{"id":18619,"date":"2024-02-27T01:43:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T01:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/?p=18619"},"modified":"2024-02-27T01:43:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T01:43:00","slug":"from-lithuania-a-consultancy-that-embraced-ai-and-pivoted-to-a-record-pre-seed-raise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/?p=18619","title":{"rendered":"From Lithuania, a consultancy that embraced AI and pivoted to a record pre-seed raise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Evergrowth\u2019s approach aims to eliminate some of the most common challenges in B2B sales, offering a more targeted and adaptive strategy fit for the digital age. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another win for the vibrant Baltic technology ecosystem\u2014a pre-seed 2.2 million US dollars raise for <a href=\"https:\/\/evergrowth.com\/\">Evergrowth<\/a>, an AI-powered B2B account-based sales platform. The investment, one of the largest pre-seed rounds in Baltic history, led by Impellent Ventures and Practica Capital, demonstrates the rising influence of Baltic SaaS startups and the need for fully optimised AI-driven strategies to enable sales and revenue teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evergrowth says that is already on track to hit 500,000 US dollars ARR within three months of its minimum viable product (MVP) launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/news\/venture-capital-in-the-baltics-is-finally-emerging-as-an-asset-class\/\">\u2018Venture capital in the Baltics is finally emerging as an asset class\u2019<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/made-in-emerging-europe\/the-lithuanian-cybersecurity-start-up-developing-interactive-ai-driven-solutions-for-smes\/\">The Lithuanian cybersecurity start-up developing interactive, AI-driven solutions for SMEs<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/news\/supporting-ukraines-innovative-women-is-good-business-for-all-of-europe\/\">Supporting Ukraine\u2019s innovative women is good business for all of Europe<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-founded by JB Daguen\u00e9, Mantas Urnieza, Tadas Cekavicius, Aivaras Rastenis, and Algimantas Padegimas, the platform\u2019s customer-centric sales frameworks are a spin-off of years helping some of the fastest growing revenue teams through a prior consulting business, which had a five-year tenure and generated millions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2023, Daguen\u00e9, the start-ups CEO, began toying with OpenAI to see how it could be implemented into existing processes and templates and found that the marriage of AI and his previously proven go-to-market strategies allowed his clients to do much more effective and efficient work, with less money and time spent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This ultimately led to closing the consultancy business and going all-in on a scalable SaaS solution. Sales teams now use Evergrowth\u2019s AI-driven platform to gather account-based granular insights like intent-based signals that trigger meaningful engagement with prospects, ultimately leading to more revenue with fewer resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to the release of this innovative technology, doing such deep research on individual accounts and their contacts took days. Companies can now utilise Evergrowth to gain even richer insights and results within minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c2020-2022 was fueled by free money and a \u2018grow at all costs\u2019 mentality, and sadly, this drove many sales teams to scale in the wrong direction,\u201d says Daguen\u00e9. \u201cCompanies chose to mass-hire salespeople and double down on tools to make them more efficient instead of enabling them with customer-centric frameworks to help them understand their ideal customers\u2019 needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;After a year of \u2018hard resetting\u2019 in 2023, where we saw a return to a \u2018back-to-basics\u2019 mentality, we predict that in 2024, sales professionals will be expected to do more with less. The solution to finding new ways to perform and create meaningful conversations with prospects is harnessing AI-enabled account-based framework to enable sales teams with super granular machine-powered research based on ICPs and personas definition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evergrowth\u2019s approach aims to eliminate some of the most common challenges in B2B sales, such as non-personalised, irrelevant outreach and the misalignment between sales and marketing teams, offering a more targeted and adaptive strategy fit for the digital age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By leveraging AI, Evergrowth says that it enables sales teams to identify the right company and persona while crafting the perfect message in minutes rather than hours or days, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of sales outreach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its customisable workflow generation feature harnesses LLM technologies to create dynamic customer-centric sales frameworks that adapt in real-time. This workflow, informed by evolving market conditions, customer preferences, and organisational objectives, guides sales teams through every cycle and seamlessly integrates with their existing sales playbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing an AI-native start-up, we are utilising the technology at higher rates,&#8221; adds CTO Mantas Urnieza. &#8220;We are moulding our know-how in sales processes and acceleration with AI-powered capabilities such as multi-LLM models and real-time data to build a suite that elevates sales professionals&#8217; capacities to the next level. We familiarise ourselves with ideal customer profiles and buyer personas, track real-time data across multiple sources, and systematically capture intent signals, allowing Evergrowth clients to make the right and timely decisions to boost their revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis funding helps us continue to expand from a scrappy MVP that rapidly got traction within several months. The strong interest shown in our solution speaks volumes about its performance and potential. We will use this funding to scale the platform as fast as possible to meet growing demand.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A win for Lithuania, and the Baltics<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Evergrowth\u2019s raise is notable not only in terms of capital but also demonstrates a much more significant indication of the rise and interest in Lithuanian-based start-ups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The country has a thriving technology ecosystem with companies spanning various sectors, and its supportive environment for innovation and technology has contributed to Vilnius becoming known as a hub for fintech and cybersecurity start-ups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Baltic states have also been branded as a &#8216;unicorn factory&#8217;, producing some of the most well-known tech businesses like Vinted, NordVPN, Skype, and Bolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a recent report published by Practica Capital on the Lithuanian start-up scene in 2023, the country maintained its position as the fastest-growing ecosystem in the Baltics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The combined enterprise value of Lithuanian start-ups grew more than sevenfold between 2018 and 2023, against a CEE growth average of 3.6 and a Baltic growth average of 2.7. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The region is gaining momentum among investors due to factors like advanced digital governance and an environment conducive to innovation, enhancing the region&#8217;s attractiveness for foreign direct investment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A separate study from Change Ventures and Firstpick also showed that median pre-seed rounds in the area hovered around 300,000 US dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Comparing this average to Evergrowth\u2019s 2.2 million US dollars raise and the interest it received from international VCs, it\u2019s a true testament to investor confidence in Baltic equity and marking the company as one to watch in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We feel confident that Evergrowth will pave the way forward regarding AI-driven sales strategies and will only add to the high-calibre class of early-stage startups currently emerging from Lithuania,\u201d says Tomas Andriu\u0161kevi\u010dius, partner at Practica Capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@charlesdeluvio?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">charlesdeluvio<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/man-using-macbook-Lks7vei-eAg?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Unsplash<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Unlike many news and information platforms,&nbsp;<em>Emerging Europe<\/em>&nbsp;is free to read, and always will be.&nbsp;There is no paywall here.&nbsp;We are independent,&nbsp;not affiliated with nor representing any political party or business&nbsp;organisation.&nbsp;We want the very best for emerging Europe, nothing more, nothing less. Your support will help us continue to spread the word about this amazing region.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You can contribute&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/emergingeurope.krtra.com\/t\/NlQnFuOA2C9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/emergingeurope.krtra.com\/t\/NlQnFuOA2C9c\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/copy-of-add-a-heading.png\" alt=\"emerging europe support independent journalism\" class=\"wp-image-50811\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evergrowth\u2019s approach aims to eliminate some of the most common challenges in B2B sales, offering a more targeted and adaptive strategy fit for the digital age.<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[6979,6980,6320,6983,6981,385,6982,6808,6978,6624,6621,61],"class_list":["post-18619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-made-in-emerging-europe","tag-baltic-start-ups","tag-evergrowth","tag-featured","tag-impellent-ventures","tag-jb-daguene","tag-lithuania","tag-mantas-urnieza","tag-practica-capital","tag-saas","tag-start-ups","tag-startups","tag-technology-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}