Latvian Startup Awards 2026 Presented at Ceremony in Riga
The annual Latvian Startup Awards 2026 ceremony in Riga honoured top startups and founders in seven categories. Defence-tech firm Origin Robotics won the Breakthrough of the Year award.
On Friday, 6 November, the annual Latvian startup industry awards ceremony, “Latvian Startup Awards 2026”, took place at the Latvian Railway History Museum in Riga. The best startups, their founders and community representatives were honoured in seven categories.
How winners were chosen
Nominees were put forward by nearly 20 startup ecosystem organisations and representatives, as well as by anyone in an open nomination round, where self-nominations were also possible. In six categories an independent jury picked the winners, assessing nominees against predefined criteria. The Community Choice winner was decided by public vote.
Roberts Alhimionoks, head of the Latvian Startup Association “Startin.LV”, said startups' contribution to Latvia's economy keeps growing, with companies creating jobs and paying more taxes. He argued that more people need to dare to found companies for that growth to continue.
Winners
- Newcomer of the Year – Amorphous Health. It builds a clinical data analytics platform for hospitals that turns unstructured medical records into structured data. In 2026 it launched its product, began working with Daugavpils Regional Hospital and raised USD 2.2 million in pre-seed investment.
- Breakthrough of the Year – Origin Robotics. The company develops autonomous defence systems for Europe and NATO allies. Its turnover grew more than tenfold in 2025, and in 2026 it signed a multi-year framework agreement to supply the BLAZE autonomous drone interceptor to the Latvian National Armed Forces. France has become the fourth NATO member state to buy BLAZE.
- Deep-Tech Startup of the Year – Deep Space Energy. It develops radioisotope power sources for space missions. In 2026 it became the first Latvian company admitted to NATO's DIANA defence innovation programme, and it plans to demonstrate its technology in orbit in 2028 using the International Space Station.
- Defence Tech Startup of the Year – SUBmerge Baltic. It builds unmanned underwater vehicles and maritime surveillance systems, has signed memoranda with Naval Group and Ukraine's Roboneers, and has raised over EUR 2.6 million.
- Fintech Startup of the Year – Convershake. Its AI-based voice communication platform for consumer lenders already operates in six countries.
- Founder of the Year – Kristofs Blaus, co-founder of Nutrameg and several non-governmental organisations.
- Community Choice – Outvoicer. Its invoicing platform is used by more than 900 companies and has produced over 300,000 invoices.
The jury consisted of Ieva Felmena, Anda Asere, Anna Andersone, Arta Abāšina and Andris K. Bērziņš.
