Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Headlines

BlockBen will issue the first cryptocurrency in Latvia

The financial technology company BlockBen, which very recently received a license from the Bank of Latvia to provide crypto-asset services, will issue the first patented cryptocurrency CrowdX in Latvia and the European Union for the crowdfunding service provider SIA CrowdedHero. This cooperation marks a new era for blockchain-based crowdfunding in the European Union, since in Latvia no such token has been issued so far – neither before nor after […]

The war in Ukraine – not only devastation, but also a business opportunity

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has created for Latvia not only a substantial challenge in increasing its military capabilities, but also the necessary conditions for our military industry to develop rapidly. The company Belss and its owner Tālis Ziediņš seem to have been the best prepared for this turn of events and are now reaping the fruits of 30 years of work since the company’s founding. At present, Belss and its partner Eraser’s drones […]

How an industry dies out

The amendments to the Carriers Law adopted eight years ago, which were supposed to regulate ride-sharing, have ended in failure, and the situation in the taxi sector has now reached critical mass. Since 2019, the number of issued taxi license cards has halved, the VAT paid to the state, despite inflation, has not changed, and the amendments to the law have not achieved their goal. Instead, the once regulated taxis (with yellow […]

1 of 1000: An innovative Latvian technology company joins a prestigious European programme

The Latvian innovation startup SIA P-Agro Minerals was the only company from Latvia to be included in the European Commission’s Women TechEU programme, where only 40 out of 1107 applicants received funding of 75,000 euros – surpassing the 4% success threshold. Women TechEU is a two-year European Union funded initiative that supports women – founders and managers of knowledge-intensive companies across Europe. The aim of the programme is to create gender […]

Insurer BTA’s profit in nine months has reached 9.66 million euros

The non-life insurer BTA Baltic Insurance Company (BTA), which operates with branches in Lithuania and Estonia, posted a profit of 9.664 million euros in the first nine months of this year, which is 6.2% more than in the corresponding period last year, according to the information published by the company. In gross insurance premiums, BTA signed a total of 262.874 million euros in the Baltics in the first nine months of 2025, which is 9.9% more […]

3.5 million contraband cigarettes discovered on the Belarus border

Officials of the State Revenue Service (VID) Customs Board, while carrying out customs controls on Latvia’s border with Belarus, in cooperation with colleagues from the Tax and Customs Police Board, prevented the smuggling of 3,502,000 cigarettes. The cigarettes were hidden in sealed metal buckets, under sawdust that had been poured into them instead of the declared goods – hand-washing products. In total, the cargo contained 175,100 packs of various brands of cigarettes. […]

How to properly arrange gifts to obtain the blessing of the Anti-Corruption Bureau? A brief guide for lovers of “gratitude.”

Once the president of a country’s central bank went on a hunting trip to Kamchatka and later stated in court that the photograph in which he is sitting in what was then a highly respectable company had been doctored. He could have avoided these troubles with the photographs, prison, and legal expenses if only… he had arranged this trip as a business visit. This, by analogy, can be inferred from a certain Inc. […]

When SIF is not enough…

Then the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) can also be used. In Latvia, the authority delegated for this fund is the Ministry of Culture. The managing authority of the fund is the Ministry of the Interior, while the auditing authority is the Ministry of Finance. This fund is mainly financed from European Union resources; however, it also requires national co‑financing, which makes up 25%. “The general objective of the project is through […]

A loan of 19 million is granted for the further development of the Verde office complex

Rietumu Bank has issued a 19-million-euro loan for the further development of the Verde business quarter (1 R. Hirša Street, Riga), which envisages the construction of a new C building in addition to the two existing ones, where office space is already fully leased. The new stage of Verde’s development is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2027. Verde is being developed by the investment management company Capitalica Asset Management, […]

Fokker’s hydrogen plans in Latvia fizzled out along with Gauss’s dismissal

At the beginning of the week, Fokker Next Gen Latvia, which had previously announced that it would start work on the development of hydrogen aircraft engines in the Liepāja SEZ, initiated a liquidation process. The company’s management is not providing comments on this decision, but Inc. has obtained information from unrelated sources indicating that, among other things, the grand project has fallen through because the head of the national airline, Martin Gauss, left his position. One of Fokker […]