We’re running the first ever TechCrunch Baltics meetup today with a mini-conference and pitch contest in the lovely city of Riga, Latvia. The Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are tiny countries, but punch above their weight in terms of their technical prowess. Estonia in particular was made famous as being the base from which Skype was developed, and now the rest of the region is coming alive with startups and accelerators. Up to 8 selected Baltic startups will pitch to a jury and audience that includes many key investors in the region and beyond.
Here is the live stream (right now it’s lunchtime but we’ll be kicking off shortly):
Appearing at the event include Aldas Kirvaitis (CEO, Cherry Media Group) who leads the Baltic daily deal operator that has grown from zero to a monthly run rate of 1.7m Euros and Baltic market dominance in less than 2 years; Jon Bradford (Managing Director, Springboard Cambridge); Carlos Eduardo Espinal (Partner, Seedcamp); , Priit Salumaa (Co-Founder and Member of the Board, Garage48); Margus Uudam (Ambient Sound Investments); Lars Hinrichs (Executive Geek & Founder, HackFwd); Kris Hiiemaa – CEO, Erply; Andres Susi – CEO, Flirtic; Vitaly Rubstein – Co-Founder and Partner, RubyLight.
Our sponsors are Mail.ru, Rubylight, Nokia and Veritweet.