Estonian Startup Database turns 1!

Startup Estonia has been managing the data of Estonian startups and creating biannual (lately we’ve outdone ourselves and even published them quarterly) overviews of the startup sector from 2017. Every quarter, the statistics are getting more extensive and we have more and more startups in Estonia. To complement it, a dream emerged in our team. A dream of an open, interactive database of all the startups in Estonia. After a year of hard work, our dream came true - we launched it in January 2020. Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the Estonian Startup Database. Let’s take a moment to celebrate with some insights into the development of the database.

What is it?

Estonian Startup Database is the most extensive source for Estonian startups, powered by Startup Estonia. You can get an overview of Estonian startups by ranking and filtering them by sectors, technology, stage, employee count, turnover, etc. You can also create custom reports of specific sectors. We also have overviews and definitions of specific sectors and list of matured startups and exits.

In Data We Trust

The existence of Estonian Startup Database has really helped us to improve the overview of the data we gather on our startup sector. Let's look at few highlights:

• As of today, we have 1114 startups in the Estonian Startup Database, out of which 103 were registered in 2020. In fact, according to the State of European Tech 2020 by Atomico: On a population-adjusted basis, Estonia is the clear European capital of startups; adjusted for its population of just 1.3M, Estonia has 4.6x as many startups per capita as the European average!

• In 2019, 228 startups were registered in Estonia.

• in 2018, 269 startups were registered in Estonia.

• Biggest sectors for Estonian startups in terms of registered companies are Business software & HR; FinTech; AdTech & Creative Tech; Consumer products and services and Healthtech, Life Sciences & Wellness.

• 226 startups in the Estonian Startup Database are more than 5 years in age.

• 223 startups are founded by international founders who are using the benefits of the Estonian Startup Visa as founders.

• 99 startups in the Estonia Startup Database are recruiting with the help of the Estonian Startup Visa.

• The profiles of Estonian startups in the database are highly popular and have gained more than 100 000 page views.
  

What else have we been working on? 

Since our startup ecosystem is evolving, we are starting to see more and more startups reach maturity. According to our definition, once a startup reaches 11 years of age, it is considered a mature company and no longer a startup. Exits are also a key success factor to any startup ecosystem. That’s why, in mid-2020, we created an additional page for the database, highlighting the matured startups and exits through an interactive timeline. In 2020 we had 10 startups reaching maturity: Creative Mobile, Englishlab.net, Sportlyzer, Skeleton Technologies, Realeyes, Ridango, Kinotehnik, Difrotec, Sol Navitas and Wallester.

Additionally, we had a whopping amount of exits - 7! Fortumo, Pocosys, Plumbr, Ridango, Pipedrive, Coolbet and  Drops. The impressive record of 2020 of exits culminated in November with Pipedrive. After receiving a majority investment from Vista Equity Partners, an Austin based VC firm, the valuation of Pipedrive grew to 1.5 billion USD meaning it’s the fifth Estonian startup reaching unicorn status.

What have startups gained by joining?

Additionally to the exposure, mentioned earlier (the profiles of Estonian startups have gained more than 100 000 views) throughout the year, we have been sending startups offers relevant to their sector - participation offers in different competitions, training opportunities, etc. One of the competitions we shared with startups was World Summit Awards, in which nominations came in from around 180 UN member states and the size of the application pool was around 8000. One of the winners was Navicup from Estonia, a smart map application, enabling interactive audio guides for visitors.

As we know, contacts with investors are extremely important for startups. That's why we are collaborating with Estonian Investment Agency, to connect startups with international investors. While startups are filling out their profile in the Startup Includer (the backend of our database), they should fill out all the fields, including ‘’Capital seeking’’, to be matched with potential investors by the Estonian Investment Agency.

It has been a wonderful first year for our database! We really appreciate all the startups who have updated their information in the Estonian Startup Database. This helps us to have an extensive overview of the whole sector and deliver the best content to you. We really appreciate it!

Your startup has not yet joined the Estonian Startup Database? Join here

Data crunched by Moonika Mällo (Startup Estonia). Moonika is also the main architect behind the Estonian Startup Database, supported by Liisi Org and rest of Startup Estonia's team. 

We also want to thank our collaboration partners - Startup Includer, Jaanus Post, Made By Digital Agency,  Estonian Tax and Customs Board.

Blogpost by Sander Sillavee (Startup Estonia)