LIAA Start-up Support — Highly Qualified Employee Grant (Latvia)
Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) · Startup hiring grant + tax relief
$324KCo-funding up to 45% of costs of highly qualified employees' hours, up to €300,000 (~$324k), plus startup tax relief options
Support under Latvia's Startup Law: grant co-funding for highly qualified staff and/or reduced social-insurance and income-tax treatment for startup employees.
Key terms
- Must qualify as a startup: Latvian capital company in an innovative sector with either qualified VC investment or at least an MVP ready for first-customer testing
- HQE grant covers up to 45% of eligible hours at standard hourly rates; only RIS3 fields (ICT, biomedicine, photonics, smart materials, etc.)
- Support period 12 months (24 months if ≥€150,000 early-stage VC raised); total max 5 years
- De minimis; no tax debt >€150; excluded sectors incl. trade and primary agriculture
Eligibility
- Where
- Latvia
- Stages
- pre-seed, seed, series-a
- Needs VC/accelerator backing
- No
- Needs partner referral code
- No
- Must be incorporated
- Yes
- AI focus required
- No
- Students / researchers
- Not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Not eligible
Also required
- Tax relief option: fixed social-insurance payment and PIT exclusion for employees
How to apply
Register at liaa.business.gov.lv and submit the application with employee CVs, SME declaration and de minimis number; LIAA decides within a month.
- Benefit
- mixed
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- ~1 month
- Credit validity
- —
- Deadline
- Until funds exhausted (programme ends 2028-02-29)
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10-23 · source