Today, there are around 150 million startups in the world, and around 50 million startups are launched every year. In recent years, the world’s attention is increasingly attracted to Eastern and Central Europe, and especially the Baltic states, which are considered to be one of the leaders in this respect. Estimates show that the value of startups in Central and Eastern Europe has increased as much as 19 times in the last decade, and the region has produced 34 so-called unicorns, or startups, whose market value has reached a billion US dollars.
90% of startups don’t make it past the first year
“Start-ups are the ones that drive innovation and progress especially in all areas of the economy, creating solutions to various problems or discovering new ways of working. These companies also stimulate the digital transformation of traditional industries and players and create a favorable environment for talent development and thus employment opportunities,” says Alfredo Giannattasio, Regional Director of Marketing and Operations, Microsoft Multi-country Cluster* However, despite the above, it is estimated that more than 90% of startups fail in the first year because their business is unpredictable and full of uncertainty, he states: “ In my assessment, for startups to survive, more than capital and investment, they need the right skills, experienced mentors, networking opportunities and, especially in our region, easier access to global markets and customers.”
The Baltic States are one step ahead
The Baltic States are home to some of Europe’s largest startups, with Estonia leading the way. For example, Estonian IT startup CostPocket has developed a text recognition application that can digitize paper documents with high accuracy in seconds, allowing companies to use their time more efficiently. Meanwhile, Latvian startup RoboEatz has won acclaim for inventing a fully autonomous robotic kitchen system for commercial use that cooks and offers a wide variety of food on its own. With the RoboEatz app, customers not only choose their meal, but can also personalize it by including or excluding different food ingredients. Lithuania’s isLucid, on the other hand, bases its activity on the transcription of meetings and meetings. The startup’s software in Microsoft Teams organizes transcripts and makes them sharable, searchable and integrated into the customer’s chosen task management solutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) models predict possible work tasks and can paraphrase speech into good and correct language notes in more than 30 languages.
Bright start-ups elsewhere in Europe are in the spotlight
Bright examples in Eastern Europe and Eurasia include the Bulgarian start-up Fantasian Ltd, which has developed Fantastic stay software for property managers. It allows property managers to monitor their listings across various vacation rental platforms and booking sites — all from a single dashboard. In Hungary, the startup EDUardo Business Simulation created an engaging business simulation platform based on Microsoft technologies. It provides deep educational content in the form of interactive case studies, so it can be easily integrated into various learning projects in corporations, educational institutions and business schools. In Ukraine, a great example of innovation using AI is the startup Elai.io. It allows users to use text to generate unique video content and customize AI-generated videos featuring real people. Kazakhstani startup Uniqa empowers users to use AI in everyday life. Uniqa collects and analyzes data from real conversations in real-time 24/7 and then displays it in custom Power BI reports that help you make effective management decisions.
The Adriatic region is also booming in terms of successful startups. Make IT Easy is a Croatian technology startup whose cloud computing solution mobilityONE is based on the idea that daily work management and budgeting can be significantly improved through connectivity with a company’s, city’s or institution’s vehicle fleet. Already well-known as a hardware company, Croatian startup CircuitMess designs and manufactures educational and fun electronic devices, such as STEM learning toys, which are also available in stores across America. In Slovenia, QLECTOR Ltd has developed artificial intelligence-based solutions for manufacturing powered by the QLECTOR LEAP AI platform and a “digital twin” that enables planners and team coordinators to jointly create optimal plans and maintain lean production, bridging the gap between production planning and reality at the point of sale. The software platform of the Serbian startup B2Bee brings together several integrated applications. This company’s strategy is to cover the needs of wholesalers in almost all sales channels – from receipt to delivery. Croatia’s Infobip and Rimac are examples for others, going from well-known start-ups to regional unicorns (companies valued at more than $1 billion) in 2020 and 2022, respectively.
“Tomorrow’s stars are born today, right here in our region, and we have a unique opportunity to help them grow. Participation in programs such as Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub and ISV Success can be a good helper for startups on this path. Digital technologies, cloud services, artificial intelligence, big data, modern networks and the digitization of every experience and business process will be the key to ensuring a good economic outcome and growth,” concludes Alfredo Giannattasio.
According to the latest Microsoft research, it can be safely concluded that digitally developed countries are greener, richer, more innovative and more competitive. The emergence of strong and digitally advanced startups is one of the main drivers of these countries’ success.
