Rīga turned into the Baltic tech capital for two days during the international Techchill tech conference on February 20 and 21, gathering around 2,000 attendees to discuss green tech, blockchain and 5G, while giving startups the opportunity to battle it out in a pitch competition for the grand prize of 10,000 euros, according to organizers.
Latvia's European Union Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, on February 20 announced a new initiative aimed at stimulating small business financing in the Baltic States.
Banks Citadele and Luminor have announced joint financing for another shopping mall on the outskirts of the Latvian capital.
The first timber cargo load has reached the former historic “Liepājas metalurgs” steelworks factory territory, but to keep up with the increasing cargo volume the Liepāja Port stevedoring company Mols L is creating wood cargo storage areas in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) territory.
Businesses in Latvia, including start-ups, small and medium sized enterprises and scale-ups, have until March 6 to apply for the PowerUp! Challenge competition hosted by EIT InnoEnergy and supported by the European Union.
Spring has already begun in the Aizpute greenhouse where the first pansies have already been picked and the momentary sunshine is enough for the microgreens to sprout, according to a Latvian Radio broadcast on February 13.
Trikata butter, which is owned by the Jelgava-based company Latvijas Piens (Latvian Milk), is currently being produced in Germany, while a new company has been producing organic dairy products in the Trikāta dairy plant for three years, according to a Latvian Television broadcast on February 9.
Startup and entrepreneurship event TechChill has announced the names of the 50 hopeful companies laying it on the line in this year's Fifty Founders Battle.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved a new European Union support fund program to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) access capital markets, which will be the first such program in the Baltics and will be implemented by the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFLA) once every quarter, according to the Ministry of Economics on January 21.
One of the most important Latvian scientific accomplishments of the year, the development of a new direct current power supply system for manufacturing, has made its way to the new Daimler AG car factory in Germany, helping to make the S-Class Mercedes Benz more cheaply by using less electricity, according to Latvian television's “Rīga Panorāma” broadcast on January 20.
The Central Statistical Bureau announced that 53.8% of the Latvian population uses the internet to purchase goods and services and that the percentage is slowly increasing, with the biggest e-commerce users between the ages of 16-34, according to Latvian Radio's “Eiro Fokusā” (“Euro in Focus”) broadcast on January 20.
Latvia's financial regulator, the Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FKTK) said January 16 it had imposed a fine of EUR 10,000 on JSC "Rīgas kuģu būvētava" (Riga shipyard) for violation of the Financial Instruments Market Law and ordered it to immediately publish financial information for the first nine months of 2019.
The Foreign Investors' Council in Latvia (FICIL) presented its annual Sentiment Index at the Stockholm School of Economics in Rīga January 15, and the occasion revealed that while things seem to be improving in general, the pace of improvement could certainly be picked up.
The State Environmental Service (SES) announced that Latvian residents have no need for concern about the waste water from the Grigeo Klaipeda factory that ended up in the Baltic Sea, as it has dispersed off the coast of Liepāja and meets all water quality standards, according to a Latvian Radio broadcast on January 16.
Many Latvian home producers begin to struggle once their business has to pay VAT, so to deal with supermarket chains home producers have been forming cooperatives, according to a Latvian Radio broadcast on January 13.
January 15 sees the presentation at the Stockholm School of Economics in Rīga of the annual Foreign Investors' Council in Latvia (FICIL) Sentiment Index, which has become an important economic indicator for businesses, commentators and policymakers alike.
Baltic fashion company Baltika Group, which operates the Monton and Mosaic fashion stores in Latvia, as well as Ivo Nikkolo and Baltman, announced January 13 that Monton and Mosaic will be merged under a single brand in future.
Two impossible-to-miss buildings of the Rīga skyline that have been growing but unused for more than a decade moved closer to opening their doors at last January 10 when the Rīga City Construction Board issued a positive verdict on the commissioning of the "Z-Towers" high-rise blocks, representatives of developer AS Towers Construction Management informed the media.
A contest for one of the most important jobs in the land has been concluded, with the net result that potential overseas investors will have a new face, a new name and a new business card with which to become acqualnted.
On 1 January 2020, amendments to the Competition Law of the Republic of Latvia entered into force prohibiting public administrative bodies – including the state, local government and capital companies owned by them – to violate the principle of equal competition by unduly restricting or denying the private sector an opportunity to operate on the market, the national Competition Council said in a news release.
Estonian real estate fund EfTEN Capital has bought a large-scale logistics center in Ķekava on the outskirts of Rīga, the company announced January 6.
Information collected at Latvia's business database, the Register of Enterprises, over the past thirty years will be available to the public free of charge as of next week, as Chief State Notary Guna Paidere told reporters January 3.
Young rural entrepreneurs who have participated in the Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre (LLKC) training program still have until January 17 to apply to the “Laukiem būt!” (“The Countryside Will Be!”) business competition, according to the LLKC on December 16.
Latvia has joined forces with Finand and Estonia to create a three-country marketplace for natural gas, with the unified system officially launched January 1, reported Estonian gas supplier Elering.
An entrepreneur plans on investing one million euros in reconstructing the Old Town square territory located near the Rīga City Council, and known for the “Egle” open-air cafe, artisan market and the 7.5 meter tall mirror Christmas tree art installation, according to a Latvian Radio broadcast on December 29.
The Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre has developed an electronic catalogue for directly contacting local food producers in Latvias regional territories, according to a Latvian Radio broadcast on December 26.
Organizers of what is claimed to be "the biggest business festival in the Baltics" are inviting Latvian entrepreneurs to attend "sTARTUp Day 2020" in the southern Estonian city of Tartu on January 29-31.
UPB Group was the largest construction enterprise in Latvia during 2018 with turnover of EUR 167.665 million, according to the Latvian Business Annual Report compiled by Firmas.lv and the LETA news service.
The Patent Office announced on December 18 that 28% of Latvian companies feel their knowledge about industrial property protection is adequate or good, but more than 70% rate it as incomplete, according to a study by the Patent Office and the SKDS research center, which included 3,622 Latvian companies.
Owners of a Latvian eco cleaning company realized the long-term sustainability of the market, invested a great amount into a production facility, and as a result are exporting their products to countries such as Canada and the United Arab Emirates, according to LTV's Rīta Panorāma broadcast on December 12.