“Our goal over the next several years is to grow Lithuania’s startup ecosystem at least threefold and raise its international profile. Last year, over 240 million EUR were invested in Lithuanian startups. Our innovative startups show great potential, so we continue our work to increase opportunities to attract foreign investment,” says Aušrinė Armonaitė, the Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovation.
“Lithuanian startups point out that the international scope of the ecosystem is one of the most important aspects for them to grow and discover new markets. We hope that an international accelerator will help Lithuania to further establish itself in the global startup ecosystem,” says Karolis Žemaitis, Vice-Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
Service providers can apply for the tender if they have implemented an accelerating programme with a value of at least 5 million EUR over the last 3 years. They must also have generated at least 6 million EUR average annual income from accelerating services during the last 3 years.
The service provider will have to provide a 3-year accelerator programme for at least 60 startups and invest at least 4 million EUR of venture capital funds. At least 45 participants of the international accelerator programme are each expected to attract at least 30,000 EUR of investment.
The Startup Lithuania team at the Lithuania Innovation Agency will provide all necessary assistance to the service provider and selected startups.
Over the past several years, the value of Lithuanian startups has increased 17 times. Last year, they attracted 238 million EUR in investment, with the total value of Lithuanian startups reaching 10 billion EUR.
By the end of 2023, the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation will allocate almost 1 billion EUR to strengthen Lithuania’s economy, including 365 million EUR for business, innovation and investment.
