Top 4 Vilnius Star Startups of the year to Watch in 2022
Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania and innovation fostering hub, named its most promising startups slated to disrupt the Lithuanian startup ecosystem in 2022: TransferGo, Ondato, Biomatter Designs, and Wargaming.
Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, has created a booming startup ecosystem, which is featured among top 30 emerging startup ecosystems globally.
Therefore, the city honored this year’s startup achievements with the annual Wrap Up of the Year & Startup Awards. The most recognition-worthy companies to watch in 2022 were awarded in the categories Startup of the Year, Relocation of the Year, Rising Star, Best Emerging Tech, and Public’s Favorite.
“It’s amazing how thriving Vilnius’ startup ecosystem has become, with such strong additions this year. Seeing the achievements already brought on by the local and foreign ventures, the city also does its best to accommodate and assist them in any way so that they could realize their potential to the fullest and produce more revolutionary ideas,” said Remigijus Šimašius, Mayor of Vilnius.
Remittance service startup named Startup of the Year
Startup of the Year category evaluates the fastest rate of progress based on a startup’s growth, innovation, and impact of their products or services. This year’s winner TransferGo—a Lithuanian fintech focused on ensuring simpler and faster international remittance services—attracted $50M in Series C investment round and became one of the fastest-growing remittance companies in 2021. It now operates in over 160 new markets and was even recognized as the Cross-Border Solution of the Year in Ukraine for the innovation of remittance services.
Rising star in the ecosystem—KYC compliance management platform
The Rising Star title, encompassing the most potential for future growth, and Public’s Favorite award were given to Ondato, a leading cloud-based KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance management platform. Its performance indicators and the number of employees increased four times within the last three months in comparison to the entire 2020. The startup keeps on growing and has already attracted investment from venture capital investors like TB Ventures, Startup Wise Guys, and LitCapital.
Protein engineering startup recognized as best tech forerunner
A few years ago Vilnius was ranked 1st in attracting tech startups and it continues to recognize forerunners, which use emerging technologies for their businesses and have demonstrated a significant progress towards launching novelty products. This year Biomatter Designs, a protein engineering startup, was named the best emerging tech startup for creating new enzymes, designed for an effective and ecological synthesis of chemical compounds, as well as therapeutic proteins which edit DNA codes.
Online game developer opened a studio in Vilnius
Each year Vilnius also acknowledges the newcomers to Lithuanian tech scene and awards a foreign startup, which relocated or moved part of its operations to Vilnius. This year Wargaming, an award-winning online game developer and publisher, established in Belarus, became one of the leaders in the gaming industry with over 200M players worldwide. In 2021, the startup decided to set up a studio in Vilnius thanks to the city’s international reputation as a technology hub, advanced infrastructure, and convenient logistics.
Annual event to celebrate year’s startup achievements
The annual startup ecosystem event Wrap Up of the Year & Startup Awards unites two traditional startup ecosystem events: the Wrap Up of the Year organised by Startup Lithuania, the national startup ecosystem facilitator, and the Startup Awards organised by Go Vilnius, the official tourism and business development agency of the City of Vilnius.
The Startup Awards were first organised in 2019 in order to celebrate the opening of the world’s first Startup Museum in Vilnius. The aim of the Museum is to appreciate the innovations that shake up Vilnius’ startup ecosystem each year and the success of the best-performing startups.