Startup hub ROCKIT: 2021 will be great for green startups in Lithuania

Despite placing a more considerable emphasis on sustainability and becoming Europe’s leader in plastic packaging recycling in recent years, Lithuania remains a below-average performer on the EU Eco-Innovation Scoreboard (ranking 22 out of 28). To help address this, Lithuanian FinTech hub ROCKIT together with Triple Top Line startup accelerator and private equity fund Katalista Ventures will be launching the country’s first accelerator programme focused on growing sustainable startups engaged in creating impactful B2B solutions for local and international enterprises. The accelerator is scheduled to start in March 2021, according to a press release.

Lithuanian consumers go green; businesses take notice

According to the Sustainable Brand Index Lithuania 2020 compiled by Stockholm-based SB Insight, 60% of consumers are in the habit of discussing the topic of sustainability with the people around them, and 71% take sustainability into account when purchasing goods and services.

Even though sustainability is a recent addition to many Lithuanian enterprises’ agenda, some are already leading the pack in their respective categories. Case in point, AUGA Group, one of the largest organic food companies in Europe, has been ranked among 10% of best-rated companies in the food and beverage sector globally in terms of sustainability according to the company’s conducted sustainability analysis ISS Corporate Solutions last year.

“Given that sustainability has now become the new normal, we need to be the game-changers behind the development and adoption of technologies intended to mitigate the environmental impact of our activities. We believe that our new sustainable business model and technologies will allow the AUGA community to live, eat, work, and invest more sustainably,” said Gediminas Judzentas, Marketing Director of AUGA Group.

Innovative solutions address water pollution issues

Back in 2015, Lithuania signed and adopted the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. According to the 2020 Lithuanian Sustainability Ecosystem Overview by Katalista Ventures, the most covered SDGs in the Lithuanian ecosystem are Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and Partnerships to achieve the Goal while least covered SDGs are Clean Water and Sanitation and Life Below Water. Around 40% of lakes and 50% of rivers in Lithuania fail the criteria for good water quality, and the Baltic Sea is considered one of the most polluted seas in the world.

Lithuania’s progress towards achieving SDGs related to clean water has thus far been slow, yet some ecosystem players are trying to steer things in the right direction. For instance, in 2020, BaltCap – the biggest private equity fund in Lithuania – helped organise the Baltic region’s first international Clean Water Hackathon. The competition aimed to develop actionable and financially viable solutions for mitigating pollution issues that unite all three Baltic States.

According to Šarūnas Stepukonis, a partner at the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, clean water is a key factor in most efforts designed to ensure a sustainable future on this planet:

“Innovative solutions developed during the competition will have significant potential for investors, and will likely have a positive effect on global markets.”

The winner of the competition – the Lithuanian startup Ekodrena – provided a solution for mitigating the negative environmental effects of farming, which constitutes the primary source of surface water pollution in the Baltic Sea. The solution involves an adjustable underground drainage system that regulates water retention in the soil, thereby preventing fertiliser runoff.

Other noteworthy solutions developed during the 12-day hackathon include an app designed to encourage citizens to engage in efforts to raise awareness about water quality, and a platform that provides transparent satellite data on water pollution levels.

Startup ecosystem players encourage positive change

Although startups might have the popular image of putting business growth above anything else, many of them do care about the health of our planet. They are busy working on reconciling green technology with the bottom line.

One such company, Norway’s CHOOSE, builds digital tools for businesses, their customers, and private individuals, enabling them to compensate for their respective carbon footprint. Another good example is Skeleton Technologies, which is now considered Europe’s biggest developer and manufacturer of ultracapacitor cells.

In 2020, reacting to demand from both consumers and private businesses, the Lithuanian startup hub ROCKIT started shifting its focus from primarily FinTech-related activities to include more events intended to promote and advance sustainable practices. The ROCKIT Impact Accelerator programme – “people, planet, and profit” being its holy trinity – will focus on developing solutions to support the achievement of UN’s SDGs and enable startups to join the sustainability-driven community working on climate action, renewable energy, responsible production and consumption, and other pertinent areas.

Šarūnė Smalakytė, Head of startup hub ROCKIT, believes that discussing sustainability in Lithuania is a prerequisite for making it an integral part of the country’s existing businesses:

“The importance of sustainability should apply not only in our daily life but in business as well. We believe that striving for a positive impact could help us educate, inspire, and empower bigger communities to act towards a better, quality-first approach to life. FinTech companies can be sustainable, too. Focusing more on sustainability can help companies attract additional investment and more successfully recover from the consequences of the global pandemic.”

The ROCKIT Impact Accelerator – designed and operated by Katalista Ventures with 10+ years of investing experience and has worked with startup accelerators in Spain and the UK – will take over four months, and offer an Alumni Programme. Startups will be selected based on their maturity (1-2 years), track record, the relevance of the problems being solved, and sustainability vision. Partners include Elektrum, Swedbank, Linas Agro and TeleSoftas.