BNS/Tie2

The value of the Lithuanian startup ecosystem is currently estimated at 9.5 billion euros, the start-up association “Unicorns Lithuania” reported.

The value of the country’s builders’ startup ecosystem has grown 17 times over the past five years – much faster than in Central and Eastern European countries, according to Inga Langaitė, head of the association. “In terms of potential, today the Lithuanian startup ecosystem is valued at 9.5 billion. euros, over the past five years its value has grown almost 17 times, when the overall average growth of the start-up ecosystem in Central and Eastern European countries is 4.2 times”, says I. Langaitė in the report.

According to the report, in the 2023 ranking of “Startup Genome”, which evaluates the world’s startup ecosystems, this year Lithuania shares 41-50 places, while last year it was between 61-70 places. In June, the report “The Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2023” recognized that Lithuania is among the top 20 countries to which startups are advised to move.

“Unicorns Lithuania” claims that the number of employees of startups in Lithuania increased three times to 17.3 thousand during the year, the country is currently experiencing a shortage of them – companies are looking for about 500 employees – information technology, cyber security specialists, data analysts or engineers, products, sales, marketing, human resources, customer service, finance professionals and managers. According to the association, startups paid almost 300 million EUR taxes to the Lithuanian budget last year and their contribution to Lithuania’s gross domestic product amounts to 2.8 percent.

“Unicorns Lithuania” claims that changes in the education strategy and easier migration procedures related to the employment of foreigners would help the sector to grow even faster.