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As autumn settles over Tallinn, Estonia’s business elite gathered at the National Library on Saturday evening for the nation’s most prestigious corporate celebration. The annual “Estonia’s Best Businesses 2025” gala brought together entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and President Alar Karis to honour companies that show innovation, ambition, and excellence.
The spotlight belonged to Tech Group, an engineering and manufacturing powerhouse that claimed the Company of the Year title, placing it among an exclusive group of 29 winners stretching back three decades.
The Tallinn-based company, which employs over 100 people near the capital’s airport, designs and manufactures sophisticated production lines and robotic solutions for Europe’s automotive, semiconductor, and photonics industries. From prototyping and industrial design to full-scale production, Tech Group’s engineers deliver complete solutions that help manufacturers produce everything from microchips to medical devices.
Nearly all of its output is exported, primarily to Germany, Finland, and Switzerland. “Tech Group’s success shows that Estonia is increasingly capable of offering not just subcontracting work, but its own engineering ideas and original solutions to the world,” said Ursel Velve, chair of Enterprise Estonia. “Such companies are the future of our economy and serve as inspiration for the next generation of engineers.”
A spectrum of success
Tech Group, which also claimed the Export Company of the Year category, has led an impressive array of winners, including:
- Tiksoja Puidugrupp — Industrial Digitalisation Company of the Year
- Pactum AI — Innovator of the Year
- Akzo Nobel Baltics — Sustainable Company of the Year
- Elamus Spa — Tourism Promoter of the Year
- Pro Optika — Family Business of the Year
- Foxway — Foreign Investor of the Year
Investing for the win
The Foreign Investor category, as one of the most contested and diverse, once again proved that Estonia is a perfect place for smart manufacturing and sustainable business models. Foxway, which claimed the prize, is a leading provider of circular tech solutions across Europe and specialises in extending the lifecycle of technology devices like mobile phones and computers.
Through services including Device as a Service (DaaS), IT asset disposition, and buyback programs, Foxway helps businesses and public organisations reduce e-waste while cutting costs and meeting environmental goals. With six tech centres processing over 2.8M devices annually and theoretically avoiding 235,000 tons of CO2 emissions, the company adds value to the Estonian economy and saves Europe from unnecessary additional emissions.
In 2025, Foxway announced a major 10,000 m² expansion at its Estonian site in Tartu, investing in uniting all operations and supporting functions currently split across two buildings into one integrated site.
Rising Stars and future builders
The gala also recognised sector-specific champions across Estonia’s diverse economy. Nobe was named the most competitive construction company, while Scanola Baltic took honours in food manufacturing. In the hospitality sector, Pizzakiosk emerged victorious, and Telia Eesti won in telecommunications and IT.
LHV Pank claimed the top spot among financial intermediaries, Kapitel won in both real estate and overall commercial services, and Tornator Eesti led agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Raab was recognised as the most competitive engineering and architecture firm, while Jetflite topped the transport and logistics category.
The Young Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Rait Rebane, owner of K-Print, one of Estonia’s leading export-oriented printing companies specialising in packaging, labels, and marketing materials.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications presented special Enterprise Promotion Awards to two initiatives shaping Estonia’s innovation landscape: the KOBAR innovation hub in Pärnu County, which connects business, academia, and civic initiatives, and kood/Jõhvi, a programming school fostering the next generation of tech talent.
A legacy of excellence
The Company of the Year award carries significant weight. Of the 29 companies honoured since 1995, only one has closed — textile manufacturer Kreenholm, which went bankrupt in 2010. The remaining winners collectively employed 17,000 people last year and generated €3.4 billion in revenue, with nearly €200M in profits.
Past winners include telecommunications giant Telia Eesti (then Eesti Telefon) in 1995, shipping company Tallink Grupp in 2007, and industrial automation specialist Harju Elekter in 2024. Only one company, Viisnurk, has claimed the prize twice.
