●The startup revolution is still going on. Great ideas are changing the world as you read this White
Paper. Innovative teams and leaders work in different parts of the startup ecosystem, but, when
you look at the whole process from the investors perspective, repeated problems appear on the
map. Together with opportunities, of course.
●Firstly, it is often better to find new startup treasures in 'developing markets'. For the most part
this is the cheaper option, plus the companies tend to be more ambitious. Countries with excellent
startup infrastructures and an impressive business history are world leaders in making new
businesses big, but the market in these areas is very competitive among investors, where they tend
to fight more fiercely for prospective technologies and people.
●On the other hand, there are many countries where investment risk is not just about the market.
They are often about the unpredictable state of the country, lack of communication infrastructure,
and many other factors outside the established norm of the investment culture
Secondly, there are industries which seem to be highly underestimated and difficult to quantify.
These do not include models such as Uber or Facebook. For example, the IT security industry - the
true weapon of the 21st century - how many unicorns have you heard of in this sector? Is it easy
to mention the biggest and most known companies, with the best track record of experts?
Incubators that allow them to prosper, or maybe die? And critically, who can we trust when
investing in the above mentioned markets? Many tech industries are like this.
Thirdly, the startup world has always been easier for venture capitalists. Most of the really
significant funds risk a lot with big money. However, this sphere of investment is highly aware that
most of the startups they may invest in can easily lose money and slide into bankruptcy. On the
flip side, they can also afford to conduct intensive examinations of the startup team, invite expert
advisors to help them understand the prospects, including pitfalls of the startups, and engage in
long, complicated and expensive paperwork and administration while initially choosing and
operating the start up.
Nowadays there are also many private investors who possess a strong desire to help startups
create great products. On the down side, they don't possess the same financial clout as the bigger
players to research and invest in technologies, markets, and the startup team. Every investment is
a risk and may be highly crucial to the private investor.
WHY LITHUANIA? WHY ICO?
●Let's start with the country in which we operate. Lithuania is a member of EU since 2004, and a
member of the Eurozone for more than 3 years. According to the Doing Business 2018 World bank
report, Lithuania is ranked 16th in the world as possessing a unique business-friendly atmosphere,
and the World Economic Forum ranked Lithuania as No. 1 in the most inclusive emerging
economies (Inclusive Development Index 2018 report). It is estimated that the whole Lithuanian
market hosts more than 31,000 IT specialists and more than 14,000 highly talented developers
(according Statistics of Lithuania, year 2016). Lithuania is seen as a good hub in which to relocate
tech genies from Russia and the CIS countries. The number of entrepreneurs who have relocated
from that particular market tend to go Europe and expand and prosper rapidly. We are highly
confident, that in the favourable political and economic climate, this number will grow even higher
in the year to come.
●Our team are vastly experienced in this particular market environment. We are highly focused in
this region having amassed many years working with startups and IT recruitment in and for
Lithuania, with some of our team members actually located in Russia.
●Secondly, underestimated technologies and industries. Our incubator and fund were founded by
Marius Pareščius - a well-known Lithuanian IT and security expert, serial entrepreneur, and IT
counsellor to the Lithuanian Parliament. He has managed dozens of IT, security and internet
projects as both CEO and advisor; working with banks, software development companies, data
centres, web hosting companies, retail, and business associations, across Europe, the Baltic
States, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus . He, along with his team, are one of the few entities who can
estimate and grow startups in the region because they speak the same language, in every aspect
of the business and investment world.
●Thirdly, our ICO offers to widen the scale for investors. Being a traditional tech-accelerator and
fund at the outset we raised funds from institutional investors and private equity. However, as
fintech is changing rapidly we made the decision to examine new opportunities. All funds being
raised in cryptocurrency will be converted to Euro and invested in the traditional manner.
●But what is different? First of all, for us this is a part of the bigger picture in how we attract money
and how we utilise that money in the most effective and profitable manner. This is not an ICO for
ICO.
THE LITHUANIAN AND BALTIC STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
●According to the recently published Startup Genome 'Global Startup
Ecosystem Report and Ranking 2017' Silicon Valley is no longer the
capital of the Startup World. And, the reasoning is more than simple,
from the very start of the startup hype, every city in the world has
placed its efforts in reaping the benefits of job creation, innovation
and, rapid economic growth. While on an average investment map -
we usually only see Silicon Valley, New York, London, Tel Aviv, Berlin
and some of the bigger capitals, what investors tend to miss are the
much smaller regions that are not only extremely hungry for
innovation, but also focus on learning technical skills.
●Meet the Amber Valley for startups; the Baltics, and Lithuania - the
biggest country of all 3 Baltic States. While being located at the main
crossroads of Western Europe, Northern Europe and the CIS;
Lithuania is the ideal hub for accessing the EU markets and enabling
CIS and Baltic startups to operate there. Today, according 'Enterprise
Lithuania' (a non-profit agency under Ministry of Economy
established to promote entrepreneurship, support business
development and foster export) data, there are over 400 startups
located here, both local and international.
It is no secret that recently, private venture capital from Western Europe, Scandinavia, the UK,
and USA have all actively begun examining the Baltic states as a hugely promising and rapidly
growing tech region. Many of these funds are already engaged in coming to the Baltic States, or
establishing partnerships with some of the biggest local market players, such as BHV.
Since 2007 startups from the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) have raised 1 billion Euro
in venture capital. Over 300M Euro was raised via ICO in 2017 in Lithuania and Estonia.
Noteworthy news came from the Bank of Lithuania at the beginning of 2018, stating that ICO is
legal under the country's jurisdiction and only general taxation is applicable. Lithuania is also
particularly noted for the quality of its fintech and cyber security startups. The investments made
in Lithuania were more than 100M Euro in total.
Favourable conditions for the development of financial technologies (FinTech) in Lithuania have
already attracted 32 new domestic and foreign companies that applied for the licence in 2017
alone (Bank of Lithuania data), and the number has doubled compared to 2016. Upon
implementation of planned initiatives for fostering FinTech development, the sector is likely to
attract more investment and create more jobs. More than 100 companies showed interest in
operating in this market. This marks a strong trending curve in the Lithuanian market as the
capital of Fintech in the EU.
Lithuania senses global changes and keeps pace with financial innovations. A perfectly
developed infrastructure, close network of contacts and favourable geographical location provide
proper conditions for competing with other European countries. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is a
dynamic city, friendly and safe for foreigners. The majority of citizens here speak English. Russian
is also quite often heard being spoken on the streets and throughout the city. Our startups tend to
easily facilitate working and living comfortably in such an environment.
STARTUP STATE SUPPORT
●Business Hive Vilnius Incubator and Baltic Fund partner closely with governmental agencies,
such as Startup Lithuania and Go Vilnius, who are responsible for assisting new startups during
relocation and with any startup visa issues which may arise. With cooperative help, residence
permits for startups, including the core team and their families, are being issued in a much faster
period of time. Launching a new company is also the subject of Startup Lithuania support and can
be done in just a couple of days.
●Lithuania also offers startup visas using the immigration law established by the Lithuanian
government to attract innovative startups from across the globe to invest in Lithuania. There are
also additional laws designed for industrial support; e.g. the opportunity to make an e-money
allowance for fintech startups in 3 months (compared to one year plus in both the UK and
Germany).
●
●In addition and according to the Doing
Business 2018 World bank report, Lithuania is
ranked 16th in the world as possessing a unique
business-friendly atmosphere. Also, according
to the World Economic Forums 'Inclusive
Development Index 2018‘ Lithuania has the
No.1 ranking among the most inclusive
emerging economies.
●All this ensures that relocation of promising
startups from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine is an
easy process. Therefore combining the
knowledge of teams working in non-EU markets
with technologies and funding sources - will
create a more than positive outcome with a
more than 4x multiplier.
BALTIC FUND AND THE ECOSYSTEM
Imagine an ecosystem, where any startup can obtain the best there is – from their creation till
they exit. We talk here about top-notch level of expertise, support from the governmental
institutions, a chance to dive into the community backed events and initiatives, supervision of best
advisors and many more. This is something we created. And we call it - Baltic Fund Ecosystem.
Lets’ crowd-incubate the startups!
We are building the platform, where you support the startups you like with BALT tokens and get
perks or income for doing this. Be the first one to get the unique products and other benefits from
the most promising CEE and CIS startups!
All the startups, registered at the platform, post a token investors’ proposal:
• how many tokens do they need
• what do they need them for (development, production, marketing, etc.)
• what would they offer their backers in return
So, what startups can offer you for your support:
• their products and services
• partnership and collaboration (help with some of your tasks)
• tokenized loan (they take your tokens, and give them back to you with multiplication after a
certain period, buying BALT tokens at a public crypto exchange)
How startups can participate:
• offline, using our incubator space and its production facilities
• online, using our services and partners facilities
HOW IT WORKS
How does Baltic Fund and NHB incubator help startups for the tokens you invested:
• incubation program with the experts from EU and the US, and our own mentors
• production and engineering facilities, other incubator’s office opportunities
• BHV.Labs’ developers, designers, marketers, PR pros, analysts, engineers, etc.
• venture partners
• and the growing number of new opportunities!
What happens after the incubation:
• startups launch their products (and the contributor gets one)
• partnership and collaboration (help with some of your tasks)
• startups grow and develop (and the price of your investments grow)
An investor gets product and income, a startup develops, we help and manage.
Profit!
TOKEN DESCRIPTION
Baltic fund tokens:
• 165.000.000 tokens to be issued
• 150.000.000 tokens for sale
• 15.000.000 tokens not for sale (advisors, team, bounty)
Token price:
• 1 Baltic Fund token = 0,00020 ETH for public pre-sale, 0,00025
ETH for sale
• Minimum amount of purchase – 100 tokens
Bonuses:
• pre-sale – 15% bonus (minimum amount of purchase – 100
tokens, +5% bonus for payments 100+ ETH)
• sale – 10% bonus (minimum amount of purchase – 100 tokens,
+5% bonus for payments 100+ ETH)
TOKEN AND PLATFORM
●Each token-holder can easily become a part of our blockchain based startup ecosystem, no
matter where he or she is located.
●The token allows you to purchase the following services on platform:
● Acceleration (online/offline) for your or your friend’s startup
● Online 1-to-1 consulting sessions with the community mentors/advisors
● Tickets and priority entrance to our events
● Discounts for the most significant global startup events
● Membership (or virtual residentship) in our coworking and discounts at partner’s coworkings worldwide
● Delivery of community events to our city
Or simply sell your token:
● in the community
● at the crypto stock
● back to the platform with multiplicator
author: 0x6b9e41aF4f0fABF7c736eB18473D803cE2C9e82e
