🚀 Vilnius Founders 🍸 Q&A with Andra [FIRSTPICK] and Andrius [Copla]

​This Vilnius Founders meetup will cover getting funded at the earliest stages, building in regulated markets, and turning deep operational and compliance pain into venture-scale products.

• ​Andra Bagdonaitė — Partner & Co-Founder at FIRSTPICK, a first-check VC fund backing Baltic founders at inception and pre-seed, typically investing €100k–€500k with a new, recently announced 25M EUR fund.

• ​Andrius Minkevičius — Co-Founder & CTO at Copla, a regtech company building real-time compliance infrastructure for regulated financial services. Copla recently raised a €6M Series A to expand its product, team, and international growth.

​🍸 FIRSTPICK is sponsoring the drinks! 🍸

​FIRSTPICK is a first-check VC fund backing top Baltic founders at inception and pre-seed. They’re a generalist early-stage fund with a strong focus on AI, SaaS, and Fintech, writing first checks of €100K–€500K and backing our founders with follow-on capital up to €1M. In addition to capital, portfolio companies gain access to a platform of 250+ founder community, experienced operators, and practical early-stage know-how.

​Agenda

​17:30 Doors open
18:00 Q&A with Andra Bagdonaitė [FIRSTPICK]
19:00 Q&A with Andrius Minkevičius [Copla]
20:00 Networking

​What we’ll cover

​With Andra [FIRSTPICK]

• ​What investors actually look for at idea, pre-seed, and seed

• ​What makes a founder and startup feel fundable early

• ​Common mistakes Baltic founders make before fundraising

• ​How to think about traction, timing, and investor fit

• ​What matters more in the beginning: team, market, product, or momentum

​With Andrius [Copla]

• ​Lessons from building startups in fintech, infrastructure, and regulated environments

• ​What early-stage founders get wrong when building products for serious industries

• ​How to validate whether a painful workflow is big enough to become a company

• ​Building with limited resources while regulation, customer demands, and product scope keep expanding

• ​What Andrius learned from Paysolut, startup exits, and now scaling Copla after its Series A

​Speakers

​Andra Bagdonaitė, Partner & Co-Founder, FIRSTPICK

​Andra Bagdonaitė is a Partner and Co-Founder at FIRSTPICK, a first-check VC fund that backs top Baltic founders at inception and pre-seed. With 7 years of VC experience, she has backed 90+ startups, with a focus on AI, SaaS, and fintech. Before launching FIRSTPICK in 2022, she led investments at Startup Wise Guys, one of Europe’s best-known accelerators.

​Andrius Minkevičius, Co-Founder & CTO, Copla

​Andrius Minkevičius is a serial entrepreneur and technology leader with deep experience in product architecture, IT security, and startup building. He is currently Co-Founder & CTO at Copla, a regtech company developing real-time compliance infrastructure for regulated financial services. Before Copla, Andrius co-founded Paysolut, a core banking platform acquired by SumUp, and has also founded and advised multiple technology ventures across fintech and software. He was also a Co-founder and CTO at Drivitty (contactless refueling payments) and a Founder at IT Girnos (Dev House).

​About 🚀 Vilnius Founders

​Founder-driven meetups for builders and operators in Lithuania. No slides. No suits. Honest conversations, practical takeaways, and focused networking.