Global Courant
The development, by Lithuanian infrastructure company Tech Zity, is inspired by British renovation projects such as the Battersea Power Station and Tate Modern art gallery.
Tech Sense
Lithuania is building a huge technical campus – the largest in Europe – in the capital Vilnius, which looks set to become the new technical capital of the Baltic states.
Built by Tech Zity, an infrastructure project in Lithuania, the campus is a 100 million euros ($109.6 million) development that will cover 55,000 square meters and house 5,000 digital workers, the company said Friday.
That would make it bigger than Station F in Paris, currently the largest startup campus in all of Europe.
The development is inspired by British renovation projects such as the Battersea Power Station and Tate Modern art gallery.
Tech Zity developers will renovate a number of sewing workshops in a disused industrial space in the New Town of Vilnius, preserving factory-like office floors with ceiling heights of at least 7 meters.
The campus aims to encourage Vilnius technicians to return to the office after the pandemic.
Tech Sense
The project aims to encourage Vilnius technical workers to return to the office after the pandemic. Tech companies are increasingly pushing for their employees to return to the office, in a reversal of the trend of working from home during the pandemic era.
The growing tech scene in Lithuania
Lithuania’s tech ecosystem has grown tremendously over the past decade, Darius Zakaitis, founder of Tech Zity, told CNBC.
“When I started 30 years ago, there were 200 people in the Lithuanian tech ecosystem,” said Zakaitis. “Now it’s 18,000 people.”
The development project is a restoration of old disused industrial space in the new town of Vilnius, known as the hipster part of the city.
Tech Sense
“It’s the result of 10 years of active young people building new businesses every day. Some of them are very successful,” he said.
“Lithuania are very productive, very result-oriented, very skilled guys, very aggressively building their own business,” he added.
Vilnius, the second-largest city in the Baltic States, is home to a burgeoning technology industry, including major unicorns such as second-hand clothing retailer Vinted and cybersecurity firm Nord.
Nord has its own 300 square meter campus in Vilnius, about 300 meters away from Tech Zity’s, while Vinted’s headquarters is about 200 meters away.
Tech Zity’s new campus includes co-living spaces, restaurants and bars, and cultural and educational facilities.
Tech Zity wants the campus to promote vibrant nightlife, as well as other social opportunities, with co-living spaces, restaurants and bars.
Tech Sense
“Vilnius maintains a strong position within the European tech scene thanks to rapid innovations and visionary companies such as Tech Zity,” Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said in a statement Friday.
Bursting with innovative entrepreneurs, multinational talent and ambitious investors, the capital has grown into a modern technology hub that evokes bold ideas, successful collaborations and people-centric solutions.
Lithuanian tech companies earn about 99% of their revenue abroad, he said. He added that the country’s tech scene is modeling itself on Israel’s, which has spawned numerous global tech successes, including self-driving tech company Mobileye and mapping app Waze.
Tech Zity operates three tech campuses in Vilnius, including Tech Park, Tech Loft and Tech Spa, which houses companies such as Google, Bored Panda and Kilo Health.
The project is a huge undertaking – at 55,000 square meters it is expected to be the largest tech startup campus in all of Europe.
Tech Sense
American streaming platform Netflix has used Tech Zity locations for filming, including “The Playlist” docu-series that focuses on Spotify founder Daniel Ek.
Tech Zity currently occupies 20,000 square feet and plans to reach 80,000 square feet over time, taking into account new campuses, existing locations, and other projects.
A long way to go
Despite its recent successes, Lithuania is far from becoming a major technology center to rival countries like the UK, France or Germany.
The country attracted €222 million in venture capital funding in 2022, which pales in comparison to its Western European counterparts. In contrast, British tech startups raised $30 billion, while their French counterparts raised €13.5 billion.
But according to local founders, the country has attracted more interest from venture capitalists.
“All the top VC firms are now coming to Lithuania and talking to startups, angel investors and whoever else,” Tom, CEO and co-founder of Nord Security, told CNBC on the sidelines of the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, last November.
“The last raise for a Lithuanian startup named Kevin was from Accel, Vineted has Insight Partners, EQT, Accel and many others.”
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