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“Despite challenging economic and geopolitical circumstances, startups continue to grow, expand their product and service portfolios, and attract investment. This is why the sector's contribution to Lithuania’s GDP is increasing rapidly, while hiring remains stable – startups are currently employing 19,400 talents, almost 4% more than last year,” says Gintarė Verbickaitė, CEO of Unicorns Lithuania.
According to her, this growth means that Lithuania’s economy needs stimulus to ensure that the country reaches €100 billion in GDP by 2030.
“We believe that 3% GDP growth is an achievable target that would create more value for Lithuania's budget than all the tax reforms currently in the making. However, this requires improving access to capital, as well as galvanizing economic activity and investment,” said Ms. Verbickaitė.
TOP 5 startups by amount of tax contributed (Q1 2025):
Commenting on Binance, which paid the most in taxes among all startups in the country from January to March this year, Ms. Verbickaitė emphasised that it also became one of the five largest taxpayers in Lithuania.
“This clearly shows the value that successful tech businesses can generate in Lithuania. Accordingly, it is extremely important for us not to lose competitiveness and to offer the most attractive conditions for both the companies themselves and the talents they need. Namely, a favourable and stable tax and regulatory environment,” the association's head is convinced.
According to Ms. Verbickaitė, the TOP 5 largest taxpayers also show that technology companies that began as startups are growing at a stable rate.
“Usually, this is directly related to taxes contributed to the national budget. Whereas in cases where companies pay less in taxes in the first quarter often simply mean that their employees received bonuses at the end of the previous year,” says Ms. Verbickaitė.
She also emphasises the importance of assessing the startup ecosystem not only by its results today but also by its future economic potential.
“A closer look at the data reveals some highly promising growth trends. For instance, compared to the same period last year, the number of companies that paid more than €1M in taxes in Q1 alone increased by 13%. This shows why we must sustain growth conditions for the entire ecosystem – which is becoming a significant driver of the Lithuanian economy. We believe that, given the right conditions, the ICT sector could generate up to 20% of the country’s GDP by 2030. This scenario is realistic, considering that last year the sector’s contribution to GDP already stood at 15%,” says Ms. Verbickaitė.
TOP 5 startups by salary (Q1 2025):
In Q1 of this year, Pixelmator stood out with its average pre-tax salary paid to employees, which Ms. Verbickaitė calls a success story.
“In the case of startups, success can mean lots of different things – from becoming a mature company or attaining unicorn status to securing a profitable exit. This is exactly what happened to Pixelmator Teams last year – the company was acquired by Apple,” says G. Verbickaitė.
Compared to last year, there has been no change in terms of the largest employers among startups in Lithuania: Vinted (1540), Nord Security (1321), and Wargaming (808).
That being said, the biggest contributor to hiring growth was Orbio World and Cast AI, the latter having recently raised $108M. The number of employees in these companies, compared to the same period in 2024, increased by 15% and 16% respectively.
According to Unicorns Lithuania, there are currently almost 1,100 startups active in the country.
For more data on the Q1 2025 performance of startups active in Lithuania, click this link.
