The competition for the tech talent is increasing, and despite its compact size, Estonia stands tall — partly thanks to its effective legislation, and OECD’s best tax code.
According to an anniversary, 5th report from Not Optional – the Index Ventures-led campaign to improve stock option rules — Estonia remains at the top among its peers.
The country is holding joint-first position alongside Latvia and Lithuania, ranking ahead of Israel, UK, France and even the US. In practice, that means that Estonian startups can offer competitive stock options to their employees with minimal bureaucratic hurdles — enabling a proper ecosystem development. Estonian success story, where many new startups are created by alumni, is a living proof of that effectiveness.
“Every improvement makes it easier for startups to attract and retain talent, and more likely that they’ll be able to create the next tech giant in Europe,” said Index partner Martin Mignot to Sifted.
In Estonia, there’s also a FinTech ecosystem emerging from these opportunities. Estonian platform Funderbeam, founded by Kaidi Ruusalepp, enables liquidity opportunities for startup employees through secondary market trading of shares and options. The platform has gained significant traction across Europe, particularly in emerging tech hubs.
EU is also catching up with these advancements. Recently, the European Commission has established a Stock Options Working Group, while the European Securities and Markets Authority has urged the Commission to consider a dedicated EU-wide framework for ESOPs (Employee Stock Option Plans).
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