Emerging Europe is home to 13 privately owned technology companies valued at a combined $37.5bn, with Lithuania leading the region's startup rankings, according to the Hurun Emerging Europe Unicorn Index 2026.

The Baltic states have emerged as particularly successful incubators of billion-dollar businesses, outperforming several major Western European economies relative to population size, Labs of Latvia, Latvia’s investment promotion agency reported on its website labsoflatvia.com on October 23.

The Hurun Research Institute published its inaugural regional index on October 22. Its findings underline the Baltics' growing importance in Europe's technology industry while exposing a significant weakness – the region's ability to nurture internationally successful entrepreneurs has outpaced its capacity to retain their businesses, investment and headquarters.

Lithuania leads the 14-country ranking with three unicorns worth $16.1bn, followed by Estonia, whose two companies have a combined valuation of $8.8bn.

Lithuanian second-hand fashion marketplace Vinted tops the company rankings at $9.5bn, ahead of Estonia's mobility platform Bolt at $7.3bn. Lithuanian technology businesses Oxylabs and Nord Security follow at $3.6bn and $3bn respectively.

Latvia is represented by FYUL, the $1.5bn company formed through the merger of Printful and Printify.

Together, the three Baltic countries have six unicorns serving a population of approximately 6.2mn, equivalent to 0.97 companies per million residents. This compares with 0.61 in the Netherlands, 0.50 in France and 0.45 in Germany.

However, the report identifies a striking imbalance: 17 unicorns established abroad by entrepreneurs originating from Emerging Europe are valued at $268bn – more than seven times the domestic total.

These include Databricks, Revolut and Grammarly, highlighting the attraction of larger international capital markets.

The region's 13 home-based unicorns directly employ approximately 22,600 people.