START-UPS

6 Lithuanian start-ups worth keeping an eye on

30 Apr 2020

A white building at the end of an avenue of trees and a row of shops and cafes.

Kaunas in Lithuania. Image: © Andrey Shevchenko/Stock.adobe.com

We look at six start-ups based in Lithuania that have created a variety of tech solutions, from AR art assistance to remote translation.

Here at Siliconrepublic.com, we’ve recognised Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, as one of Europe’s most exciting start-up hubs.

In 2018, we highlighted 12 exciting start-ups based in the city, including Vinted, which went on to become Lithuania’s first unicorn in 2019, as well as 3D modelling marketplace CGTrader and Brolis Semiconductors.

This time around, we take a fresh look at start-ups based across Lithuania, in the capital city and beyond. Our list includes a variety of start-ups focusing on different solutions, including password management, augmented-reality art and translation technology.

Interactio

Vilnius-based Interactio has built an app that provides translations and interpretation to guests attending large events, which they can listen to on their own smartphones. The company was founded by Simona Andrijauskaitė, Henrikas Urbonas and Domas Labokas in 2014.

Interactio’s aim is to save guests the time it takes to queue up to collect headsets, offer flexibility to allow visitors to listen to the conference before they are at the venue, or to walk around the venue during the conference and still hear everything. Its technology has been used at more than 3,000 events in around 40 countries.

With large events now on pause across Europe and elsewhere, the start-up has been using its technology to help the European Union translate remote meetings and video conferences.

From a hygiene point of view, the start-up said it’s better for an audience to use their own devices, rather than shared interpretation equipment, as was previously done. Outside of conferences, Interactio’s tech has been used at live events, training sessions, exhibitions and religious events.

PassCamp

PassCamp is a password management system designed for teams. As well as providing a password generator, storing passwords with encryption and offering login autofill to customers, the start-up has created a platform that enables teams to securely share passwords.

One of PassCamp’s features is a history log, which enables users to see all of the changes that they or their contacts have made to passwords, in order to keep up to date with changes or spot any strange activity. The company offers a free demo, with premium features available starting at €1 per month.

Based in Kaunas, the second-largest Lithuanian city after Vilnius, the start-up was founded in 2016.

Searchnode

SearchNode is a SaaS start-up that offers e-commerce search solutions built on artificial intelligence (AI), which have been used by the likes of Decathlon, Phone House and Euronics.

The start-up tailors search solutions for each client and uses its own engineers to maintain and continuously improve client website search functions after launch. SearchNode specifically aims its product at large and medium e-commerce retailers.

The Kaunas-based start-up was co-founded by Antanas Baksys, Donatas Stonkus, Lukas Mikuckis, Ringaudas Kalinauskas, Simas Skrebiskis and Tomas Mikelskas in 2013.

SketchAR

SketchAR has developed a mobile app that teaches users how to draw with the help of augmented reality (AR), machine learning and neural networks. With the app, users can hold their smartphone above a piece of paper and see an image appear on top of it, which they can then trace while looking at the page through their phone.

The app also can be used on walls and other surfaces, to help artists paint on larger surfaces with guidance while wearing AR glasses. The start-up has partnered with companies such as Huawei, Samsung and Chinese smartphone brand Honor.

The Vilnius start-up was co-founded by Andrey Drobitko and Alexander Danilin in 2016. SketchAR now provides its technology to consumers, enterprises, agencies and education services.

Viezo

Founded in 2018, Viezo is a start-up that has developed a device to harvest energy from vibrations, with the aim of using it to power wireless IoT sensors. It claims that this could be used in infrastructure, oil, gas and mining, industry and transportation, as an alternative to battery power.

CEO and founder Donat Ponamariov recently accepted the top prize at Lithuania’s EIT InnoEnergy PowerUp! Challenge, being named Lithuanian start-up of the year.

Viezo is based in Vilnius, where it is researching and developing its vibration energy harvester and a new product, a ‘self-sustainable sensor’, which the company plans to launch in Q3 of 2020.

Web Robots

Web Robots describes itself as a “little big data company”, providing web crawling and scraping services to customers such as Balderton Capital, The Times and Stanford University. Co-founded by Tomas Vitulskis and Paulius Jonaitis in 2013, the start-up has been backed by Practica Capital.

Web Robots aims to scrape data from websites that can be hard to reach with traditional crawlers, such as content reachable by submitting forms or that is dynamically loaded by JavaScript. The start-up claims that its platform collects tens of millions of data points on a daily basis.

Want stories like this and more direct to your inbox? Sign up for Tech Trends, Silicon Republic’s weekly digest of need-to-know tech news.

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com