We recently released our list of the Top Estonian Startups to Watch in2022.
Estonia is a small country in Eastern Europe, with a population of 1.3 million people. As a result of this, you might not expect the country to be well-known for its startups. Relinquish any doubts in your mind as we explore the top Estonian startups to watch in 2021. Estonian startups are plentiful and the strong digital infrastructure in the country has a role to play in the fact that Estonia is currently ranked as the 11th best startup ecosystem globally.
You would be surprised to know that Estonia has a flourishing startup ecosystem that is undergoing rapid growth. For instance, you may have heard of famous companies like Skype, Monese, and Pipedrive. The report for the first quarter of 2021 showed that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has 1144 startups that have turned over 255 Million Euros and raised 194 Millon Euros in investment.
We recently released our list of the Top Estonian Startups to Watch in2022.
1. Bolt
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia.
Size: 10015000
Founder(s): Markus Villig, Martin Villig, OliverLeisalu
Bolt is an Estonian startup that is behind a popular app centered around food delivery and ride-hailing. Theyre not just a local business either, they actually operate in 40-different countries, providing their excellent service. This includes markets in Africa as well as around Europe. The company aims to create a singular logistical platform to connect businesses with consumers.
So far, Bolt has received a massive amount of startup funding to help further its development. The company has managed to raise a total of $616.8 Million from a group of 27 different investors. Some of these investors include the European Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
2. Monese
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: London, England
Size: 251500
Founder(s): NorrisKoppel
Monese is a well-known Estonian startup in the fintech space, although the company now has its HQ in London. The company itself provides a banking solution across 31 different European countries, with multi-currency support built-in. This means that someone in Europe could easily travel and spend money, all with the same bank account- without thehassle.
So far Monese has attracted a significant amount of investment to further the development of the platform. A group of 23 investors has collectively pledged $80.4 Million to the Estonian startup. Interestingly, PayPal Ventures are one of the investors behind this company, even if theyre a smaller one. This is not the only example of an Estonia startup that has movedabroad.
3. Topia
Year Founded: 2010
HQ: San Francisco, United States
Size: 101250
Founder(s): Brynne Kennedy, SteveBlack
Topia is a software startup that is centered around the provision of assistance for employees and employers. The Estonian startup is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company makes the process of moving global talent around much easier. Including compliance, tax, immigration, reporting, and more. Companies like Dell and AXA have made use of their software.
Topia has received a very healthy amount of outside investment, with the company having raised $138.6 Million from a group of 15 investors. The company has also been quite active in the acquisitions market- having taken over three other startups in recent years. Topia is another example of an Estonia startup that has movedabroad.
4. Co-One
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Ataberk Arman Kayhan, MertMenek?e
Co-One is an artificial intelligence-based software startup that is currently headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. The Estonian startup provides data management solutions to companies along with solutions for data annotation and classification.
Despite only being founded last year, Co-One has managed to raise $1.5 Million in outside funding from a group of seven investors. This was primarily achieved through a series of angel investors. As the company continues to grow, they are likely to become one of the biggest startups inEstonia.
5. RebelRoam
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Henri Ploom, Kaido Phn, Magnus Rtel, TarvoTopolev
RebelRoam is an Estonian startup that was founded in 2015 and provides solutions for telecommunications. Their solution centers around the provision of internet traffic management for travel companies, to improve the general WiFi experience for their passengers. This is achieved by making the WiFi faster and much more reliable.
How can you not get behind a company that can make Train WiFi faster? Some investors have clearly gotten this message, with a pair of investors pledging 2 Million Euros to further the development of their services.
6. Lingvist
Year Founded: 2012
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Andres Koern, Mait Muntel, Ott Jalakas, TanelHiir
Lingvist is an Estonian startup that was founded in 2012 and is currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company creates language learning solutions that use mathematics and statistics to create the best possible learning experience. This has been said to make users fluent in a new language within 200-hours of study. If youre looking to pick up a new tongue quickly, then you should give Lingvist atry.
The company has already managed to attract quite a lot of attention from investors in the last few years. The Estonian startup has raised $11.3 Million in startup funding since 2012 from a group of 13 investors. One of these investors is the Japanese company Rakuten and they are likely to help make Lingvist one of the most exciting startups inEstonia.
7. Crypterium
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Austin Kimm, Gleb Markov, VladimirGorbunov
Cryperium is an Estonian startup that operates within the cryptocurrency space. The company itself operates a mobile app that allows its users to make instant payments with cryptocurrencies. Thats right, so anything that you could buy reasonably with cash or card, you would be able to purchase with your cryptos by using Crypterium.
The company has managed to make a large amount of money through crowdfunding. So far, the company has raised $54.5 Million since being founded four years ago. IOSG Ventures also participated in one of their ICOs, with that being their only form of corporate investment.
8. CoinLoan
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Alex Faliushin, MaxSapelov
CoinLoan is an Estonian fintech startup that works with cryptocurrencies to help provide loans. Through their platform, the company offers P2P lending for people who either want to take a loan that is backed by collateral in the form of cryptos. This means they dont have to sell their cryptos to get money from them. Then, the lender gets to enjoy an investment that has minimal amounts ofrisk.
CoinLoan has an impressive mission and market niche, which has led to them receiving investment to further develop and grow their business. The company ran a series of ICOs in 2017, netting them $3.1 Million. They also underwent a Series A round of funding in2019.
9. CoinCasso
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Luke Ozimski, MarekOzimski
CoinCasso is a fintech and cryptocurrency startup that is based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company was founded in 2018 and operates a cryptocurrency exchange that is completely focused on the community and its members. The project boasts a fully democratic management system and they pledged that at the release of the 2.0 exchange version, 80% of transaction fees will be directed to their club members. This gives a lot of benefit to consistent users of the platform.
CoinCasso, being a cryptocurrency project wasnt likely to take on traditional corporate investment. Rather, the company crowdfunded through the creation of an ICO in 2018. This round of funding got the company $3.5 Million and they have continued to grow since then, becoming one of the biggest exchanges inEstonia.
10. Midex
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Aleksandr kirin
Midex is an Estonian cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The exchange markets itself as the first EU-regulated cryptocurrency exchange, meaning that users can operate on the platform without worries about regulations getting in the way, or shutting the platformdown.
Midex has managed to raise a massive amount of money through their one and only IPO that was carried out in 2018. The company raised $22 Million from that campaign, with the promise of a regulated platform being too good to pass up on for investors.
11. Xolo
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 51100
Founder(s): Avo Alender, Erik Mell, Erko Hansar, UrmoPrg
Xolo is a fintech software startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently headquartered in Tallinn, like most of Estonias startups. The company provides a solution for small business owners that cuts down on the annoying admin work that goes into running a business. This includes making a business, banking, accounting, andmore.
So far, Xolo has managed to attract a large amount of investment due to the strength of its business model and the convenience of its offering. The company has a total investment of 11.1 Million Euros from a group of 11 investors.
12. Klaus
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Kair Ksper, MartinKiva
Klaus is a customer service software startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. The company itself provides software to assist with recording and reviewing individual calls so that training and reviews of calls can be conducted more easily. This eventually leads to an increase in the quality of customer servicestaff.
Klaus has been going strong in terms of investment. In only four years of operation, the team behind Klaus has behind to snag $7.3 Million in investment from a group of four investors. With many teams moving to virtual as a result of the pandemic, this tool could become a massive boon for remoteteams.
13. MeetFrank
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Anton Narusberg, Kaarel Holm, MarkoVirkebau
MeetFrank is an HR technology startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently operating out of Tallinn, Estonia. The company offers an app to help connect workers with organizations in a way that is more transparent, meaning that workers know everything they need to about a job before they apply for it. This creates a better working environment for both the individual employees and the businesses themselves.
MeetFrank has managed to convince investors that it is different from other platforms out on the market. To this end, a group of four investors has collectively pledged 2.5 Million Euros to MeetFrank during the companys Seed Fundinground.
14. EstateGuru
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Kaspar Kaljuvee, Marek Partel, MarkoArro
EstateGuru is a home rental and fintech startup that was founded in 2013 and has operated out of Tallinn, Estonia since then. The company provides a marketplace for property loans across borders within Europe. This helps people to get on the housing ladder much more easily and provides more business for thelenders.
The strength of the companys business model and previous success led to the company undergoing a series of funding rounds between 2014 and the present year. These funding rounds led to a total investment of 2.7 Million Euros. This was achieved by a trio of investors, including Speedinvest.
15. AmplerBikes
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Ardo Kaurit, Hannes Laar, RaitUdume
AmplerBikes is an Estonian startup that docuses on the provsiion of electric bicicles for their customers. They differentiate themselves by making their vehicles as light and convenient as possible, without completely breaking the bank. They have all of the makings of modern bikes, with modern convenience.
So far, the company has managed to attract a trio of investors to the table, as well as masses of people through crowdfunding. These investors have put in a collective $6.2 Million to further fund and develop the business.
16. eAgronom
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Kristjan Luha, Robin Saluoks, StenverJerkku
eAgronom is an agricultural technology startup that was founded in 2016 and is currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. They offer a platform where farmers pay to be consulted on issues of carbon capture and farm monitoring with the power of AI. This also gives carbon credit buyers much more peace ofmind.
The company has managed to attract a number of different investors during its five years of life. These investors have collectively pooled a total of 4.5 Million Euros into the company. These investors clearly understand the importance of guiding the agricultural sector to more environmentally friendly practices.
17. Lift99
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Elar Nellis, Elise Sass, Liis Peetermann, RagnarSass
Lift99 is a startup based around the sharing of knowledge between peers within the startup space. This is achieved through the creation of an invite-only platform, similar to ClubHouse, where startup founders can interact with each other. The sheer wealth of knowledge and information that is available makes it an ideal platform for any startupowner.
Lift99 has been incredibly active, both in getting investment and making investments. In total, the company has received funding from a total of eight investors that have collectively put in $2.3 Million to further their platform. The company has also made eight investments of its own, into other businesses.
18. Jobbatical
Year Founded: 2014
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): Allan Meots, Karoli Hindriks, RonaldHindriks
Jobbatical is an HR technology startup that was founded in 2014 and is currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The main focus of the company is to cut out many of the difficulties that come with immigrating, which can be a problem for families and employers. This will save you time and cut down on the amount of paperwork that you need todo.
So far, Jobbatical has been very active in attracting investment. The company has already managed to turn the heads of 17 investors that have pooled together $7.9 Million to further develop the companys offering.
19. Yanu
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 1150
Founder(s): AlanAdojaan
Yanu is an AI startup that is focused on developments in the food and drinks sector. Their main offering is an AI-powered bartending solution that eliminates the need for a physical bartender. This has very interesting implications for the sector, especially with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
One investor has been taken by the robot bartender that Yanu has created and that was local VC firm MM Grupp who supported the company through two funding rounds to the tune of 1.9 MillionEuros.
20. Optofluid Technologies
Year Founded: 2012
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Size: 110
Founder(s): ReneJoeleht
Optofluid Technologies is a healthcare technology startup that was founded in 2012 and is currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. The company makes its money by developing and creating sensors to assist with real-time online dialysis monitoring for patients.
Optofluid, despite having a small team has still managed to secure investment from the EU Executive Agency for SMEs. The EU Agency sunk 2.8 Million Euros into the company in 2017, seeing the benefits for patients.
21. LightCode Photonics
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Tartu, Estonia
Size: 110
Founder(s): HeliValtna
LightCode Photonics is a 3D technology startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Tartu, Estonia. The company creates solutions for the robotics sector by creating 3D cameras to be mounted and used on robots. This will increase the mobility of existing robots, by enhancing what theysee.
The company has managed to raise a notable amount of money to improve their offering, having gained 425,000 Euros. This funding was achieved from a group of six investors.
Originally published at https://startupstash.com.
Top Estonian Startups That Bloomed in 2021 was originally published in Startup Stash on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
