Led · Equity · Apr 2022

Cambridge Phenotyping, founded by Julija Krupič and Marius Bauža, is developing Smart Kage, an AI-equipped autonomous 50 cm cube that monitors and analyses rodent behaviour 24/7 using built-in sensors and a surveillance camera. The Smart Kage prototype captures continuous behavioural data previously unavailable to laboratories and uses AI to detect behavioural changes relevant to disease modelling. The company raised EUR 610,000 to further develop the technology and prepare it for mass production. Cambridge Phenotyping is also developing a human mobile app based on Smart Kage findings to help identify disorders related to episodic memory; the app has been tested in Lithuania. The primary target users are universities and medical laboratories studying the hippocampus, episodic memory, learning and spatial orientation.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2021

Pibox provides an audio collaboration platform that combines content collaboration, messaging, and file management features in a single place. The system lets teams customize and go deep via metadata fields and management, playlists, custom integrations, and reports. Customers include Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Epidemic Sound, and Bleeding Fingers by Hans Zimmer. Led by CEO Ivan Talaichuk, the company serves use cases across music, broadcasting, and advertising. Pibox raised $1.2M in funding and also received support from Google for Startups. The company intends to use the funds to expand into the US market and to serve more use cases and customers. Pibox is a SaaS platform that centralizes team collaboration with media files and structured workflows. The application allows users to leave comments, draw on video, select moments with millisecond accuracy, and includes chat and fixed storage structures. It aims to replace multiple tools used by creative teams, customers, and contractors such as mail, messenger, file hosting services, and task managers. Pibox's clients include Universal, Epidemic Sound, Sony, Red Bull, the National Gallery of Art, and Michigan Technological University. Founded in 2017 in Ukraine by brothers Ivan and Pavel Talaychuk, the company recently closed a $400,000 pre-seed raise and joined the Techstars Toronto cohort. With the new funding Pibox plans to expand its team, develop go-to-market across creative verticals, and continue building product capabilities and brand positioning for video and podcast productions, branding agencies, and media industry specialists. Pibox is a centralized all‑in‑one remote collaboration solution developed for creative collaboration around audio content. Its features include visualized waveforms with commenting and highlighting, mix version history, team chat, cloud storage, project management and rich content collaboration. The product is used daily by heads of production, music producers, managers and sound engineers, and has partnerships with Universal Music and Epidemic Sound. While currently geared toward audio collaboration, Pibox has attracted interest from video content creators. The company was launched in 2018 and maintains teams in Helsinki and Ukraine; the founders are brothers Ivan and Pavlo Talaychuk. Pibox previously participated in the Startup Wise Guys and Accelerace Soundtech acceleration programs and has recently raised new funding.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2021

Cogastro builds software specifically tailored to insect farming that automates workflows and operational protocols across multiple insect life stages. The platform provides real-time KPIs (yield, feed conversion rate, cycle speed, hatch rate) and enables historical comparisons by batch, substrate and other variables. The company says its product saves farmers about 60% of their time and can increase efficiency by up to 20%. Cogastro reports strong global interest and works with farms in Australia, Belgium, Israel, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Sales have quadrupled this year, reflecting accelerating demand. The startup plans to use new funding to further develop the product and to scale marketing and sales into the U.S. and Asian markets. Cogastro is a Lithuania-based SaaS that aggregates and analyzes farm data to manage and optimize insect farming operations. The product integrates with sensors and cloud-based data warehousing to provide traceability, dashboards, and mobile access for remote monitoring and decision-making. By 2020 the company was enabling operations at 10 large-scale insect farm productions across Australia, Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. The software currently supports crickets, mealworms, and black soldier flies and can adapt to additional species; it also offers hardware selection advice and installation support. Cogastro charges annual license fees that vary by farm size and needs and emphasizes automation of critical data aggregation and analytics. The company plans to double its five-person team, hire engineers and customer support staff, expand globally (with a focus on the U.S.), and add intelligence-exchange services to its platform.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2021

Foros is a Vilnius-based green investment platform founded in 2017 that facilitates the buying and selling of forest land via auctions and offers a forest management service called Foros Grow. Foros Grow focuses on sustainable tree growth through selective logging, removing weaker trees to promote long-term health and growth of stronger trees. The company has taken on its first outside funding—€1.2 million—which is slated to help further develop its forest investment and management services in Lithuania and Latvia, push expansion into Estonia and Finland, and develop a forest carbon impact calculator. Management says Foros aims to create a 100% digital, innovative and transparent alternative to the traditional forestry industry and to open sustainable forest investments to a wider group of people. The platform is eyeing broader expansion across the Nordics. The €1.2 million funding arrived via Iron Wolf Capital, 70 Ventures, and CoInvest Capital.

Led · Equity · May 2021

Walk15 provides a steps-challenge platform aimed at increasing employee physical activity and promoting sustainable mobility. The company engages employees, clients, community members, and educational institutions across markets including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Romania, Germany, and the UK. Walk15 reports more than 10,000 step challenges created over the past four years and has recently united over 640,000 users and 1,300 businesses and organisations worldwide. Founded by Vlada Musvydaite-Vilčiauskė, the startup sells solutions to organisations concerned with low employee involvement in physical activity and sustainability education. The firm has been expanding internationally and recently opened a new office in Berlin as part of its push into the German market. Management says the product and investor interest reflect fast growth and a global vision to make healthy habits everyday practice. Walk15 operates the #walk15 walking app that runs corporate step challenges to engage employees and promote health and sustainability. Founded in July 2019 by Vlada Musvydaitė‑Vilčiauskė in Lithuania, the platform counts more than 260,000 users and has been used by over 400 international companies. The app tracks daily steps, creates routes, runs challenges and ties walking to rewards and environmental initiatives (for example, IKI retail discounts and an ERGO-backed step oak grove). Walk15 was recognized in 2021 as the country’s best innovative health solution and represented Lithuania at the World Summit Awards. The company has established international partnerships, begun expansion in Denmark, and is being advised on sustainability by Katalista Ventures. Financially, Walk15 recently attracted nearly €270k from business angels after a €240k investment from 70Ventures, and its implied value has increased fivefold to €5 million. The team intends to use the new capital to strengthen product and sales teams and to seek an investment fund to support sustainability-focused growth. #walk15 is a Lithuanian mobile app (founded in 2019) that uses walking challenges, a pedometer, virtual routes, and gamified features to promote health and sustainability. The app lets users create private challenges with friends, coworkers, or clients and trade steps for shopping discounts. During the pandemic the company rebranded and expanded into corporate wellness, delivering over 200 step-challenges for businesses and onboarding more than 200 corporate clients. The platform reports over 190,000 active users across more than 40 countries and expects to reach 200,000 users within the year. Planned product upgrades include new motivation tools, a grocery-discount integration with IKI stores, and a tree-planting initiative with insurer ERGO to fund 1,000 trees. CEO Vlada Musvydaitė leads a predominantly female team and emphasizes culture and community-driven growth.