“The work launched last year on a representation of Latvian startups in the Silicon Valley is over and a strategic and professional representation in the global startup networking site and the hottest point attracting investors – the Silicon Valley – is available to startups from this February!
Latvia’s representation was created in WeWork Coworking and Office Space building, which is a global collaborative platform for innovative, fast-growing technology startups. The most important benefit for Latvian companies is WeWork’s extensive international representation – with 150 locations in more than 50 cities in the world, which means that, in the future, Latvian startup businesses will be able to use office spaces and business networking and cooperation possibilities with other startups around the world in any of these locations”, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Economy Arvils Ašeradens has emphasised at the TechChill International Innovation and Technology Conference today.
The representation of Latvian startups in the Silicon Valley was established as a representation of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA) in the United States, which is currently headed by Toms Zvidriņš. Since this February, startups in the representation have free access to the working spaces and the opportunities provided by the collaboration space. The address of the WeWork Coworking and Office Space is 995 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.
In the ongoing negotiations, Latvian startups have repeatedly indicated that state assistance and presence in the Silicon Valley would be an important boost for the future development of businesses and strengthening of positions in the Silicon Valley.
We also note that several trade missions and events to expand opportunities in the Silicon Valley are organised by LIAA. A trade mission to the United States is planned in March and start-ups are offered the opportunity to participate in the SXSW Forum and particularly in the EU’s organized Demo Deck, Venture Summit West, and to visit the WeWork office space and have meetings with entrepreneurs, accelerator representatives and venture capital funds from the Silicon Valley. Additional information is available on the LIAA website.
As it is known, on 27-28 October 2017, Arvils Ašeradens visited the Silicon Valley (San Francisco and Palo Alto) in California on his working visit to the United States. The goal of this visit of the Minister of Economics was to promote cooperation of Latvian startups with US partners and to discuss the possibilities of ensuring representation of the ecosystem of Latvian startups in the Silicon Valley. During the visit the Minister was also accompanied by the top managers of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA) and an extensive delegation of representatives of the ecosystem of Latvian startups representing the ICT, marketing and consulting industry (representatives of startups from Anatomy Next, Apply, CatchSmart, Finerium, Furnny and Mass Portal, representatives of the ecosystem of startups from Digital Freedom Festival and TechChill, representatives of investors from NCH Advisors Inc. and Roug, as well as representatives of law firms from Spridzans Law Office and Ellex Klavins).
Public Relations Division
Ministry of Economics
Latvia