Undiscovered No More: Lithuania, the Baltic Nation of Composed Builders

Investor Camp’s most spirited discussion revealed a small nation quietly determined to punch far above its weight.

Lithuania’s startup scene has grown used to being described in the language of potential. But at the Investor Camp gathering last week in Vilnius, a panel of leading founders made the case that potential is no longer the right word. “Proof,” they argued, is a better one. The discussion titled “Proof of Potential: Lithuania Through the Eyes of Founders” brought together three figures who embody the country’s quiet but powerful entrepreneurial rise: Liudas Kanapienis, co-founder of Ondato; Marius Bausys, country manager at Ebury Partners; and Audrius Griškevičius, co-founder of Softloans.

Guided by Lina Žemaitytė-Kirkman, head of ROCKIT, Lithuania’s leading innovation hub,  the conversation unfolded as a confident showcase of a startup ecosystem that has long been undervalued and underdiscovered by foreign investors. What emerged was not just a story of potential, but of proof — evidence that Lithuania’s founders have built the kind of maturity, discipline, and ambition that global capital should no longer overlook.

Thinking Global from Day One

Žemaitytė-Kirkman began with a provocation: “If you had one minute to pitch Lithuania to an investor, what would you say?”“Talent”, -  said A.Griškevičius, without hesitation. Lithuania, he argued, is a small economy that produces an outsized supply of capable engineers and designers, particularly in fintech, where the country boasts more than 200 licensed entities. “It’s a cash-flow-positive country,” he added. “The talent pool is amazing.

If you want to invest in fintech, Lithuania is the place to be.”M.Bausys agreed, but suggested that the country’s real transformation lay in quality, not cost. “We used to be the cheap labour country,” he said. “That’s no longer true. The talent isn’t cheap, but it’s world-class. The infrastructure, the connectivity, it’s all here.”L.Kanapienis, whose company provides identity verification services across Europe, offered a sharper conclusion. “The ecosystem is too small to build local products,” he said. “So from day one, we build global.”What was once a constraint, a domestic market of fewer than three million people, has become a defining characteristic. Lithuanian startups cannot rely on scale at home, so they learn to export ambition early.

The Anxiety of Proximity

For all the enthusiasm, L.Žemaitytė-Kirkman did not ignore the question that inevitably surfaces when Lithuania courts foreign capital: geopolitics.

“Why,” she asked, “should investors choose a country that shares a border with Russia?”

L.Kanapienis waved away the concern. “It’s psychological, not real,” he said. “Most companies here can move in a day if they must. The real challenge is not geography, it’s size. Once you move beyond the early stage, the local investment options narrow.”

A.Griškevičius was similarly unfazed. “We cannot choose our neighbours,” he said. “Finland hasn’t either and no one questions investing there. We should be more like Finland: calm and steady.”

M.Bausys added a note of perspective. “Every country has its own risks,” he said. “Brazil has politics, Hong Kong has instability, and France has debt. Lithuania’s proximity to Russia is just one variable. Diversify, and it ceases to matter.”

Growing Pains of a Young Ecosystem

If Lithuania’s founders no longer fear external threats, they are candid about internal ones. The country’s startup ecosystem is young, energetic, but uneven.

“Ten years ago, there were no VCs,” recalled A.Griškevičius. “Now there are several, but few have seen large exits. That makes them cautious and the terms harsh. The ecosystem is maturing, but the valuations remain low. Lithuanian startups are still underpriced.”

The result, he noted, is a paradox: disciplined, capital-efficient startups that often achieve more with less, yet struggle to attract international-scale funding.

M.Bausys pointed to structural gaps beyond financing. “When you need senior specialists, you might find four or five people in the whole country who can do the job,” he said. “And support services:  legal, accounting, HR are still limited. Our accounting costs are five times what they were in the UK, simply because there’s little competition.”

L.Kanapienis, ever pragmatic, chose to see opportunity in scarcity. “For international VCs, this is the sweet spot,” he said. “You get undervalued startups with exceptional discipline. We’ve learned to survive, and that makes us efficient.”

Still, he warned of one risk: a shortage of new founders. “We need more young entrepreneurs entering the game. More people taking that leap.”

Ambition Tempered by Realism

The conversation turned philosophical when Žemaitytė-Kirkman invoked a familiar cliché  that Lithuanian founders are “hungry.”

L.Kanapienis hesitated. “We used to be hungrier,” he admitted. “Some are getting comfortable. But the hunger comes from wanting to prove ourselves to show that Lithuania belongs among Europe’s leading economies. That drive hasn’t disappeared.”

A.Griškevičius interpreted it differently. “It’s cultural,” he said. “We value hard work. There’s a kind of romanticism in it, the idea that success is earned, not given.”

Žemaitytė-Kirkman smiled. “We like to punch above our weight,” she said. No one disagreed.

From Potential to Proof

Asked where they expect Lithuania’s ecosystem to be in five years, Kanapienis answered with characteristic boldness: “Fifteen unicorns, five thousand startups, and a quarter of Lithuania’s GDP driven by this sector.”

It sounded ambitious, but not implausible. Lithuania’s startup contribution to GDP already hovers near 10%, a figure that would have seemed fanciful a decade ago. The country’s combination of small-market discipline, digital literacy, and regulatory openness has created an ecosystem that rewards efficiency and export-mindedness traits that are increasingly scarce elsewhere in Europe.

As Žemaitytė-Kirkman concluded, “We have talent, global ambition, and resilience. What’s not to love?”

For all the talk of geopolitics and limited capital, Lithuania’s founders appear to have mastered the most elusive skill in entrepreneurship: composure. Their ambition is steady, their optimism practical, their hunger measured.

If the rest of Europe still views Lithuania as an emerging player, its founders no longer do. They already behave like a nation that has arrived.