Report · One-off
Share Capital in the Latvian Register
The reduced-capital SIA lets a founder register a company on as little as one euro. Whether anyone actually does it is a question the register can answer exactly, because every active company carries a capital figure. This counts all 139,429 of them.
How Many Latvian Companies Register Below the Standard Share Capital?
31.1% of Latvia’s 139,429 active SIA are registered below the standard minimum of EUR 2,800, and 11.8% sit at a single euro. The median company registers exactly EUR 2,800 and not a cent more, which is what a statutory floor looks like when it is treated as a target.
Where the register actually sits
- EUR 111.8 %
- EUR 2 to 999.9 %
- EUR 100 to 9996.3 %
- EUR 1,000 to 2,7993.1 %
- EUR 2,80025.7 %
- EUR 2,801 to 9,99931.4 %
- EUR 10,000 to 49,9995.3 %
- EUR 50,000 and above6.5 %
Show the numbers
| Band | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| EUR 1 | 16,457 | 11.8% |
| EUR 2 to 99 | 13,773 | 9.9% |
| EUR 100 to 999 | 8,835 | 6.3% |
| EUR 1,000 to 2,799 | 4,281 | 3.1% |
| EUR 2,800 | 35,860 | 25.7% |
| EUR 2,801 to 9,999 | 43,758 | 31.4% |
| EUR 10,000 to 49,999 | 7,367 | 5.3% |
| EUR 50,000 and above | 9,046 | 6.5% |
Do Latvian Startups Register More Share Capital?
At the bottom of the range, yes. Of the 579 companies on this map with a capital figure, 16.1% are below the standard minimum, against 31.1% across the register as a whole. The median is the same EUR 2,800 in both, so a startup is roughly half as likely to have been registered on token capital.
Read that as a description of the two populations, not as a cause. The map is a curated list of companies that exist and do something, and a one-euro shelf company is exactly the kind of entity that would never have been added to it.
Does Low Share Capital Predict Company Failure in Latvia?
Nobody can say from the register, and not because the sample is thin. The register removes a company’s capital when it is struck off, so a closed SIA or AS carries no capital figure and there is no join between capital and closure to make. If you have seen that figure published for Latvia, it was not built from this source.
Cannot be computed. 0 of 200,367 terminated SIA and AS carry a capital row, against 99.9% of the 140,286 active ones. The register removes capital when a company is struck off, so there is no join between capital and closure to make. A capital band crossed with survival would be a table of zeroes on one side, so no amount of caution in the wording would rescue it.
Is Registering on Low Share Capital Becoming More Common in Latvia?
The register cannot show it. The share below the minimum rises from 38.1% of the 2015 cohort to 55.6% of the 2026 one, but only 42.7% of the 2015 cohort is still registered, against 99.8% of 2026. Both columns climb together, because both are the same survival curve seen twice.
What companies do with their capital once registered can be measured over one window. The capital increases report compares an archived copy of the register’s capital file with today’s, including how many companies left the reduced-capital regime.
The same survival curve, seen twice
- 2015, 42.7% still active38.1 %
- 2016, 46.5% still active35.3 %
- 2017, 52.9% still active37.4 %
- 2018, 58.1% still active38.4 %
- 2019, 63.3% still active41.2 %
- 2020, 68.4% still active41.6 %
- 2021, 76.3% still active39.3 %
- 2022, 81.7% still active43.3 %
- 2023, 87.6% still active45.9 %
- 2024, 93.4% still active49.1 %
- 2025, 97.8% still active53.2 %
- 2026, 99.8% still active55.6 %
Show the numbers
| Cohort | Registered that year | Still active | Below the minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12,554 | 42.7% | 38.1% |
| 2016 | 10,325 | 46.5% | 35.3% |
| 2017 | 9,338 | 52.9% | 37.4% |
| 2018 | 9,875 | 58.1% | 38.4% |
| 2019 | 9,596 | 63.3% | 41.2% |
| 2020 | 8,238 | 68.4% | 41.6% |
| 2021 | 8,497 | 76.3% | 39.3% |
| 2022 | 7,906 | 81.7% | 43.3% |
| 2023 | 7,777 | 87.6% | 45.9% |
| 2024 | 8,208 | 93.4% | 49.1% |
| 2025 | 9,291 | 97.8% | 53.2% |
| 2026 | 7,572 | 99.8% | 55.6% |
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Minimum Share Capital for a Latvian SIA?
The standard minimum is EUR 2,800. A reduced-capital SIA can register on less, down to a single euro, and 31.1% of active SIA are registered below the standard minimum.
How Many Latvian Companies Have One Euro of Share Capital?
11.8% of the 139,429 active Latvian SIA are registered at exactly one euro, the floor of the reduced-capital regime.
What Is the Median Share Capital of a Latvian Company?
The median active SIA registers EUR 2,800. The 771 active AS are counted separately, because the reduced-capital option belongs to the SIA form, at a median of EUR 400,000.
Does Registered Share Capital Show What a Latvian Company Holds?
No. Registered capital is what a founder put on the register, possibly years ago and possibly spent the same week, so it says nothing about what a company has in the bank.
Where Does Latvian Share Capital Data Come From?
From the Uzņēmumu reģistrs equity capital open data, published under CC0, dump of 27 September 2026. Every active company carries a capital row, so the figures are a census rather than a sample.
Method
- Population. Every active SIA in the Register of Enterprises. The reduced-capital option belongs to the SIA form, so the 771 active AS are reported apart from it, at a median of EUR 400,000.
- Which figure. The registered capital where the register holds one, otherwise the paid-up figure. A standard SIA may register on half its capital paid, so reading paid-up alone would file companies with EUR 2,800 registered into a band beneath it. This report is entirely about which side of that line a company sits on, so the distinction is the finding rather than a rounding difference.
- Registered is not held. Capital is what a founder put on the register, possibly years ago and possibly spent the same week. Nothing here is a statement about what any company has in the bank.
- No suppression was needed. Every active company carries a capital row, so this is a census rather than a sample and no cell is too small to publish.
Definitions are frozen at version 4, added bamboohr to the machine readable boards. The full set, and what has changed in it, is on the methodology page.
Cite This
Sageo SIA (2026). Share Capital in the Latvian Register. Riga Startups. Computed from Uzņēmumu reģistrs open data, extract of 2026-09-27. https://rigastartups.com/reports/share-capital
Permalink: https://rigastartups.com/reports/share-capital · CSV for this edition
The numbers are free to reuse. The register data underneath is CC0 and this analysis of it is offered on the same terms. An attribution and a link back is the whole ask.
Source
- Uzņēmumu reģistrs, equity capital open data, CC0. Dump of 27 September 2026.