Europe's Quiet Powerhouse

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with a combined population of 6,12 million form a strategic bridge between the Nordics, Central Europe and the EU.   

Seven deep-water, ice-free ports, five international airports, and a growing network of highways and rail links connect Baltic business to global trade.

Think of the Baltic region - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as two Portugals in size, but powered by the drive of some of the most ambitious people in Europe.
If you prefer a Central European lens, imagine Slovakia but with four Bratislavas worth of energy concentrated in the capitals of Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius.

Over the past decade, the Baltics have grown roughly twice as fast as the EU average. IT, business, and financial services have scaled at a much higher rate than the EU norm, turning the region into one of Europe’s quiet powerhouses for digital-first business.

This is also one of Europe’s most entrepreneurial regions, with some of the highest business-formation rates and unicorns per capita anywhere. You probably already know the brands, physical and digital connectors, even if you didn’t realize where they were born:

• airBaltic - connecting over 100 destinations through Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas and Tallinn
• Girteka - a European leader in road logistics
• Bolt - redefining urban mobility across Europe
• Pipedrive - the CRM loved by small businesses worldwide
• Wise - a fintech reshaping global money movement
• Vinted - Europe’s largest second-hand fashion marketplace
• MikroTik — high-performance networking trusted globally
• Nord Security – a major cybersecurity & VPN tech company
• Fyul – global e-commerce platform
• Mailerlite – global e-mail marketing and automation platform

And with public-sector defence spending elevated toward 5% of GDP, the next generation of dual-use and defense innovators is already emerging.

The region is digitally native at its core: government and municipal services are online, secure, and efficient—helping businesses move faster. Despite shallow local capital markets, the ecosystem attracts very active private-equity and venture funding. Even commercial real estate has matured: over the past five years, annual investment volumes have averaged more than €1 billion.

Add to that simple, transparent, and globally competitive corporate tax regimes, especially supportive for start-ups, fintech, crypto and exporting industries, and you get a region that consistently punches above its weight.