An American investing in Lithuanian companies: “Most startups will fail. It’s nothing terrible “Business

During his stay in Lithuania, the founder of the San Francisco-based company held more than 30 meetings with teams and entrepreneurs working with financial technologies; three of them took place a few hours after landing at Vilnius airport.

R. Gilbert, who manages the venture capital fund Launchpad Capital, only looks for startups and invests in them. Since the foundation’s inception, the company has invested in 23 startups, two of which are located in Vilnius.

In June, it was announced that Lithuanian startup FullReach had attracted 250,000. USD, and in the middle of August 1 million. Whatalook, a starter in beauty innovation, received US dollars.

“I came here to do business. We are serious, we have a goal of investing in 3-5 headlines this year. If we find them and agree with them, we certainly will. I think it is the first step in a long journey, but I will return, “said the interview. 15 minutes speak.

– Launchpad Capital is a startup that funded its first project in April of this year, so the general public probably hasn’t heard of it. Tell us about yourself and your company.

– Launchpad Capital is an early stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Our remote regional director, who oversees the European market, is Dominykas, who works in Vilnius. Stankevičius, who previously worked for the Invest in Lithuania agency.

Our goal is to start funding the initial stages of start-up technology development as soon as possible. Launchpad Capital raised money last year, and this year it actually started from January.

I have worked in this sector myself for the last 22 years. I first came to Lithuania two years ago and then I said I would come back here. I am glad to have returned, to have invested and to work with entrepreneurs from Lithuania and the Baltic countries, because I believe that we can do a lot together.

– What do you find in Lithuania that is not available in other European countries, say the Czech Republic or Estonia?

– There are three things that stand out in Lithuania.