Huntli.io
Huntli.io – a startup that helps banks and FinTechs by providing them with developed tools for risk management, live transaction monitoring & fraud prevention – was one of the three Latvian startups that participated in the Mastercard Lighthouse program. Other than general experience and mentoring, one of the biggest benefits of the program for them has been a partnership with Finnish startup VALEGA Chain Analytics – a company that performs automated compliance & transaction risk analysis for blockchains.
Huntli.io has recently grown their client base by 17 companies, been audited by Railsr and some other finance regulators in European Union and United Kingdom, and has partnered up with The Fintech House – biggest FinTech hub in Portugal. Huntli.io receives support for their expansion into the world from Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) – using the export support program, and participating in trade missions (like Slush 2022, and planned mission to Money20/20 in 2023).
More locally – Huntli.io has worked with Fintech Latvia Association to host two FinTech Breakfast educational networking events – helping to support the local startup ecosystem. All of this work has also resulted in Huntli.io being chosen as one of the “10 Startups to Watch” in the Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV annual Latvian Startup Report 2022.
Medon
Medon – a certified medical treatment institution that provides online doctor and specialist consultations using remote communication – was the only startup from Latvia among 4 final pilot projects (out of 77 applications) to Open Health Labs by Helve. Medon partnered up with Riga Psychiatry and Narcology Centre (RPNC) to create a digital platform for remote psychiatric consultations. During the Demo Day presentation, RPNC affirmed the value of the partnership and its continuation.
That is not the only program where Medon has seen success as of late. They have also reached the top 3 companies in SEB bank grant program “(ie)dvesma” of 2022. Furthermore, Medon reached top 12 in the business idea competition “Ideju Kauss” – where they submitted a project about a virtual doctor assistant.
All the events aside, Medon continues to build their base of doctors using the platform. Currently, they are working together with 75 doctors – where the most recent 16 have joined over the last 3 months (a 20% growth).
Medon is one of the several successful startups coming out of LIAA Jūrmala incubator with its variety of support programs. Riding the recent wave of success, Medon is planning to look for further funding and apply to Startup Law support. Additionally, they have applied to the Competence Center for Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Medical Technologies for a research partnership.
Fermentful
Representing the FoodTech sector in Latvia is the recently rising, all female founder startup Fermentful – manufacturer of fermented plant-based alternative milk beverages made from green buckwheat. Having successfully registered the Fermentful trademark in Latvia, they are pushing out to nearby countries and looking to register the trademark in Europe as well.
The biggest recent success for Fermentful has been the conclusion of 4 month long EIT Food acceleration program in Helsinki – after being of the 10 startups chosen from 500 applications and 60 finalists. The two goals they had put forward were new research and new partners in Finland. While the research part is still in progress as Fermentful are evaluating proposals, partnerships with distributors are already active – with drinks already in stock at some smaller Finland stores like Vegekauppa, while working toward partnering with big store chains like KESKO and S-Group. EIT Food support also put Fermentful in the spotlight at the Vegemessut food event.
Locally, Fermentful has partnered with RIMI Latvia – so expect their products all around the country in the near future! On a smaller scale, a pilot project with coffee shop chain Caffeine would make Fermentful products more accessible for people in Riga. It’s quite obvious why Fermentful has also made it into Startin.LV “10 Startups to Watch” list.
Fermentful has also secured their first investment – 80 thousand euro in pre-seed funding – which will be used in making the current production process more effective through new hardware. Other support for them has come from LIAA Innovation voucher, Jūrmala business incubator, and LIAA Promotion of international competitiveness and export program (which included working with a Finnish marketing and PR agency).
Lightspace Technologies
One of Latvia’s DeepTech startups – Lightspace Technologies which is developing key technologies for the next generation of augmented reality – continues its expansion globally, receiving the Go Global Award from International Trade Council for their contribution to the field of medical technology.
Even though their roots are in medicine, Lightspace Technologies has been working together with the military sector on a number of projects, including contributing their technological expertise to the war in Ukraine. The most recent is a Battlefield Information Management System project where LMT (a Latvian mobile telecommunications operator) is working with NATO and where Lightspace Technologies provides their augmented reality headset technology.
On the more civilian front, the startup has launched the production of its iG1050 multifocal augmented reality glasses – designed specifically for surgeons to use in the operating theatre. Their first clients are two global medical technology companies.
Waterson Technologies
At the end of summer 2022, artificial intelligence startup Waterson Technologies – a real-time monitoring technology designed for municipal water management companies – successfully finalized the technology transfer process – from a 10 year long Riga Technical University (RTU) research project to a new spin-off startup company. Partnership with RTU continues through more research and a licensing agreement.
Immediately, Waterson Technologies applied to Stockholm Techstars accelerator, where they secured a 120k USD pre-seed investment along with a 65k pre-seed co-funding from EIT Digital. These funds will help validate the technology with new clients – 4 cities total from Latvia, United Kingdom, and Netherlands.
This publication is prepared by Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV and supported by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia and the European Regional Development Fund.
