BLOG
For the sixth year in a row, the Estonian Startup Awards is celebrating the success of the Estonian startup ecosystem and the people arond it! This time, we’re seeking nominees in 11 impactful categories the - vectors and trends that have stood out the most! The nomination form is open for all until December 13, 2024. The winners will be announced at the annual Estonian Startup Awards Gala on January 23, 2025!
The gala for Estonian Startup Awards 2022 took place on January 27, 2023. Almost 500 startuppers and impact makers gathered at The Glass Hall of the Song Festival Grounds to officially wrap up 2022 and celebrate the biggest wins of the year. Here are the biggest takeaways from the year, inspiring words from the winners, and the full list of all the nominees.
Siim Alatalu, CR14’s CEO shares professional insights from the frontlines of their booming startup sector - defence and security tech - with continued funding and growth predicted for 2023. On January 27, CR14 is taking the stage at Estonian Startup Awards to present the Defence and Security Tech of the Year award. Thank you for the hard work and the support, CR14!
Sunly is a hardware-led startup that is building a renewable energy platform, developing new solutions, and investing in fresh technologies that can boost our region’s energy transition. Their investment radar includes young startups whose clever ideas need a boost. In 2023, Sunly’s team is also boosting the success of the Estonian Startup Awards!
Besides building the world’s fastest-growing SaaS company with a super diverse team from 80+ countries, Deel is also dedicated to boosting the Estonian startup ecosystem - in 2023, they are supporting the success of the Estonian Startup Awards 2022. How was 2022 and what do they predict for the Estonian startup scene in 2023?
Swedbank, the largest bank in Estonia, has taken on a mission to help Estonian startups succeed. Their support of the ecosystem strategically covers the full lifecycle of a startup - from cool cooperations with early-stage founders, to partnering with community-leading organizations, Swedbank’s resources are channeled far and wide. In the upcoming quarter, you can find Swedbank’s team at sTARTup Day and the Estonian Startup Awards 2022.
Estonian Startup Awards 2021 gala took place on January 21, 2022. Over 300 startuppers and impact makers of the sector gathered at Vaba Lava to officially wrap up 2021 and celebrate the biggest wins of the year. Most noteworthily, 8 award trophies found a new home - scroll down to see the FULL SHORTLISTS and WINNERS of Estonian Startup Awards 2021.
Estonian Startup Awards 2020 took place on January 14, 2021, to officially wrap up the past year and celebrate the most outstanding achievements of Estonian startups. If you want to know who made it to the shortlist of Estonian Startup Awards 2020 and who took home the prizes in our 9 categories, you are in the right place. Sit back, settle down, here we go!
Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019 recognized the most impactful activists and fastest-growing Ukrainian startups in 9 categories. Whom did the community nominate, who won, and what does it mean for Ukrainian startup ecosystem for 2020? Read all about what happened at the awards ceremony at LIFT99 Kyiv Hub on January 24th, 2020!
15 startups on the Wall of Fame are marking the beginning of a new chapter for the Ukrainian startup ecosystem. Among the locomotives is a widely-known unicorn Grammarly, which raised $90M in 2019. Readdle with their 100M product downloads. And People.ai, which raised $60M with a valuation at about $500M. Who else is on the Wall and is there landscape for the next unicorn?
Ukrainian startups are the heroes of this story. They are the ones creating massive opportunities for themselves, and if they succeed, for the whole country in general. That’s why we’ve created a list of 400+ Ukrainian startups - to gather into one place the core of the Ukrainian startup ecosystem, the most important ingredient, the startups themselves.
Raising your first round might seem like a mission impossible. Raimonds Kulbergs has put together a list of the most active Estonian angel investors, including their investment focus and ticket size. May this be a piece of the starter-kit for all the young founders out there… so they wouldn’t “half-ass through the process”. Like Raimonds did.
Yuriy believes that if you don't have any high level professional experience, you can’t build a great company – unless you are a true prodigy. The idea for AXDRAFT is based on some real struggles he was facing as one of the top lawyers in Ukraine, the same unnecessary hassle that all lawyers experience daily. His idea took off and today he’s a YC graduate, sharing his story and practical tips with others founders, in person, via our Salto network, and in Ukraine in general.
The morning after the LIFT99 Kyiv Hub TAKEOFF – the grand opening party of our Kyiv hub – a message popped up on our team’s Slack channel: “Guys, did anyone go on the roof last night?”. After long silence another message popped up: “Well, there might have been around 20 people on the roof... including some famous journalist, some hot shot investors, and startup founders. Oopsy daisy!”
Yes, Houston, we had a party!
![Ukraine's Top 15 Startups Launching the Wall of Fame [2019]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e0ec65b1ffb652c49849db/1572097928331-HDCOLCYKN4LPPYHS91TV/OG_20191024_286511_Small.jpg)
