latvian it and startup market review q2, 2014

Arcana Digital Group: Latvian IT and Startup Market Review Q2, 2014

Latvian itand Startup

Market review

Q2, 2014

Vision of yourdigital perfection

Arcana Digital Group: Latvian IT and Startup Market Review Q2, 2014 3

May

June

Only 5 Latvian startups reached the final of the Arctic15

CoBook acquired by the US company gathers contacts all over the world

Global Editors Network summit: The New York Times visualization won the Infogr.am voting

13 p.Foreign Media About Latvian Projects

Study: from 470,000 of smartphone users in Latvia, 270,000 use banking services via mobile phone

Arctic Evening IT Forum: Latvia moves 2 positions up in the world economic rating

april

Editor in Chief of Arctic Startup and founder of accelerator in Silicon Valley revealed the secretof investment attraction

30 aspiring startup founders under 30 were awarded during the Forbes Equity Club II conference

After attracting investments in volume of 1,34 million USD, Infogr.am left TechHub

Thanks to Mykoob campaign, Latvian schools received 750 computers for 0,5 million Euro

May

Latvian developer of control system Horizon was acquired by the Visma Group Corporation

Latvian IT market urgently seeks 4000 professionals

The Mill: leading Latvian startups create environment for IT-enthusiasts development

June

9 p.Industry Development

Latvian web developers plan to bring together all young fashion professionals in a single online community

New startups from Draugiem Group spy on the employees and reveal secrets

Within two months, Tigo.lv project helped 1 796 people to sell unnecessary things

april

Wememe: now everyone can turn a meme into offline brand and gain profit

PentaClass saves 65% of teachers from losing their voice and makes the teaching process more comfortable

May

6 p.New Latvian IT and Startup Companies

Mobile app developed by Arcana received a gold award from the International Adwards Juryapril

Within a month, Latvian startup Kickstarter raised over 1 million dollars

Latvian Mailigen attracted investments in volume of over 500,000 USD from FlyCap

June

4 p.Achievements of Latvian Startups

3 p.Opinion of Arcana Digital Group

Content

15 p.Interviews and OpinionsTerebin brothers confessed to the journalist of Time that the ask.fm was not their ideaJune

Interview of the Director General and founder of BuzzTale, Andris K. Berzins

Interview of Anna Andersone, the founder of Latvian web-design startup FROONT

april


Unfortunately, the development of the IT industry in Latvia faces a scarcity of a key resource. According to the market experts estimates, compared to other coun-tries, Latvia urgently needs 4000 specialists. However, the infrastructure required for the development of IT startups is developing rapidly. Aspiring entrepreneurs have more and more possibilities: incubators, commu-nities, conferences, etc.

We can observe a sharp increase in interest in the startup sphere from the side of young spe-cialists, investors, and media. To a large extent, this interest can be contributed to the high-profile successes of recent Lat-vian startup projects. This year alone, the total amount of the investments in Latvian IT sector exceeded 10 million USD taking into account the investments in Infogr.am, RoamerApp, Cobook, FMS, Air-Dog, Mailigen, and Sonarworks.

It is particularly important that the success of Latvi-an projects is not focused exclusively on the local mar-ket and is highlighted in international media. Such at-tention opens new horizons and promises new pros-pects for investment attraction.

Despite the fact that Latvian startup industry in gene-ral cannot be compared with such leaders as Silicon Valley, local entrepreneurs are quite optimistic and con-tinue to master advanced technologies. Internet of Things is one of the hottest world trends, which attracts more and more developers. This path of development is facilitated by the accessibility of production and lo-

gistic capacities, the speed of spreading of innovational technologies, revolutionary funding opportunities through crowdfunding platforms, as well as low com-petition as compared with software market.

Namely these factors backed by the courage and cre-ativity of Latvian developers allowed the AirDog team raise through Kickstarter a record amount of 1,3 million USD with a two-month old project.

The major problem Latvian startup developers face is the lack of entrepreneurial experience. In order to talk with certainty about the

stable success of Latvian startups, we still need more of the international suc-cesses. Therefore, despite the promise of hardware sphere of production, soft-ware development in Latvia still looks

more attractive for the industry, as it already has notable success stories.

We believe that in the software industry, the most promising area for web developers is the develop-ment of mobile apps. This industry is rich in vacant niches and consumption has not yet reached its peak. We expect in the near future that a new industry of in-terest will be the developments for wearable gadgets and big data.

In general, according to the review of the Latvian IT startup market for the second quarter of 2014, we see that Latvia has everything it needs to enter global IT market and succeed.

We see that the expectations articulated at the beginning of the year come true, and the Latvian IT companies attract more and more investment. Without a doubt, it can be attributed to the in-ternational explosive growth of the IT industry. However, taking into account the features of the local economy, first of all, it is a merit of the local entrepreneurs who proved their ability to create world-class products.

opinion of arCana Digital group

Alexander Kregersdirector of arcana digital Group

29th of august 2014

achieveMentSof Latvian

StartupS



Mailigen company that created a world popular internet service of email based marketing attracted the total investments of over half a million dollars. The investments were made by US, Japanese, and Latvian investors. The biggest share of the investment had been provided by the FlyCap investment fund.

The company plans to invest the raised funds into the development of Mailigen plat-form. Thanks to these improvements, established in Latvia and maintained by the Latvian team platform can become the worlds leading service for companies that require the services of an integrated marketing. Mailigen clients are companies from more than 100 countries. The main target market of Mailigen is the USA.

Source: http://ej.uz/mailigen_investments

June, 2014

latvian Mailigen attracted over 500,000 uSD investment from flyCap

The development of Latvian company SIA Helico Aerospace Industries, AirDog, is the worlds first air drone capable of following the athlete in an autonomous mode and film the performance using GoPro camera.

The project had been on Kickstarter in order to raise 200,000 USD to start the pro-duction of drones. In just a couple of days, AirDog attracted 291 people and raised 207,234 USD. A hundred people who contributed 995 USD each will receive the first AirDog drones.

The developers planned to produce AirDog in different colors and develop an opportunity to recharge the GoPro camera from the main battery in the increase of financing. However, all of the milestones were achieved during the campaign, meaning that the customers will be able to purchase AirDog in two colors with a rechargeable battery at once. Moreover, the project has reached its following, the most ambitious goal, raising 1,000,000 USD. The developers also promise to teach the drone to avoid obstacles.

Source: http://ej.uz/airdog_collected_1m

June, 2014

Within a month, latvian startup raised over 1 million uSD on Kickstarter

Developed by Arcana Digital Group app for low cost long distant calls called Roamer received the I level Order of Adwards in the category of interactive and digital solutions. The award demonstrates that the project have opened the new horizons and set new standards for the industry. Thus, the startup has entered in the Latvian history of advertising and design. The representatives of Adwards comment the highest award receipt: Roamer creators talent and professionalism are unquestionable. The pro-ject became classic.

Creative Festival held in Riga. The Grand Prix had been awarded to the Asketic for the Gors campaign.

Source: http://ej.uz/arcana_adwards

April, 2014

Mobile app developed by arcana received gold award from the inter-national Jury of adwards


new Latvian itand Startup

coMpanieS



First Step Fashion is a promising internet startup that helps young talents to take their first steps in the fashion world. The service brings together young talents and em-ployers from the fashion industry with a shared portfolio database. It also provides tips and advice from top-level masters. Thus, First Step Fashion becomes the most attractive meeting place for employers and job seekers in the following categories: models, designers, photographers, stylists, and makeup artists.

Olga Grassler, co-founder of the First Step Fashion, says about launch of the project that The first steps in any profession are the most important, which is why First Step Fashion is designed to help namely young talented people on their path. We already had a good portfolio database of talented youth and employers at the launch of the project. It is a very promising project with great potential, and now we are in search for investment for its further development.

Source: http://ej.uz/fashion_community

April, 2014

latvian web developers plan to bring together all young fashionprofessionals in a single online community

This Latvian startup solves the problem of the teachers who have problems with vocal cords. The solution is a simple, wireless audio system that provides uniform distribution of sound throughout the school class or audience. PentaClass can be installed in any type of a premise with the area up to 120 square meters (1291,7ft). All components are manufactured, and quality tested in Latvia.

Our main focus in this development was the engineering aspect says the founder of PentaClass, Lauris. Taking into account that school classes and audiences can be of various size, our engineers strived to make PentaClass work equally well in all types of premises. The final prototype was developed with the assistance of the Cesis Business Incubator and Ventspils High Technology Park.

Source: http://ej.uz/voice_startup

May, 2014

pentaClass saves 65% of teachers from losing their voice and makes the teaching process more comfortable

In May, Draugiem Group presented its new project, Wememe. Wememe is a platform that allows anyone create a meme, print it on a T-shirt, and make a profit from the sales. It is a simple way to have extra income. All you need to do is come up with a meme, add text and choose a color for the T-shirts. In order to start earning 10% from each sold item, you need to sell at least 5 items to send the design in mass production. The products are made in Los Angeles with the support of PRINTFUL.

Source: http://ej.uz/wememe_own_bussines

May, 2014

Wememe: now everyone can turn a meme into offline brandand gain profit


Tigo.lv is a new service that allows you quickly, easily, and in a simple way to convert already used things to real money, thus increasing the welfare of people. In other words, the user is encouraged to get rid of old stuff in good / working condition. The range of products that can be offered for sale at Tigo.lv is quite large: you can sell used cell phones, PC, household appliances, sports equipment, jewelry, and even musical instruments. The service was launched in February this year and within two months gathered 1,796 clients.

Source: http://ej.uz/system_sales

April, 2014

Within two months, tigo.lv project helped 1796 people to sellunnecessary things

1work is an office widget system that includes booking of a meeting room in real-time, electronic office bulletin board, where the employees can leave messages about their whereabouts, the panel with general information about the office, and electronic secretary who greets guests and sends notifications to the employee who has a visitor.

Another, no less interesting development of Draugiem Group is LUI, a social app that allows sharing your secrets. Users can select a background for their post and specify with whom they want to share a secret. According to the developers, the app is designed for offices and urban centers.

Source: http://ej.uz/control_over_personnel

April, 2014

new startups from Draugiem group spy on the employeesand reveal secrets


induStrydeveLopMent



Even during the first months of existence, The Mill had held several significant IT industry events. For example, it hosted Arctic Startup that had been attended by 150 people. The facilities of The Mill hosted several design events, radi! 2014 week, a lecture by Alice Rawsthorn (UK), and the Self Publish Riga exhibition of photo books. The Mill combines four Latvian startups in the field of technology and design: Froont, Berta.me, HungryLab, and Sellfy. Unlike TechHub Riga, Startup Latvia, and Innovation Caf focused on technological startups, The Mill is more oriented on the bringing together designers and programmers.

Source: http://ej.uz/the_Mill_unites

June, 2014

the Mill: leading latvian startups create environmentfor it-enthusiasts development

In Latvia per 200 citizens, there is only one IT specialist. For comparison, in Finland this number is four. The lack of IT specialists in Latvia prevents the country from the full participation in major international business projects. If the problem is solved, the IT industry will be able to bring the economy to a new level through the creation of new workplaces and taxes contribution to the state budget. Worldwide, the demand for IT specialists is increasing, and Latvia is no exception. The industry needs not only programmers and system administrators, but also consultants in the field of tech-nology solutions, the creators of databases, experts in support of IT services. The Confederation of Employers and the Centre for the Content of Education are already working in the direction of changing the situation.

Source: http://ej.uz/requires_professionals

June, 2014

latvian it market urgently seeks 4000 professionals

The developer of Horizon IT solutions for business, FMS, has become a part of one of the largest IT companies of the Nordic region, Visma Group. SIA FMS is a leading compa-ny in the field of asset management, business intelligence, and IT consulting services in Latvia. Among the most notable customers of the company there are Ministry of Finance, Riga City Council, Riga East University Hospital, Jnis Roze bookstore, and many others. SIA FMS has 197 employees. Its turnover for 2013 amounted to 8 million Euro. According to the executive director of the SIA FMS, the company has long been looking for an investor to help the development of the enterprise, to provide access to the latest technology, knowledge and reach out to a wider market.

Source: http://ej.uz/horizon_sold

June, 2014

latvian developer of control system Horizon was acquiredby the Visma group Corporation


Infogr.am left TechHub Riga and moved to a separate office. Infogr.am team of 20 people, planning to expand the company, has selected a new comfortable office that can accom-modate up to 40 employees. TechHub had been also left by the web design platform Froont, digital payments platform Sellfy, and the website development helper Berta CMS, which later got together in the framework of The Mill community.

Source: http://ej.uz/loss_techhub

May, 2014

after attracting investments in volume of 1,34 million uSD, infogr.am left techHub

Forbes Equity Club II is a great opportunity for young entrepreneurs to learn from influential businessmen, get advice on how to build a business or sell their ideas to investors, and learn what to avoid in launching a startup. Forbes Equity Club II will also continue to educate non-professional investors, who are working in a startup industry in Latvia and worldwide.

Successful transactions involving Latvian startups such as Infogr.am, which attracted 1,34 million Euro investments prove that even a small investment in good ideas and teams can quickly provide investors with high returns. At the end of the conference,30 of the most successful young people under 30 years, who are leaders in their field andin the near future will become prominent Latvian entrepreneurs were awarded.

Source: http://ej.uz/forbes_equity_club

May, 2014

30 aspiring startup founders under 30 were awarded duringthe forbes equity Club ii conference

May, 2014

ArcticEvening is a series of events that brings together the representatives of northern Europe startups. The hosts of the event noted that the meeting in Riga has left a strong impression. They were especially pleased and impressed with the volume of attracted investments and Tech Chill Baltics conference.

The event was officially opened by the chief editor Dmitri Sarle, who told about how aspiring entrepreneurs can reach new heights by participating in technological con-ferences and various events that bring together industry professionals and potential investors.

In the framework of the event, famous Silicon Valley persona, founder of BlackBox accele-rator, Fadi Bishara, shared his tips for success. BlackBox is known as an accelerator company that helps start-ups to enter the market. The closing event of ArcticEvening was held in late May in Helsinki.

Source: http://ej.uz/arcticevening

editor in Chief of arctic Startup and founder of accelerator in Silicon Valley revealed the secrets of investment attraction


Latvia has been ranked 39th in the rating of Information Technologies of the World Eco-nomic Forum. Latvia has shown the most success in one of four categories, the one assessing infrastructure, availability of finance and skills, ranked based on these indicators 29th. In the rating based on infrastructure and digital content, Latvia is ranked 41. Based on financial capabilities of residents and their ability to buy IT services Latvia is 26th. In skills rating, Latvia is on 35th place. According to the World Economic Forums data for 2012, Finland is ranked 1st based on availability of new technologies, Latvia 45th. Based on the use of new technologies in production, we are only at 68th place, while Finland is ranked 7th.

Source: http://ej.uz/Latvia_39th

April, 2014

arctic evening it forum: latvia moves 2 positions upin the world economic rating

International developer of web-based business solutions, Arcana Digital Group, in col-laboration with the research company TNS Latvia and the support of mobile banking developer iDa Mobile conducted a study about the use of mobile technology in the banking sector of Latvia. The survey has shown that 270,000 residents of Latvia aged 15 to 59 years use the banking services via mobile phone. 66% of them use mobile applications of their banks. At the same time, only 8 of the 21 commercial banks in Latvia offer their customers mobile applications to use banking services.

Source: http://ej.uz/mobile_banking

April, 2014

Study: from 470 000 of smartphone users in latvia,270 000 use banking services via mobile phone

In the framework of the campaign organized by the Latvian startup Mykoob, during the year, several Latvian schools were presented with nearly 500 sets of computers. The total amount of donation amounts to nearly 0,5 million Euro. Member of the Mykoob Board, Girts Laudaks, reported that in previous years, in total 250 computer sets had been already donated, so to date, the total number of donated equipment sets is 750. Mykoob is the administration system representing an important aid to schools in the improvement and modernization of the educational process. This system provides access to information and analysis of the learning process for all interested parties, which is an important achievement in the education sector as a whole.

Source: http://ej.uz/mykoob_charity

May, 2014

thanks to Mykoob campaign, latvian schools received750 computers for 0,5 million euro

foreiGn Mediaon Latvian

projectS



This year, among the finalists of Arctic15 there had been 5 Latvian startups: BuzzTale, Froont, Maxtraffic, Oppo Scorefellas. The winner of the prize of more than 14,000 Euro became the Finnish startup Smarp, which allows employees to share information about the company in external social networks and get rewarded. Arctic15 is a two-day conference, which takes place in Helsinki and is aimed at gaining experience, searching for new partners and transactions conclusion. All conditions the conference offers have been created to help explore, discover, and get a real return on investment.

Source: http://ej.uz/arctic15_final

May, 2014

only 5 latvian startups reached the final of the arctic15

Media project that studied the income inequality in the United States based on the place of birth (In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters), scored the highest number of votes of the users of Infogr.am and received the award in the field of data journal-ism, Data Journalism Awards 2014, organized by the Global Editors Network. Project of The New York Times The higher the income, the more important is location has been nominated as one of the top 12 in the field of data journalism in the category Scene Information in Online or Print Media. It became one of five projects that have been selected by an expert group of Infogr.am for the public voting. Over 2,000 users of Infogr.am from around the world recognized the project as the best in the field of data visualization.

Source: http://ej.uz/data_journalism_awards

June, 2014

global editors network summit: the new york times visualization won the infogr.am voting

In todays world there are many places where you can store contact information: phone, email, and social networks. CoBook solves the problem of this chaos and helps organize all the information into a single system, tracking it through Facebook, Twitter, ICloud and other resources. The use of service requires a certain degree of trust, as a user needs to provide access to the information stored on used sources. From their part, the developers of the app warrant non-disclosure and full confidentiality. As previously reported, CoBook became a part of the American company FullContact.

Source: http://ej.uz/cobook_cloud

May, 2014

CoBook acquired by the uS company gathers contacts all over the world


interviewSand opinionS



FROONT beta version was launched a year ago, and now the team of developers is work-ing hard on its improvements. In a short time, they aim to attract large investors and conquer the U.S. market, with a gradual spreading to the international market. FROONT is a tool for web design, which is designed specifically for designers of web pages, and not for programmers. The service greatly simplifies the process of cre-ating and adapting home pages without additional programming knowledge.

Source: http://ej.uz/froont_interview

April, 2014

interview of anna andersone, the founder of latvian web-design startup froont

BuzzTale is a platform for corporate visual communication, which aims to help com-panies to attract the attention of staff, motivate them and strengthen the companys corporate culture. In fact, BuzzTale is a combination of Facebook and Pinterest. Some time ago, BuzzTale received 50,000 Euro from the investment company Imprimatur Capital. The investment is a loan from the EU structural funds, designed for six years with the first payment made within a year. On the change of the name and direction of the startup development, the first customers, and developers plans for the future, read the interview of Andris K. Berzinsh.

Source: http://ej.uz/Buzztale_interview

April, 2014

interview of the Director general and founder of Buzztale,andris K. Berzins

American weekly Time magazine interviewed the founders of one of the worlds largest social networks, Ask.fm, brothers Ilya and Mark Terebin. In the interview the brothers talked about life, business, and the responsibility for the suicide of teenage users of Ask.fm. In the conversation with the Time journalist, Terebin brothers confessed that the idea of Ask.fm does not belong to them. There was such network called Form-spring. And its their idea. We just liked it and decided that we can improve it, said the eldest of the brothers, Ilya. Time reports that Ilya and Mark Terebin, as well as their partner Oscar Liepinsh, invested in the creation of the project half a million US dollars. Further financing is the investment of Rubylight company, specializing in online projects.

The original interview is available at: http://time.com/2923146/ask-fm-interview/

Source: http://ej.uz/time_to_askfm

June, 2014

terebin brothers confessed to the journalist of timethat the ask.fm was not their idea

rupniecibas street 34a-3a, riga, Latvia

phone nr.: (+371) 200 200 24

e-mail: [email protected]

www.arcana.lv

latvian it and startup market review q2, 2014

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