Baltic startup hubs now count 17 unicorns

The Baltic states now have 17 startup unicorns as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania promote themselves as innovation hubs after decades of economic change since Soviet rule.

The three countries, with a combined population of just over six million, had about 33,000 startups last year, according to Lursoft IT, a Latvian business and financial data company. Baltic startups raised 607 million euros, or about $700 million, in 2025, up 20 percent, according to an annual sector report by Practica Capital and Firstpick.

The region’s best-known technology names include NordVPN, Vinted, Bolt and Skype. Skype, founded in 2003 by Scandinavian entrepreneurs and four Estonian developers, had 50 million registered users worldwide by 2005, when it was sold to eBay for about $2.6 billion.

Latvian-American entrepreneur Girts Graudins said independence helped unlock business activity that had been suppressed under Soviet rule. Kadri Ukrainski of Estonia’s Tartu University said weak Soviet-era telephone systems helped create conditions for Skype’s rise.

Estonia, with 1.3 million people, now has 10 active unicorns. Lithuania has six, including second-hand clothing platform Vinted, which became a unicorn in 2019 and reached an $8 billion market valuation in April.

Karolina Urbonaite, head of Startup Lithuania, said the country’s startups pay taxes, create jobs and attract foreign investment. She said Lithuanian startups employ more than 20,000 people.