Estonia is one of the most interesting startup ecosystems in the world, and has created many of them recentlythe best startups. Estonian start-ups are starting to raise more money than ever before, with venture capital funds raising 35% in 2022 compared to 2021. Total funding was €1.33 billion. There is also more than100 organizationsin Estonia, which support start-ups in various forms, such as financing and advice. All this in a country with a smaller population than Bucharest, Romania.
The Estonian government is constantly creating new projects and ideas that will help boost the startup ecosystem in the country. An example of this is the e-Rezydencja program, which has been running in Poland since 2014. This program makes it easier for entrepreneurs to start a business in Estonia by offering tax breaks and other benefits to people from outside the country. Since the start of the program, Estonia has created 16,000 peoplee-residential businessesand 84,000 registered e-Residents.
This investment in the startup ecosystem has led to a growth rate of approx30%per year for the entire ecosystem. It should also be noted that the country has more unicorns per capita than any other country in the world. The number of local venture capital firms currently stands at eight, and over 300 business angels are also active.
1. BITLEVEX
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 1-10
Founders: Mikhail Skoblov
BITLEVEXis an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company is a cryptocurrency startup that allows users to create an account and buy and sell various cryptocurrencies. They consistently partner with many reputable companies to improve their offerings such as Visa, Mastercard, Trustly and more.
Since its inception, BITLEVEX has secured a large amount of funding for start-ups. Most of the money came from a financing round in August 2022. In this round, the company raised a total of$50 millionfrom GEM Digital.
2. Montonio
Year of establishment: 2018
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 51-100
Założyce: Henrik Rank, Karel Nappus, Karl Kalluste, Kristofer Turmen, Markus Lember, Rasmus Oisma
Montoniois an Estonian startup founded in 2018 and based in Tallinn. The company provides a FinTech solution for e-commerce businesses in the form of a full payment platform that enables transaction financing, installment plans, and bank link payments for e-commerce website customers. It also includes a number of third-party integrations for a seamless experience.
Montonio is a very well-funded startup with a total of approx$15.6 millionof sixteen investors. The company's most recent round of funding was a series A round in April 2022, raising €11 million.
3. Fragrance
Year of establishment: 2018
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 11-50
Założycele: Diana Saarva, Heikki Haldre, Paul Pallin
Odoris an Estonian startup founded in 2018 and currently based in the city of Tallinn. The company created a visual language engine for e-commerce sites. Advanced technology allows end users to search for items, even if they don't know the name, by visually describing the items they need. This improves the financial performance of e-commerce stores as they can gain customers they lost before.
Since its inception, Miros has completed two startup funding rounds. The latest was a seed round in December 2022, raising €2.1 million. Overall, the business is up$2.2 millionfrom three investors.
4. Sunny
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 101-250
Founders: Priit Lepasepp
Sunnyis an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn. The company is developing new renewable energy projects to facilitate global efforts to reduce emissions. The company is active in the Balkans and surrounding markets to improve renewable energy infrastructure in Eastern Europe.
Since its inception, Sunly has secured a large amount of funding for startups, with the last round of funding taking place in October 2022. In total, the startup has a total amount of200 million eurosof four investors to support future projects.
5. Peace
Year of establishment: 2015
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 51-100
Oprichters: Avo Alender, Erik Mell, Erko Hansar, Urmo Parg
Roomis an Estonian FinTech startup founded in 2015 and currently based in Tallinn. The company's goal is to help freelancers spend more time on their actual work by creating a platform that brings together all the administrative work involved in running their business. This includes things like starting a business, banking, accounting and more. Having so much under one roof allows freelancers to focus dramatically on the important stuff.
Investors were convinced by Xolo's offer and the company raised the total amount$12.8 millionof thirteen investors. The last of these funding rounds took place in February 2021, when seven investors backed Xolo with more than €3 million.
6. Bite
Year of establishment: 2022
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 11-50
Round Założyce: Dominik Sklyarov, Erik Kaljumae, Mikhel Haava, Ricko Tamm
Sharpis an Estonian startup founded in 2022 and currently based in Tallinn. The company has created a platform to help the food and beverage industry. The platform modernizes the ordering process at companies in the hospitality industry. Managers can assign members of their team to fulfill orders while they focus on finding new food and beverage suppliers.
So far, Biteful has gone through one funding round, the pre-seed round where the company raised money50.000 eurofrom an unknown number of investors. It is very likely that as the company continues to grow, it will receive more funding.
7. Clause
Year of establishment: 2017
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 51-100
Founders: Cairo Kaspar, Martin Kolva
Clauseis an Estonian startup founded in 2017 and currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company provides an application for managing the quality of customer service. This application makes it easy to evaluate the quality of work of customer service agents and expands the knowledge available to these agents. Synchronization with the user's helpdesk allows the platform to function in real time.
Since its inception, Klaus has secured a large amount of funding for start-ups, and the latest round was in October 2022, when a Series A round raised €12 million. In total, the company increased the number$19.3 millionfrom a group of six investors.
8. ME CARD
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 101-250
Founders: Giovanni Spinapolice
PORK CARDis an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company operates in the financial services market, providing credit and debit card services using digital technologies. This effectively helps their customers save money and plan for the future.
Since its inception, the company has not publicly sought seed funding. Nevertheless, they managed to grow to a large number of employees. The more the company wants to develop, the more likely it will raise money.
9. Port NFT
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 11-50
Voor Założyce: Johannes Tammekänd, Kaspar Peterson, Rain Johanson, Sten Tamkivi, Taivo Pungas
Port NFTis an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company has created a complete solution for APIs and developer-friendly NFT infrastructure. This allows teams to spend more time on project execution, reducing time spent on infrastructure development.
Since its inception, the company has completed one start-up funding round, the last being in June 2022. During this funding round, the company managed to$26 millionfrom ten investors.
10. Binalize
Year of establishment: 2018
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 51-100
Founders: Emre Tinaztepe
binalizeis an Estonian startup founded in 2018 and currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company is active in the cybersecurity market and provides digital forensic tools for enterprises. These tools help companies understand the full scope of cyber breaches as they occur, and also help these companies prevent such breaches.
Since its inception, the company has gone through many rounds of funding. The most recent was a seed funding round in February 2022, with the company raising $10.4 million. All in all, the startup picked up$11.8 millionfrom a few investors.
11. BUNTY
Year of establishment: 2020
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 11-50
Founders: Tamir Baasanjav
OBORTECHis an Estonian startup founded in 2020 and currently based in Tallinn. The company has created a collaborative ecosystem for Web3 based on blockchain and IoT technology. The goal is to use this system to improve the global supply chain of products such as food, which involves huge losses that cost a lot of money. Eliminating this waste will lead to big savings and better sustainability.
Since its inception a little over two years ago, OBORTECH has secured a decent amount of start-up funding. All in all, business has grown$2.9 millionin funding from an unknown number of investors.
12. VanOnGo
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 51-100
Oprichters: Kateryna Rystova, Michail Sokirnik, Vyacheslav Levchenko
VanOnGois an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn. The company has created a platform to improve the efficiency of last mile logistics. Their platform connects brands that want to deliver with available delivery partners in a timely manner. This allows customers to receive their orders faster than would normally be possible. The company has also contributed to the delivery of life-saving supplies to war-torn areas.
The company has secured funds for further improvement of its operations. This grant reached the total amount$ 460.000at the time of this writing and was realized with the help of three investors.
13. Delicious
Year of establishment: 2020
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 101-250
Founders: Martin Salo, Karl Paadam
Despiteis an Estonian startup founded in 2020 and currently based in Tallinn. The company creates personalized meal plans for customers and helps them manage a diet that includes healthy options. This makes it easier to cook at a time when more and more people don't have time.
Since its inception, the company has gone through multiple rounds of funding, the last of which took place in October 2022. Thanks to this financing round, the company has a total of1.9 million euros. In total, the company managed to raise 3.4 million euros.
14. Fagura
Year of establishment: 2017
Headquarters: Chisinau, Moldova
Maat: 1-10
Founders: Tudor Darie
Fagurais an Estonian startup founded in 2017 in Tallinn, Estonia. The company created a P2P lending marketplace. This platform allows people in need of financing to connect with investors who demand lower interest rates than usual in the market. This also helps borrowers save more money.
Since its inception, the company has gone through many funding rounds, the last one being in December 2022. In all, the startup managed to raise funds$1.5 millionfrom three investors.
15. Wybierz.com
Year of establishment: 2022
Headquarters: Harju, Estonia
Maat: 101-250
Founders: Austin Kimm, Vladimir Gorbunov
Rateis an Estonian startup founded in 2022 and currently based in Harju, Estonia. The company operates a cryptocurrency platform that allows users to buy and earn cryptocurrencies. This helps people increase their short and long term income with minimal risks due to improved security measures. Users can earn as much as 26% APR.
The company succeeded in obtaining external financing and integrated crowdfunding into its strategy. In total, the startup collected approx$2.8 millionfor further activity. Shortly after its foundation, Choise also made an acquisition.
16. VAT approx
Year of establishment: 2022
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 11-50
Oprichter: Renata Eidukaityete
Barrel approxis an Estonian startup founded in 2022 and currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The aim of the company is to help other companies with everything related to VAT. Their platform allows businesses to manage VAT charged and recovered across Europe, streamlining the returns management process.
Due to the initial operation of the company, it has not currently applied for public start-up funding. Despite this, the company has seen a rapid increase in employment and it is very likely that Vatabout will raise money.
17. Zam
Year of establishment: 2018
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 101-250
Founders: Ayman Sayed
Zamis an Estonian cryptocurrency startup founded in 2018 and currently based in Tallinn. The startup is building a platform that connects the real world with a hybrid ecosystem for CeFi and DeFi. This will boost the flow of capital into the blockchain ecosystem and will improve the market as a whole.
Despite the company's size and rapid development, it did not publicly seek funding for the start-up. Given the strength of its offering, the company is likely to get support if it actively asks for it.
18. Yours
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 51-100
Voor Założyce: Jan Lakspere, Ove Kreison, Rivo Uibo, Vilve Vene
Youris an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn. The company is active in the FinTech market and has created a platform where companies can create new banking activities or modernize existing ones. The company has grown rapidly and recently opened its first UK office in London.
Since its establishment, the company has received a large amount of funding, and the total amount has been raised until it is reached20 million eurosat the moment of writing. This financing came about thanks to the support of seven investors.
19. Single Earth
Year of establishment: 2019
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 11-50
Oprichters: Andrus Aslaid, Merit Valdsalu
Single.Earthis an Estonian startup founded in 2019 and currently based in Tallinn. The company's goal is to help fight the climate crisis by monetizing environmental protection. Landowners on the platform can generate tokens by making green decisions, and can then sell these tokens for a profit, reducing the financial need to destroy the land.
Investors supported the startup's important mission and Single.Earth raised a total amount$7.9 millionobtained from a group of three investors. It is highly likely that as the company continues to grow it will receive further funding.
20. Troubleshooting.Maintenance
Year of establishment: 2017
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 101-250
Founders: Pradeep Goel
Dissolve. Concernis a start-up in the healthcare sector in Estonia, founded in 2017 and currently based in Tallinn. The company is building blockchain healthcare platforms to help healthcare providers improve efficiency and deliver better healthcare outcomes to their patients. Helps coordinate care, benefits, and payments between all parties involved in healthcare transactions from start to finish.
Since its inception, the company has secured a large amount of seed funding$30.2 millioncancelled. This funding was secured with the help of an unknown number of investors. To improve operations, the company also acquired another startup.
21. Scream
Year of establishment: 2018
Headquarters: Tallinn, Estonia
Maat: 1-10
Oprichters: Bernardo Magnani Blanco, Prashanth Balasubramanian
screamis an Estonian startup founded in 2018 and currently based in Tallinn. The company has created a platform for cryptocurrency companies that need to have a traditional banking infrastructure. They make the whole process much more cost effective and shorten the time it takes to finally set up the banking system and issue debit cards.
Since its inception, the company has gone through one seed funding round, and the seed round took place in May 2021, during which it raised funds$3 millionfrom three investors. These resources were used to improve the offer and develop the activities.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many startups are there in Estonia?
Currently, it is estimated that there are more than 10,000 in Estonia1.400 startupsin its ecosystem.
What is the average investment in Estonian start-ups?
However, finding exact averages for investments in Estonian startups is tricky€1.33 billion in 2022, which represents an increase of 35% compared to the previous year.
Which start-up industries are the strongest in Estonia?
The most successful startup industries in Estonia are FinTech, especially cryptocurrency, software and HR.