Awards are often little more than a pat on the back for a single winner, without any tangible prize attached. But not at Deep Tech Atelier, the annual conference organized by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA).
In the words of LIAA’s director, Ieva Jāgere, “the main objective of Deep Tech Atelier is to promote high added value entrepreneurship in Latvia.”
Unlike most competitions, the Deep Tech Atelier Awards go to multiple winners, and each of these comes with a real prize from one of the event’s partners.
Taking place in Riga last month and welcoming more than 2,000 participants from 62 countries, the seventh edition of Deep Tech Atelier continued the tradition of awarding multiple startups with tangible prizes at its pitch competition, with a startup pitch competition that culminated in an awards ceremony where several teams won rewards.
From a PR perspective, this has pros and cons. This gives extra visibility to sponsors and partners, which get a chance to look good doing good. But a downside might be that there is no big winner to highlight.
However, picking a highlight was no issue with this edition. Riga-based biotech startup PrintyMed made a splash when its CEO Jekaterina Romanova kept being called to the stage to collect award after award.
It isn’t hard to see how judges were intrigued and ultimately convinced by its use of artificial spider silk for different medical applications. And while the competition is global, the fact that it’s Latvian aligned well with the event.
Romanova also participated in a panel discussion on challenges and opportunities for women in DeepTech and engineering – mirroring core themes of the event, where both female talent and DeepTech took center stage.
Without further ado, here’s a recap of the winners, and what they won:
– ACCREmeter, a Polish startup focusing on kidney health management, won Google for Startups’ award, including free workspace, Google Cloud Credits, and more.
– Ascent Lumina, a startup developing computer vision for unmanned vehicles, won the opportunity to compete for a €100,000 co-investment from Beamline Accelerator, a Latvian initiative supporting DeepTech startups, as part of its Breakthrough syndicate.
– Freshwave, whose solution checks fish freshness, was awarded entry to Commercialization Reactor’s founders dive track, which the Riga-based Latvian accelerator — and co-organizer of the competition — estimates is worth €15,000.
– NaionX, which makes sodium-ion battery technology, will get multi-form support from Plug & Play, which will help the startup access the Japanese market and offer it a fast track into the fifth batch of its Startup Lithuania accelerator;
– Pikralida, a biotech startup researching new therapies for neurological diseases, was awarded CEO mentoring sessions by Cocoon, a Latvia-based advisory firm focused on founder development.
– PrintyMed scooped the most awards:
- From LIAA, two tickets to attend Slush in Helsinki later this year;
- Tickets from Hello Tomorrow to their Global Summit and Investor Day taking place in Amsterdam in June 2026;
- Services worth €20,000 from Health Seed Venture Studio;
- a €5,000 service voucher from Zaz Ventures, a Dutch consultancy specializing in securing funding for DeepTech.
– WatchBuilt, a company offering digital tools for construction project management, will receive premium legal consulting from Sorainen Latvia, the Latvian branch of the Baltic regional law firm Sorainen.
– Trafolo, which makes simulation software for engineers who create magnetic components like transformers and inductors, was granted a place in the accelerator/incubator program of SEB Latvia, the Latvian arm of Swedish banking group SEB.
WatchBuilt CEO Aija Hermane-Sabule was grateful for Sorainen’s award to her company, which helps automate construction process compliance. “Getting prizes is always nice, but this is also a very relevant thing, because there are some legal things that we need to fix,” she said after the ceremony.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, take note: Deep Tech Atelier 2026 is scheduled for 14-15 May in Riga.
LIAA covered the author’s travel costs to moderate a panel at this event, using ERDF funding. It had no influence over the content of this article.
Featured image by Janis Spurdzins, courtesy of Deep Tech Atelier organizer LIAA.