FIRSTPICK Raises €25M Second Fund to Back Baltic Startups
▼ Summary
– FIRSTPICK, a Vilnius-based fund, has closed a €25 million second fund to back Baltic founders at inception and pre-seed, focusing on AI-first software.
– The fund’s thesis is to invest early in overlooked founders in emerging markets like the Baltics, where larger funds with standardized checklists often miss talent.
– Its first fund backed companies like Samphire Neuroscience, which later succeeded, and Copla, which grew significantly after its pre-seed investment.
– The new fund is backed by Lithuanian entrepreneurs and state entities, with a strategic aim to strengthen the Baltic tech ecosystem by providing early capital.
– A key question is whether the small Baltic ecosystem can generate enough successful exits to deliver the returns expected by the fund’s investors.
Vilnius-based venture capital firm FIRSTPICK has successfully closed its second investment fund, securing €25 million to back Baltic startups at the inception and pre-seed stages. This new vehicle will provide initial investments from €100,000 to €500,000, with the capacity for follow-on funding up to €1 million. The fund is supported by a coalition of Lithuanian entrepreneurs, business angels, and state-backed institutions, signaling strong regional confidence in its mission to fund the earliest ideas.
The fund’s strategy centers on identifying founders often overlooked by larger investment firms that rely on conventional markers like Ivy League degrees or prior exits. FIRSTPICK aims to be faster and more willing to back unconventional talent, a thesis demonstrated by early bets on companies like Samphire Neuroscience and cybersecurity firm Copla. Samphire, which creates a neurotechnology wearable for menstrual pain, was a high-risk proposition with no initial revenue but has since sold out product launches and secured a $5 million seed round. Copla, backed at pre-seed, now serves over 100 regulated European customers and closed a €6 million Series A.
This second fund will have a sharper focus on AI-first software companies across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. While Estonia boasts a mature early-stage ecosystem, Latvia and Lithuania have historically lacked dedicated pre-seed infrastructure, creating the gap FIRSTPICK has operated in since its founding. The Baltic startup landscape is experiencing rapid growth, with venture investment rising from €505 million in 2024 to €607 million in 2025, driven significantly by AI sectors.
Key supporters include Lithuanian entrepreneurs from companies like Tesonet, alongside alumni from Oberlo and Kilo Health. The state also plays a crucial role, with Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy and Innovation and the ILTE fund committing €9 million as a strategic anchor investor. This public-private partnership model mirrors the approach used for the firm’s first €20 million fund, which has been deployed across approximately 100 startups since the firm spun out from Startup Wise Guys in late 2022.
Pre-seed investing in emerging European markets is a labor-intensive endeavor far from the glamour of later-stage venture capital. Ticket sizes are small, companies are often pre-revenue, and the work involves identifying potential long before clear traction exists. FIRSTPICK’s managing partner, Dmitrij Sosunov, notes that strong founders frequently follow unconventional paths, and standardized checklists used by foreign investors can cause them to miss transformative local talent.
The fund’s narrative of backing non-traditional founders is compelling, though it’s noteworthy that its flagship examples involve experienced professionals with relevant track records. This suggests the fund’s real edge may be in identifying capable operators within specific domains or geographies that larger funds have yet to scrutinize, a precise and potentially more defensible strategy than a broad claim of finding overlooked founders everywhere.
With a €25 million corpus, the fund’s economics rely on a portfolio approach where even modest outcomes, such as a company progressing to Series B with support from larger funds, can generate meaningful returns. The central question is whether the Baltic ecosystem, while growing quickly, can produce a sufficient number of scalable exits to meet investor expectations. The region has generated notable successes and a growing pipeline of funded companies, but the velocity and scale of outcomes remain untested.
Sosunov frames the mission as generating wider economic impact, helping to build a resilient tech sector that strengthens the entire regional economy. In practice, this means creating the initial pipeline of companies that later-stage capital can follow, a fundamental role for early-stage investors in any developing ecosystem. The success of this €25 million fund will ultimately depend on its ability to consistently pick the founders who can navigate that journey from conception to substantial, sustainable business.
(Source: The Next Web)
