Today at Techcrunch Baltics, we’re hearing a lot about the need for cooperation between the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. While the latter has won a lot of PR juice from its association with Skype over the last few years, there is no less talent in this other neighbouring countries, so its interesting to see a new initiative appear to cross those borders.
The so-called #BalticMafia – startups people from the region – gets another boost in the form the StartupWiseGuys
They are now offering cold hard cash of €500 to anyone who refers a team to their startup program (which invests up to €15.000 per team) of 13 weeks in Tallinn, Estonia. That referral fee sounds a little low – until you realise exactly how much €500 gets you in Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia…
Herty Tammo, co-founder and investor, says that international startup mentors have been invited to participate to share their experience. He’s drawing people in from across the region to do that.
Jonathan Bradford, a founder and executive director at Ingite100, co-founder and MD at Springboard Cambridge is also one of the co-founders for Startup Wise Guys.
Advisor board members include Kristo Ovaska from Startup Sauna, Andris Berzins from TechHub Riga, Rokas Tamošiūnas from StartupHighway – Lithuania, Chris Kowalczyk, Gamma Rebels – Poland, Raido Pikkor, Tehnopol – Estonia.
The partners for Startup Wise Guys are Garage48, Ülemiste Technopolis, Tehnopol, Estonian Startup Leaders Club. Among international supporters are Amazon, PayPal and Microsoft.
The startup companies are supported by 13 angel investors who actively participate in the selection process getting experience in co-work and confirmation to continue their individual investments.
The application process for Startup Wise guys is open from 9th of February until 11th of March and the program starts on 25th of April.