Vilnius Hosts Startup Fair 2026, Attracting Leaders from Global Companies Like Dry Boots, Kilo, Oxylabs, and Others

Hundreds of startup representatives, investors, and ecosystem partners from more than 60 countries will meet in Vilnius at the leading international startup event, Startup Fair 2026, on September 17. This year, the investment pool for the event’s pitching competition, Pitch Battle, will exceed 1M Euros.

Lithuanian startup ecosystem has grown faster than any other in Central and Eastern Europe in the last five years. The growth continues as, according to a FIRSTPICK and Practica Capital report, established players and emerging companies raised €238M ($261M) last year, alongside the highest annual total of exits ever recorded in the country.

Startup Fair, the leading international startup event hosted in the capital, Vilnius, for more than a decade, has mirrored this expansion. For Lithuania’s startup ecosystem, the event has become a long-standing tradition and one of the region’s longest-running and most established events of its kind. Also, as the country’s main hub for venture-backed companies, international investors, and founder-support infrastructure, Vilnius drives much of this startup momentum.

Now in its 15th year, the Startup Fair 2026, to be held on September 17, will bring together more than 2,000 attendees, 450 startups, and 430 investors from more than 60 countries worldwide. Startup Lithuania, the national facilitator of Lithuania’s startup ecosystem, is organizing the event with leading innovation platform ROCKIT.

Go Vilnius, the official tourism and business development agency of Vilnius, is one of the main partners that has supported the event for several years. The agency believes the Startup Fair gives future founders a platform to share their ideas for the first time and gain support from an ecosystem of established entrepreneurs willing to bet on each other.

“Over 90 percent of Lithuania’s startup enterprise value is concentrated in Vilnius; 80 percent of the city’s businesses are generating revenue, while one in five grow consistently each year. The capital was also named Europe’s fastest-growing tech city in 2025 and the fourth largest startup hub in CEE by enterprise value. Vilnius holds 25 percent of all Baltic foreign direct investment and is supported by over 350 international investors. It has developed a distinctive ecosystem shaped by founders who have learned to build sustainable and globally competitive businesses from customer revenues and reinvested profits rather than outside capital. A bootstrapped discipline like this is the success factor for many of the now internationally recognized companies like Nord Security, Hostinger, Surfshark, and others,” Marius Stasiukaitis, Head of Business at Go Vilnius, says. “At Startup Fair, international business leaders and investors will have the chance to meet the founders behind this success and tap into emerging growth drivers. The next-generation builders will get the proof that they don’t have to leave home to create something the world will notice.”

Investment pool over 1M euros

More than 40 startups will take the stage, sharing insights, leading discussions, and connecting with participants throughout the event. 430 investors will watch their pitches and presentations, offering a €1.3 million investment pool and additional prizes.

One of the key highlights of this year’s event will be Pitch Battle, the country’s largest startup pitching competition. Ambitious founders will compete for a major prize package, including up to €1 million in funding from Aneli Capital, €125,000 from BSV Ventures, €100,000 from FIRSTPICK, up to €150,000 from LitBAN & Latban, and support from CoInvest Capital. Entrepreneurs who won the pitching competition in previous years have already raised more than €22 million in funding.

The startup event will also welcome investors from a wide range of other funds and investment firms, including KILO, Inovo VC, Iron Wolf Capital, Lithuanian Business Angels Network, Karma VC, Bek Ventures, byFounders VC, DN Capital and many others.

Focus on the builders

This year’s theme, Future Belongs to Builders, will spotlight not only the technologies shaping the future, but also the people who are building them from the first idea to a finished product and entry into a new market. Nearly 100 speakers will share their insights across three stages, discussing entrepreneurship, business opportunities, communities, markets, regulation, and the future of innovation.

This year’s speaker lineup features prominent names from Lithuania and across Europe, including Elaine Moore, Technology Editor at the Financial Times; David Rowan, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of WIRED and one of the leading voices in technology; Danish entrepreneur Theis Søndergaard, founder of Dry Boots; Vytautas Savickas, CEO of Oxylabs; Edvinas Grikšas, Minister of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania; Tadas Burgaila, founder of Lost Astronaut; Aleksandras Urbanavičius, co-founder and co-CEO of HOLO AI; Einaras von Gravrock, co-founder of one of Europe’s newest unicorns, Cast AI; and many others.