This week, Latvia again becomes for the Baltic startup ecosystem, gathering more than 2,000 tech enthusiasts, experts, speakers and students from all over the world. More than 20 different side events are taking place all over the city celebrating ideas, startups and innovations, with the leading event - TechChill startup conference - hosting attendees eager to get inspired and meet like-minded people for the 8th year in a row.
The number of companies being liquidated has risen dramatically as a result of ongoing efforts to destroy Latvia's reputation for money-laundering and to clean up the financial sector, according to data from the official Lursoft company register.
The first 18 startups financed by ALTUM accelerator programs have "graduated" to the next level of their business lives, a release from ALTUM said February 12.
The Latvenergo energy company will start selling natural gas to households under its Elektrum brand, Latvenergo representative Ivita Bidere told the LETA newswire February 12.
Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a US higher education company, has bought Latvia's Funderful for an undisclosed amount, Funderful founder and CEO Raimonds Kulbergs told the press February 8.
Latvian airline airBaltic confirmed February 7 it had hired New York-based investment bank Greenhill as its financial adviser.
The annual TechChill start-up and business conference has published the final program for this year's event, which takes place in Rīga February 21-22.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia (AmCham), the U.S. Embassy in Riga and the Baltic American Freedom Foundation (BAFF) in cooperation with TechHub Riga and the Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV, have announced the second Latvian-American Innovation Award. The winner will receive 10,000 euros and a runner-up 5,000 euros.
The Foreign Investors Council in Latvia (FICIL) released its influential annual report January 9 at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) in Rīga.
At the moment, investment banks are making an independent assessment of the possibility of listing the Latvian national airline airBaltic's shares on the stock exchange to attract new capital, the chief executive and chairman of the airline, Martins Gauss, told LTV's Morning Panorama show December 12.
Latvian startup Asya has triumphed in the pitch contest organised by global accelerator 500 Startups at the Digital Freedom Festival in Rīga, while Estonian startup CostPocket was victorious in the pitch competition organised by Dutch accelerator Rockstart at the same festival.
Latvia's plan to participate in the Dubai Expo 2020 event is already facing a race against time with less than two years to go, reports Latvian Radio.
On November 29th, the day before the influential technology, startup, policy and lifestyle Digital Freedom Festival opens, the Magnetic Latvia business center at Rīga International Airport will host what organizers call "an unprecedented startup experience event".
I am intrigued to find out why molecular biologist Vitalijs Skrīvelis has chosen to meet me at Zilaiskalns. It is certainly a special place, a hill that rises from the flat fields and forests of north Vidzeme that is rich in legend and folklore, but not perhaps what you would expect from someone of a scientific mindset.
The influential Latvian technology, startup, policy and lifestyle Digital Freedom Festival, has announced details of this year's program.
If you find yourself in Lithuania, you have gone slightly too far.
Mintos, a Latvia-based financial technology company, has raised 5 million euros in funding which it will use to provide its clients with personal IBAN accounts and debit cards, the company announced November 14.
Sweden’s Bergvik Skog has sold its forests and enterprises in Latvia to Swedish forestry cooperative Sodra, according to information available on the company’s website.
With just a few of these Red Jackets interviews to go, I have an unpleasant thought: I haven't actually used any of the products they sell, with the sole exception of Latvijas Piens, whose cheese I have indeed nibbled.
As soon as you learn the setting for this meeting is Rīga International Airport, you will probably expect to hear it justified in a very predictable way: it's the gateway to the country, it's where clients arrive and depart, it embodies how modern, accessible and connected Latvia is, and so on.
Latvia retained 19th place in the world in the annual Doing Business survey from the World Bank, released October 31.
“It should be easy to spot the owner of a fashion label,” I thought to myself as I checked if I had come to the right place at the right time, “after all, she is bound to be dressed head to foot in her own clothes, and the One Wolf look is quite distinctive.”
The Consumer Rights Protection Center (PTAC) has fined Rimi Latvia retail company with EUR 20,000 for using unfair business practices in its sticker campaign, in which consumers were invited to collect stickers to buy various goods of the Bosch brand at discount prices, the consumer rights watchdog informed LETA.
Despite swift economic growth, the mood of Latvian business owners is still cautiously optimistic, and their opinion on the availability of employees has worsened from one quarter to the next, shows the most recent Citadele Index survey by Citadele Bank and SKDS.
Blood is thicker than water: family-run firms often outperform those led by outside managers. That goes for Latvian businesses too, in this piece by Alexander Welscher originally published in Baltic Business Quarterly and reproduced by kind permission of AHK, the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Financial data startup Nordigen has become the second startup registered in Latvia to receive government financing for attracting highly qualified employees. The program is part of Latvia's innovative Startup Law, which came into force on January 1, 2018. The purpose of the law is to promote the establishment of start-up companies in Latvia, stimulate research as well as the use of innovative ideas, products or processes in economic activity.
Pavilosta has a reputation as a summer retreat for a trendy Rīga set consisting of hipsters, bohemians and startup heroes. But it can't be like that really, I reason, on the long drive out to the Courland coast. It's probably the same semi-sleepy fishing village it was last time I was there. The rumors of gentrification must be overblown fantasies of envious journalists like myself.
Early-stage startups are welcome to apply for Fifty Founders battle, hosted by the TechChill annual business event, and compete not just for recognition and investor attention, but also for the main prize - "10,000 euros with no strings attached."
The number of companies and individual entrepreneurs that do not make compulsory social contributions has increased almost twofold over the past two years, according to the State Audit Office's audit of state and municipal budgets in 2017, reported LETA.
More than 200 industry leaders from around the world will get together during October 25th and
26th in the city of Liepaja in order to join the lingerie business forum, according to the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA).
26th in the city of Liepaja in order to join the lingerie business forum, according to the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA).