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From a Skateboard and a Potato Crate to European Cities: The Growth Story of Latvian Company “Bruntor”
Latvian company “Bruntor” develops electric cargo scooters for city maintenance workers, delivery companies, postal workers and hospitals. In an interview with TVNET, company founder Raimonds Jurgelis explains how an everyday coincidence turned into a business idea, how a regulatory change made the company’s product illegal overnight, and how support from the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) helped the company keep going when seemingly insurmountable obstacles stood in its way.
In the narrow streets of Riga’s Old Town, a small electric vehicle pulls up next to a waste bin. A worker empties it, picks up litter from the ground and, moments later, moves on. There is no need to find a place to park a van, repeatedly get in and out of a vehicle, or cover the entire work route on foot.
The vehicle is the Latvian-made “Bruntor” – an electric cargo scooter combining the manoeuvrability of a scooter with the carrying capacity of a cargo bike. It is designed for situations where workers need to make numerous short stops and transport tools or cargo, but a car is too large, while a conventional bicycle is not always sufficiently stable or convenient.
Today, “Bruntor” is used in urban maintenance, waste collection, postal and parcel deliveries, as well as on hospital premises. But when founder Raimonds Jurgelis started out, he had not planned anything of the sort.
It all began with an electric off-road skateboard, the joy of riding it and a completely ordinary trip to the shop.
Four Wheels, Full Hands and Two Unnecessary Kilometres by Car
Jurgelis regularly rode a sporty electric skateboard he had built himself. One day, after collecting a parcel and stopping at a shop on the way, he realised there was no practical way to carry his purchases on the skateboard.
He had to return home, get into his car and drive those same few kilometres all over again.
“At that moment I thought – I’ve got four wheels. Surely I could use them to carry something properly. The shop is only two kilometres away, but I have to go back and get the car,” Jurgelis recalls in the TVNET interview.
The idea of creating a more practical vehicle coincided with a hackathon held in Riga in cooperation with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology initiative “EIT Urban Mobility” and Riga City Council. Conversations with mentors helped him realise that the problem was not limited to one person’s inconvenient trip to the shop.
Already during the hackathon, people were saying: “When it’s ready, let us know – we need something like this.”
That became the first indication that a vehicle originally created for fun could grow into a practical product.
“At first, I was feeling my way forward. We didn’t go to customers and tell them what they needed. We waited for them to tell us what they needed,” the entrepreneur explains.
A €15 Prototype with a Potato Crate
The first prototype was far from elegant. Jurgelis describes it as a “really terrible” construction that cost around €15 in total and looked like a potato crate on wheels. The aim was not to create an attractive product. The goal was to test as cheaply as possible whether the idea worked at all.
With this prototype, the team approached various potential users until they reached Latvijas Pasts, Latvia’s national postal service.
The response was clear – conceptually, it was exactly what the company was looking for, but it needed a different appearance and more professional execution.
This provided the impetus to begin developing the product systematically. Instead of inventing features in an office, the team developed the vehicle step by step together with potential customers. “Bruntor” no longer works with Latvijas Pasts, but the product has found its place in another segment – urban cleaning and maintenance companies.
Its customers and cooperation partners include Riga Municipality, “Rīgas meži” and other urban maintenance organisations. According to information provided by the company, Riga Municipality began using “Bruntor” in 2024 as part of the EIT Urban Mobility “Green Dash” project. The initial pilot developed into regular cooperation, including the rental of up to two “Bruntor” units.
The vehicle can most often be seen in Riga’s Old Town, where it is used for urban maintenance work.
Until now, street cleaners and city maintenance workers have often faced a simple choice: cover the entire route on foot or use a car. “Bruntor” offers a middle ground – a small, electric and manoeuvrable vehicle that can carry work equipment and cargo, move quickly from one location to another and stop almost anywhere.
“In Riga’s Old Town, you can drive around, pick up litter from the ground, empty waste bins and, in many cases, you don’t even have to get off the vehicle,” says Jurgelis.
A Victory He Did Not Expect
The company’s journey officially began in 2021, when Jurgelis entered his skateboard idea in LIAA’s “Ideju kauss” (“Cup of Ideas”) competition. He had never previously presented a business idea or participated in this type of competition.
“I had never participated in anything like that. I had never presented an idea or really done anything of the sort. But I tried to do everything I could, and somehow, in a strange way, I won. That’s how it all started,” he recalls.
The first victory was followed by other hackathons and idea competitions. The team also participated in “EIT Jumpstarter”, where young entrepreneurs could win €10,000 and gain international exposure.
This time, the victory was no accident. Jurgelis spent three or four weeks intensively practising his presentation. During the final rehearsals, colleagues deliberately made noise, switched slides in the wrong order and tried to throw him off balance so that nothing could surprise him on competition day.
“We were deliberately aiming to win,” he says.
The team won the competition and invested every cent of the prize money back into the company. At the time, “Bruntor” consisted of just two people.
Later, the company secured funding through a European project, enabling it to hire its first employees, start paying salaries and move from developing the idea in their spare time to building the company more systematically.
Jurgelis describes this stage as organic growth with “a little helping hand from Europe”. Today, a five-person team builds “Bruntor” scooters in Riga. The company manufactures what it can itself and tries to source the remaining components from Latvian suppliers.
“Not because it is always cheaper, but because if we buy from one another, all of us will be better off,” Jurgelis has previously explained.
From Innovation to an Illegal Vehicle Overnight
While the main challenge in the company’s early days was proving that the product was needed, the biggest obstacle later turned out to be neither technology nor a lack of customers, but regulation.
During the implementation of a European project, Latvia changed its vehicle regulations. As a result, “Bruntor”, which until then could legally be used in traffic, suddenly no longer fitted into any clearly defined vehicle category.
“Without really thinking it through, we became illegal,” says Jurgelis.
This disrupted cooperation plans, slowed the company’s development and forced the founder to spend around a year and a half in discussions with politicians, ministry representatives and the Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee of the Latvian Parliament.
His message was simple – the company had a product, customers needed it, but national regulations did not allow them to use it.
“I went to everyone I met and said: listen, I have a problem. I want to work, customers need this product, but you won’t let us,” he recalls.
The regulatory problem affected not only “Bruntor” but also other new types of vehicles that, following the changes, no longer had a clear legal basis for participating in traffic. Eventually, the rules were adjusted, allowing such vehicles to be registered, insured and used legally.
Nevertheless, regulation remains one of the company’s biggest challenges.
Jurgelis believes that Latvia, as a small country, should be particularly fast and flexible so that local companies can compete internationally. In practice, however, national innovation and climate-neutrality objectives do not always align with the regulations that are adopted.
“We say we want a green, climate-neutral Riga, but through regulation we make it more advantageous for a company to use a van again,” he points out.
A small electric vehicle is valuable precisely because it can take shorter routes, access pedestrian areas and stop quickly. If it is only allowed to travel in general car traffic, some of these advantages disappear.
“As Many Customers, as Many Models”
“Bruntor” is not a single universal product with the same cargo box for every user.
The basic platform is shared, but the body and equipment are adapted to the specific job. There are models with open cargo platforms, lockable compartments and even refrigerated solutions.
“As many customers, as many models,” Jurgelis says, describing the company’s approach.
Depending on the configuration, the vehicle can travel up to 100 kilometres on a single charge and carry up to 120 kilograms of cargo. It occupies roughly the same amount of space as a cargo bike but is more stable and is also suitable for people who might find riding a bicycle difficult.
Many users are older employees working in delivery or site maintenance who may not have a driving licence.
The product is particularly well suited to routes with frequent stops, narrow streets and limited car parking. This could be a city centre, a park, a postal route or even hospital corridors.
Recently, two “Bruntor” units were delivered to a hospital in Malta. They are intended for use both outdoors and indoors, transporting laundry, water and other goods.
The hospital’s corridors stretch for several kilometres in total. This means employees spend a considerable amount of time simply pushing trolleys from one place to another. An electric cargo vehicle can make this work both faster and physically easier.
“Anywhere an employee has to walk long distances, but a van is unsuitable and a bicycle is inconvenient, there is a place for this kind of solution,” Jurgelis explains.
The company currently operates in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, while its first vehicles have also reached more distant markets.
Jurgelis calls his product the “Northern Scooter”.
The Biggest Achievement – the Company Is Still “Alive”
When asked about the company’s greatest achievement, Jurgelis does not start with awards, turnover or export markets.
“I would say the biggest achievement is that we’re still here,” he says.
The company has encountered “massive rocks” along the way – regulatory changes, difficult access to financing, a conservative market and the constant need to prove that this unconventional vehicle really works.
“There have been days when I’ve thought: why even come back to work tomorrow? Then a message arrives from a customer: ‘Raimond, this is an amazing vehicle. Thank you!’ And at that moment you think – yes, actually, we are doing the right thing,” he admits.
Such feedback is more than simply pleasant recognition. It confirms that the product solves a genuine everyday problem. At the same time, introducing a new form of mobility requires changing established habits.
For some potential users, the first obstacle is neither the price nor the technical specifications, but the feeling that they might look strange riding an unfamiliar vehicle in public.
“What will people say about me? What will my boss think?” Jurgelis says, describing a typical reaction.
Some companies immediately say they would never buy such a solution. Jurgelis does not consider those doors permanently closed. Once sceptics see competitors working faster and more cheaply with cargo scooters, their attitudes may change.
“The maths is too good, and that’s why people don’t believe it,” he concludes.
Sometimes management wants to introduce the vehicle, but employees resist the change. If the new vehicle makes it possible to accomplish five times as much, an employee may think: my salary isn’t going to change, so why should I work faster?
The fact that the work becomes physically easier does not always change attitudes immediately.
Recognised Internationally, but Growth Requires Capacity
One of “Bruntor’s” most significant international achievements has been its nomination at the Smart City Expo in Barcelona.
The company was nominated in the mobility innovation category. It did not win – the award went to a tram developed in Türkiye that can carry bicycles. Nevertheless, for a young Latvian company, being nominated among global mobility solutions was a significant recognition.
The team attended the Barcelona exhibition for several consecutive years, meeting potential customers, partners and city representatives. However, Jurgelis pragmatically acknowledges that at some point it becomes necessary to assess whether repeated participation in an exhibition delivers sufficient returns.
“Everyone is interested, everyone thinks it’s cool, but at the end of the day, I have bills to pay,” he says.
International attention has sometimes arrived unexpectedly. In preparation for the Olympic Games, the company received an invitation from Italian representatives to discuss potential cooperation.
The cooperation did not progress because “Bruntor” was too small at the time to fulfil an order of such scale. The ability to move to the next level is now one of the company’s biggest challenges.
Producing more requires a larger team, more space, more materials and more working capital. For a company producing a physical product, growth cannot be achieved simply by hiring another programmer and rapidly increasing the number of users.
“You need people, premises and materials – you need to invest in many different areas in order to grow,” says Jurgelis. This is why “Bruntor” has so far developed relatively slowly and organically, carefully balancing its ambitions with available capacity.
Why Not All Start-up Advice Works for This Company
Raising finance for a physical product or hardware company differs from developing a software start-up.
Many accelerator and training programmes teach entrepreneurs to approach large numbers of investors, test ideas quickly and scale products with relatively low additional costs.
Jurgelis believes this advice can be valuable, but it cannot always be directly applied to a company manufacturing a physical vehicle.
The mobility market is conservative. There are relatively few investors who genuinely invest in hardware and mobility solutions. Moreover, every new unit requires materials, manufacturing work, premises and money before the product even reaches the customer.
“You can’t simply hire one more person and gain 50,000 new users. In hardware, every stage of growth requires physical investment,” he explains.
Loans also help finance the company’s operations. Jurgelis says “Bruntor” works successfully with Altum – borrowing funds, repaying them and, when necessary, borrowing again for the next stage of development.
LIAA as the Company’s “Godmother”
When describing “Bruntor’s” relationship with LIAA, Jurgelis searches for the right comparison.
“Maybe LIAA is like a father or a godmother to us – I’m not sure which word is more appropriate,” he says.
Without the first victory in the “Ideju kauss” competition, the company might never have been established. The competition provided the first external confirmation that the idea had potential. Other hackathons, awards and programmes followed, with the team reinvesting all the funding received into the company.
Later, cooperation with LIAA continued in other forms.
“Bruntor” participates in LIAA’s business incubation programme, which has provided the company with knowledge, mentoring and financial support for product development. Incubator funding allows the company to purchase materials, develop prototypes and carry out other growth-related activities.
“Now we are in the LIAA incubator, and it gives us the next level of growth. It’s not just about training – the financial support is also very important,” Jurgelis emphasises.
The company also uses LIAA support to participate in international exhibitions. Transporting a physical product to an international trade fair, setting up a stand, travelling and covering accommodation costs can add up to a significant amount. Partial reimbursement of these costs enables the company to attend events where it can meet representatives of foreign cities, hospitals, delivery companies and investors.
Investments attracted through a European project have also enabled “Bruntor” to obtain start-up status. This has provided access to labour tax incentives and made it possible, despite a limited budget, to offer employees more competitive remuneration.
“This is very significant support. We genuinely appreciate it very much,” says the entrepreneur.
The relationship with LIAA has also become reciprocal. Jurgelis himself has worked as a mentor, sharing with new entrepreneurs the experience he has accumulated in competitions, fundraising, product development and working with public institutions.
He has also participated as a mentor in “Ideju kauss” and other LIAA events, passing on some of the support he once received to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“You Just Have to Start”
Jurgelis does not want to create the impression that applying for support programmes is always easy or that every instrument is suitable for every company.
Needs differ at different stages of development.
For a brand-new entrepreneur, pre-incubation, practical advice and first contacts may be particularly valuable. For a company that already has a product and working capital, incubator funding can significantly accelerate development. For a more mature company, expert or export support and participation in international exhibitions may be more useful.
But his main advice is simple – you have to start.
“It’s not as complicated as it looks at first. The first time, you may have lots of questions, but at LIAA there is always someone on the other side who wants to help,” he says.
If an entrepreneur does not know something, that is not a reason to do nothing. “You have to go and do it. If you don’t know how, then do it without knowing. Don’t make excuses,” he says.
Jurgelis admits that he himself probably does not know about all the support instruments available to entrepreneurs. He knows the ones he has found and used.
But that has been enough to grow from a skateboard and a €15 potato-crate construction into a product used in Latvian cities, Estonian parks and the corridors of a Maltese hospital.
“Support definitely allows you to achieve more. You simply have to make use of the opportunities,” he concludes.
Information for Entrepreneurs
Latvian entrepreneurs have access to a wide range of state- and European Union-funded support for business development, brought together on the unified business portal business.gov.lv and its LIAA platform liaa.business.gov.lv. Companies can find information on various programmes, ranging from funding for innovation and new product development, export promotion and international cooperation opportunities to grants for business digitalisation, technology implementation and productivity improvements.
The article was produced in cooperation with LIAA.
The project is co-financed under Specific Objective 1.2.1 “Strengthening research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies by enterprises”, Measure 1.2.1.4 “Support for the improvement of the technology transfer system”, of the European Union Cohesion Policy Programme 2021–2027.
