A cohort of one hundred fastest-growing Latvian companies, 2021–2024: revenue rose from €169M to €1.88bn, headcount from 2,579 to 5,464. The slowest grower on the list compounded at 80% a year.
Cohort: active Latvian capital and partnership companies (SIA1, AS2, KB3, PS4) with 2021 revenue of at least €500,000 and 2024 revenue of at least €1M. Municipal and state-owned entities excluded. Qualified pool — 7,073 companies. Ranking — by three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR), computed from revenue figures filed in annual reports with the Commercial Register (UR5).
By CAGR
Four entries at the top of the list earn context. Smile Holding is a holding structure tied to the E100 fuel-card network6 — a fleet card for haulage operators that runs in 32 countries with 20,000+ acceptance points. Reported revenue reflects card transaction volume, not margin on it. The rise coincides with 2022–2024, when E100 exited the Russian and Belarusian markets and Eastern European freight flows redirected onto EU corridors via the Baltics.
Second on the list — partnership BMGS-FIMA between BMGS (Latvia) and FIMA (Lithuania), incorporated in 2021 for a single project: VAS Latvijas dzelzceļš passenger-platform modernisation across four of the project's five lines (Riga–Jelgava, Riga–Tukums II, Riga–Krustpils, and Zemitāni–Skulte (Kalngale–Skulte) — the fifth, Zemitāni–Vecāķi, is run by Leonhard Weiss). Project value €44.4M, 85% EU Cohesion Fund.7 The 270% CAGR is a zero-base artefact: the JV started from zero in 2021 and ran at full capacity in 2023–2024.
VIRŠI Renergy and Alexela show up in the list as the Latvian arms of existing groups, not as new market entrants.8 The first (incorporated 2020) is a subsidiary of AS Virši-A; it began B2B electricity trading in June 2021 and has expanded into the household segment since 2022. The second (incorporated 2014) is the Latvian arm of an Estonian energy group, trading natural gas and electricity in Latvia. In both cases the rise reflects the parent group's entry into the Latvian energy market.
By sector
| Sector | Top-100 | Median CAGR |
|---|---|---|
| Trade (45–47) | 22 | 91% |
| Construction (41–43) | 13 | 98% |
| Business services (70–74, 78, 79, 82) | 12 | 96% |
| IT, telecoms, media (58–63) | 10 | 102% |
| Transport and logistics (49–53) | 7 | 95% |
| Other services (80, 90–96) | 7 | 104% |
| Energy and utilities (35–39) | 6 | 140% |
| Real estate and rental (68, 77, 81) | 6 | 103% |
| Forestry and wood (02, 16, 17) | 4 | 116% |
| Finance (64–66) | 4 | 90% |
| Manufacturing (20–33) | 4 | 93% |
| Tourism and food service (55–56) | 3 | 102% |
Highest sector median — energy and utilities: six entries, with VIRŠI Renergy and Alexela at the top. Trade is the largest by count, with a median close to the cohort average.
Where they sit
Seventy-five of the hundred — in Riga. Thirteen — in greater Riga: Mārupe, Ropaži, and Ķekava municipalities, plus Jūrmala. The remaining twelve — in other municipalities and republic cities: Jēkabpils, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Ventspils, Valmiera, Cēsis, and several municipalities with one entry each. The fastest growth outside the capital region — in Jēkabpils municipality: PATA JĒKABPILS and Meža cikls.
Year of incorporation
| Period | Count |
|---|---|
| Before 2000 | 12 |
| 2000–2009 | 11 |
| 2010–2014 | 20 |
| 2015–2019 | 36 |
| 2020–2021 | 21 |
More than half of the hundred — 57 companies — were incorporated in 2015 or later. The mass of growth is not concentrated in the cohort of historic firms.
By euros added
CAGR measures multiple, not size of contribution. Reordering the same cohort by the difference between 2024 and 2021 revenue in euros:
CHEMISPEC (No. 2, Ventspils, NACE 46.12) has spent twenty years on petroleum-product doping9 — adding chemical performance additives to fuel and oil cargoes moving through Baltic ports. Revenue tracks the volume and composition of cargoes handled. Russian-origin crude vanished from Ventspils flows after 2022, but petrochemical cargoes and fuel from other sources have partially substituted — the processing step is unchanged.
Redwire Defense Tech Riga SIA (No. 3, NACE 30.31) is known in Latvia as UAV Factory, later Edge Autonomy — a manufacturer of long-endurance fixed-wing unmanned aircraft. In June 2025 Edge Autonomy was acquired by NYSE-listed Redwire Corporation (RDW) in a USD 925M transaction; the same month, the expanded Riga plant opened — 10,000 m² (up from 5,400) with 270 staff.10
Smile Holding alone adds €387.5M — 22.7% of the cohort's total added revenue.
Across three years, the hundred's combined revenue growth — €1.71bn. Roughly 6.25× Latvenergo's 2024 profit (€273.7M).
Notes
Footnotes
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SIA — sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību, the Latvian limited-liability company form. ↩
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AS — akciju sabiedrība, the Latvian joint-stock company form. ↩
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KB — komandītsabiedrība, the Latvian limited partnership. ↩
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PS — pilnsabiedrība, the Latvian general partnership. ↩
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UR — Uzņēmumu reģistrs, the Latvian Commercial Register. NACE — the EU statistical classification of economic activities (Rev. 2). CAGR — compound annual growth rate:
(rev_2024 / rev_2021)^(1/3) − 1. Primary inputs — 2021 and 2024 annual reports filed with UR. A company is excluded from the cohort if either year's report is missing. Municipal and state-owned entities are excluded by checking the direct first-tier owner across the top-200 candidate set. Snapshot date: 2026-04-30. ↩ -
E100 fuel-card network parameters (32 countries, 20,000+ acceptance points): e100.eu. ↩
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BMGS-FIMA passenger-platform modernisation project — line allocation and contractors: Ministry of Transport (2022); project value and financing: LSM (2021). ↩
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VIRŠI Renergy electricity-trading timeline: tv3.lv. Alexela group and Latvian operations: alexela.lv. ↩
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CHEMISPEC's own description of cargo doping with 20+ years of experience in the Baltics: chemispec.com. ↩
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Redwire's USD 925M acquisition: Holland & Knight (2025-06); Redwire IR (closed 2025-06-13). Riga plant expansion (5,400 → 10,000 m², 270 staff): LSM, 2025-06. ↩