The Estonian cyber security startup Phishbite is aiming to enter neighbouring markets
Tehnopol is part of the joint Northbound Scaleups (NBSCALE) project, which helps companies expand into new markets. The Estonian startup Phishbite went to visit Poland to look at possible target markets.
The goal was to meet at least five possible partners. “Making contacts was quite time-consuming and it was quite difficult to get through to the right people by telephone from here. The meetings we held went well, and we also managed to organise a couple of extra ones on the spot as well as those we had agreed in advance”, said co-founder of Phishbite Urmo Keskel.
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Originally published on 28 Feb
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Startup Fair 2025 Invites You to the Pitch Battle: €3 Million in Investment Awaits the Best Startups
Lithuania’s largest startup event – Startup Fair 2025 – is soon returning to Vilnius. On October 9, the event will culminate in the Pitch Battle at LITEXPO, where innovative startup ideas will compete for the attention of experienced investors. It’s a unique opportunity for startups to showcase their businesses to an international audience, attract investment, and build valuable connections.
Success stories from last year prove just how important this event is. For the winners – including startups Psylink and BrachyDOSE – the Pitch Battle became a launchpad for their next growth stage.
“Lithuania’s startup ecosystem is now stronger than ever – with over a thousand innovative businesses operating globally, attracting both investment and talent, and 67% already active abroad. However, growing without the right support is difficult – nearly a third of startups cite lack of financial resources as their main challenge. That’s why it’s crucial to take advantage of funding opportunities and events like Pitch Battle, which help attract investor attention and secure the necessary resources for growth,” says Karolina Urbonaitė, Head of Startup Lithuania.
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Originally published on 9 Sep
The OYSTER health and life science business incubator, launched at the beginning of 2024, has been an interesting and educational journey both for the teams developing business ideas and for our project team. From the very start, our goal was to build both a pre-incubator and a full business incubator – to provide sparring for the development of early-stage ideas as well as long-term support for the growth of start-ups.
The first months were spent designing operational models, exploring the latest research on business incubation, and building cooperation with experienced incubators in the field. We also brought in external consultancy, while our project team already had strong experience in entrepreneurship and business incubation.
In autumn 2024, we organized the first 100-day pre-incubator program, with 13 teams participating. Five of them continued into the full OYSTER incubator program, which started at the beginning of 2025. Altogether, 10 teams began in the main business incubator program, which is still ongoing.
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Originally published on 11 Sep
SpringWater Launches as Entrepreneur-Led SaaS Acquirer, Announces First Acquisition of FirstPromoter
SpingWater, an entrepreneur-led investment firm focused on acquiring and scaling founder-led SaaS businesses, announced its official launch today. The firm is backed by bootstrapped entrepreneurs who have built global category leaders like Hostinger, WebPros, Contabo, as well as NordVPN, Oxylabs, nexos.ai (the Tesonet group).
SpringWater targets product-led SaaS businesses with €1–10M ARR that have the potential to become global category leaders. The firm invests long-term capital without forced exits, focusing instead on partnering with founders to preserve their legacy while unlocking new growth levers.
SpringWater was initiated by Arnas Stuopelis, Co-founder and Chairman of the Board at Hostinger, which is known for scaling from zero to more than €180M in revenue in 2024, serving 3.5+ million customers in 150+ countries, with sustained 60%+ annual growth, without raising any external capital.
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Originally published on 4 Sep
The new half-yearly report on the startup sector for 2025 demonstrates gradual changes in key metrics. On the one hand, the sector shows robust growth, maturity, and further potential. On the other hand, it is shifting toward efficiency, with barely noticeable growth in the workforce for the entire sector and a slight decrease in employee numbers for the youngest startups. The challenges of the national economy, with the GDP having contracted for approximately 2.5 years until the end of 2024 (Eesti Pank, 2025 Q1, Q2) are making new entrepreneurs and investors wary, resulting in fewer new companies and a smaller overall volume of investments. However, the growth of the startup sector isn’t stagnating, as revenue per employee is rising sharply.
Sample
Currently, there are a total of 1,566 startups in the Estonian sector, of which 1,321 (84%) are economically active according to EMTA data; also, about 50 companies are in a problematic state, such as liquidation or bankruptcy. There is a clear trend in the decline of the number of registrations, which has been ongoing since 2022. The startup sector is maturing, though it remains relatively young: the average age of the companies is about 7 years old. Important note: the EMTA data concerns only economically active companies, therefore, according to EMTA the number of people currently employed in the economically active companies of the startup sector is 15 011, while for the Department of Statistics, the number of employees for all companies in the sector is 17082.
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Originally published on 4 Sep
The Government approved the proposal of the Ministry of Energy to temporarily suspend the current tender for the development and operation of the offshore wind farm. According to the decision, the tendering procedures will be resumed on 6 October 2025, and the submission of tenders will continue until 7 October 2025, inclusive.
The temporary suspension of the tender is necessary to ensure successful results. The decision was made taking into account the fact that the tender took place during the summer period, when market participants are objectively less active. Political processes taking place during the summer also influenced investors’ decisions to participate in the tender and invest in Lithuania. The Ministry of Energy received indications from potential participants that the current deadline for submitting documents was too short to properly prepare for participation in the tender, including detailed financial, technical, and legal assessments.
These changes will create more favourable conditions for greater involvement of market participants. The aim is to ensure that offshore wind farm projects are implemented at competitive prices by creating attractive tender conditions for investors and ensuring maximum competition. The decision creates preconditions for the implementation of the goal to develop two offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 1.4 GW, specified in the National Energy Independence Strategy.
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Originally published on 5 Sep
Stena Line continues its commitment to trade growth and resilience in the Baltic Sea. The ferry company will acquire all shares in the port operator Terrabalt in Liepaja, Latvia.
By acquiring the Latvian company Terrabalt, Stena Line takes over the operation of the RoRo, bulk and general cargo terminal in Liepaja, Latvia’s third-largest port. The Liepaja port is managed within the framework of the Liepāja Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a free trade zone established in 1997 that includes the port, industrial area, and airport. Stena Line currently operates the Liepaja–Travemünde route with two vessels.
“Our investment in Liepaja means that we continue to be a long-term partner to Latvia and contribute to the further development of the country’s competitiveness and growth. We believe in a prosperous future for the Baltic Sea region, where investments in infrastructure and increased cooperation between the countries are key to strengthening trade and resilience throughout the region,” says Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line.
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Originally published on 9 Sep
Gasgrid Finland has published its first hydrogen information package. It aims to meet the market’s information needs on the development of the Finnish hydrogen network and the principles of access and operation. The information package contains, among other things, Gasgrid’s current view on the development of the market, the principles of grid access and the market model for hydrogen pipeline transmission. It also facilitates the collection of feedback from market participants on market needs for network operation and market rules and supports market dialogue from the early stages of market formation.
As we are creating a whole new infrastructure, ecosystem and industry, and a lot is happening in the industry at the same time, Gasgrid considers an active market dialogue and participatory process to be very valuable. Through the Hydrogen Information Packages, Gasgrid can share information with market participants on the development of the Finnish hydrogen network and the wider European market,” says Sara Kärki, Director of Hydrogen Development at Gasgrid.
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Originally published on 5 Sep
Starting from 9 September 2025, trading on the Baltic and Finnish gas markets will shift from the GET Baltic platform to the European Energy Exchange (EEX).
The change will enable Estonian market participants to strengthen their connection with the Baltic and Finnish markets and gain access to European markets, including the possibility to trade with Contract for Difference (CfD) between these markets. For consumers, this means that gas prices in Estonia will follow European price trends more closely. With the help of CfD, gas sellers will be able to better hedge their risks, which should reduce sales margins.
“As a result of successful cooperation between the gas exchanges EEX and GET Baltic, as well as between Elering and other Baltic/Finnish transmission system operators, we will continue offering implicit capacity allocation, which ensures greater liquidity and better price convergence between the Finnish-Baltic gas market areas,” said Airi Noor, Head of Market Development at Elering.
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Originally published on 8 Sep
Insta has launched Insta DomainLink Secret™, a high-performance cross-domain solution (CDS) for secure, real-time data exchange between different networks and systems. Modern technological solution enables real-time, secure bi-directional data transfer between military domains, such as land, maritime, and air, and security clearance between different classification levels across the chain of command.
Developed in collaboration with Lockheed Martin for the exchange of data in complex military network environments, its advanced operational security and cybersecurity capabilities help safeguard data against threats. The system also enables improved situational awareness and faster tactical decision-making across military domains.
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Originally published on 8 Sep
Today, as part of the second year of the NATO DIANA innovation accelerator, the companies selected for the programme’s next phase were announced. A total of 2613 companies applied to join the second cohort of NATO DIANA, of which 73 were chosen for the first phase – including two Estonian startups. Each team selected for phase two will receive up to €300 000 from NATO DIANA, in addition to the €100 000 grant funding awarded in the first phase.
Seven companies took part in the programme at the NATO DIANA Estonian accelerator, including two Estonian firms – Wayren and Telearmy. Now, as only 15 companies from across the alliance move forward to the second phase, three of them are teams accelerated their growth in Estonia’s accelerator, including both Estonian startups. Alongside the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, Estonia is one of the only countries represented by two or more firms, giving Estonia one of the strongest showings among NATO nations in the second phase.
“I am very pleased to see Estonia’s contribution to NATO DIANA stand out so strongly. The fact that three teams accelerated here – including two of our own defence industry companies – have advanced to the next stage shows how quickly Estonian entrepreneurs can adapt, act and seize opportunities. The same applies to our Defence Forces, who have been on board with testing new solutions. I dare say that Digital Nation 2.0 will gain momentum thanks to the successes of our defence industry,” said Hanno Pevkur, Minister of Defence.
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Originally published on 4 Sep