Latvian startup scene overview: June

Several funding rounds, traction from rising Latvian startups, and investor events. June has been exciting for Latvian startup scene:

Funding rounds

MolPort raises half a million to get molecules delivered

Global chemical compound marketplace MolPort has raised €500,000 from Imprimatur Capital and FlyCap. Molport already has 9 out of 10 world’s leading chemical universities as their clients. Moreover, research institutes, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies from 65 countries are already buying compounds from more than 25 million titles in MolPort database.

Read more here.

Fabula doubles Latvian ebook market, raises €470k for Nordic expansion

Latvian Spotify for ebooks Fabula has doubled ebook market in Latvia, attracting new readers who were not reading ebooks before. Now the team has raised a €470k round from Imprimatur Capital, Vision+ and angels from the US, Sweden, and Latvia to expand the model to the Nordics.

Read more here.

AirDog attracts additional €460,000 on AngelList

Following an overly successful Kickstarter campaign last summer and a $2 million seed round this March, AirDog has now raised another €460,000 in just 2-3 weeks on AngelList. The team has already started the production of AirDogs, to be delivered to their backers by August 31.

Futuristic kettle MIITO raises 5x its Kickstarter goal

Futuristic kettle MIITO, co-created by Latvian designer Jasmina Grase has raised over €800k from over 6,000 backers on Kickstarter. With the initial goal of €150k, this is an overwhelming result. The team has also unlocked all stretch goals, letting backers upgrade to any of the more advanced versions.

Read more about MIITO here.

Square audio raises $24,938 of its $38,500 goal

The Kickstarter campaign of professional loudspeaker for the true musician SQUARE ROOT had started well but did not reach its goal with 64.5% raised. The day before the campaign ended Square Audio team published an update promising to ship all products to backers, regardless of Kickstarter results.

Read more here.

Startup traction

QFer partners with ISIC

Riga-based app for quick offers nearby Qfer now has world’s largest student discount network ISIC on board. The new Qfer & ISIC app is now available for iOS and Android.

InSelly among top 6 Startup Sauna companies

It was already a huge success when world’s first marketplace for Instagram InSelly got accepted to the most competitive bath in Startup Sauna history, surpassing over 500 teams. Now they are proud to be among best 6 startups from this batch selected for a trip to Silicon Valley.

Read more about Startup Sauna and who else is in top 6 here.

Clusterpoint signs a deal with Telia Latvia

Latvian startup Clusterpoint just signed partnership agreement with Telia Latvija (100% part of the TeliaSonera AB group) to provide database as a service – the new Telia Latvija service will allow growing business to process large data sets in the cloud.

Read more here.

Formyola now has customers in 418 cities

Latvian startup Formyola, which lets collect data offline with mobile forms and surveysannounced that they now have customers in 418 cities:

Clusterpoint launches in the US, sponsors hackathons in Chennai, Seattle and Tokyo

On Jun 27-28 Latvian database as a service Clusterpoint has launched document database as a service in the US this week. Read most recent article on Clusterpoint here.

The company also continues to sponsor AngelHack hackathons around the globe to acquire users and customers.On Jun 27-28 3 events took place – in Chennai, Seattle and Tokyo.

Mintos releases its growth stats

Latvian P2P lending service Mintos has expanded its range of performance statistics that is publicly available on its website. That way Mintos makes its operation transparent and enhances its trustworthiness to investors.

You can see the statistics here.

Rention taking part in EIT Digital #IdeaChallenge and EUXCEL

Rention is a platform for long-term tenant agreements bringing together landlords, tenants and service providers. The team is taking part in EIT Digital #IdeaChallenge and EUXCEL virtual accelerator.

June dealflow

These 19 #LVstartups are raising over €5 million

We have compiled a list of hot #LVstartups looking for funding. Altogether they are raising over €5 million.

1. InSelly – marketplace for Instagram
2. BranchTrack – flight simulation for salespeople
3. MaxTraffic – turns abandoning visitors into customers
4. Conelum – makes mandatory daily tests in dairy industry up to 30x faster
5. Koatum – double coating for implants, eliminates risk of rejection
6. ET Tech – HR platform for recruiting that assesses skills based on eye movements
7. Spatial Initiatives – next generation precision rangefinders for 3D imaging and survey instruments
8. PranaJet – breathing game for stress management
9. Trip.Center – world’s most flexible travel planner without defined user paths
10. Nano55 – one-step nano carbon tube production technology
11. Adaplab – next generation of software for industrial controllers in oil, gas and wind farm industries.
12. Eventech – high-precision timing electronics, holds 50% of world’s Satellite Laser Ranging market share
13. DexLab – turns chemical waste into dextran
14. Nano Ray-T – produces all types of carbon nanotubes with extreme 99.5% purity
15. Snowision – automatic sensor system to monitor snow cover in ski resorts
16. Mahydy – new technology for anti-corrosion treatment of structural steel
17. Socialphotos – connects brands with user-generated content
18. Game as a service – a game startup in stealth mode
19. Reach.ly – engages e-shop visitors in real time

For more details, slides, milestones and founder contacts, visit our full article here.

Other

TechHub Riga now accepts freelance developers and designers

This week Riga’s biggest and oldest coworking space for tech startups announced they are #GrowingTheTribe. The hashtag campaign stands for TechHub Riga opening up to accept freelance developers and designers as members, even though they may not be working in a startup.

Read more here.

Infogr.am presents a prize at #GENsummit

Latvian data visualization tool Infogr.am sponsored Public Choice awards at Global Editors Network Summit 2015 in Barcelona this week. The prize went to Julien Goetz & Henri Poulain for FranceTV .

Riga hosts #InnoWeek2015

Due to Latvian presidency in the EU, Riga hosted #InnoWeek2015. The full name of the three-day conference is “First Innovative Enterprise Week” and the event was “Access to finance for research, innovation and SMEs”. The conference brought together EU policy makers and Baltic startup scene representatives. The program was rich – from crowdfunding and angel investment to EU-level startup support programs for the next planning period.

Find out more on the event web page.

Three Latvian startups pitched at Forbes Equity Club in Tallinn

#LVstartups Edurio, Koatum and BranchTrack pitched at Forbes Equity Club event for business angels in Tallinn. Over 30 angels from LatBAN and EstBAN, as well as investment funds, attended the event.

Find out more about the event here.

ALTUM hosts a seminar for young companies

Latvian development finance institution ALTUM hosted a seminar for young companies on Jun 3. Move than 100 people came to listen about Latvian future policy for entrepreneurs, available financial instruments for young companies and success stories from Froont, Edurio and dq makawelli.

Slides from the event are available here.

There is more where this came from

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