The following contribution was penned by Adrian Galea, a venture capital and portfolio management professional for early-stage startup investors.
In a year wherein the world battled for AI supremacy, with billion dollar fundraising seemingly happening every other week and a technology race disputed to the tune of trillion dollar outcomes, China and the US battled it out whilst Europe is now beginning to present compelling alternatives.
Venture funding has gravitated towards AI startups, resulting in a general lull in the venture investment market which returned to pre-pandemic levels across most sectors. It is no surprise that Maltese startups suffered from this lag as they tend to focus on application or platform layer tech which is currently disfavoured in a market focusing on foundational AI builds and deep tech applications.
Malta remains a small island nation with a developing ecosystem for the technology market. What is clear is that by sheer momentum of market forces the new generation of company builders are increasingly technology savvy.
As an active member of Malta Startup Space (MSS), an online community for startup founders, one immediately notices how many operators are running a small shop (one or two person teams) with a clear international market focus and are screaming for support.
Building an ecosystem is a bottom-up initiative that requires support both from peers (which the MSS delivers in spades) and top down from private/public entities. That’s why this article is keen to deliver the Malta Startup Ecosystem Map which will be an ongoing attempt to capture those members that influence how startup culture is adapted to Malta.
As reported in the 2024 Review I will also highlight some key deal makers and representatives of the local Maltese startup “portfolio” in an attempt to track and map progress over time. Malta Enterprise shared its track record from 2020-2025, announcing that it had disbursed €30m to 66 startups in this time period with 145 jobs created.
Unfortunately, it remains impossible to reliably track how much has been raised in the private sphere, as startups remain secretive about their fundraising and online deal platforms provide confusing and unverifiable data. What I share here is strictly what has been already reported publicly by the featured startups.
Disclaimer: the following does not represent an exhaustive list of all Maltese startup activities, but merely a review of those startups that have caught my attention during the last calendar year. All opinions are my own and none of the information should be construed as investment advice.
Key Transactions and Market Players
The standout transaction, reported in April, was LiveNation’s acquisition of a stake in 356 Entertainment Group. This underlines the international appeal of Malta’s live entertainment market and paves the way for startups like AISO academy to develop a Music Tech scene on the back of this transaction.
Another industry making big waves locally, although struggling internationally, is esports. With Blast and Gaming Malta announcing a multi-year partnership and with Daigon Esports hosting a School Esports World Championship it should give confidence to startups like Midow Studios and others hosted in the BaseCamp incubator to have a local launchpad to their international ambitions.
This is a model that mirrors what the annual MedTech World event has been delivering for a number of years, representing Malta as a meeting point for international business. A MedTech startup like Garland Surgical benefits from the ecosystem created to successfully raise a €4 million Seed Round thanks to the coordinated efforts of its founding team, Malta Venture Capital fund and the University of Malta. Supercharger Ventures are another reflection of the ecosystem building mentality, with their latest Edtech accelerator cohort receiving a record 620 applications.
The veterans of the local scene also progressed well in 2025, eCabs, a mobility tech company, completed an €18M million development and expanded operations to Australia. EBO won an HSJ Partnership Award, launched a healthcare podcast, delivered multiple successful events across the UK and Europe, whilst expanding its offering into the fintech space.
The outstanding newcomers were Roark, a Voice AI startup which participated as part of famed YC accelerator and Ryder, which raised a $3.2 million seed round for its blockchain security startup led by Tim Draper of Draper Associates.
Adjacent to startups, Neil Agius, world record endurance swimmer, announced in December that he was added to the list of A-Speakers International Line-up demonstrating how outstanding effort and ability achieves outstanding results.
Malta’s investor-side community also had an active year. GO Ventures announced that its portfolio company Airalo had achieved unicorn status while Qamar Ventures broke the start of the year announcing how it had acquired a majority stake in news channel Lovin Malta and also stating it had €10 million in its coffers to invest into Malta’s Digital & Entertainment landscape. Further announcements include Malta Venture Capital participating in the pre-seed funding of EquityMatch, a networking site for startups & scaleups. Rounding things up are the commencement of activities of Toke Portal equity crowdfunding and PEVCA Malta, an association for Venture Capital and Private Equity, joining as member of the esteemed Invest Europe association.
Startups to Watch
Noteworthy updates from companies are: UMNAI, an AI platform, joining Barclays AI Bridge Programme, and Alexei Dingli’s Digital Traffic Brain sharing how life after investment from Bajada Lyons Group has impacted his business. Merqury, a quantum deeptech startup collaborated with international partners to demonstrate a quantum-secured connection between on-premises data centres and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Greenroads is reshaping how cities understand and manage traffic, a project facilitated through EIT Urban Mobility’s RAPTOR Program whilst CrabNebula was celebrated as Malta’s cybersecurity leader of the year. Another university spin-off is Smart Materials which launched their flagship product Huggah using their proprietary auxetic foam material. Fyorin reinforced its position as a trusted treasury and financial ops platform for mid-sized companies by surpassing €1 billion in processed transaction volume.
ELM Fabrication Limited, specialising in large-format 3D printing technology, has launched a project aimed at disrupting verticals such as furniture, filmmaking and trade shows. Binderr is making the world a smaller place for corporate service providers via its new platform launch, and MannaEV partnered with Bolt Malta for food and grocery delivery through electric mobility. BetterStudio, a Malta-connected startup announced Hannelore Knuts, famed international model as investor and ambassador for their revolutionary AI fashion-tech startup. Finally, Small Bets, a community of developers and creators, was acquired at a $4 millions valuation by Gumroad. Daniel Vassallo, founder and CEO, is a Malta-born, US-based entrepreneur.
It takes an island to build an ecosystem
When the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the Government of Malta signed a Memorandum of Understanding to the tune of €30 million, local startup founders could be forgiven if they felt unclear as to how this directly impacts them.
These initiatives compound when announcements such as the ChipStart EU programme place Malta as a viable stakeholder in semiconductor startup development in Europe, and a promise to cultivate world class talent and know-how on the island.
This partners well with more locally focused initiatives like DiHubMT’s 8-week pre-accelerator designed to support future tech founders in validating their early-stage ideas.
Malta’s startup support ecosystem has been slowly but continuously developing for the better as showcased in the hereunder Ecosystem Map. On-the-ground, the lack of systemic access to funding remains evident, and whilst having a cluster of Venture Capital firms paying attention to the island is a long term target, the development of other solutions like an active crowdfunding and business angel community is a more achievable goal in the short term.
This article seeks to bring to light the hard work of many talented startup founders present on or connected to the island. Investing in the next generation of technology business is no longer just an alternative, but a necessary cog in the economic model of a fast-developing nation like Malta.
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