Despite the winter wonderland outside, spring is around the corner, and that comes in hand with a bunch of activities, whether it's preparing for the upcoming event season, getting back in shape, or frantically buying flowers for all the wonderful women in your life  (this is your reminder). Take a breath, dive in and find out what we've been up to!

Last month we ranted about possibly not getting €1.2M requested by the startup ecosystem for continued development and growth, so let us update you. If you have no idea what we're talking about, here's a recap, but in short: after long meetings and strategizing, a memorandum for the next 3 years was signed with the government listing what needs to be done and what is necessary to make it happen. That brings us back to €1.2M divided over the 3 years for various ecosystem organizations. Skipping to now: only €200K has been allocated for 2023 and €0 for the upcoming years. On behalf of the whole ecosystem, we 

1. Met with all the coalition parties and one opposition party (Progresīvie) 
2. Wrote official letters on why it's important to provide €400K per year for an industry bringing in €44M in taxes (one of them signed by 100+ ecosystem members) 
3. Attended an official commission meeting with Members of the Saeima with a name so long we'd need another newsletter for it. There we explained that the money should be considered an investment rather than charity. 

All parties admitted that innovations are important and startups should be supported, but none have put their money where their mouth is yet. The decision will be finalized by the end of March, but the indications are not great, so the next newsletter might be the one where we finally decide to stop censoring bad language. Whatever the decision, we'll be sure to let you know.

You can officially call us Amors of Investment or Funding Valentines now after the first speed dating for VCs and startups took place online and garnered positive feedback only! We started off with a panel discussing data from Baltic Startup Funding Report 2023 by Change Ventures and 6 VCs providing valuable insights into the current investment trends. Done with the foreplay, we moved into action: 21 individual speed-dating sessions took place. Feedback has been gathered, potential improvements analyzed, and we are ready to repeat this format on a more regular basis (and perhaps even as an in-person event wink-wink). If you didn't manage to join the live event, fear not: here you'll find a discussion recording.

Now that memories of the Christmas event marathon have been locked away with some boozy half-recollections, we're ready for the next in-person event. Join us for Startin.LV At-Home Meetup Spring Edition hosted by (RTU) Science and Innovation Centre! You'll get an inside scoop on Startin.LV budget, lobbying projects, and our exciting plans for the year ahead, as well as tons of info on support and opportunities available from EU funds, and even a tour of the Science and Innovation Centre premises. Read more and register here now, and see you on March 29!

Make sure you're getting the most out of the member's fee by taking advantage of the wide range of perks available: more than 20 companies offer great deals on various services and products. Go ahead and get your hands deep in the cookie jar!

While some of the tools that came in handy during Covid have run their natural course (when did you use Apturi Covid last time? (not that we're complaining)), some are here to stay. Telemedicine has been around for a while but experienced its renaissance during the pandemic, and so was born the idea behind Latvian startup Medon. The team has created a platform that makes medical care available to basically everyone safely (and we don't use that word lightly, as patient data sensitivity and GDPR are the biggest challenges the team is dealing with). Through the Open Health Labs, an initiative by The National Health Service and Helve aiming to digitalize healthcare in Latvia, Medon has already partnered up with Riga Psychiatry and Narcology Centre. Read more on our blog post here.

Speaking of medtechs, Longenesis is on a roll! The team has been announced as a semifinalist of EIT Health's Catapult 2022-23 Edition: an intensive training program and competition that showcases the best biotech, medtech, and digital health concepts from across Europe. On top of that, they've made it into the Entrepreneurship World Cup Top 100 through cutthroat competition with 30 000 other companies. The main prizes come in the lower 6 figures, so we're crossing our fingers and toes!

Many startups dream about entering the US market, and very few succeed. The oversaturation and many other factors often come into play, turning it into a make-it-or-break-it kind of deal that involves many risks and readjusting, but if you make it… well, we all know the story of Printful. Cenos, the engineering simulation platform, found an unexpecting workaround for entering the US through Mexico and shares their findings and challenges in this article as well as the reasons why the new location has become their main focus.

Bruntor, the team developing a four-wheeled cargo scooter, has become a participant in City to Sea accelerator that provides up to 12K for creating or upgrading an existing prototype and mentoring. In addition to that, they're going to sTARTUp Day pitching event in Estonia after being chosen among 270 other startups; 4 other Latvian startups are joining them.

LIAA has opened applications for 2 support programs: future founders at the ideation stage can apply for a 6-month pre-incubation program that will provide the basics of entrepreneurship, mentorship, and networking. For those ready to build science-based prototypes, PROTOTECH will supply up to €15K, not requiring to put in any % of the funds by the participant, allowing very early-stage ideas to mark their first steps towards building a product.

Lack of talent is a well-known problem to most founders, and as one of the steps towards fixing the issue, Riga Investment and Tourism Agency (RITA) have announced the launch of the Work in Riga platform that serves as a roadmap for relocating to Latvia. Our member Printify, an employer of talent from 28 countries, also participated in creating the website. Read more here. The agency also has announced a new support program for that exact purpose: companies can apply for co-financing of €1500 per employee per month to employ up to 5 employees for up to 3 months. More info here.

Riga TechGirls invites participants to work with experts from different industries to develop solutions during the Women In Technology Hackathon to solve today's most pressing challenges. Teams will be supported to explore novel ideas and create technologies that can help create a more energy-effective and resource-friendly future. More info and registration here.