutis Gečas | Age: 39 | Vilnius Education: Journalism | Vilnius University Startup investment: approx. LTL 50,000 “Recommendation is the best and most reliable currency in business” Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas Kęstutis: “The service is primarily meant for small and medium-sized businesses, namely for less known enterprises which are doing a great job, and their products or services have earned a good reputation with customers and partners. Market entrants or small businesses do not have resources to advertise and make their success known for a wider circle of potential customers. This is what we are going to do: by sharing recommendations from existing and former business partners of these enterprises, we will witness to others that these are trustworthy and reliable entrepreneurs to deal with. The strength of the website is transparency; its guarantee is the website community who provide and receive recommendations.” Looking for investors and partners to make growth possible and to improve the product. 2. BZN start By Juliana Miliut www.bznstart.lt Founder: Živilė Glaveckaitė | Age: 37 | Vilnius Education: Master of International Business, current postgraduate external studies of Social Sciences at Vilnius University Startup investment: LTL 100,000 Investments in total: LTL 300,000 Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “We are hungry and ideas drive us forward” 22 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) Živilė: “Our team undertakes to realise projects that provoke market participants and make them ask: why weren’t we the first to do it? We implement what has never been done before; we do what our audience wishes for. Being the first is the goal of our BZN Start team. Creativity and team spirit enable us to achieve uniqueness. We are really HUNGRY, believe us!” Looking for a team member who would accept the ideas, a partner ready to work together, or an investor who could contribute to further growth. 23 Start up 5. Decolte www.decolte.com By Dario Malinowski Founders: Rūta Banytė | Age: 32 | Vilnius Laura Šiugždinienė | Age: 34 | Šiauliai Education: Laura – Master’s degree in History of Culture from Vilnius University Rūta – Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urban Design from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Startup investment: LTL 20,000 Investments in total: LTL 100,000 www.chimpinn.lt Įkūrėjas: Artūras Meškelė | Age: 29 | Vilnius Education: Business Management at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Photo: from personal archive “Try first, pay later!” 3. Dailidesign By Rasa Petrauskaitė “To help beginning designers gain foothold in the market” Artūras: “The cute little chimp (the image is used in the logo of this startup – Aut.) can help you choose the best service provider so that when purchasing the service you wouldn’t have to rely on advertising and hearsay alone. Besides, it can help you discover new activities, which you might not have had the courage to try out. We believe that it is possible and even obligatory to sell the service rather than the price. This is what a lot of our clients are doing with success. If you want to improve the customer flow even more, you’d just better get to work and not stop... For it’s not with words, but with actions that entrepreneurs love their Motherland.” Looking for investors and mentors. Rūta: “We help young, unknown designers find their way to the client. At Decolte we provide pricing, marketing and PR advice to designers, help them to organise outreach events for new brands and work closely together to promote the new designer’s name in Lithuania and beyond.” Laura: “Decolte is more than stores; it is a team that assists a new creator with no experience in business to gain a foothold in the market.” Looking for an investor who could start and promote an online sale for Lithuanian designers’ clothing as well as launch an annual fashion event combining fashion show with fashion sale and education. http://dailidesign.com Founders: Viktoras Dailidėnas | Age: 34 | Panevėžys Laura Dailidėnienė | Age: 34 | Jurbarkas Education: Laura – Kaunas College J. Vienožinskis Art Faculty | Master’s degree from Vilnius Academy of Arts Viktoras – Glass Art studies at Kaunas College J. Vienožinskis Art Faculty | MA in Stained Glass from Vilnius Academy of Arts 24 By Rasa Petrauskaitė Founders: Paulius Valatkevičius | Age: 27 | Alytus Mantas Živačevskis | Age: 26 | Alytus Education: Paulius – Vilnius University Mantas – Computer Programming studies at Alytus College, further training in Finland Investments attracted: from Ilja Laurs’ Business Angels Fund (amount n/a) “Dalinuosi.lt allows you to get some money back” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Laura and Viktoras: “Dailidesign is a Lithuanian trademark enjoying ten-years’ experience in the design and fashion industry. A clear, lucid concept of the object and European quality are the key features that make Dailidesign stand out in the market. Laura Dailidėnienė, an acclaimed designer, creates glass and jewelry collections. The Dailidesign incorporates clothing design, accessories, jewelry, and interior décor. This year the company entered the Japanese and the United States markets and is planning development in other countries.” Looking for a project manager – an active, loyal, and reliable person who would meet the Dailidesign criteria and have an undying motivation to explore new perspectives; trading partners. 6. Dalinuosi.lt www.dalinuosi.lt Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis “Fashion is as fragile as glass and as unstoppable as time!” By Juliana Miliut Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 4. Chimp Inn Start up Paulius: “Dalinuosi.lt allows you to get back part of the money, which earlier would have been spent irrevocably. Besides, tenants can rent or borrow items that they need only sometimes closer to their home and for a lower price.” Mantas: “On the other hand, some people can now acquire items that they couldn’t afford to maintain by themselves. Renting those things to others generates some money to cover part of the maintenance costs. Fancy what great opportunities you get to use various expensive items, especially tech gadgets, which have so far been affordable only to a narrow circle of people.” Looking for investors to enable development in Lithuania and abroad. 25 Start up www.ekorenta.lt Founder: Vytautas Miškinis | Age: 29 | Alytus Education: Bachelor of Marketing from Vilnius College of Management (now – Kazimieras Simonavičius University) Investments in total: approx. LTL 50,000, out of which approx. LTL 2,000 was received from Alytus District Municipality 9. GetHouse.Lt www.gethouse.lt Founder: Marijus Surdokas | Age: 27 | Alytus Education: Master’s degree in Architecture from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University “Our aim is to make people see that it’s not only some ‘nesting-box’ where they can live in” “We are and will be for every individual who cares for a healthy home environment” Marijus: “GetHouse.Lt consolidates all housing market actors and offers the customer an exclusive quality service – in minimum time we design a unique house for an optimal price. We invest all our feelings, thoughts, and ideas in what we do, which allows us to create the blue ocean. Our aim is to make people see that it’s not only some ‘nesting-box’ where they can live in; that you can have more than a rectangular solid built cheaply; that your life quality does not depend at all on how many square meters is your home; that a high quality house doesn’t have to be made of bricks; and that it is not the price of brick blocks that makes a house economic. Finally, we want people to understand that they are worth having a freer, healthier, more comfortable and more sensible life...” Looking for investors for project development. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Vytautas: “I understand a healthy environment and ecology as materials with 100% natural composition. Recycled, reused or unused products should serve as raw materials in production whereas waste should be easily recovered. Unfortunately, the greater part of building materials does not normally meet any of the abovementioned standards. This is what led us to offer a range of products to cater for the needs of consumers who care for a healthy environment as well as their own health and life quality.” Looking for investors for further development. 8. Donorox By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.donorox.lt Founders: Donatas Kadžiulis | Age: 28 | Vilnius Robertas Stauskas | Age: 31 | Vilnius Education: Donatas – Tourism and Hotel Management Robertas – Mathematics and Informatics from Vilnius University “When they hear that something is offered for free, most people expect that ‘but’… What is the way to show that ‘but’ does not have to be there?” Donatas: “This is exactly what we want to prove with this project – there is no ‘but’. That ‘but’ in people’s minds may be reminiscent of the old approach: the only free cheese is in the mousetrap. We are going to turn to well-known people and reputable companies. Their reputation will help us; their ads on our website will help them. When you are a new entrant in the market, even if your idea is brilliant and you are convinced that you are doing good to all, not everyone will believe this at once. And yet we will attempt to change this attitude by giving joy and gifts to others!” Looking for investors to empower development in foreign markets and a team member who would be a sort of sales guru. 26 By Tomas Fedaravičius Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis By Rasa Petrauskaitė 10. Eskimi By Juliana Miliut http://eskimi.com Founder: Vytautas Paukštys | Age: 32 | Šiauliai Education: Master of Information Management from Vilnius University “How to create a website more visited than Google or Yahoo in Nigeria?” Vytautas: “Eskimi is the second most visited website in Nigeria, outdoing Yahoo and Google. Now that everyone looks at the world through the screen of a smartphone, Eskimi has turned to those people who are only starting to discover the internet and are using old phones even though they want to interact, explore, and browse the net just as much. We provide slow internet users with the opportunity for unlimited interaction and convenient navigation using all kinds of phones. Even Google employees have acknowledged at a conference that it isn’t wise to completely ignore such users. We at Eskimi know this.” Poto: from personal archive 7. Ekorenta Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Start up 27 Start up Start up 11. Gifty By Rasa Petrauskaitė www. www.giftybaltics.com Founders: Ilja Polivanovas | Age: 32 | Vilnius Mantas Rauckis | Age: 32 | Biržai Sergejus Opara | Age: 31 | Vilnius Education: Ilja and Mantas – International Business at International Business School Vilnius University Sergejus – Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Startup investment: EUR 50,000 Investments in total: over EUR 200,000 By Karolina Kondratjevaitė www.Gyviau.lt Founder: Mantvydas Leknickas | Age: 24 | Kaunas Education: Bachelor of Political Science from Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas “Like a gust of fresh air” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 12. Gyviau.lt Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis Ilja: “Since ancient times little presents have been helping to build relationships not only in business, but also with friends, acquaintances, and family members. We facilitate remote gift giving. We cater for individuals as well as for organisations whose clients are dispersed all over the region or country. Our arrangements and infrastructure make it possible to send someone a cup of coffee, cinema tickets, a pizza, or a dessert by electronic means (e.g. sms or email) from the country’s major networks. All what your organisation needs to do is to decide what and for how much you want to send to your clients and give an instruction to make a gift to as many as 100,000 people if you like. Not so long ago it would have been simply impossible.” Looking for a partner. Poto: from personal archive “Not so long ago it would have been simply impossible” Mantvydas: “Lithuanians are said to be lacking in a positive attitude. I decided to contribute to building up positive energy and started the Gyviau.lt portal ('gyviau' means ‘more lively’). It is a site which features no political intrigues and crime incidents, but encourages a lively debate and expressing your own opinion. To get the attention of young and progressive people, the portal examines a great variety of topics and offers unique features that lead to selfdiscovery, introduce young people who make Lithuania known all over the world as well as provide opportunities to hear music never heard before, see films never seen before, and get acquainted with other arts, which major news websites don’t have the courage to write about.” Looking for team members to write articles and create advertising strategies as well as investors who could support the development of the project. 13. Jauku Design By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.jaukudesign.com Founder: Dmitrij Juvko | Age: 27 | Šalčininkai Education: Transport Engineering at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Startup investment: LTL 5,600 “Being completely here and now alone makes it possible to face challenges!” Dmitrij: “Take Over the World In 100 Days – a project that has become an adventure – has paved the way for the sale of our products all over the world without any material investments whatsoever. We managed this after learning a series of lessons that your team is the greatest value, and that what really matters is support for each other and the ability to hear and accept criticism in order to look for solutions to whatever is going wrong. This is how you grow as a personality and as a team. You need to be completely here and now. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall down; what matters is how quickly you get up and how happy you are to do this.” Looking for investors and people who want to turn their work into a hobby and leave a trace in the world’s history. 14. iqRides By Juliana Miliut www.iqrides.com Founder: Šarūnas Janickas | Age: 27 | Vilnius Education: Bachelor’s degree in Management and Business Administration from Vilnius University | Master’s degree in Sustainable Tourism Management from ESCEM Business School, France | Master’s degree in International Sustainable Tourism from London Metropolitan University, UK Startup investment: approx. LTL 3,000 Investments in total: approx. LTL 10,000 “How do you find out about the places to visit while travelling?” Šarūnas: “Unlike other successful and rapidly developing, yet still limited holiday ride share and car share projects in the world, iqRides presents a new concept of holiday ride sharing and creates an opportunity for travellers to meet and travel in a car together in any place all over the world. Each traveller has some knowledge of the location and can suggest the mustsee places there. The more travellers with different experience meet via iqRides, the more exciting and remarkable the itinerary can be planned.” Looking for an investor who could develop the project in the online environment and beyond. 29 Start up Start up 15. Lempampuk By Juliana Miliut 17. Llamas’ Valley Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas www.lempampuk.com Founders: Žana Rastonytė | Age: 36 | Pasvalys Akvilina Morkūnaitė | Age: 20 | Pasvalys Education: Žana – Economics at Vilnius University | Costume Design at Klaipėda Faculty Vilnius Academy of Arts Akvilina – Bachelor studies of Creative Industries at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Investments in total: LTL 2,500 “Why is it worth hiring the entire team to look for a gift?” www.llamasvalley.com Founders: Algė Ramanauskienė | Age: 33 | Klaipėda Eligijus Ramanauskas | Age: 35 | Vilnius Education: Algė – Bachelor of Journalism from Vilnius University | Master of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy from Vilnius Academy of Arts Eligijus – Bachelor of History from Vilnius Pedagogical University (now Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) Startup investment: LTL 50,000 Investments attracted: LTL 50,000 Accelerator: StartupHighway Žana: “We will save you time and make you stand out with a unique present. It is very simple to hire a team – just give us a call, drop an email or message on Facebook and share your concern with us.” Akvilina: “We represent creators whose works are singular or crafted in very small quantities; therefore, each art item is assigned an ID number, which is included in the artwork’s certificate of authenticity. The latter includes all the other information related to the work of art: the author(s), measurements, techniques or material, etc.” Looking for investors and mentors. Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “The idea that makes us free” 18. Lėkštė.lt By Karolina Kondratjevaitė www.lekste.lt www.karalienesmortosmokykla.lt Founders: Tomas Vonžodas | Age: 25 | Kaunas Gytis Bendikas | Age: 24 | Tauragė Romualdas Urbonas | Age: 24 | Vilnius Education: Tomas and Romualdas – Global Management and Manufacturing at Aarhus University, Denmark Gytis – International Communication and Multimedia at Aarhus University, Denmark Startup investment: approx. LTL 40,000 Founder: Austėja Landsbergienė | Age: 36 | Klaipėda Education: BA in Norwegian Philology from Vilnius University | PhD in Educology Startup investment: LTL 480,000 “A student is not an empty vessel” 30 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) “Speed, time, and variety – all in one place” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Austėja: “A school teacher is a mentor, and a student is not an empty vessel to be filled with as much knowledge as possible. Now we know that not only knowledge and IQ, but also abilities and emotional intelligence are vital for success. In a society where facts and information are easily accessible, it is becoming more important to know how to access that knowledge and assess its value as well as be able to solve problems creatively. Thus the aim of the teacher should be to inspire the child for lifelong learning and teach her/ him to study. As long as she/ he is unafraid of change, has a creative and critical mind and is aware of her/ his rights and duties, the child will be fully equipped to meet the challenges of this age.” Looking for investors and team members. “We have some dreams, by realising which we could improve the process of (self-) education: a town garden, a library in the hall, a young travellers’ zone, etc. We are looking for teachers as there cannot be too many good teachers. A good teacher means a good school where everyday is like a holiday!” By Justina Ūsaitė Algė: “We want to live without any attachments to place or time. Starting Llamas Valley has been our craziest idea ever.” Eligijus: “We sometimes joke that we know all of our several thousand readers personally. It is a very curious feeling, which stems from interaction in social networks. We do our best to stay close to our readers, which is extremely important.” Looking for Series B investors. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 16. Karalienė Morta School By Agnė Adomaitytė Tomas: “Our website allows the user to select food from a variety of restaurants and have everything in one place. At present it boasts the largest assortment of home or office delivered food in Lithuania. It is timesaving, offers a wide range of food, and allows the user to create an account which will let you order your favourite meals next time even faster.” Looking for investors. 31 19. Made in Vilnius Made in Kaunas Made in Klaipėda Start up By Rasa Petrauskaitė www.madeinvilnius.com Photo: BFL / Butautas Barauskas “Enough of rubbish and mud” Evaldas: “Lithuanian mass media focus on negative news submerging everything that is worth reading. To my mind, a blind pursuit of cheap popularity is at odds with responsibilities to the readers. One of the most exciting things I do during the day is reading the headlines of the major web portals. I hope very much that awards for the editors of the dumbest headlines will be established one day. Why do we post only positive news? Because we naively hope that positive things help to live life. Enough of rubbish and mud – we want to share important and beautiful things.” By Dario Malinowski www.mylap.se 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis “No age limits In starting a business” 32 Founders: Reda Štarė | Age: 29 | Vilnius Audronė Pakalnytė | Age: 29 | Kaunas Adomas Jazdauskas | Age: 25 | Panevėžys Saulius Grigaliūnas | Age: 26 | Vilnius Education: Reda – Bachelor of Financial and Actuarial Mathematics and Master of Banking from Vilnius University | Chartered Financial Analyst Level 2 Audronė – Bachelor’s degree in English Philology and Business Administration from Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas Saulius – Bachelor of Informatics from Vilnius University Adomas – Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University “A place for fine food fans” Reda: “Travelling in India and Southeast Asia, staying with local families, and savouring home-cooked meals made me realise that it is a most wonderful experience embracing traditional food, cultural acquaintance, and interaction. This is how the Plate Culture idea was born.” Audronė: “When we started Plate Culture, our central target was foreign visitors as we had a visitor experience ourselves. However, now local people longing for some exciting experiences can find Plate Culture interesting too. It is not only for tasting dishes from various cuisines (you can go to a restaurant for this); Plate Culture has become a place that attracts fans of fine food.” Looking for investors. Photo: from personal archive Founders: Andrius Rimkūnas | Age: 35 | Raseiniai Aurimas Petrevičius | Age: 36 | Panevėžys Education: : Andrius – Kaunas Faculty of Humanities Vilnius University Aurimas – Master’s degree from Faculty of Informatics Kaunas University of Technology Investments attracted: EUR 8,000 from StartupHighway Accelerator: StartupHighway Andrius: “There are no age limits at all in starting your own business. If we didn’t believe this, we wouldn’t be answering these questions now. We hope very much that our 18 years’ experience is a benefit rather than a disadvantage. True that it is not that easy to be a startup when you have family commitments; however, it’s not the first day that we have been doing business, so we are used to it.” Aurimas: “To achieve success in business, you need to interact a lot – with your clients, partners, suppliers, investors, reporters, mothers, street cleaners, sellers, and taxi drivers. All depends on people and their experience only. Our project entitled Mylap.se allows you to share photos without any restrictions, directly, in private, automatically, and above all – on any platform.” Looking for people who would like to use our tool; investors. By Juliana Miliut https://plateculture.com Founders: Evaldas Činga | Age: 37 | Kupiškis Donatas Padvelskis | Age: 30 | Birštonas Education: Evaldas – Radio-Electronics Donatas – Information Systems Analysis at Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas Startup investment: LTL 10,000 20. Mylap.se 21. Plate Culture Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Start up 22. Noriunoriunoriu.lt By Justina Ūsaitė www.noriunoriunoriu.lt Founders: Diana Šubelko | Age: 25 | Šalčininkai Paulius Rimavičius | Age: 32 | Kaunas Education: Diana – Bachelor of Tourism and Business Administration from Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) | Master of Electronic Business from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Paulius – Faculty of Informatics Vilnius University “Lithuanians want a great but cheap holiday!” Diana: “Lithuanians want a great but cheap holiday! This is what we do: we work with the country’s best hotels and are able to offer our clients a holiday for the lowest price in the market! You can hardly imagine how happy we are when a client of ours emails or calls us to say this: ‘It was superb. We had a great time! We are looking forward to using your services again and we’ll recommend you to our friends.’ This is what inspires us to move forward and work even better!” Looking for investors to enable development in Poland (first steps have already been made www.chcechcechce.pl) and other markets. 33 Start up By Tomas Fedaravičius www.pocketfilms.lt Founder: Simonas Gylys | Age: 29 | Šiauliai Education: MA in Filmmaking from Arts University Bournemouth, UK 24. Sarkozy www.simplehomes.lt Founder: Indrė Šeibokienė | Age: 32 | Vilnius Education: Bachelor of Real Estate Management from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University “Extravagant and purposeless buying is becoming a sign of bad taste” By Agnė Adomaitytė 25. SkyDater https://www.facebook.com/SarkozyBaras Founders: Mantas Titas Urbonas | Age: 33 | Vilnius Tomas Urbonas | Age: 36 | Vilnius Education: Mantas and Tomas – Vilnius University and University of Kent, UK Startup investment: approx. LTL 75,000 Support: Entrepreneurship Promotion Fund (Verslumo skatinimo fondas) instrument utilized Founders: Kęstutis Tirkšliūnas | Age: 28 | Šiauliai Dainius Kontrimas | Age: 28 | Telšiai Education: Kęstutis and Dainius – Informatics at Vilnius University “The distinguishing feature of SkyDater is greater objectivity in the users' profiles, so that after meeting each other, people wouldn't get disappointed” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Mantas: “We are entirely francophone, however, with a focus on Normandy. I am fond of Albert Camus’ books, his ideas, and the spirit of existentialism. When you are doing something nice or something unpleasant, think of how you would see this moment if there was just a very short time left for you to live. When in a hurry, we don’t reflect on this; and yet when you realise that everything happens just once, your mind brightens up. This is how we came to open Sarkozy – the first and only appletery in the Baltic-Nordic region, which offers natural, authentic homemade cider, calvados, pommeau, and other apple products coming right from the farms of Normandy.” Looking for investors for further development. By Justina Ūsaitė www.skydater.com “Albert Camus makes you realise that you need to make your best; that’s why everything has to be authentic, meaningful, and delicious” 34 By Tomas Fedaravičius Indrė: “Simple Homes is a dishes and home decor store, which will be characterised by a distinctive interior design, completely offbeat store props, exquisite Scandinavian products, and a unique presentation of goods in the actual store and in its e-version. People are getting more interested in their living environment and want to turn their home into a cozy oasis. It is gradually becoming a fashion to buy a high quality item instead of buying anything. Extravagant and purposeless buying is becoming a sign of bad taste.” Looking for a like-minded team member. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas SImonas: “Overseas it has been popular for a while now to present goods or services in a witty, unconventional way using mixed media techniques: photos, animation, computer graphics, and videos. In Lithuania, on the other hand, there was no enterprise to fill the niche. As the internet is taking up more and more of the advertising platform each day, in response to the changing world, we decided to establish a video and animation studio, which will focus on explainer and demo videos. Such a video is a perfect alternative to companies which find traditional image advertising too expensive.” Looking for team members – animators, designers, sound directors, screenwriters, and other specialists to create pocket films together. Photo: BFL / Butautas Barauskas “In future every business will give up boring Word docs and presentations” 26. Simple Homes Kęstutis: “Our app and website are principally designed for smartphone users. What is particular about SkyDater is that it has the quick Skype contacts. We try to put various ideas into practice and see what people like. We will attempt as much objectivity as possible in user profiles so that after meeting each other people would not get disappointed seeing that profile information mismatches reality. We are going to focus more on a person’s character and attitude rather than physical qualities alone. We invite you to contribute with your ideas and feedback to the enhancement of the app. It is you who will determine what it will look like in the future.” Looking for future team members and investors for further development; want to establish contacts in advance. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 23. Pocket Films Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Start up Start up 28. Stylegrid By Juliana Miliut www.stylegrid.co Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas Founder: Mantas Eigirdas | Age: 29 | Šiauliai Education: Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from Kaunas University of Technology | Master’s degree in Advanced Computing from University of Bristol, UK Startup investment: approx. LTL 10,000 Investments in total: USD 45,000 (from US investors) and LTL 10,000 (personal funds) Accelerator: StartupMonthly (Silicon Valley, USA) “Why is it worth visualising your wardrobe?” 27. TrackDuck Mantas: “We developed a social mobile app for creating a virtual wardrobe from the photos of your clothes, so you never forget what you own, can browse your wardrobe easily, and make up your daily outfits quickly. What is more, you can have other people choose the right style for you. Finally, we want to integrate our product into online shops, so before each purchase you can mix and match the clothes you own and those on display at a shop.” Looking for investors who could grant bigger funding for project development as well as a team member and partners in the fields of software development, design, and business. By Tomas Fedaravičius www.trackduck.com Founders: Edmundas-Eddy Balčikonis | Age: 26 | Vilnius Yauhen Ivaskevic | Age: 28 | Belarus Anton Sevcenko | Age: 27 | Belarus Education: Edmundas – Bachelor of Business Management and Administration from ISM University of Management and Economics Yauhen – Bachelor of Radiophysics and Electronics from Belarus State University Anton – Bachelor of Computer-Aided Design from Belarus National Technical University Accelerator: successful participation in Startup Sauna Finland whereby the first investor was attracted; the team members met at the Garage 48 Developers’ Competition in Estonia. Edmundas: TrackDuck is a way for prompt feedback from website visitors and clients, when you don't have to take snapshots, open additional programmes, and write tedious emails. Everything takes place right on the website: with one click a visitor marks an issue, which may be a technical, design, or content error. We mark this place right on the website, automatically save it as it looked for the visitor, and enter the key technical details: browser version, operating system, etc. Ducks are quick to fish out all kind of bugs from the pool. That's why we are called TrackDuck helping you to track and fix all bugs.” Looking for investors who could invest EUR 300,000, partners in other network development platforms and a team member – developer with experience in Node.js and Angular.js 36 Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas “Our solution saves web developers a lot of time when communicating with their clients” 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 37 Start up 32. Trumpam.lt 30. TransportRent.lt Founders: Antonas Vjalcinas | Age: 28 | Vilnius Igoris Petrenko | Age: 28 | Vilnius Education: Antonas – Bachelor of Information Technology and Master of Business Administration from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Igoris – Bachelor of Economics and Business Fundamentals from Vilnius Pedagogical University (now Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) Founders: Ernestas Kuprinskas | Age: 32 | Panevėžys Vaidotas Kuzminskas | Age: 27 | Šilutė Education: Ernestas – Master of Information Systems from Kaunas University of Technology Vaidotas – student at Faculty of Electronics Vilnius Gediminas Technical University “Unique are all things comfortable and simple” 31. Verskis.lt “When you know where to start off, you’ll find the right direction; when you find the right direction, you won’t be able to tell Mondays and other weekdays apart” Aleksejus: “It upsets me that a Monday morning is a horrible time. People are grouchy and sullen. You need a lot of coffee to start the day. These are just the symptoms that people are not doing the right job. My own experience proves that things can be different. I am convinced that Talent Generation (Talentų Karta) is a pathway to feeling happy and valued at work. Appreciation comes not from what you do, but from how you do it.” Saulius: “The realization that the period until they are in their thirties is critical for most people gave me a kick in the butt. It is the time when you can make the most important decisions and find a firm footing. However, if you don’t know where to start off… When you know where to start off, you’ll find the right direction; when you find the right direction, you won’t be able to tell Mondays and other weekdays apart.” Darius: “I don’t think you can get to know yourself completely. But what we can do is to understand our potential better, our strengths and weaknesses. Our behavior is determined by certain inner reasons, which we are often unaware of. That’s why by understanding those reasons you get to know yourself.” Looking for investors to enable creating the infrastructure and developing further processes as well as a team member who would meet the key requirement to believe in the idea and have initiative. By Karolina Kondratjevaitė www.verskis.lt Founder: Vitalijus Dubietis | Age: 28 | Vilnius Education: Mathematics and Informatics at Vilnius University “Open an online store in five minutes” Vitalijus: “The growing popularity of online stores over the past few years has spurred us on to look for innovative, more convenient and improved solutions for electronic trading. The team of Verskis.lt creates electronic business solutions to satisfy the needs for small and large businesses alike. The development of our own platform is a great advantage as it makes us flexible and allows us to meet individual needs of each client.” Looking for investors to enable further international development or a partner who could facilitate outreach to foreign consumers. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Founders: Aleksejus Žaltkovskis | Age: 29 | Vilnius Darius Pietaris | Age: 47 | Vilnius Saulius Alksnevičius | Age: 26 | Vilnius Education: Aleksejus – incomplete studies at Faculty of Economics Vilnius University Saulius – Master’s degree from Maastricht University, The Netherlands Darius – Business Management at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Startup investment: LTL 2,000 Antonas: “We have introduced a series of real innovations, first of all – the new visual representation of rental apartments. We are doing this in a completely different way. Part of the information is presented visually in pictograms. All the details need to be classified and in their proper places. We stand out primarily for our modern design and simple, user-friendly presentation of information. Filtering and user-friendly navigation are very important too. Finally, you need to give it all a lovely finish. This is exactly what our portal for shortterm housing in Lithuania is like.” Looking for investments to further the project in Lithuania, the Baltic states, and other markets. Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas By Rasa Petrauskaitė Ernestas: “If there is need – we are ready to get hold of and offer you tanks, submarines, race cars, or other exotics. We are also thinking of space tourism. We are currently doing our homework on this, so let’s keep the details in secret for a while.” Vaidotas: “Our aim is to give transport rent a modern perspective whereby the client could find the necessary transport without getting lost in a myriad of classifieds and service providers.” Looking for a team member – a dynamic personality, eager to learn and willing to contribute to the development of TransportRent.lt. Photo: from personal archive Photo: from personal archive “Travel by plane, train, or car – all-round supply for the modern customer” www.talentukarta.lt By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.trumpam.lt By Dario Malinowski http://transportrent.lt 29. Talentų Karta | Talent Generation Start up 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 39 39 Start up 33. Versliukai.lt By Justina Ūsaitė http://versliukai.lt Founder: Daumantas Kirkutis | Age: 26 | Klaipėda Education: Bussiness Administration at LCC International University Startup investment: approx. LTL 100,000 “We are happy to have a Lithuanian name for our enterprise and that it points out directly what we promote” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Daumantas: “The Lithuanian word verslas (‘business’) means ‘everything we do for a living’ and encompasses all fields of human activity. We focus on small business advertising. We are happy to have a Lithuanian name for our enterprise and that it point out directly what we promote.” Looking for partners who would be interested in placing advertisements in this system and would be willing to contribute to developing the system and promoting small business in Lithuania. 34. Vardo etiketė | Name Label By Juliana Miliut www.vardoetikete.lt Founders: Andrius Bigenis | Age: 33 | Kaunas Skirmantė Bigenienė | Age: 34 | Kaunas Education: Andrius – university of life Skirmantė – Bachelor of Management and Business Administration at Kaunas University of Technology Startup investment: EUR 10,000 Skirmantė: We facilitate finding lost things and distinguishing clothes and other items in schools and kindergartens. Most people order name tags while others prefer to add a telephone number; we have also had a request to include the customer’s blood group too. What distinguishes us from our competitors in Europe is the technological solution for our online store, which allows you to design your own label and see what it will look like." Andrius: “We‘ll keep on moving forward and are going to enter European markets by developing our DIY production and offering the end user a possibility of self-designing labels and name tags for business, home, or exciting festivals." Looking for a partner or investor who would be willing to contribute to a faster development of the project. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas “How can marking help to keep your stuff safe?” 41 35. Zalos24.lt Start up Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis Start up By Dario Malinowski http://zalos24.lt Founder: Tauras Mičiuda | Age: 30 | Vilnius Education: Vilnius Gediminas Technical University “Our concern is to help you restore property without incurring financial loss” Tauras: “The business idea sprang from my work experience gained in a variety of insurance companies where I learned about the specificity of insurance companies’ activity as well as the specific needs and expectations of their clients firsthand. In the meantime we focus on the Lithuanian market. Having started just a year ago, we are now operating all over Lithuania. We have plans to expand to neighbouring countries in future.” Looking for partners working with immovable property and in the car industry. 36. V&V Boutique By Agnė Adomaitytė www.viktorijos.lt Founder: Viktorija Vaičiulienė | Age: 28 | Panevėžys Education: LLM from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “I get the greatest satisfaction when my client says that at last she has something nice to put on” 42 42 Viktorija: “The V&V concept is not defined by mass production, which is why we consciously stop ourselves from making a clothes collection after attaining a definite number of items for each design. We seek to save individuality and singularity for our clients. We want them to have a limited number of clothes that would mix and match perfectly together. This is why we use only two colours in each new collection. This makes it look discreet and organised.” Looking for a partner. “We currently feel a great need for offering our product to a foreign market. Therefore, we would be very happy to find business partners in other European countries.” 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 2013 December / 2014 January No. 12 (29) 43 Start up Start up TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY By Tomas Fedaravičius www.aciety.com 40. AUTOkuponai.lt Įkūrėjai: Aismantas Bulanavičius | Age: 22 | Kaunas Dovydas Bulanavičius | Age: 27 | Kaunas Tomas Pagirys | Age: 27 | Kaunas Education: Aismantas and Tomas – Bachelor’s degree from Stockholm School of Economics Riga, Latvia Dovydas – Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kaunas University of Technology www. autokuponai.lt Founder: Vidmantas Sterneckas | Age: 25 | Vilnius Education: Advertising Management studies and Bachelor of Management and Business Administration at the International School of Law and Business Vilnius Startup investment: n/a Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Aismantas: “Aciety deals with the issue of IT projects development and shortage of developers. Our platform encourages flexibility of companies’ IT staff and makes it possible to reduce the risk that projects face when hiring new employees.” Tomas: “Until recently we have sought crowdfunding. It really works - we have more than 30 investors now!” Dovydas: “My biggest discovery was that Lithuania is a really startup-friendly place as compared to many other places in the world.” Tomas: “Such kind of business is also fascinating in that we can work together from any place around the world where there is an internet connection. Who knows, in five years you may find me in Bora Bora Island, for example, trying to breed a new banana variety. We want to create a Lithuanian Skype-like story of success.” Looking for (crowdfunding) investors and team members – IT specialists who would be willing to contribute to the development of the platform in exchange for wages and stocks; partners – IT companies which would like to get extra orders and have an easy access to new developers. “AUTOkuponai.lt saves drivers’ money” 38. AdDuplex By Tomas Fedaravičius Vidmantas: “AUTOkuponai.lt saves drivers’ money and offers them to pay less for daily services. The customer no longer needs to worry searching for more economic car repair or car wash services. The website provides all relevant discounts on car maintenance. For sellers of automotive products and services it serves as a tool facilitating the development of their business. AUTOkuponai.lt can answer your questions on how and for how much to sell.” Looking for a team member willing to join in the activity of the portal. Photo: © BFL / ANdrius Ufartas “We want to create a Lithuanian Skype-like story of success” www.adduplex.com Founder: Alan Mendelevič | Age: 38 | Vilnius Education: Bachelor of Computer Science from Vilnius University Investments attracted: LTL 1,380,000 from Practica Capital Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas “App developers very often imagine that after creating a good product, success will follow” 44 By Rasa Petrauskaitė Alan: “Having been a .NET developer myself, I have noticed that developers face problems promoting their Windows Phone apps. I have been an active member of the global Windows Phone developers’ community from the start, which let me give the project a boost with no budget for marketing whatsoever. I launched the AdDuplex platform in just 2 months after the world debut of Windows Phone, even if it was a one man’s project. We are the largest ad exchange network in the world for Windows Phone and Windows 8 apps; more than 5 thousand apps world-wide use our platform.” Looking for a team member – .NET web developer. 39. CGTrader By Juliana Miliut www.cgtrader.com Founder: Marius Kalytis | Age: 34 | Vilnius Education: BSc in Financial and Actuarial Mathematics from Vilnius University Startup investment: LTL 150,000 Investments in total: LTL 750,000 Accelerator: Startup.lt Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis 37. Aciety “Why is CGTrader a fair business environment?” Marius: “CGTrader is not only an online store that makes an opportunity for authors to sell their products for the lowest fee in the market, but also a place where designers and 3D computer graphics enthusiasts can learn useful information, participate in peer-to-peer discussion, find partners for various projects, showcase their creation and get feedback on it. Direct interaction between sellers and customers is promoted, which makes it easier to bargain and reach a compromise when selling and buying 3D models.” Looking for investors to enable further development of the CGTrader online store and a team member willing to contribute to the activity. 45 Start up Start up TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY 42. DevMotion By Karolina Kondratjevaitė www.devmotion.eu Founder: Andrius Juvko | Age: 30 | Vilnius Education: Social Sciences at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Investments: Startup investments in total make up the amount that equals the average cost of a new German medium car. By Povilas Sabaliauskas Andrius: “Could I count today how many times I have answered the question what virtual rehabilitation is? I don’t think I could, which makes me happy. Every idea that has changed the world had entailed a lot of questions. I believe that DevMotion is like that. Thanks to our solution, rehabilitation of a patient can be transferred to her/ his home. The DevMotion platform enables the patient to perform rehabilitation exercises with the use of video games while the therapist automatically receives feedback on the exercises performed. This way precious therapists’ time as well as patients’ money is saved and accessibility of rehabilitation for the public is considerably increased.” Looking for investors, a team member or a partner. Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas 41. Dirt Rally Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “A revolutionary solution” www.dirtrally.net Founder: Giedrius Rimkus | Age: 28 | Šiauliai Education: Bachelor of Informatics (Software Systems) from Šiauliai University 43. Dragdis “A game that helps you climb into another person’s skin” 46 www.dragdis.com Photo: from personal archive Giedrius: „As children, we all dreamt of what we’d become when we grew up and played various role games, which are, to my mind, somewhat related to our wish to feel what it’s like to be in another person’s skin. The Dirt Rally game is meant for autosport fans - someone who would like, but may not have the opportunity to become a rally team manager.” Looking for investors for further development and improvement of the product; team members who would be able to bring something new, and partners who would be willing to contribute to the project in one or another way. By Juliana Miliut Founders: Domas Sabockis | Age: 23 | Tauragė Eugenijus Jusas | Age: 28 | Alytus Karolis Malcevičius | Age: 20 | Jonava Education: Domas – Advertising Management at Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) Eugenijus – Computer Engineering at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University | Master of Electronic Business Management from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Karolis – student of Software Systems at Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) Accelerator: StartupHighway Startup investment: EUR 14,000 from StartupHighway Investments in total: EUR 214,000 “How simplicity leads to productivity” Domas: “There is no simple way to collect the content found online. To do this, you normally have to perform multiple actions, which is why you don’t do it at all. Thus you end up in a mess in your bookmarks bar, on your desktop or anywhere else, which makes it even more difficult to find anything there in the future.” Eugenijus: “Dragdis deals with all! Instead of performing countless actions, you just need to drag and drop. One action only! Dragdis remarkably shortens the collection process.” Karolis: “Information collection will become faster and more efficient. The simpleness of Dragdis speaks for itself. Try it yourself.” Looking for a team member with expertise in advertising networks, information analysis experts, developers, and investors. 47 46. Roommate Wanted 44. Form Schema By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.formschema.com Founder: Domantas Jovaišas | Age: 31 | Varniai Education: Bachelor of Informatics from Kaunas University of Technology Startup investment: LTL 15,000 Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas TECHNOLOGY By Juliana Miliut http://gyviau.lt/ieskau-kambarioko Founder: Laurynas Bareikis | Age: 23 | Šiauliai Education: Computer Linguistics at Kaunas University of Technology Investments in total: practically none as we cooperate with Gyviau.lt, a youthoriented project, on a voluntary basis with the purpose of acquiring practical experience. “A solution to give a boost to a project” 45. Friday Lab By Dario Malinowski www.fridaylab.com Laurynas: “The idea of the project is straightforward. The main objective is to make it possible for the users to find a roommate or home easily. The website is primarily intended for young people and those in search of a new home. As I have needed to look for a new home a few times myself, I perfectly understand how important it is.” Looking for investors who could enable the growth of the portal as well as increase in portal traffic and popularity; partners to join up, giving a boost to the number of ads and contributing to a successful future for the portal. Founders: Aurelijus Liubinas | Age: 29 | Šiauliai Rolandas Sereika | Age: 29 | Kėdainiai Education: Aurelijus – Kaunas University of Technology Rolandas – Vilnius Gediminas Technical University 47. Gmarketing.lt “Can smart fish biting be real and a Lithuanian product well-known in the world?” Rolandas: “Yes, it can. The smart sonar developed by our company is a perfect example of this. As little as 100 grams weighing Deeper can easily fit in your fishing tackle box or your pocket and can be used at any fishing location any time. All the information a fisher might need is contained in a smartphone app developed by the company.” Aurelijus: “With the help of our partners, Deeper is produced, assembled, and tested exclusively in Lithuania even though not all of the parts for the appliance can be produced here. Yet we are happy that the dream we have been firmly pursuing is becoming a reality.” Looking for investors willing to invest in the production equipment and personnel of the enterprise and its territorial development. By Veronika Bielinytė www.gmarketing.lt Founder: Vilius Gudonis | Age: 25 | Vilnius Education: Bachelor of Business Management from ISM University of Management and Economics Startup investment: LTL 1 “How can small enterprises attract new customers via the internet?” Photo: from personal archive Photo: from personal archive Start up TECHNOLOGY “In what way are you different from other home rentals websites?” Domantas: “With Form Schema users will have more flexibility in building an app. They will be able to choose a necessary input format, apply validation rules, and link with the existing systems. Registered users can not only enter data through the control panel, but also get instruction and guidance on how to link with other apps and systems easily. I hope that Form Schema will considerably shorten the duration of small and medium size projects.” Looking for investors to enable software rental model and a team member with expertise in apps (>, 5m IT web/mobile, NoSQL, MS ASP .NET MVC, ServiceStack). 48 Photo: from personal archive Start up Vilius: “The majority of buyers look up information on goods or services in the internet, more specifically – using Google search engine. 72 percent of city-dwellers in Lithuania have access to the internet, which means that 7 out of 10 potential customers can be reached by internet. Therefore, small enterprises should attempt to be easily found in search engine results. This can be achieved by SEO (search engine optimisation) when a company’s website is moved to the top position in Google provided list of search results. This is an investment in advertising that pays off the most in the long run.” Looking for team members – SEO specialists, affiliate specialists and social network specialists. Start up 49. Integrated Optics TECHNOLOGY Start up TECHNOLOGY By Tomas Fedaravičius www.integratedoptics.eu 51. YPlan 48. ImpressPages By Juliana Miliut www.impresspages.org Founders: Audrius Jankauskas | Age: 28 | Kaunas Mangirdas Skripka | Age: 29 | Vilnius Mindaugas Stankaitis | Age: 31 | Šakiai Education: Audrius – Master of Management and Business Administration from Kaunas University of Technology Mangirdas – Master of Software Systems from Vilnius University Mindaugas – Bachelor studies in Photography and Visual Art at Vilnius Academy of Arts Investments in total: EUR 200,000 Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas http://yplanapp.com/app “The longer we work with lasers, the more fascinated we get about them” Evaldas: “All laser appliances serve a very special function – laser emits photons, i.e. tiny particles of light. When they hit something on their way – be it a potato or a banana – photons may behave in a variety of ways: some simply bounce off, others penetrate inside, get absorbed, and later the material spits them back out while the remaining get absorbed and turn into thermal particles. By identifying these transformed photons properly, it is possible to tell what exactly they had hit on their way – a ripe or unripe banana, high-starch potato, etc.” Jonas: “The longer we work with lasers, the more fascinated we get with them. It is now more difficult to specify what lasers cannot do rather than what you can do with them.” Looking for investors to expand production in the 2nd half of 2014 and implement the company’s sensor project. 50. IQ Polls “Best ideas come from daily activities” Rytis: “IQ Polls direct voting tool emerged from the wish to get back the audience’s attention in lectures, seminars, and conferences.” Artūras: “I have been a university teacher for more than twelve years. I had noticed that over the past five years my colleagues and I had been losing our audiences to their smart devices. We used the same smart equipments to get back the attention – it is like using the jiu-jitsu in a certain way.” Rytis: “As soon as we started creating the tool, we noticed that it suits ideally to connect the readership of publications with the audience online.” Artūras: “I notice that we frequently stumble upon the very best ideas during our daily activities. For instance, while talking to an acquaintance lawyer, it dawned on me that the IQ Polls tool could be used to assess the clients’ satisfaction whereas the idea of the Happy Barometer emerged after a cup of coffee in the afternoon following an insomniac night.” Looking for investors and a partner to advance the use of the tool internationally. Founders: Viktoras Jucikas | Age: 32 | Birštonas Rytis Vitkauskas | Age: 29 | Vilnius Education: Viktoras – Bachelor of Computer Science from Kaunas University of Technology and Master of Computational Science from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany Rytis – Bachelor of Integrated Social Sciences (Economics) | Master’s cum laude in Business Administration from Harvard Business School Investments in total: approx. LTL 35 mln. Investments attracted: investors have allocated a total of USD 13.7 mln. in support of the app business development; BaltCap, a venture capital investor, has invested in the project too. “ How to create a product that could captivate such a hollywood celebrity like Ashton Kutcher?” Rytis: “YPlan app makes it possible for you to purchase last-minute tickets to events paying with a credit card. This is what the name of the app comes from – YPlan.” Viktoras: “When talking about Ashton, it takes a lot of work… Only this makes things happen. As Ashton Kutcher has said, with YPlan you can find best events and book them in a sec. It’s a mobile answer to the question: What’s my plan for today?” Looking for a team members http://yplan.theresumator.com Founders: Artūras Jonkus | Age: 46 | Skuodas County Rytis Laurinavičius | Age: 30 | Vilnius Education: Artūras – Philology studies at Vilnius University Rytis – Political Science at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science Vilnius University Investments attracted: from Oxygen Venture Capital OU Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 50 By Karolina Kondratjevaitė https://iqpolls.com “How to rock the global CMS market?” Audrius: “We have put together an exceptional team to create what people need and value. ImpressPages is a tool for professional web developers, which empowers them to create better and nicer websites, do it faster and as a result, attract more customers and earn more money.” Mangirdas: “Drag&Drop makes the development and administration of websites easier and up to several times faster. It is so simple and natural for everyone – even those with no technical skills.” Mindaugas: “ImpressPages allows you to create an attractive, modern, mobile-friendly website able to meet everyone’s unique wishes and do it in a super simple and easy way.” Looking for Series A investors for project development. ImpressPages website currently has 45,000 users and has been translated into 33 languages. By Juliana Miliut Photo: from personal archive Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas Founders: Jonas Jonuška | Age: 30 | Klaipėda Evaldas Pabrėža | Age: 28 | Telšiai Education: Jonas – Bachelor of Telecommunication Physics and Electronics and Master of Laser Physics and Optic Technology from Vilnius University Evaldas – Bachelor of Modern Technology Physics and Management and Master of Laser Technology from Vilnius University Investments attracted: from Business Angels Fund I to equip the labs and accomplish the development of the first products 51 TECHNOLOGY 52. KickerPicker.com Start up Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Start up TECHNOLOGY 54. KurGyvenu.lt www.kurgyvenu.lt Founders: Andrius Gintalas | Age: 30 | Telšiai Jokūbas Nečiūnas | Age: 26 | Ukmergė Education: Andrius – LLM from Vilnius University Jokūbas – Software Systems Engineering studies at Vilnius University, temporarily suspended due to hectic business activity Accelerator: StartupHigway Startup investment: founders’ time Investments in total: StartupHigway (June 2012) and Practica Capital (October 2013) By Juliana Miliut https://kickerpicker.com Marius: “KickerPicker.com is a unique global platform for people who need something, are looking for something to buy, want something to sell or swap, or want to share with their friends about the best thing they’ve seen today provided it is related to material objects, promotions in shops, etc.” Arūnas: “You can comment on the stuff you’ve seen, discuss about it, like or dislike, share items over all social networks world-wide, and get in touch with sellers promptly via the intranet.” Donatas: “To get a trademark for KickerPicker.com valid all over Europe, we needed a new good idea, a business model to support it with, a new approach to internet users’ behaviour, and a creative attitude to design, functionality, and content interactivity.” Looking for investors for project development. 52 53. Keenjar Andrius: “KurGyvenu.lt provides up-to-date, objective, and systemised data such as market price, heating costs, air pollution level, crime rates, distance to industrial objects, sights, educational institutions, downtown, etc. on the immovable property searched for as well as tools for managing this information. Comparison of the current situation at regional and national level is also available.” Andrius: “Data are collected from the sources that manage the information. For example, information on heating costs is obtained from Vilniaus Energija heating systems operator. This ensures reliability of the information provided on the website.” Looking for a team member – sales manager. By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.keenjar.com Founders: Domas Juškys | Age: 29 | Vilnius Audrius Ringaila | Age: 28 | Tauragė Education: Domas – Violin at Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin Audrius – Master of Environmental Architecture from Glasgow School of Art Startup investment: USD 50,000 “What innovation does the internet bring to the learning process?” Domas: “To begin with, learning becomes possible anytime, i.e. students can learn in their individual pace. A person is not attached to a geographic location. Let’s say you live in a small village. Learning would not be very inspiring there, but if you have an internet connection, information from all over the world now becomes available to you. At Keenjar we try to take the best things from both the real world and the internet, i.e. human interaction from reality and consistent access to information provided by the internet.” Audrius: “Learning is much more than acquisition of knowledge. It also includes networking and interaction, that is, all the things that take place outside the classroom. With Keenjar we seek to utilize this aspect as well.” Looking for like-minded people seeking to change the world and democratize learning. Photo: from personal archive “How to create a product good enough to get a european trademark?” “How does KurGyvenu.lt facilitate search for immovable properties?” Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas Founders: Donatas Juškus | Age: 35 | Vilnius Marius Leiburas | Age: 29 | Vilnius Arūnas Stankevičius | Age: 27 | Vilnius Education: Donatas – Bachelor of Sociology from Vilnius University | Master of International Trade from International Business School at Vilnius University Marius – BA in Popular Music from Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) Arūnas – Bachelor of Construction Engineering from Vilnius Gedimino Technical University Investments in total: USD 150,000 By Juliana Miliut 53 Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis Start up TECHNOLOGY By Povilas Sabaliauskas http://lifeismobile.eu/en Founder: Andrius Butvilas | Age: 31 | Panevėžys Artautas Jasinskas | Age: 32 | Vilnius Paulius Jankevičius | Age: 26 | Pasvalys County Laurynas Gavienas | Age: 33 | Vilnius Education: Andrius – Master's degree in Banking from Vilnius University Artautas – Bachelor of Telecommunications from Kaunas University of Technology Paulius – Master's degree in Computer Simulation Models from Vilnius University Laurynas – Computer Programming from Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) 57. Mobile Worker www.mworker.com Founders: Ramunė Jančauskaitė-Augutė | Age: 31 | Šiauliai Evaldas Augutis | Age: 36 | Šiauliai Education: Ramunė – Bachelor of Business Management and Administration from LCC International University | Master of Marketing Management from Klaipėda University Evaldas – Bachelor of Electronic Engineering from Šiauliai University Investments in total: LTL 10,000 | in addition, investors from Mosoft, a Norwegian company, who support us “In what way has smart mobile technology changed our lives?” By Justina Ūsaitė http://myday.lt Founder: Armina Staniulienė | Age: 33 | Vilnius Education: Bachelor of International Business and Master of International Communication from Vilnius University | Complementary studies at the Academy of Psychology “Smart wedding” Armina: “I seek to create a high quality service and start new wedding planning practices in Lithuania. Myday.lt makes planning of a wedding simple and smart, so future newlyweds can do it by themselves. The website provides relevant technical solutions, data bases, and all the know-how to make the process smooth and stressless.” Looking for a partner who would be willing to develop this business idea together and could contribute with ideas, finance, time, and support. 54 Ramunė: “Mobile Worker is a solution targeting the growing market for mobile workers. A mobile worker has no permanent workstation, which makes for the need to track mobile workers’ work time and document the results of the work accomplished.” Evaldas: “Mobile Worker is targeted at foreign service-providing enterprises. For instance, electricians, road hauliers, construction workers, and plumbers need to perform work in compliance with established requirements, carefully register time used up for the project, and illustrate the result with snapshots or additional documents.” Looking for partners who could help introduce the product to foreign markets and team members – enthusiastic, creative people with an interest in technologies and a wish to excel. 58. Manodaktaras.lt By Juliana Miliut www.manodaktaras.lt Founders: Robertas Sadovskis | Age: 28 | Vilnius Mindaugas Galvanauskas | Age: 32 | Vilnius Laimonas Misiūnas | Age: 28 | Vilnius Education: Robertas – International Business at Vilnius University Mindaugas – E-Commerce at Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) Laimonas – Business Management at ISM University of Management and Economics Accelerator: StartupHighway Investments in total: EUR 11,000 Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas 56. Myday.lt “Mobile work time tracking device” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Andrius: “Smartphones permeate our lives; they have become our indispensable daily companions. They have replaced for most of us such accessories and devices as notebooks, maps, cameras, and even computers. The app capacity has rapidly extended the scope of application of smartphones. Life is Mobile helps one to expand trade and enables fast and inexpensive access to each individual client, which results in decreased trading costs and reduced prices of products and services.” Looking for investors to support further development of the project in Lithuania and abroad. By Juliana Miliut “How did Manodaktaras.lt start?” Photo: BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis 55. Life is Mobile Start up TECHNOLOGY Mindaugas: “Manodaktaras.lt is a web portal which assists patients in finding, choosing, and making an appointment with a private medical practitioner and helps doctors to get new patients.” Robertas: “After returning to Lithuania from a foreign country, I needed a good specialised doctor and I saw that it wasn’t that easy! I realised then what a complicated and time-consuming business it was.” Laimonas: “It turns out possible to find a good specialist with just a few mouse clicks and make an appointment any time during the day.” Looking for a partner. Start up Start up TECHNOLOGY www.synergycloud.lt/lt By Rasa Petrauskaitė Founders: Marijus Andrijauskas | Age: 31 | Kretinga Tomas Vilmanas | Age: 32 | Vilnius Education: Marijus – Bachelor of Informatics from Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas Tomas – Bachelor of Law and Management from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Startup investment: proceeds from other activities www.tagofjoy.lt Founders: Šarūnas Ledas | Age: 25 | Vilnius Žilvinas Ledas | Age: 27 | Vilnius Education: Šarūnas – Bachelor and Master of Software Systems from Vilnius University Žilvinas – Bachelor and Master of Software Systems, currently postgraduate student of Informatics at Vilnius University Support: EUR 50,000 from AppCampus.fi Fund Šarūnas: “Monster Buster is a game in which a real-world environment is merged with a mobile game. Using a mobile phone you can view otherworldly little monsters, quickly multiplying in a real-world environment; to rein them in, you need to fight them. This makes our daily environment more exciting while the time spent playing becomes an endless process of discovery.” Žilvinas: “Besides, the game encourages you to take part in creating an alternative world. Distinctive characters, a joy of discovery, and brief though compelling fights are something what the majority will like. Our game is oriented to those who enjoy going for a stroll, visiting other cities, or traveling somewhere far away.” Looking for a team member – a gifted developer willing to create games and interesting video applets. Proficiency and experience in server or network programming is desirable, but not mandatory. “How important is it for an entrepreneur to know the customer’s date of birth?” Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas “A new form of leisure” By Juliana Miliut 60. MobilityBee By Tomas Fedaravičius Marijus: “Every entrepreneur seeks to build a long-term relationship with her/ his customer and makes serious efforts to find a loyal customer. After one has been found, the entrepreneur makes every attempt to find another customer. However, then she/ he does not usually dedicate enough time and effort for the customer she/ he has found before. Trivial as it may seem at first glance, knowing your customer’s date of birth, likes, and interests often appears of great value. You can send your customer birthday greetings and present her/ him with what she/ he likes; you can also keep the conversation going by focusing on your customer’s interests.” Looking for a partner with expertise in exporting software products, who could assist in furthering the activity in foreign markets. Photo: from personal archiv 59. Monster Buster 61. Synergy Cloud TECHNOLOGY 62. ReCredible www.mobilitybee.com www.recredible.com Founders: Ernestas Žvaigdždinas | Age: 27 | Vilnius Tadas Kleinauskas | Age: 25 | Kaunas Education: Ernestas – Bachelor of Business Management from Vilnius University Tadas – Bachelor of Computer Programming Technology from Kaunas University of Technology Contributors: Laisvūnas Butkus (business angel) and Laurynas Kublickas Founder: Vaidas Repečka | Age: 37 | Kaunas Education: Economics at Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas | Singularity University, Silicon Valley, USA Place of business: Kaunas Hi-Tech and Information Technologies Park “Innovative system for information search and elearning” Ernestas: “MobilityBee operates under one roof with our Pirmas Milijonas (The First Million) company, the name for which was given when we were 3rd year students; it ideally reflects the positive attitude and ambition we had at that time. Since several of our startups went bankrupt, the ambition is what has remained. We were the first in the Baltics to start developing technologies for mobile commerce and have gained the most advanced position in Europe over a few years. The MobilityBee platform extends ecommerce enterprises on mobile devices.” Tadas: “We can see that mobile technologies tend to become more and more popular in general; trade migration and mobile trading apps are no exception.” Looking for strategic investors and partners who could help the product enter foreign markets; team members with an interest in mobile technologies, especially mobile commerce. Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas “Trade migration will soon be reality” 56 56 By Povilas Sabaliauskas Vaidas: “In a world managed through a touchscreen whereby Kinect and the progressive Leap Motion can sense your movements, smartphones can track your eyes, and various devices can read your brain signals, information should be presented in a different way. New technologies empower us to learn anywhere and anytime; the most common form of learning is informal learning, which is happening unconsciously while we are browsing in the internet. ReCredible is an innovative system that consists of mind maps in the shape of interconnected variable size nodes, which allow you to find information quickly and by unfolding these nodes into smaller ones, you can see how the concepts are interlinked as well as acquire the knowledge effortlessly and efficiently.” Looking for investors with the purpose of installing online learning functions and consolidating the ReCredible users’ community. 57 64. Smash Tennis Booking By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.semseye.com Founder: Paulius Lengvenis | Age: 27 | Kaunas Education: postgraduate student of Informatics Engineering at Kaunas University of Technology Project: the idea evolved while implementing a R&D commercialisation project with Kaunas Unversity of Technology “A unique product for people flow counting” Paulius: “What is needed for foreigners to see Lithuania as a major IT center? Something relevant and essential, a different approach, a solution of novel functionality or a life-changing product. A technological breakthrough to say to the world: 'We are innovative and strong!' A mere signboard ‘Major IT center' is not enough. Competence and earnest work will pull us through.” Looking for partners and potential buyers and distributors of SemsEye. By Karolina Kondratjevaitė Founders: Gabrielė Anušauskaitė | Age: 23 | Klaipėda Romanas Drokovas | Age: 35 | Vilnius Rūta Bylaitytė | Age: 24 | Klaipėda Marius Padvilikis | Age: 31 | Kėdainiai Education: Gabrielė – Bachelor of Cultural History and Anthropology (specialisation in Tourism) from Vilnius University | Master of International Business and Law from International Business School at Vilnius University Romanas – Bachelor of International Business and Law from International Business School at Vilnius University | Master of Electronic Business from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Rūta – Bachelor of Transport Engineering Economics and Management (specialisation in Logistics) and Master of Transport Logistics from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Marius – Bachelor of Applied Mathematics from Kaunas University of Technology | Master of Applied Statistics from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Startup investment: LTL 50,000 Accelerator: StartupHighway in 2013 “At one stroke” Gabrielė: “The zaisktenisa.lt reservation system will allow you not only to find and book tennis courts efficiently, but also to invite other tennis players to test the power of their serves with you. Or you can find yourself a coach here too.” Romanas: “It is an undoubtedly the best and easiest way to organise your game.” Rūta: “After taking care of tennis-infected players, we thought we should attend to beginners as well. This is why we launched isbandyktenisa.lt. To introduce you to tennis, we offer coaching sessions with every single detail planned carefully from a to z: a coach, a tennis court, a group of players, racquets, and balls. You can hardly find a smoother and easier landing right on a tennis court all over Lithuania!” Marius: “AAll you need to do is to create your profile in our portal or get in touch with us by contacts indicated on our website.” Looking for investors for international development, local partners in every foreign market, and team members – programmers and a designer. 65. Soundest Desk By Justina Ūsaitė www.soundest.com Founder: Rytis Laurinavičius | Age: 30 | Vilnius Education: Institute of International Relations and Political Science Vilnius University Startup investment: LTL 120,000 “It takes less than 10 minutes to start using our platform” Rytis: “Email is a communication channel, which is why it can communicate messages of various content. Our system is specialised and is especially valuable for online stores. The system has been (or will be in the nearest future) installed in a total 10 of the world’s most popular ecommerce platforms. It takes less than 10 minutes to start using our platform.” Looking for investors and partners – enterprises engaged in development and installation of ecommerce platforms and eshops as well as results oriented marketing agencies, which would be willing to cooperate in customising and offering Soundest Desk system to their clients. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis www.zaisktenisa.lt Photo: from personal archive TECHNOLOGY 63. SEMSeye Start up TECHNOLOGY 66. TransferGo By Povilas Sabaliauskas https://transfergo.com/en/home Founders: Daumantas Dvilinskas | Age: 25 | Vilnius Justinas Lasevičius | Age: 26 | Lazdijai Edvinas Šeršniovas | Age: 24 | Utena Arnas Lukoševičius | Age 33 | Kaunas Education: Daumantas – BBus from Lancaster University Management School, UK Justinas – Bachelor of Finance from Lancaster University Management School, UK Edvinas – Business and Pharmacy at Kingston University, UK Arnas – incomplete university studies Investments attracted: EUR 350,000 from Practica Capital Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas Start up “Our goal is to move forward!” Daumantas: “We have attempted to gradually change the world around us because we believed and still believe that any business is first of all a process and only after that – money.” Justinas: “While studying and doing business in the UK, we would frequently face the money transfer problem. Making money transfers between financial institutions in Lithuania and UK was not only inconvenient, but also far too expensive. This is why we decided to create a new convenient method of money transfer between different countries.” Daumantas: “Our dream is a financial tunnel to link America with the Old Continent. Our goal is to move forward!” Looking for Europe-based investors at global level, who would have business network in the finance field. Investments would enable even more rapid development in Europe and beyond. 59 Start up Start up TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY 70. Verslo rykliai By Tomas Fedaravičius www.trustribe.com Founders: Robertas Višinskis | Age: 33 | Vilnius Arnoldas Žvinys | Age: 25 | Vilnius Education: Robertas – Informatics at Kaunas University of Technology Arnoldas – Economics at Vilnius University Investments: from Practica Capital KŪB Accelerator: Startup.lt By Karolina Kondratjevaitė www.trafi.com 68. Watchar “Transferrable reputation – what is this?” Robertas: “Our instruments allow people to accumulate their reputation capital in different websites. We made it open-ended, i.e. reputation accumulated in one portal can be utilized elsewhere. Bringing your reputation along to another community, you prove your trustworthiness to the members of this community.” Arnoldas: “In the future reputation will become a kind of currency that people will use in the same way as they now use money or gift vouchers. It will have an advantage over money as reputation is resistant to depreciation and can be enhanced only by creating value to others.” Looking for second-stage investors to enable improvement of the system and development in foreign countries. By Juliana Miliut www.watcharound.me Founders: Evaldas Venskutonis | Age: 30 | Ukmergė Ignas Gudaitis | Age: 27 | Kaunas Education: Evaldas – Bachelor of Advertising Management from Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) | Bachelor of Management and Business Administration from Vilnius University Ignas – Freight Forwarding and Logistics at Kaunas School of Applied Arts | Civil Engineering (incomplete studies) at Kaunas University of Technology Investments in total: LTL 340,000 consisting of direct investments and sweat equity – 11 months’ unpaid work Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “Targeting the US market” 60 60 69. TRAFI Evaldas: “In the beginning we focus on the US market as this country offers a solid, wide, cultivated, and economically sustainable market. Moreover, we are going to introduce our product to the US customers with the help of a team member residing in the States, who has a profound knowledge of the specificity of the local market and marketing techniques and could give sound advice about how to introduce this type of product in this economy.” Ignas: “As soon as it has gained a foothold in the big country’s economy, our product will become noticeable and attractive to businesses around the world. This is why our first target is the USA market.” Looking for investors. Approx. EUR 250,000 is required to market the project, purchase computer equipment and software and above all – finalize the project and launch it in the US market as soon as possible. Founder: Jurgis Pašukonis | Age: 30 | Vilnius Martynas Gudonavičius | Age: 26 | Jonava Mantas Vizbaras | Age: 30 | Vilnius Algimantas Krasauskas | Age: 28 | Ylakiai Education: Jurgis – Bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA | Master’s degree from Imperial College London, UK | PhD from Queen Mary University of London Martynas – Bachelor’s degree from Kaunas University of Technology Mantas – Bachelor and Master from Vilnius University Algimantas – Bachelor’s degree from Vilnius University Investments attracted: USD 500,000 from Practica Capital “Get people going” Jurgis: “Trafi allows you to forget cars and brings back various commuting alternatives such as taxi, cycling, or walking.” Martynas: “When using Trafi, all possible ways to commute from door to door are provided. You choose what suits you best.” Mantas: “I drive a car nearly every day. I am not familiar with public transport routes; I don’t even know the names of bus stops. In such cases Trafi is indispensable – you just turn on the app and mark your destination on the map or enter the address. In a few seconds you have your directions.” Algimantas: “Trafi is useful for cyclers too as it allows looking up Cyclocity bike rental terminal locations in Vilnius and checking the availability of bikes.” Jurgis: “With Trafi you can monitor the journey of the vehicle in real time – whether it is going to arrive at your bus stop late or before time.” Looking for team members – developers using iOS and Android mobile operating systems, the very best in Lithuania! Founders: Eglė Zajankauskaitė | Age: 22 | Alytus Šarūnas Nemura | Age: 22 | Kaunas Gerda Rimeikaitė | Age: 22 | Joniškis Education: Šarūnas and Eglė – students of Computer Linguistics at Kaunas University of Technology Gerda – student of New Media Art at Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas Investments: participated in the intracompany project of UAB Open Planes, which enabled us to create a project without any funds. “Like any other art, folk art enriches the human spirit” Eglė: “Our goal is to create a space where different craftspeople and folk artists could display their works and find customers. We long for authenticity. It’s great to be able to enjoy objects made with infinite love, when each millimeter is permeated with the creator’s heart and soul.” Gerda: “I suppose the biggest discovery in this project was the sincerity of people making folklore articles, their dedication and faith in what they are doing and most importantly – not for profit, which was fairly unexpected to me.” Šarūnas: “We are looking for and awaiting everyone willing to join in and hope that our folk artists’ community will keep growing.” Looking for team members and partners willing to contribute to the development of the project. Photo: from personal archive By Karolina Kondratjevaitė Photo: from personal archive 67. Trustribe Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas www.rykliai.lt 61 61 Start up Start up TECHNOLOGINIS IMMIGRANT 72. Worapay By Tomas Fedaravičius www.worapay.com Founders: Aurimas Bakas | Age: 31 | Vilnius Vaidas Adomauskas | Age: 29 | Marijampolė Education: Aurimas – Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Master’s degree in Political Science from Vilnius University Vaidas – Master’s degree in Information Systems Engineering and Management from University of Gothenburg, Sweden 71. withEvent.com Vaidas: “By installing POS (point of sale) software together with core banking systems, we are creating a new category for settlement – infrastructure for mobile wallets. We offer a wide range of new products for traders to reduce their money transfer costs and facilitate bigger sales and wider application of their services.” Aurimas: “We are sometimes asked if we have anything in common with spiders? Yes! Over the next few years, Worapay (Lith. 'voras' means 'spider') project is going to spiderweb a great number of countries, where we intend to set our foot in.” Vaidas: “We believe that in five years each of us will have a mobile wallet. It will save us a lot of time, which we now spend in a queue or waiting for the bill at a restaurant. In the future, it may be enough to nod your head in order to settle the payment – you won’t even need a phone.” Looking for investors who could grant EUR 500,000 to support the development of the project in 10 countries, for which an easily extendable technical solution has been prepared. By Juliana Miliut http://withevent.com Founders: Daugilas Kakaras | Age: 27 | Vilnius Artūras Paleičikas | Age: 28 | Vilnius Education: Daugilas – Technology Management Artūras – Computer Programming Accelerator: StartupHighway Investments received: EUR 11,000 from StartupHighway Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas “It may be enough to nod your head to settle accounts in the future – you won’t even need a phone.” 73. Bliu Bliu http://bliubliu.com/en/ Founder: : Claudio Santori | Age: 36 | Jesi, Italy Education: Bachelor of Economics from Roma Tre University, Italy Investments attracted: EUR 105,000 (EUR 5,000 from an Italian business angel and EUR 100,000 from a Lithuanian business angel) “In what ways do modern technologies change the language learning process?” 62 62 Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “Moble apps for festivals and conferences” Daugilas: “We had worked for a long time programming for others. Having our own business had always seemed interesting and appealing. This is how we came about to create a product for festivals and conferences, which is intended not for the end user, the visiting public, but for the event organiser.” Artūras: “We’ve had backstage experience ourselves, so we are aware of how complicated it is for a team consisting of hardly a dozen people to satisfy thousands of visitors’ wishes and expectations. That’s why we attempt to create a service which could make event organisers’ work easier, which is a great inspiration and driving force for us.” By Povilas Sabaliauskas Claudio: “Due to modern technologies our learning habits are undergoing quite considerable changes. We are moving away from classroom and private classes, which are time-consuming and expensive methods, and turn to online learning whereby the learner can get what she/ he wants and whenever she/ he wants for a much lower price or sometimes totally for free. Now everyone can set up a blog or app and start providing a service. The internet provides us with much wider opportunities to shatter established norms for elearning and introduce new methods. This is just what Bliu Bliu offers you – a new way of brushing up your foreign language skills online.” Looking for Series A investors for a more rapid development of the project and a partner. 63 Start up Start up www.mobofree.com Founders: Tomas Martūnas | Age: 34 | Vilnius Neringa Kudarauskienė | Age: 32 | Vilnius Vytenis Darulis | Age: 26 | Vilnius Wilfredas Tchasse | Age: 29 | Cameroon Consultants and shareholders: Cristobal Alonso and Frank M. Saviane Education: Tomas – Master’s degree in Finance from Vilnius University | Master’s degree in Law and Management from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Vytenis – Bachelor’s studies in Software Systems Engineering at Vilnius University Neringa – Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences | Master’s degree in EU Politics and Administration from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius | Bachelor of Psychology degree from Vilnius University Wilfred – Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Douala Investments received: EUR 14,000 (from StartupHighway) Accelerator: StartupHighway “At first we didn’t understand what, in what way and for what reason is going on in Africa. Now we know how business is made here” Neringa: “What inspires us most is that no common principles of business are valid here. Some things that would be denounced by the business community in any European country are acceptable in Africa. If you want to have something in January, you’d better start planning for it in June the year before. In Africa your appearance determines the way they treat you. We were shocked when Wilfred (Cameroon native) would come to informal meetings dressed up in a suit and perfectly polished shoes, while we would be wearing jeans and Tshirts. Our figures are impressive, and we have exactly the product the market needs. We have survived while our competitors were forced to close as they had been unable to perceive the greatest threat, i.e. false ads for which the project had acquired bad reputation.” Looking for an investor. 76. Yogis frozen yogurt www.yogis.lt Founders: Audra Žilėnaitė | Age: 27 | Vilnius Vilma Žilėnaitė | Age: 29 | Vilnius Education: Audra – Bachelor’s degree and current graduate studies in Business Management and Administration at International Business School Vilnius University Vilma – graduate student at ISM University of Management and Economics Startup investment: LTL 100,000 “We didn’t start a franchise as we decided to make only natural yogurt” 75. Goodbuzz Vilma: “Yogis Frozen Yogurt is an idea spotted in Spain and realised in Lithuania. We adapted the concept to the market of our country. We didn’t start a franchise because at the time we could see no strong brand by bringing which to Lithuania we could gain a competitive advantage. When we undertook to create Yogis Frozen Yogurt there was no similar idea in Lithuanian business.” Looking for investors to enable development in Lithuania and other countries. By Povilas Sabaliauskas Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 77. Lizarran Restaurant By Agnė Adomaitytė https://www.facebook.com/LizarranVilnius Founders: Osvaldas Aleksas | Age: 43 | Vilnius Gediminas Jankus | Age: 25 | Kupiškis Education: Osvaldas – Economics at University of Münster, Germany Gediminas – Agribusiness Management at Vilniaus Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences Vilnius) www.goodbuzz.net Founder: Mawuna Koutunin | Age: 40 | Togo Education: Bachelor of Business Administration from Lille University of Science and Technology | Master of Philosophy from University of Burgundy, France “People say: ‘Gedas, you are nuts’, but I believe in what I’m doing and know that God hides in the details” “How shall the advertiser reach the target audience? What changes should advertising undergo to attract people’s attention?” Mawuna: “These are the reasons why we founded the enterprise. Modern forms of advertising such as banners and auto-start videos are gradually becoming ignored – people simply switch them off. With our play format, we utilize the power of games in the service of advertising. People love games. They can spend hours playing games. The new model could use such incentives as premiums, discounts, and points. This is our goal. We want a new model which wouldn’t make people feel inferior than those on ad images. It is a new approach, which as we can see, has already attracted people’s attention.” Looking for investors to enable project development and partners – an advertising agency or network and a B2C (Business to Consumer) enterprise. 64 By Justina Ūsaitė Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas By Agnė Adomaitytė Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas 74. MoboFree FRANCHISE Photo: © BFL / Tomas Lukšys IMMIGRANT Gediminas: “It is all in food, customer service, and interior design. After I realised what professional service is, I started to pay attention to details. I had worked as a coffee expert before. Curiously enough, but I had never let myself serve a bad cup of coffee. I’d always say: ‘Don’t give away anything secondrate.’ What I found fascinating about the Lizarran franchise was that a small unpretentious snack is spiked with a skewer. We have three hundred and fifty Spanish pinchos and numerous variations of tapas, which you can pick up from the food display at the bar or order from the menu and pay later not for your snack but for the skewer. It’s simple, convenient, and unique. It’s trendy.” Looking for a team member who could spread the word about Lizarran in all Baltic countries. 65 78. Raskgreitai.lt 40 + By Karolina Kondratjevaitė Photo: from personal archive 40 + Start up www.raskgreitai.lt Founder: Daiva Gerulytė | Age: 50 | Vilnius Education: Economic Cybernetics at Vilnius University Startup investment: LTL 50,000 Accelerator: membership of Hub Vilnius “The possibility of choice is more appealing” 81. Zoombook Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas Daiva: “There are only twenty-four hours in a day. Two thirds of the time is for work and sleep. Obviously, there is a need to spend the remaining eight hours in a meaningful way, but routine devours us. Let's say something has broken down. While the sequence of steps looking for the right service provider is quite explicit (find the contacts, obtain recommendations and find out about availability), the task occasionally is not that simple. What if someone else would do the job? We have undertaken the task to turn the harrowing experience into a pleasure when you get the possibility of choice rather than the possibility of asking for a favour.” Looking for a team member and partner. “We would like to find a designer to cooperate (and share ideas) with on a permanent basis, who could later become a partner if she/he wished. Besides, partners are welcome to complement the team with their experience in the service industry.” http://www.zoombook.lt, http://www.zoombook.com, http://www.zoombook.ru Founder: Artūras Karosas | Age: 42 | Kretinga Education: Master’s degree from Vilnius Academy of Arts | Master of Business Management from Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas “An original photo book is a perfect form of self-expression” 80. Vero Coffee House By Dario Malinowski www.truckviser.com Founder: Laimonas Stončius | Age: 44 | Vilnius Investments received: Venture capital has been attracted for several projects developed in conjunction, but the amount of investments for Truckviser is undefined as several projects are being developed at the same time. “In what way to ensure safe driving?” 66 Laimonas: “Due to trailer accidents and other incidents on the road, people are killed every day while transport companies in Europe incur damages amounting to billions every year. Drivers manage the greatest risk of traffic accidents; therefore, it is vital to have an efficient channel with them for information, training, help, motivation, and control. This is how we came about with Truckviser, which teaches drivers how to make use of modern solutions, enables enterprises to manage their tablets remotely, monitors communication costs as well as ensures safe driving policy and optimal sharing of benefits arising from the use of mobile technologies.” Looking for partners with an interest in developing optimum and efficient solutions for transport market such as: replacement, connection, and improvement of different trailer units; installation of video cameras; driver task management solutions; integration with telematics, business management, road tax, and customs systems. Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas By Tomas Fedaravičius 79. Truckviser By Tomas Fedaravičius www.verocoffeehouse.lt Founder: Darius Vėželis | Age: 40 | Elektrėnai | Chairman of Specialty Coffee Association Lithuania Education: Master of Business Management and Organisation from Vytautas Magnus University Artūras: “We believe that holding a self-designed book to be given as a gift to someone special or yourself leaves you with a beautiful feeling that is worth sharing. We encourage creativity and are convinced that every moment in life is worth a photo book. Anyone can design an original book of photos: photographers, designers, bakers or travellers, parents, children and grandparents, poets, economists – anyone! We envisage great prospects for this project. We have started the business in Lithuania and are rapidly growing to enter the international market. Teeming with ideas, we have prepared quite a few projects, which hopefully will rock not only Lithuanian, but also global market.” Looking for partners and investors to empower development in the international market; team members – designers, illustrators, and developers. “Coffee sellers should be interested in the entire way of coffee just as wine sellers are interested in the wine way” Darius: “Lithuanians are really fond of coffee. However, they cannot quite grasp yet what a long and complicated preparation it requires. Vero Coffee House makes the opportunity to watch the unique coffee making process and get acquainted with different coffee brewing methods. There is also a separate facility where we give tutorials about coffee and how to prepare it correctly as well as hold coffee tasting sessions. Coffee sellers should be interested in the entire way of coffee just as wine sellers are interested in the wine way: what farm the coffee comes from, which year of picking, which variety of arabica coffee, and most importantly – when and how it was roasted.” Looking for a team member who would care for coffee and the subtleties of coffee making. Photo: from personal archive Start up 67 Start up Start up PUPIL PUPIL 84. SearchNode By Povilas Sabaliauskas www.searchnode.net https://www.facebook.com/DecoDrink?fref=ts Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Founder: Donatas Vasiliauskas | Age: 26 | Alytus Education: Bachelor of Economics from Vilnius Pedagogical University (now Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) | Master of Economics from Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius “Is there a place for unique items in a world where mass production reigns?“ Donatas: “Unique items always and indisputably have material value; they cost more than factory-produced goods. Our survey respondents were unanimous – drinking tea or coffee from a singular cup, with the customer having conceived the idea for it, is much more enjoyable than using a factory-produced item. Mass production has taken away from customers the joy of having singular, exclusive objects.” Looking for partners to enter into a cooperation contract with for steady supply of products. 83. Burning Ice By Dario Malinowski www.facebook.com/MmbBurningIce Founder: Mantas Ražinskas | Age: 16 | Kaunas Education: student of Kaunas Maironis Academic Gymnasium Photo: from personal archive “You have to be innovative in business” 68 Mantas: “When I undertook this activity, I knew that success in business belonged to those capable of offering something new and unprecedented, such like our candles, for example. The product we have created is not only eco-friendly, but also innovative. We have developed a production technology (using ice cubes and wax) that is in no way like any other. Unlike traditional paraffin candles, ice candles do no harm for our health as their composition is completely natural. While they are burning, light passes through the entire candle.” Looking for investors for development to enable implementation of innovative ideas and encourage people’s interest in them. “SearchNode enables eshops to earn more money and eshop visitors to search for products easily and fast” Antanas: “Google has really spoilt us; we can now launch intuitive search without bothering too much about what keywords to select, making mistakes, and searching by various synonyms. Used to Google search engine, internet users expect the same when visiting e-commerce websites and using their search fields to find products; we help them to find what they are looking for. It feels like using Google as you can make spelling mistakes and write completely intuitively; after you get a variety of search results, they can be sorted and filtered by relevant criteria.” Looking for early-stage investors to enable further improvement of the product and development in foreign markets; partners working in the field of electronic trading. Photo: from personal archive By Povilas Sabaliauskas Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas 82. DecoDrink Founders: Antanas Bakšys | Age: 17 | Kaunas Lukas Mikuckis | Age: 17 | Kaunas Ringaudas Kalinauskas | Age: 18 | Kaunas Education: Antanas and Lukas – 11th grade students at Varpas Gymnasium Kaunas Ringaudas – 12th grade student at Saulė Gymnasium Kaunas 85. Fast Focus By Dario Malinowski https://www.facebook.com/FASTFOCUS Founder: Juozapas Mikulėnas | Age: 17 | Vilnius Education: 11th grade student at Jonas Basanavičius Gymnasium Vilnius Fast Focus has entered the International Junior Achievement Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Competition “Profitable business must go hand in hand with good emotions!” Juozapas: “I believe that all you need for profitable business is a concept for a product or service that would bring a smile to the customer’s face, and turn the idea into reality. For the main purpose of life for all of us is happiness. What brings about happiness? Good emotions! This is how we came about to start Fast Focus. Our goal is to intrigue and cheer people up with exceptional camera shots.” Looking for a team member – an outgoing make-up intern, and partners who would be willing to cooperate in creating video ads and event videos. 69 Start up Start up STUDENT PUPIL 86. Unmute 89. Dalauta.lt By Karolina Kondratjevaitė https://www.facebook.com/pages/UnmutedLT/592227207496625?fref=ts www.dalauta.lt Open your wings “Toy cars break less frequently” Rokas: “A young person is like a little burgeoning dream, which yearns to open the wings and fly to the big world, but doesn’t always find the way which would lead it to the realisation of those aspirations. Unmute is the only enterprise in the city and county of Alytus which provides complete freedom for a young creator to reveal her/ his talent on a big stage. We await all those who want to realise themselves as we live to realise our dreams. We will take care of everything you may need, from the stage to a guitar amplifier.” Looking for an investor and partner. Investments are needed to acquire the audio system and office equipment. Business partners are needed to further the activities between cities. Tomašas: “Like any small boy, I was deep into toy cars in my childhood. Paradoxically enough, the toy cars were far more durable than the vehicles I started to drive as a grown up. Recurrent problems with my cars and long search for necessary parts led me to open an online store for auto parts. By choosing our services, drivers can save not only money, but also their time and nerve cells as they don’t have to visit tens of car parts stores dispersed around and outside the city.” Looking for a partner with expertise in cars to join the business. 87. Autoreklama By Justina Ūsaitė www.autoreklama.net Founders: Laurynas Jokubaitis | Age: 21 | Šilutė Justas Čalnaras | Age: 20 | Joniškis Education: Laurynas and Justas – 3rd year students of Economics at ISM University of Management and Economics Vilnius Startup investment: LTL 14,000 “A glance of one person costs the enterprise 0.016 litas” Justas: “Advertising on cars is cheap as it is moving all the time and attracts attention in different places. We have calculated that a glance of one person costs the enterprise on the average 0.016 litas. An ad on a car draws approximately 700–1000 people’s glances a day, so it is one of the cheapest and most efficient forms of advertising. To catch the attention of passersby in today’s world teeming with advertising, you need to have something unique or present your ad in such a way that people could no way miss it, which Autoreklama (Auto Ad) perfectly combines.” Looking for investors for development and self-advertising as well as team members – young marketing and IT specialists. By Justina Ūsaitė http://wellness-travels.com Founders: Gediminas Kondrackis | Age: 23 | Kaunas Paulius Jurgutis | Age: 22 | Kaunas Education: Gediminas – Economics and Business at University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and New University of Lisbon, Portugal Paulius – Economics and Business Administration at Stockholm School of Economics Riga, Latvia, and Pompeu Fabra University, Spain Startup investment: approx. LTL 13,000 “Lithuania will be the leader in the medical tourism industry” Gediminas: “Lithuania is one of the countries that have the greatest potential in medical tourism; and yet it is Czech Republic, Hungary, and Belgium that are Europe’s leaders in the field. Due to sufficiently low prices and a high quality of services in Lithuania, the number of incoming patients is likely to keep increasing.” Paulius: “While studying abroad, we were looking for ideas and ways to realise them in Lithuania. We are happy to be able to do what we enjoy in our home country and all together create added value here.” Looking for team members to work with CIS and Western European countries. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas © © STUDENT 88. Wellness Travels Photo: from personal archive Founder: Tomašas Adamovičius | Age: 22 | Vilnius Education: Business Systems Creation and Management student at Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Founder: Rokas Danevičius | Age: 17 | Alytus Education: 11th-grade student at Putinų Gymnasium Alytus Start up Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas By Karolina Kondratjevaitė SPIN OFF 90. Eco Wheel Power Start up SPIN OFF By Rasa Petrauskaitė 93. Ledigma www.vidulus.lt Founder: : Šarūnas Grigaliūnas | Age: 36 | Vilnius Education: Telecommunications and Electronics at Kaunas University of Technology | Business Management at Kolping University of Applied Sciences | Information Technology Security at La Salle University Startup investment: EUR 50,000 Investments attracted: approx. LTL 70,000 Accelerator: Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA) in the frame of Commercialisation of R&D Results national programme for 2013 www.ledigma.lt Founders: Artūras Žukauskas | Age: 57 | Vilnius Rimantas Vaicekauskas |Age: 49 | Užventis, Kelmė County Pranciškus Vitta | Age: 31 | Vilnius Andrius Petrulis | Age: 25 | Panevėžys Arūnas Tuzikas | Age: 30 | Klaipėda Education: Artūras – doctor habilitatus in Physical Science, professor at Vilnius University, expert member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Rimantas – doctor habilitatus in Informatics Vilnius University Pranciškus – doctor habilitatus in Physics Vilnius University Andrius and Arūnas – Master’s degree in Physics | currently postgraduate students Vilnius University Startup investment: LTL 10,000 Support: approx. LTL 70,000 from the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA) Šarūnas: “After spending 14 years in a wheelchair, I undertook a new initiative for the formation of business practices. Standard manual wheelchairs are still heavy and expensive appliances which require complicated maintenance. This determined the need to design an attachable device for the standard wheelchair to enhance disabled person’s mobility. The device is characterised by a lightweight and compact design, universality, low electricity costs and an embedded solar power facility. Torque settings can be programmed from a PC while the constant speed system ensures that constant speed is held. Moreover, the automatic pilot enables automatic speed control while driving.” Looking for team members and good marketing experts to increase sales and export. 92. Vytis invest By Povilas Sabaliauskas http://www.brolis-semicon.com By Tomas Fedaravičius vytishop.lt/en/godaeco Founders: Augustinas Vizbaras | Age: 29 | Panevėžys Dominykas Vizbaras | Age: 33 | Panevėžys Kristijonas Vizbaras | Age: 29 | Panevėžys Education: Augustinas and Kristijonas – Bachelor of Electronic Engineering from Vilnius University | Master of Physics from Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden | current postgraduate studies in Physics at Munich Technical University | membership at IEEE Photonics Society and SPIE (International Society for Optics and Photonics Dominykas – Bachelor of Transport Engineering from Klaipėda University | Master of Transport and Maritime Technology Management from University of Antwerp, Belgium Investments attracted: LTL 10 mln. from LitCapital and over LTL 11.4 mln. from EU funds for the purchase of various lab equipment and R&TD of the products. Technology developed by the company is patentable (two international patent requests submitted). Founder: Vytis Šliažas | Age: 25 | Alytus Education: 4th year student of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Vilnius University “This year’s goal is to collect and process 10,000 wine bottles” Photo: Invest Lithuania “Company invents unique laser conquering foreign markets at high speed” Kristijonas: “Our company was founded and the development of products has been taking place at a pace strikingly fast not only for Lithuania, but also world-wide. We envisage fairly bright prospects. Brolis Semiconductors aspires to become one of the major global players in the field of long wavelength optoelectronics in near future.” Looking for team members – talented and motivated people to complement the company’s team. Photo: © BFL / Vygintas Skaraitis Photo: © BFL / Andrius Ufartas “The project would make Lithuania the first attraction site for disabled people” 91. Brolis Semiconductors By Tomas Fedaravičius Vytis: “The idea to turn used wine bottles into various accessories sprang up while browsing the net for wine cooler bags, which we needed in our wine accessories shop. This is how I stumbled upon products made from processed wine bottles. It is an environment-friendly product as no new raw glass is used to produce it. This year’s goal is to collect and process 10,000 wine bottles. Even in the world at large there are very few enterprises which do the same, so we have perfect opportunities for development. In the meantime I process bottles manually. So I am a tramp in a suit.” Looking for investors who could help to acquire equipment for processing used bottles. “Lighting technologies industry is based on the mistaken presumption that humans crave for the most natural colour rendering possible” Pranciškus: “We founded a spin-off enterprise comprising a group of Vilnius University scientists to commercialise many-years’ experience and R&D results attained in the field of semiconductor LED lighting. For us, scientists, starting a business alone has been a discovery, which has made us think in a different way. We have noticed that the majority of people, whom we let play with our luminaires with controlled light parameters, chose colour-rich rather than natural-looking light. Their choice showed us that traditional lighting technologies industry is based on the mistaken presumption that humans crave for the most natural colour rendering possible.” Andrius: “Our aim is to start producing unique equipment in cooperation with a few major well-known and well-marketed lighting technologies companies.” Looking for team members and international partners. Photo: © BFL / Butautas Barauskas Start up 73 74