While the larger European economy may still be experiencing economic headwinds, Estonia’s startup ecosystem continues to thrive. As reported by Startup Estonia, the tech sector demonstrated strong growth through Q3 2024, with increases in turnover, investment, and acquisition activity.
Still, there are some adjustments. Estonian startup companies employed 14,267 people locally at the end of Q3 2024, according to the Tax and Customs Board. This represents a 3% decline from Q3 2023, when the sector employed 14,687 people.
The top 10 Estonian startups employed 45% of the sector’s workforce. The largest employers were Wise (2,028 employees), Bolt (1,321 employees), Playtech (653 employees), Yolo (553 employees), and Swappie (435 employees). Still, employment tax revenue grew 4% year over year, reaching €273M in Q3 2024.
Turnover, investments, and exits
Estonian startup sector revenue reached €2.7B in Q3 2024, up 10% from €2.46B in Q3 2023. Bolt led the sector with €983.7M in revenue (36% of the total), followed by Pipedrive (€203M), Veriff (€76.7M), Yolo (€49.1M), and Playtech (€41.7M). The top 10 startups accounted for 56% of total sector revenue through Q3 2024, paving the way in Estonia’s startup ecosystem.
Investors are also increasingly on board with Estonian tech wonders. Investment in Estonian tech companies reached €302.7M in Q1-Q3 2024, up 52% from €199.2M in the same period of 2023!
The last quarter alone saw €63.7M in investments across 49 deals, with 25 deals exceeding €1M. Top deals included:
- Starship Technologies (€90M)
- Stargate Hydrogen (€42M)
- Elcogen (€30M)
- Tuum (€25M)
- Pactum (€18.4M)
- Bot Guard (€12M)
- eAgronom (€10M)
- Mifundo (€10M)
- Bisly (€6.2M)
- Äio (€6.1M)
There’s an M&A hunger for some Nordic innovations, too. German tax platform Taxfix acquired TaxScouts, Swedbank AB purchased fintech company Paywerk, and Wisnio merged with Assessio Group.
DeepTech on the rise
The Baltic Sea might be shallow, but the DeepTech expertise building here is real. By Q3 2024, DeepTech startups demonstrated significant economic impact with €232.5M in turnover, €42.7M in employment taxes and had 2,409 local employees (17% of sector workforce). Of course, the sky is the limit — Estonia plans to have a staggering 500 DeepTech startups by 2030, so more growth is expected for the niche.
Wish to compare Estonia’s business environment to that of other EU countries? Try out our brand-new comparison tool.
