Global VC funding is yet to fully recover from a spending frenzy of the pandemic period, but Estonian startups are once again being noticed among investors. According to the new report by Startup Estonia, based on open data, a total of €238.9M was invested in Estonia’s startup sector in the first half of 2024, with 35 new investment deals and 17 deals valued at €1M or more. This is roughly doubling the previous year figures, as there were 34 new investment deals, totalling €119.3M
Who are the new winners? The biggest investments in the first half of 2024 were raised by Starship Technologies (€90M), Stargate Hydrogen (€42M), Elcogen (€30M), Tuum (€25M), Bot Guard (€12M EUR), Bisly (€6.2M), Eleport (€5M), Sensus Q (€3.8M), Planet 42 (€3M) and GScan (€3M).
Estonia offers innovations which cater to the ever-changing landscape of the modern world. In the first half of 2024, investments in Estonia’s startup ecosystem were primarily focused on the energy, fintech, security, and food sectors. It’s also in line with a trend within the broader Nordics region.
According to the Shape of the New Nordics 2023 survey, early-stage investments in the New Nordic region were primarily directed towards the energy, climate and fintech sectors. The same findings are confirmed in the Baltic Deep Tech Report 2024, which highlighted enterprise software, energy and security.
Since the early years of Estonian tech wonder, it has been also marked with successful acquisitions, which fuel the ecosystem with new liquidity and motivation. 2024 has already delivered in this regard too. In January, Klaus, an AI-powered quality management platform, was acquired by Zendesk.
In April, Arf, a global settlement banking platform, merged with Huma Finance, and in the same month the French cybersecurity company group Neverhack acquired full ownership of Security Software OÜ, operating under the Cybers brand in Estonia. In June, Up Group, the leading provider of employee benefits services in France, acquired a controlling stake in Stebby, and in July the German digital tax filing platform Taxfix purchased TaxScouts.
