The design by Lithuanian infrastructure company Tech Zity is inspired by British renovation projects comparable to the Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern art gallery.
Tech Zita
Lithuania is building a huge technology campus – the largest in Europe – in the capital of Vilnius, which has a likelihood to change into the recent technological capital of the Baltic States.
Built by Tech Zity, an infrastructure project in Lithuania, the campus is a €100 million ($109.6 million) investment that may cover 55,000 square meters and house 5,000 digital staff, the company said on Friday.
That might make it larger than Paris F station, currently the largest start-up campus in all of Europe.
The event is inspired by British renovation projects comparable to Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern art gallery.
Tech Zita’s developers will renovate several sewing rooms in a disused industrial space in Vilnius’s Latest Town, preserving factory office floors with a ceiling height of a minimum of 7 meters.
The campus is to encourage Vilnius technical staff to return to the office after the pandemic.
Tech Zita
The project goals to encourage Vilnius technical staff to return to the office after the pandemic. Tech firms are increasingly pushing their employees to return to the office, reversing the trend of working from home during the pandemic.
A growing tech scene in Lithuania
Lithuania’s tech ecosystem has grown dramatically over the past decade, Darius Zakaitis, founding father of Tech Zita, told CNBC.
“Once I began 30 years ago, there have been 200 people in the Lithuanian tech ecosystem,” said Zakaitis. “Now it’s 18,000 people.”
The event project is to revive an old, unused industrial space in Vilnius’s Latest Town, generally known as the hipster a part of the city.
Tech Zita
– This is the effect of 10 years of energetic young individuals who construct recent firms each day. A few of them are very successful, he said.
“Lithuanians are very productive, very results-oriented, highly expert guys, very aggressively building their very own firms,” he added.
Vilnius, the second largest city in the Baltics, is home to a burgeoning tech industry, including major unicorns like second-hand clothing retailer Vinted and cybersecurity firm Nord.
Nord has its own 300 square meter campus in Vilnius, about 300 meters from Tech Zity’s, and Vinted’s headquarters is about 200 meters away.
Tech Zita’s recent campus will include co-living spaces, restaurants and bars, and cultural and academic facilities.
Tech Zity wants the campus to foster a vibrant nightlife in addition to other social opportunities, including co-living spaces, restaurants and bars.
Tech Zita
“Vilnius maintains a strong position on the European tech scene because of rapid innovation and visionary businesses comparable to Tech Zity,” Vilnius mayor Valdas Benkunskas said in a Friday statement.
“Full with progressive entrepreneurs, international talent and bold investors, the capital has grown into a modern technology hub that evokes daring ideas, successful collaborations and people-centric solutions.”
He said that Lithuanian tech firms generate about 99% of their revenue abroad. He added that the country’s tech scene is modeled after Israel’s, which has had many global tech successes, including the self-driving tech company Mobileye and the Waze mapping app.
Tech Zity manages three technology campuses in Vilnius, including Tech Park, Tech Loft and Tech Spa, home to firms comparable to Google, Bored Panda and Kilo Health.
The project is a huge undertaking – with an area of 55,000 square meters, it is intended to be the largest tech startup campus in all of Europe.
Tech Zita
American streaming platform Netflix has used Tech Zita’s locations for filming, including the documentary series “The Playlist” which focuses on Spotify founder Daniel Ek.
Currently occupying 20,000 square meters, Tech Zity plans to succeed in 80,000 square meters over time, bearing in mind recent campuses, existing locations and other projects.
A protracted method to go
Despite recent successes, Lithuania is removed from becoming a major technology hub that might rival the UK, France or Germany.
The country attracted €222 million in enterprise capital funds in 2022, paling in comparison to its Western European peers. In turn, British tech startups raised $30 billion, while their French counterparts raised €13.5 billion.
But in keeping with the local founders, the country is attracting more interest from enterprise capitalists.
“All the top VC firms are coming to Lithuania now and talking to start-ups, angel investors and everybody else,” Tom, CEO and co-founder of Nord Security, told CNBC on the sidelines of the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal. last November.
“The last raise for a Lithuanian startup called Kevin was from Accel, Vineted has Insight Partners, EQT, Accel and lots of more.”
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