At the end of last year, the Riga Business Award 2025 took place, where Zabbix was recognized as Riga’s Enterprise of the Year in the Information and Communication Technologies sector. Last week, the company was visited by the Chairman of the Riga City Council, Viesturs Kleinbergs, and a delegation from the Riga Investment and Tourism Agency, in line with visits to other Riga Business Award 2025 laureates, to learn more about its operations, meet with the team, and discuss the business environment in Riga as well as the company’s experience.
Zabbix is recognized as one of the leading international technology companies originating from Latvia. Founded in 2005 by a small group of passionate professionals, it has grown into an internationally recognized company with offices in the US, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and France.
- Their mission is to help businesses deliver flawless services for a better world and happier people.
- To achieve this, Zabbix has developed a powerful open-source monitoring platform that enables organizations to improve the performance and efficiency of their IT infrastructure. The solution is serving businesses of all sizes and individuals across industries worldwide.
- The Zabbix software is free and open source backed by the expertise and reliability of a mature vendor. It combines data collection, processing, alerting, and visualization within a single integrated platform.
- The Zabbix Partner Program further extends the company’s reach through a trusted global network of IT professionals. Today, the program includes 294 partners and continues to grow across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
- In addition, Zabbix will host the annual Zabbix Summit 2026 in Riga, Latvia, from 7–9 October 2026.
Chairman of the Riga City Council, Viesturs Kleinbergs comments after the on-site meeting:
“Zabbix’s success in Riga reflects the city’s role as a thriving technology hub, where modern infrastructure, excellent connectivity, and a high quality of life create an environment that attracts and retains top talent. The city’s universities and educational ecosystem provide skilled professionals, while Riga’s strategic location and digital readiness allow us to operate efficiently and collaborate globally. By supporting our growth and innovation, Riga not only enables Zabbix to remain competitive internationally but also strengthens the local economy and contributes to the long-term development of the technology sector. Our meeting with the company was very useful to discuss future collaboration and explore areas for improvement.”
To better understand the company’s environment and its experience of operating in Riga, a set of interview questions was prepared for the Zabbix team ahead of the meeting.
Zabbix has successfully expanded its team in Riga—what key advantages does the city and Latvia provide in terms of talent availability, technical expertise, and overall location competitiveness?
Riga and Latvia offer strong digital infrastructure, an international mindset, and a technology sector. Riga’s strategic location, multilingual workforce, and good connectivity with the rest of Europe have also been important advantages for a global company like ours. The overall digital environment and quality of infrastructure have enabled us to operate efficiently and collaborate successfully with customers and partners worldwide.
How has Riga’s technology environment—including its talent pipeline and digital infrastructure—supported Zabbix in becoming a globally recognized open-source software company?
Latvia has a good educational foundation in engineering and IT, supported by universities such as Riga Technical University and the University of Latvia, which contribute to the local technology ecosystem.
At the same time, as a highly specialized global open-source software company, we operate in a niche segment where attracting experienced professionals with deep technical expertise remains a challenge not only in Latvia, but internationally. This makes continued investment in technology education, engineering talent development, and international competitiveness especially important for the long-term growth of the sector. Ultimately, Zabbix’s international success has been driven by the quality of our product, our technical expertise, and our ability to work with customers globally, while Riga has provided a reliable base from which to grow and operate internationally.
How would you describe Zabbix’s company culture in Riga, and what role does the city play in supporting long-term employee retention and engagement?
Zabbix has built a strong and stable company culture in Riga, with a focus on long-term employee loyalty and a supportive work environment. The city itself also plays an important role in employee retention and engagement. For professionals considering relocation or long-term career growth, Riga remains an attractive place to live because it still offers relatively affordable housing compared to many other European tech hubs.
Modern infrastructure and continued urban development are also important factors. Access to reliable public transportation, new housing projects, and a well-connected city environment makes daily life more convenient and appealing, especially for younger professionals who may prefer not to own a car. These quality-of-life advantages help companies like Zabbix attract and retain talented employees over the long term.
How do the capabilities of Zabbix’s Riga-based team contribute to building and delivering globally competitive monitoring solutions?
In the strongest sense, Riga is the core of the company. Many of the key decisions and innovations start here and later influence Zabbix operations globally. The Riga-based team drives much of the company’s research, product development, and strategic direction, which allows Zabbix to remain competitive in the global monitoring industry.
Because the main expertise and decision-making are concentrated in Riga, the team can respond quickly to industry trends, develop new solutions efficiently, and maintain high technical standards across all markets. This strong foundation helps Zabbix deliver reliable and globally competitive monitoring solutions to customers worldwide.
Based on your experience, how does Riga compare to other tech hubs as a location for international companies looking to develop products and scale globally?
Based on our experience, Riga performs very well as a location for international tech companies that want to develop products and scale globally. The city offers a strong combination of highly skilled professionals, fast and reliable internet infrastructure, and relatively competitive operating costs compared to many larger European tech hubs.
