The annual overview by Kadri Barclay & Ragnar Sass
On the night of January 23, 2025, the 6th edition of Estonian Startup Awards once again gathered over 400 founders and community-activists to the Nobel hall in Noblessner. The awards were presented in a record number of categories - a total of 11 - and while 2024 was a challenging year, the wealthy selection of nominees running for the buzzing trophies this year undoubtedly demonstrated the ongoing vitality of the Estonian startup sector. Read on to find out who were the 90+ nominees shortlisted this year, and more importantly - who took home the awards!
If you’re hungry for more photos, head here for the full gallery.
Or travel back in time with the official aftermovie.
The five main categories for 2024 were Newcomer of the Year, Investor of the Year, Founder of the Year, Revenue Hack of the Year and Giving Back Powerhouse of the Year. The special categories recognized the Estonian startups that focus on solving important global problems, operating in the fields of Deep Tech, Green Tech and Defence Tech. In addition, the best performers in the fast-growing fields of Fin Tech, Hardware and SaaS were also recognized.
As traditional, the nomination round kicked off in November 2024. The first record of the year was already set when the community presented 311 names to be considered for the awards. After careful consideration, 91 candidates made it to the shortlist and were listed across 11 categories of Estonian Startup Awards 2024. We’re immensly grateful for the efforts of our jury - the 222 founders (thanks to the collaborative efforts of Estonian Founders Society and Startup Estonia) who cast a vote, thus helping to determine the winners in each category. Because who else would know better what it takes to lead a startup to success than a fellow founder!
2024 - The Year of Grit, Defence and Standing Together …and Maybe Placing a Bet on the Next Unicorn!?
So what happened in 2024? Frankenburg and Defsecintel Solutions took home 4 prizes out of 11 - it was clearly the year for Defence Tech to shine. Lightyear might just be the next unicorn. And despite a tough year, the community in general is on a great course!
1.THE TOP DID NOT SLOW DOWN IN 2024
Market sentiment seems to be that 2024 was a bad year. But, we don’t fully agree. We had more categories than ever (11!). We had more names nominated than ever (311!). We had more jury members (founders!) voting than last year… the top startups are still very much active. And certain sectors (Defence Tech and Deep Tech) are demonstrating great buzz when it comes to newcomers! The hard work for the past years within time and research heavy sectors is finally starting to pay off.
Yes, 6% of officially registered startups in Estonia died in 2024. But as co-organizers of the annual awards, we see that the selection of nominees to choose from was escpecially rich this year. And the choice of casting a vote was challenging (4-5 close runner-ups, at times) - demonstrating that the sector is very much alive! It’s still busy in the top! That’s also represented in the statistic of what the startup sector keeps contributing to the Estonian economy (via taxes and GDP, for example).
2. ESTONIA: THE cradle OF DEFENCE TECH
The biggest winner of the Estonian Startup Awards 2024 was the Defence Tech ecosystem - Frankenburg and Defsecintel Solutions received 4 wins out of the 11 categories, including the Newcomer and the Revenue Hack. And frankly - this is well deserved.
Frankenburg has been moving with real rocket speed, reaching to the top of Europe in 12 months. The Newcomer of the decade. Analysts have started to compare the company with Helsing Ai and Quantum Systems - the high league of Europe.
And Defsecintel - the Revenue Hack of the Year 2024 - hit $40+ M in revenue last year, doubling the team in 12 months! Just a few years ago, the defence sector was the biggest underdog, with less than 10 startups. Now - in just 12 months - this mission-driven sector has grown to 100+ companies.
Investors in EU are talking of two major DefenceTech hubs in whole Europe — München and Tallinn. Foreign founders, not just from AU, are seeking to locate to Estonia to build their DefenceTech company. Just yesterday, Estonian government launched €100M Estonian Defence Tech fund - the first in the EU with a focus on real military products (which is seeking to make its first investments in the next coming months). And we need to keep on investing billions to stay on top of regional security.
3. Betting on FUTURE UNICORNS
We think the next Estonian unicorn has been born already. And we’d place bets that it’s in FinTech or a Defence Tech.
2024 showed that defence startups can grow incredibly fast. And the need (and funds!) for more growth are there. It’s a just question of time until one of them rises high enough. The Newcomer of the Year and the Revenue Hack of the Year are solid candidates, with Frankenburg possbily taking the lead. Looking at the shortlists below, who else catches your eye?
The other star of this year’s awards is clearly Lightyear, taking home two prizes. “Lightyear arrived with the Biggest Bang in 2021 by growing from just an idea to raising €10M across 2 rounds, and already landing in the UK market with their app and a team of 19 superstars. Mic drop,” we wrote in 2022. Mihkel and Martin have been in the shortlisted for the Founder of the Year every. single. time. since their launch. They stand out. And our bet is that they’ll make it.
4. GRITTIEST FOUNDERS FOLLOW UNTRADTITIONAL FUNDING MODELS and cycles
Modash is an amazing example grit and ingenuity. “Avery Schrader’s Modash was struggling to grow for years, floating three steps away from oblivion, but finally turned profitable, finishing the year with €2M in revenue in Q4, and raising a seed round of $2M in 2022,” we stated in 2023 as Avery won the Foreign Founder title. He had years between rounds, bouncing back stronger each time.
Those who’ve survived the challenging years, have obviously put in the work in the meanwhile. It made them stronger. Modash (and others, like Qminder, Patchstack, and Certific) are proof that focusing on improving the product itself pays off. The moldbreakers are proving that a startup does not have to raise a round each year.
2024 was the break of a trend. The investment market is coming back to life and there are deals being struck (many unannounced) the likes of which we did not see in 2023. Many new rounds are about to be announced in the next 2-3 months.
5. The new wave from THE INVESTOR Community
The investor-community has entered a new era. Frankly, for years it’s been a challenge to find strong female investors (or any new faces, really) to be included in the shortlist for the Investor of the Year. But it’s a new era! We were proud to see Helery Pops win the category last time. Kaari, Linda and Sille have taken a solid stand in leading the local VC scene. If this is the trend, we’re very excited for the upcoming years!
On that note: we all know the success metric of female founders, statistically beating male-led companies. While investments across the world into female-led startups were on the decline around the world in 2024 - maybe our ecosystem could take on the challenge to lead the change? The shortlisted nominations in the Founder of the Year category already landed very close to the 50-50 ratio is this regard. Our community rocks!
6. we. all. need. GREENTECH.
Green Tech funds are closing. The GreenTech of 2023 closed doors. The word is there are not enough fresh ideas. But - there are new rounds to be announced in 2025, dealings behind the curtains at the moment, which demonstrate that this vertical can still raise rounds! Let’s come back to this at the next awards’ summary, shall we!
The bottom line is, that we desperately need clean and sustainable solutions. Winning the war matters. Absolutely. But once we’ve won, we still need to live on this Earth - let’s hope there is an Earth to come back to. We all need GreenTech to remain a trend!
It was great to see the public disussion around sustainability evolve in 2024 beyond offsetting the CO2 footprint. We need a real change. In our mindsets. In our practices. In our solutions. We need innovation in Green Tech! Fun fact - three of the GreenTech nominees are in the business of packaging (KIUD, RAIKU, and Woola)
7. ON THE RIGHT PATH WITH DEEP TECH
“500 deep tech startups by 2030”. That’s the goal. While SaaS has been the favourite niche of Estonians for decades, this year’s shortlists show a trend of Deep Techs emerging strong (next to DefenceTech, ofcourse). In short, verticals that require time, patience and resources to succeed. It’s amazing to see those starutps finally reach a stage where we can talk about their deeds and achievements! What a milestone for a small country!
Bolt stayed away from the investment scene in 2024 (so naturally, we broke no new records). But DeepTech did great - Starship, Elcogen, ÄIO and Stargate Hydrogen all raised millions! And fun fact: the winner of the Deep Tech category is not in Defence Tech. Gscan’s technology detects objects and chemical changes up to 10 metres deep in critical infrastructure.
8. STILL TIGHT-KNIT
We probably had the biggest competition yet in the Giving Back Powerhouse category! And what’s more - the votes were distributed remarkably evenly! That’s a huge praise for our community.
Another win for the community is that none of the nominees are a one-hit-wonder. They all aim for a long-lasting impact. Taavi and the HK Unicorn Squad are changing the lives and mindsets of generations. This is the only way to build an impactful community - when we all contribute and think of the long-term results, aiming for a lasting change for the better.
The next generation is now emerging, hungry for action. The Hardware of the Year was presented by Karolin, a 15 year old startup founder and a member of Vivita who is tackling the issue of spece debris - she founded her company at just 12 years old and has built a real prototype by now. The Gen Z founders have formed a community of their own. Rasmus Merirand is a 18 year old who has joined the LIFT99 community and is currently leading Dobu, a startup creating innovation in the real estate world.
2024 might have been a year of survival for many. But hard times give way to some of the most amazing solutions. Considering this, the future seems quite bright.
Here They Are - The Winners and the Nominees of Estonian Startup Awards 2024
CATEGORY 1
The Newcomer of the Year 2024 - Frankenburg Technologies
A truly inspiring newcomer who launched their product in 2024. They've got the passion, the drive and all the potential to be the fastest-rising star in the next year or two.. and maybe even become the future Founder of the Year?
WINNER: Frankenburg Technologies
II PLACE: Salesforge
III PLACE: Elnora AI
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) Askel.ai
Askel.ai lets SaaS products add AI-driven automation with minimal engineering lift, enabling their end users to streamline repetitive tasks using everyday language. In 2024, they assembled a strong team, started development, secured a €380K pre-seed round from SuperAngel (and angel investors like Ott Kaukver, Janer Gorohhov, Andres Kitter and Mark Gilbert), launched with their first customer in Spain, proving Askel.ai’s product benefits and global potential. These milestones highlight the mission to simplify automation for end-users and all products.
B) Elnora AI
Elnora AI is building a 'negative' dataset to improve drug target identification and validation, helping pharmaceutical and biotech companies avoid repeating mistakes and reduce the current 90% failure rate in drug discovery. In 2024, grew 0 to 6 employees; launched MVP in pilot; raised €350K from angels, VCs and grants; expanded to Lithuania and US market, and secured Altitude Lab as first partnership in US market; won Plug and Play accelerator and secured a spot in their flagship GOAL program in Silicon Valley; took LinkedIn by storm and increased company's followers from 0 to 1,800; pitched 7 times on stage across Europe in semi- and finals. The biggest traction is that the number one techbio company in the world, Recursion, accepted Elnora into their startup program. Their CEO and co-founder Chris Gibson awarded Carmen a fellowship to continue building Elnora AI with his support. The fellowship includes a grant plus personal mentorship. With the world's leading company in our specific field selecting Elnora as the only fellow and describing it as "it's genius, I want to help out," this represents the best possible traction at the current stage.
Farsight Vision helps to create 3D maps of trenches for defence forces in Ukraine. Within 2024, the company grew to 25 people, in the country at war, with initially no additional resources than a handful of software, CV and hardware enthusiasts. Farsight Vision offers a unique Digital Twin creation platform with its own hardware, which allows users to compute on edge in GNSS-denied environment in radio silence conditions, with added value of objects and anomalies detection within the Digital Twins. Farsight Vision has raised €770K over pre-seed and seed rounds, launched several products in February, July and October 2024, and is active in Ukraine, Baltic States and the UK. In 2024, Farsight Vision served over 170 units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and has over 12 TB of data processed on their platform, generating around €67K in revenue. Farsight Vision received a grant from BRAVE1 in the last quarter of 2024, to support R&D efforts and the development of a new product.
Frankenburg is a defence company built to defend Europe and equip the free world with the technology to win the war. They are proudly single-use and heavily mission-oriented. Their missile systems are designed to intercept and neutralise 99% of UAV threats, and with that, they have created a totally new category in the military industry: affordable, mass-manufactured drones with a total addressable market of millions of units per year. With their unique design and manufacturing principles, they reduce the price of current air defence missiles by 90% and manufacture them in quantities hundreds of times larger. Providing affordable mass in warfighting is the only industrial way the free world can preserve its peace and prosperity. Frankenburg has attracted healthy seed funding from leading industry partners and, within a few months, expanded its team to 40 world-class specialists. It has also extended its business operations to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, most recently, the UK.
E) Glassity
In 2024, Glassity launched a collaborative end-to-end platform for cloud waste discovery and actionable remediation, empowering Cloud FinOps and CCoE teams to achieve sustainable cost-efficiency in large cloud data centres. In 2024, Glassity raised €598k in Pre-Seed funding, achieved ISO 27001 certification, expanded sales across the EU and the USA and introduced an initiative aimed at reducing the financial burden of cloud costs for NPOs dedicated to aiding those in need. Over the year, they generated nearly €200K in revenue and saved their customers over €200K in cloud costs.
F) HIMERA
HIMERA is a developer and manufacturer of communication systems for the Defense Forces. HIMERA’s solutions are battlefield-ready and used in Ukraine's hottest defensive and offensive operations. HIMERA has raised over $1,2M, launched a new product (HIMERA G1 PRO) in July 2024, and made its first international sales in October 2024. HIMERA has over 5K users within all types of units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, with the number continuing to grow. The US Air Force and US Special Operations Forces have validated HIMERA’s solutions.
G) Raw Edge
Raw Edge, a TalTech spin-off, combines deep tech and sustainability to offer way better alternatives to ultra-processed foods. They create food with live bacteria, that are naturally nutritious, disease-preventive, environmentally friendly, and delicious - perfect for every day. But it’s all about the tech - expanding using licensing and regional partnerships, using local ingredients and short supply chains. In 2024, the first full year, they upcycled over 9,000 kg of surplus carrots and generated €80,000 in revenue (Jan–Nov), all while remaining fully bootstrapped. Pre-seed round starts in early 2025.
H) Salesforge
In 2024, Salesforge grew from just 3 co-founders to a team of 30. Salesforge blends humans and AI agents to maximize sales pipeline coverage and reduce costs in acquiring new revenue by up to 60%. In 2024, they have grown customer count from 50 to nearly 2K, built 4 new products growing the company to $3M ARR, which is 41X growth. Company's overall revenue has increased close to 100X YoY and only raising $500K even though being always profitable. Recognized in 2024 as one of the top startups in the Baltics by Latitude59, TechChill, and Startup World Cup.
I) Wundamental
Wundamental's results-driven AI analytics for business coaching helps companies bridge the gap between KPIs and leadership reality. Launched in 2024, it has already achieved €50K ARR with €173K committed for 2025. Their context-relevant AI analytics models, developed with PhD Jaan Aru's neuro and AI science team, identify patterns, blindspots and bring measurable precision to traditional business coaching that was previously impossible. Actual results, like helping a SaaS company recover from a 25% market drop-off to new growth in just 1.5 months, have earned Wundamental a 9.2/10 client recommendation score.
J) Lendurai
Lendurai builds autonomous drones for the defence sector. The company has second time founders and industry proven world class AI team which allowed them to roll out the first product within 6 month after establishment in February 2024. The product has successfully passed end user tests in Estonia and has gone through battle tests in Ukraine. The users have been impressed, which has led to the first sales being around €200K. The team has a backing of leading defence angels and VCs from Estonia, the UK and the US who participated in a €570K pre-seed round.
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CATEGORY 2
The Revenue Hack of the Year 2024 - DefSecIntel Solutions
In 2024, startups are still the turbo-fuelled jet packs of our economy. The sector’s turnover increased by 11%, while the rest of the market cooled down by 4%. In this category, we’re not only looking for the biggest revenue-builders, but also the ones who inspired you the most - the startups with resilience and creativity.
WINNER: DefSecIntel Solutions
II PLACE: Modash
III PLACE: Katana
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE REVENUE HACK OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) Bob W
Bob W, Europe’s fastest-growing hospitality operator, solidified its position in 2024 as a market leader in tech-powered, design-led, and sustainable hospitality. Operating 45 aparthotels across 18 cities in 10 countries, including their latest launch in Munich, they deliver exceptional stays powered by proprietary technology developed in Tallinn. Their portfolio expanded to over 4,000 apartments across Europe, highlighted by recent flagship openings like Tallinn Kesklinn in the Arter Quarter. Revenues grew 85% to €45M, and they achieved group-level profitability. Bob W remains Europe’s best-rated international "hotel chain" based on public reviews. With just 1/7th of staff on-site compared to traditional hotels, enabled by their tech, they aim to double revenues again in 2025, redefining hospitality for the next generation of travelers.
An Estonian DefenceTech powerhouse, developing and producing cutting-edge AI-powered mobile autonomous surveillance and air defence systems for defence and border security. In 2024, they achieved remarkable milestones: skyrocketing revenue from €7M (2022) to €40M, doubled the team to over 85 in Estonia, opened a new factory in Estonia (in addition to factory and R&D/maintenance Hub in Kyiv with 30 people), and launched a new product - C-UAS/ ultra-short-range air defence system EIRSHIELD. Awarded a PPA contract to protect EE/EU Eastern border, delivered CUAS systems to Germany and continues to provide their systems to Ukraine to win the war against Ruzzian agression. Also, recognized by Estonian government as the TOP Innovator, TOP Exporter, and DefenceTech leader; they proudly dominate Defence and DeepTech exports and revenue.
C) Katana
Katana's platform acts as a system of records for 1500 paying SMBs globally, using Katana for all their purchasing, manufacturing, order management, inventory management, and warehouse management needs. Katana ensures the customers can deliver the right product to the right customer at the right time, and avoid overstocking and stockouts. In addition to their own product functionality, they enable the best-of-breed tech stack via integrations with Shopify, Hubspot, Quickbooks etc. Katana is successfully competing against the likes of Netsuite and grabbing market share from the incumbents, going after the largest TAM in the world - the cloud ERP market of $220B. Katana has a team of 145 people, customers from 70 different countries, and 75% of their revenue is from the US and Canada. They process $2.5B of sales order value annually and $4.5M sales orders annually. Katana ended the year 2024 at $10.5M ARR, growing 60% compared to 2023.
D) Modash
Modash helps thousands of brands build successful partnerships with content creators. In 2024, the Modash team raised a $12,000,000 Series A round, launched 4 new products, added 30 employees and opened their Toronto office. Modash is proud to have paid out millions of dollars to small creators all over the world - 5x more than previous year. Doing it while default alive and ARR tracking to €10M+ in 2025. "The goal is clear," says the CEO, Avery Schrader, "we've always done well at getting better every day, but we've learned to have a very disciplined plan to reach a very specific destination."
E) Montonio
As a leading payments and shipping solutions platform for e-commerce in Estonia, Montonio supports over 8,000 e-commerce stores across the Baltics and Poland. In August 2024, the company embarked on a new chapter as Markus Lember passed the CEO baton to Johan Nord, ensuring a seamless transition to drive accelerated revenue and growth. In 2024, Montonio achieved remarkable milestones, raising over €5M by extending its 2022 series A of €11M, […], and increasing its MRR by 147%, driven by strategic partnerships and product launches. Thousands of merchants and millions of users rely on Montonio’s ever-evolving and innovative services, reinforcing its position as a FinTech leader in the Baltics while expanding rapidly in Poland.
F) Pactum AI
Pactum AI is Europe’s leading AI Agent company. Agents are growing enterprises autonomously. Key highlights of 2024 include: Kaspar Korjus became CEO; new leadership team; 100 employees; 51 enterprises onboarded (avg. revenue $26B); 5x managed volume; 2.6x ARR growth; $12M TCV bookings. Pactum AI is years ahead of the competition.
G) Salesforge
In 2024, Salesforge grew from just 3 co-founders to a team of 30. Salesforge blends humans and AI agents to maximize sales pipeline coverage and reduce costs in acquiring new revenue by up to 60%. In 2024, they have grown customer count from 50 to nearly 2K, built 4 new products growing the company to $3M ARR, which is 41X growth. Company's overall revenue has increased close to 100X YoY and only raising $500K even though being always profitable. Recognized in 2024 as one of the top startups in the Baltics by Latitude59, TechChill, and Startup World Cup.
H) VOOL
VOOL offers a unique EV charging and energy management platform with dedicated hardware, which allows users to charge up to 3x more EVs using the same existing power grid. In 2024, VOOL entered 8 markets and grew revenue 9x to €2.7M euros. For 2025, VOOL already has 9 000 chargers in the order book, almost double of what was sold the previous year.
I) Wallester
Wallester is a licensed financial institution and official Visa partner. They offers two top-tier business solutions: Wallester Business optimizes financial processes and card payment management, while the White Label enables companies to launch their own branded card programs. 2024 marked phenomenal growth for Wallester: transaction volumes exceeded €600M (YoY growth: +149%), which accounted for 83% of the total transaction volume in Estonia during the first half of the year. Unaudited revenue reached €17.2M (86.96% YoY increase). By the end of 2024, Wallester had issued over 2.5M cards, serving x active clients. Total volume of payment transactions in 2024: €589M (vs €236M in 2023). A team of 140 people in 4 offices, located in Estonia, France, the UK, and Latvia (the latter of which was opened in Oct 2024).
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CATEGORY 3
The Investor of the Year 2024 - Taavet Hinrikus
The best investors are team-players, gate-openers, and bridge-builders. They give meaning to the phrase “smart money”. PS. Made at least 3 investments in 2024.
WINNER: Taavet Hinrikus - Plural / Skaala
II PLACE: Siim Teller - Lemonade Stand
III PLACE: Kaari Kink - Superangel
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE INVESTOR OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) Herty Tammo - 2C Ventures
An ex-president of the Estonian Founders Society and a co-founder of Startup Wise Guys. Over the past 11 years, the team of Startup Wise Guys has invested in 400+ startups, resulting in 15 successful exits across Europe and Africa. Currently, Herty is spearheading new initiatives at Startup Wise Guys. He is also a founding partner of 2C Ventures: investments through 2C Ventures are typically in pre seed round, with €100-250K tickets.
B) Kaari Kink - Superangel
In 2024, the focus was on ambitious teams who build unique technology with high impact that advances the world around us. Interacted more closely with over 100 founding teams from Estonia, the Baltics and the Nordic countries. Since Superangel's investment path is broad, Kaari’s attention was attracted by startups whose existence have a clear “why now”. 3 investments in Estonian or Estonian-led companies and another transaction was supported: Nanordica (led with Kärt Siilats on behalf of Superangel. Total round €1.75M, co-investors were Specialist VC, Amalfi and Estban), Askel.ai (Superangel was the lead investor), undisclosed deal x (Estonian founder and CEO), undisclosed deal x, Pactum (supported Superangel’s investment in the $20M Series B round).
C) Linda Võeras - Karma Ventures
Karma invests in early-stage DeepTech software in the seed and A-round phases. In 2024, they invested in Pactum, Patchstack, Tuum (follow-up investment in B-round). Personally, Linda participated in the supervisory boards of two portfolio companies (helping to carry them through the difficult 2024), supported the rest of the portfolio in raising follow-on investments (with growth-stage funds from UK / US / German / French) and in recruiting top managers (being a former top manager recruiter for international companies), reviewed over 200 new companies during the year (almost a quarter of them from Estonia). She also supports Tehnopol, NATO Diana and Ready2Scale programs, mentoring early-stage startups. In her personal time, she shares her experiences and gives young entrepreneurs access to her international network and knowledge.
D) Rait Ojasaar - Change Ventures
In 2024, Rait's investment strategy became even more founder-centric. Years of experience have shown that prioritizing markets and products over founders often leads to mistakes. Great founders almost always find a way. His special quest is to spot founders who may have been overlooked or unfairly dismissed by other investors. Rait embraces risk rather than playing it safe: "My core belief is that I serve founders, not the other way around". Industry-wise, Rait remains agnostic, focusing on outstanding founders. His investments in 2024 include: Certific (HealthTech, streamlining admin for family doctors) and Spindl (next-gen restaurant ops system) in pre-seed round; follow-on investments include adding €1M to 99math’s late-seed round and ~€2M to Modash’s Series A. 10+ investments made in total in 2024.
E) Rauno Miljand - Metaplanet
Through Metaplanet, Rauno invests in pro-social technologies that benefit the humanity in the long run. Most funding has gone to deep tech that promises lasting positive impact; an ideal investment enables that on societal and civilizational scale. 2024 was reasonably active. Most of the work with founders did not yield necessarily an investment round, but nevertheless, during the year, Rauno covered 36 transaction, primarily follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies (e.g. Anthropic, Astranis, Zama), but also made 6 new investments, primarily AI-adapted companies (eg xAI, Answer, FutureSearch) and had 7 (positive sum) exits. Out of local (or semi-local) companies, in 2024 Metaplanet backed Starship, Qminder, Kingdom and Oura.
F) Riivo Anton - Specialist VC
Riivo Anton is a founding partner at Specialist VC, a VC firm covering the Baltics and beyond. Specialist VC is a sector agnostic investor focusing on primary opportunities in pre-seed to Series A and secondary transactions into post Series A companies. At Specialist VC, 2024 was a busy year with more than €8M invested. They made 6 new investments and 16 follow-on tickets. Among others, our investments in Estonia included Nanordica, Miros, Sera Leads, Patchstack, Montonio and Flowstep.
G) Siim Teller - Lemonade Stand
In 2024, Siim's focus was on working with portfolio companies but that didn’t stop him from making a few new investments. Out of the 6 new investments, 4 were pre-revenue, and 4 were led by Estonian founders (the other two in Lithuania and Poland). 2 of the new investments hit the “hot” theme of defence - Krattworks and Lendurai. He also backed Esgrid and one unannounced startup in Estonia. 2 investments were into the sustainable energy sector (Soldera, Enzum) which is an important theme in Lemonade Stand's portfolio. Siim also made 9 follow-on investments into existing portfolio companies.
H) Sille Pettai - SmartCap
In 2024, SmartCap invested €15.2M in startups, inlcuding: Up Catalyst (follow-on), Fractory, ÄIO, plus 4 undisclosed and confidential GreenTech deals. On top of that, they also invested €35M in VC funds to provide indirect funding to Estonian startups, and invested in 2C Ventures Fund I, Plural Fund II and Antler Nordic Fund II. Her special focus in 2024 was GreenTech - managing Estonia-focused €100M GreenTech fund during its active investment period requires non-stop deal sourcing and discipline in portfolio construction, which would describe year 2024 very well. Sille represents SmartCap as a multi-asset investor, so as a nominee, she wishes to share the spotlight with the rest of her team: "No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it."
I) Taavet Hinrikus - Plural / Skaala
In 2024, Plural raised their fund II of €500M and continued investing in the most ambitious European founders. Plural led the $90M funding round for Estonian robodelivery company Starship. Besides Plural related activities, Taavet's team branded the Estonian Taavet+Sten partnership as Skaala - an independent investment company focused on long-term value. Contrary to Plural, Skaala invested in lots of "bricks and mortar" this year - they took part in the Kristiine keskus buyout and started with Krulli Kvartal redevelopment. Lastly, Taavet continued investing and supporting the kood/Jõhvi coding school which is now exporting its solution to Finland (and more news to come this year).
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CATEGORY 4
The Giving Back Powerhouse of the Year 2024 - Taavi Kotka
Passion, dedication, humility, impact. An organization, event or person who gives without asking, their contribution undoubtedly has made the Estonian startup ecosystem stronger in 2024.
WINNER: Taavi Kotka
II PLACE: Allan Martinson
III PLACE: DefenceTech Meetup
III PLACE: Sten Tamkivi
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Giving back powerhouse OF THE YEAR 2024:
In early 2024, Allan Martinson was elected as the president of the Estonian Founders Society. The organization just had its most active year, both in terms of community and state. The startup sector has grown to 2,200 companies (contributing >3% to Estonia's GDP), the role of Founders Society in promoting the sector has increased. The 240 members represent ca. 70% of the economic impact of the tech sector! As a president, Allan prioritizes good cooperation with the state and politicians in all aspects, including economic recovery and pilot industry: “We were one of the important forces behind the launch of the Defence Fund”. During his term, quite a few messes were prevented, such as tightening the screws on the Aliens Act or taxing company balance sheets. As an entrepreneur, Allan joined the management team of one of the most exciting defence tech companies in Europe. He is most proud of the significant breakthrough in the Estonian defense tech sector in 2024, in terms of the creation of new companies, growth of the sector, investments, and state contribution. Allan has been a tech executive, entrepreneur and investor for over 30 years.
B) Creative Destruction Lab Estonia
Creative Destruction Lab is a global mentorship program for deep tech startups. It's impact driven, taking no equity or fees from participating startups. In Estonia, the program focuses on Digital Society, Freedom and Defence technologies, fostering technologies that help enhance strategic deterrence, cyber security and digital health. CDL also hosts MBA courses on startup evaluation and due diligence, apprentice programs for high school girls, and strategic round tables on defence, e-governance and digital health. In 2024, they had a strategic collaboration with Tallinn Digital Summit to co-host a number of international guests and speakers and with Startup Estonia on the Nordic Tech Valley project. Over the three cohorts, CDL has helped 60 startups from Estonia, Nordics, Europe and North America.
In 2024, the Estonian Founders Society hosted five DefenceTech meetups with the goal of driving innovation in the DefenceTech industry and bolstering Estonia's defence capabilities. These gatherings united tech entrepreneurs, investors, government officials, fostering the creation of new defence startups and attracting investments to existing companies.
In 6 years, Empowering Women has empowered 900 women across Ukraine and Estonia to start their entrepreneurial path, and mediated €450K of startup grants. In Estonia, the initiative has welcomed a total of 90 Ukrainian war refugees - women from the Russian-speaking communities and Estonian-speakers working side by side. In Ukraine, they continue working with women living near the war frontline, who are internally displaced, and who keep building businesses with relentless resilience in the ongoing war. Transferring the knowledge of building startups outside the sector and forming strong and meaningful partnerships has proven to be an effective approach for empowering women as entrepreneurs across various sectors, even in very challenging conditions. The Empowering Women Estonia program is co-organized by Garage48, Estonian Refugee Council and Swedbank, in partnership with Eesti Ettevõtlike Naiste Assotsiatsioon and OBJEKT, and with the co-funding of European Union and the Coca-Cola Foundation. The Empowering Women Ukraine program is co-organized by Garage48, Eesti Ettevõtlike Naiste Assotsiatsioon and Divergent Woman, with the support of ESTDEV.
E) Liisi Org
Latitude59 is growing global. Under the new slogan of "be bold and build the world you want", Estonia's leading startup and tech conference has proudly taken on the mission of making Estonia bigger, supporting startups on a whole new scale and building a "global village". In May 2024, the 12th edition of Latitude59 attracted 3,500 people from 65 countries; the Pitch Comp prize pool of €1M for two years in a row is unprecedented in the region. In October 2024, launched their first event in Singapore, bridging Estonia’s digital ecosystem with Southeast Asia’s tech hubs. In November 2024, organized a 2,000+ participant event in Kenya, connecting African and European ecosystems, and opening new paths for impact and tech to collide. "I’m proud of creating cross-border collaboration, promoting inclusivity, and most of all, strongly elevating Estonia as a global startup leader," says Liisi, Latitude59's CEO for the past 3 years. Besides leading Latitude59's action and vision, Liisi has also mentored startups and built communities, in Estonia and beyond. She is a passionate advocate of diversity and inclusivity, supporting accessibility for students and early-stage founders. As a frequent panelist and moderator at global conferences, she speaks up for impactful and sustainable growth for Estonia as well as global ecosystems.
Throughout 2024, Madis focused the majority of his time on helping others succeed, primarily by supporting founders in securing funding. This included crafting pitch decks, shaping storytelling, developing fundraising strategies, and building financial models. Over the past year, he worked closely and hands-on with 10+ startups and mentored 50+ more. To name a few that he is most proud of and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the successful funding rounds: Liis Narusk (Certific) and Rauno Rüngas (Qminder). To contribute further to the ecosystem, Madis took on the roles of sTARTUp Day's Program Manager and the Managing Director of EstVCA.
Markus is the co-founder and long-time CEO of Bolt, Europe's leading mobility company, building a better alternative to private car ownership for 200 million customers worldwide. In 2024, Bolt expanded into 13 new countries, surpassed €2B in annual revenue, hired hundreds of new badgers to the team, raised a €220M debt facility and continued improving profitability. In Estonia, Bolt is currently the 2nd biggest startup sector employer (with 1321 employees in Q3 2024) and the top contributor of employment taxes (€31.1M in Q3 2024). Over the years, Markus has become well-known as a supporter of various initiatives and a welcomed speaker at any event, to inspire the next generations with his personal story of becoming a founder and building one of the most profitable startups in the country. On a personal note, he adds: " I was happy to help accelerate the Estonian defence ecosystem by launching the community meetups with Ragnar and the Estonian Defence Fund with the government."
H) Rode Luhaäär
Rode is a speaker, lecturer, startup mentor and activist, known for advocating the startup mindset in the outlying regions of Estonia and uniting the communities outside of the big city buzz. He is dedicated to organizing events and hackathons, as well as spreading the startup mindset among aspiring young minds (Mainor, Torma Põhikool, and others). In 2024, he organised and hosted the Startup Inspiration event "AI bright future"; carried out the Startup training for Entrepreneurship Development Centre (Maakondlikud arenduskeskused) employees; organised local startup-minded meetups (where Iglucraft, Solarstone, Procommerce, Raamatuvahetus, and Eziil participated, to name a few); was an active member of Startup Estonia's Regional Development Expert group, counselling startups in the regions. He is one of the founders of the Viljandi Startup Community group, leading, mapping and uniting the movements in and around the town of Viljandi. He has mentored the DefenceTech startup Milmech and recently launched his own e-commerce platform startup. He is most proud of the Idekas idea hackaton: "It proved that there are local startups to be discovered outside of Tallinn and Tartu."
I) Sten Tamkivi
Sten Tamkivi is an entrepreneur turned investor. He spends most of his days investing hands-on in the most ambitious early-stage tech founders in Europe as a partner at Plural. Plural stands apart for its founders-backing-founders venture model, and deploys from €800M AUM of their funds to support the most ambitious founders and help them have GDP level impact on Europe. As a partner at Skaala (an investment company recently rebranded from Taavet+Sten partnership), Sten further invests across all kinds of asset classes beyond startups, including many projects in Social Impact category to advance Education, Entrepreneurship and Freedom. As part of their Entrepreneurship initiatives, Sten and Skaala have brought Creative Destruction Lab to Tartu as CDL-Estonia program that is now in its third year, helping ambitious deep tech companies break out of research phase to build something massive. Skaala's Education and Freedom related social impact investments help educate and defend Estonia broader to be a fertile ground for future world-changing startups. Since 2022, Skaala has already committed over €5M to social impact causes, beyond the time and network of their partners. Sten also occasionally engages in public discussions on creating a better startup environment in Estonia and Europe at large by writing in public and talking to the government decision makers around related policies. He has also served as the President of Estonian Founders Society for a number of years.
J) Taavi Kotka
HK Unicorn Squad started in 2018 with 17 brave girls from local villages. 2024 was special, because they now have more than 4000 girls in the system. This also means that in the age-group of 8-12 years olds in Estonia, there are now more girls than boys studying technology. It is still too early to say how this will influence the Estonian talent market 10 years from now, but at least the first step has been made. The second stage - Unicorn Squad PRO - is also growing. Together with Taltech, they have focused on 16-18 year old girls to influence their career choices by introducing detailed courses to understand what it really means to become a software engineer, electronical engineer, etc. And to show that these are perfect professions for girls. Currently more than 300 girls are studying wihtin the program. In 2024, they also partnered with Google, to translate their AI materials and to provide AI courses in the age group of 11-14 to all Estonian children if their school is interested in participating. They are the largest private sector supporter for Rakett69 TV show and Rakett69 science studios. The TV show is the most watched scientific competition in Estonia and their studios are the largest practical STEM experience providers in Estonia with more than 30,000 participants each year. Taavi continues covering the Estonian startup ecosystem in Restart / Ettemõte Podcast.
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CATEGORY 5
The GreenTech of the Year 2024 - Yaga
We only have one Earth. One home. The startups in this category know - and teach us all - that sustainability is the only way forward. A green startup can sprout from any sector.
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Greentech OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) ÄIO
ÄIO, founded in 2022 as a spin-off from TalTech, leverages yeast-based technology to upcycle low-cost side streams into sustainable oils and fats. Its products—Encapsulated Oil, RedOil, and Buttery Fat—are designed to replace conventional oils and fats in food, feed, cosmetics, and chemicals. Collaborating with 120+ partners worldwide, ÄIO secured €8M in grants and €7M in private investment in 2024. The team grew by 50%, built an automated R&D platform and pilot plant, started 10m³-scale production in Singapore, and began regulatory processes for food and cosmetics permits.
B) Arbonics
Arbonics is building the highest-quality nature based solutions to mitigate climate change by bringing together land-and forest-owners and companies who want to compensate for their carbon footprint. They use their advanced data platform to quickly assess land and decide where and which forests will grow with the biggest positive climate impact. 2024 was a busy year: having just closed a €5.5M round in the last weeks of 2023, they set out to tackle ambitious goals. The team expanded from 10 to almost 30 people; they launched a 2nd brand new product and saw incredible uptake - over 50 landowners signed up in a month (it took 3 months to reach that with their first product). They're live in 4 markets, have developed v2 of their integrated digital twin, and are planning further expansion in 2025.
C) eAgronom
eAgronom is revolutionizing agriculture by enabling net-zero food production while restoring soil health. Stopping farming might cut emissions, but it ignores the growing global food demand and worsening soil degradation. eAgronom addresses these challenges by mapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on farms and offering financial incentives, such as better grain prices, lower land rent, sustainable loans, and carbon credit income. These empower farmers to adopt sustainable practices profitably. Operating in 15 countries across Europe and Africa, eAgronom runs field trials in five countries, demonstrating sustainability locally. This strategy has doubled platform users, extending its reach to 2.5 million hectares globally.
D) Elcogen
Elcogen offers three products families for emission-free power and hydrogen production. 2024 was successful commercial year with global sales, new customers, and key project confirmations. With strategic investment from Baker Hughes, Elcogen raised €140M to advance R&D and manufacturing, with 14,000 m² state-of-the-art facilities under construction in Tallinn. It received an additional €24.9M EU Innovation Fund grant to scale efforts. Collaborations included a successful 2,000-hour electrolyser system test with partner Convion and projects with AVL and TNO to advance technology for industrial-scale hydrogen production. Partner Genvia secured a groundbreaking pilot contract with a steel giant to use their Elcogen-based electrolyser system for low-carbon steel production, demonstrating momentum for green hydrogen-based decarbonization.
E) KIUD
KIUD, founded in 2022, is revolutionizing sustainable packaging by transforming textile waste into reusable packaging with 82% less CO2 impact than cardboard. Bootstrapped from the start, KIUD has generated €180K in revenue and, in 2024, expanded into three new markets—Norway, Czech Republic, and France—finding a strong market fit in the Re-commerce sector. Their durable packaging, with a lifespan of at least 20 uses, enabled Norway’s largest telecom to cut packaging costs by 68% and reduce single-use waste by 80%. Supported by €160K from WomenTech EU and EIS grants, KIUD drives waste reduction and circular economy innovation globally.
F) RAIKU
RAIKU is the flagship CleanTech success story based in Estonia, but focused on global market, with produts in 20 countries. Its 100% natural and beautiful packaging material has brought collaborations with the largest and well-known brands in the world such as Louis Vuitton, Moet, Hennessy, etc; the company received a €8.8M deal by the European Innovation Council as a strategic technology for Europe and the world. At the end of 2024, RAIKU launched its first production module, reaching 50 brands around the world. RAIKU-s springs are taking over the globe, but more importantly - they cause no harm to nature after use, as the product becomes nutrients for soil..
G) Raw Edge
Raw Edge, a TalTech spin-off, combines deep tech and sustainability to offer way better alternatives to ultra-processed foods. They create food with live bacteria, that are naturally nutritious, disease-preventive, environmentally friendly, and delicious - perfect for every day. But it’s all about the tech - expanding using licensing and regional partnerships, using local ingredients and short supply chains. In 2024, the first full year, they upcycled over 9,000 kg of surplus carrots and generated €80,000 in revenue (Jan–Nov), all while remaining fully bootstrapped. Pre-seed round starts in early 2025.
H) UP Catalyst
UP Catalyst transforms industrial CO₂ emissions into low cost, high-quality and energy-efficient carbon materials for the electric vehicle batteries. In 2024, the company opened a state-of-the-art production facility in Maardu and first-of-a-kind battery lab in Tallinn, enabling in-house coin cell research and development. The company doubled its team to 41 employees, now representing 14 different nationalities. UP Catalyst also demonstrated strong market traction, securing MoUs valued at €4.4M. Furthermore, the company successfully raised a €2.3M seed extension round, obtained €4.7M in grant funding, and secured € x in financing from [..], underscoring its robust growth and market confidence.
I) VOOL
VOOL offers a unique EV charging and energy management platform with dedicated hardware, which allows users to charge up to 3x more EVs using the same existing power grid. In 2024, VOOL entered 8 markets and grew revenue 9x to €2.7M. For 2025, VOOL already has 9,000 chargers in the order book, almost double of what was sold last year.
J) Woola
In 2024, passed the milestone of 1.25 million wool envelopes sold (saving 128 tonnes of wool from going to waste and replacing 150,000 square metres of bubble wrap), and paid small-scale farmers €64,000 for wool (in total). The sales grew with LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy). Organized the first ever Startup Charity run that raised €60,000 from 32 participating teams (buying 3 Medical evacuation trucks for the Ukrainian army). Reached eNPS score 100. The team grew from 13 to 24 people, with 62% of managerial positions filled by women and 21% of workforce from chronically underemployed populations.
K) Yaga
Yaga is a marketplace for buying and selling secondhand fashion with a focus on Africa. In Africa, Yaga has a first mover advantage and 1B€ GMV potential. They strongly believe in the future of fashion resale, benefiting sellers, buyers, and the environment. More than 4M+ secondhand items have been sold on Yaga to date, meaning the same amount of items has been left unbought as new. As market leaders in Estonia and South Africa, Yaga recently expanded to Kenya. With a €40M+ annual GMV run-rate and a remarkable 100% YoY growth, they demonstrate high capital efficiency, having raised only €3.3M and maintaining profitability since May of 2024.
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CATEGORY 6
The SaaS of the Year 2024 - Katana
Estonians have always had a soft spot for SaaS models, promising a lucrative recurring revenue, potentially high margins, plus they’re attractive for acquisitions and investors alike. But it also makes the SaaS market highly competitive!
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Saas OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) Adact
Adact gamification marketing software has grown 100% every year for the past 4 years. In 2024, they reached profitability and continued to show constant and stable growth reaching € x ARR, with Q4 2024 being the most successful quarter yet. For 2025, they are aiming for € x ARR. Adact has 200+ clients from 19 different countries, from Cambodia and Kingdom of Bahrain to USA and Canada, while bootstrapping since 2022. Over 10 million players have participated in Adact campaigns, the company expects to reach 40M players globally in 2025.
B) Bidrento
Bidrento, backed by Morgan Stanley Bank, offers all-in-one rental property management software and tenant app, revolutionizing the real estate management industry. It serves landlords and property managers across 12 countries. In 2024, Bidrento was featured twice on the Nasdaq screen in Times Square and expanded into new markets: the UK, Spain, and Portugal. Bidrento doubled its revenue annually, achieving €430K in revenue for 2024. The team entered new markets, stayed profitable, doubled revenue, and gained global recognition through its growing customer base, Nasdaq appearances, and other awards.
C) Certific
Certific’s SaaS platform (Perearst24.ee in Estonia) automates patient intake and clinical communication. Remarkable growth in 2024, growing MRR by 770%—from €4,600 to €40,000 by year-end. In 2024, market penetration of 35% in Estonian primary care and made the platform accessible to 150 clinics and over 400K patients, digitizing primary care at an unprecedented pace. 0% churn and a demo-to-close conversion rate close to 70%. Passed a rigorous audit and secured reimbursement from the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, enabling even wider adoption. Became official vendors and signed contracts with three of the biggest pharmaceutical companies to convey prescription drug related information to clinical personnel. Signed pilot contracts with clinics in the US and South Africa. Restructured the cap table and revamped the leadership team by introducing three new co-founders. Secured additional funding of €700,000.
D) Katana
Katana's platform acts as a system of records for 1500 paying SMBs globally, using Katana for all their purchasing, manufacturing, order management, inventory management, and warehouse management needs. Katana ensures the customers can deliver the right product to the right customer at the right time, and avoid overstocking and stockouts. In addition to their own product functionality, they enable the best-of-breed tech stack via integrations with Shopify, Hubspot, Quickbooks etc. Katana is successfully competing against the likes of Netsuite and grabbing market share from the incumbents, going after the largest TAM in the world - the cloud ERP market of $220B. Katana has a team of 145 people, customers from 70 different countries, and 75% of their revenue is from the US and Canada. They process $2.5B of sales order value annually and $4.5M sales orders annually. Katana ended the year 2024 at $10.5M ARR, growing 60% compared to 2023.
E) Modash
Modash helps thousands of brands build successful partnerships with content creators. In 2024, the Modash team raised a $12,000,000 Series A round, launched 4 new products, added 30 employees and opened their Toronto office. Modash is proud to have paid out millions of dollars to small creators all over the world - 5x more than previous year. Doing it while default alive and ARR tracking to €10M+ in 2025. "The goal is clear," says the CEO, Avery Schrader, "we've always done well at getting better every day, but we've learned to have a very disciplined plan to reach a very specific destination."
Plausible Analytics is an easy to use, open source, lightweight and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics. Plausible is trusted by more than 14,800 paying subscribers and they've counted more than 100 billion pageviews to date. They're completely independent, self-funded and bootstrapped team of 10 people working remotely and flexibly.
G) Qminder
Qminder is a gritty CRM for in-person services. The startup took a huge hit during COVID: MAU and MRR dropped 93%, the team fell from 30 to 7. The CEO, Rauno Rüngas pulled off a high-stakes comeback in their 13th year by reviving the company to 50%+ YoY US MRR growth by sheer grit and achieving LTV/CAC ratio of 16 out of necessity. In 2023-2024, they raised their first $3M round in one of the harshest markets (with no AI angle), doubled the team size, while employee eNPS hit a jaw-dropping 96. They locked in strategic angels from all Estonian unicorns. PS. To challenge the stereotype that a founder's achievements need to come from a personal sacrifice, mental health, and social well-being: concurrently, Rauno completed his hunting, gun, boating, motorbike gov. licenses; he dabbled in kitesurfing, built a home, hit record OURA scores—and thus kept stress so invisible that his wife and friends never noticed that he was even fundraising.
H) Salesforge
In 2024, Salesforge grew from just 3 co-founders to a team of 30. Salesforge blends humans and AI agents to maximize sales pipeline coverage and reduce costs in acquiring new revenue by up to 60%. In 2024, they have grown customer count from 50 to nearly 2K, built 4 new products growing the company to $3M ARR, which is 41X growth. Company's overall revenue has increased close to 100X YoY and only raising $500K even though being always profitable. Recognized in 2024 as one of the top startups in the Baltics by Latitude59, TechChill, and Startup World Cup.
I) Veriff
Veriff is building infrastructure for trust online with a mission to make the internet a safer place. Without having trust online, we'll never see the full potential of the digital economy! So Veriff is paving the way for the critical infrastructure the internet needs, powering most globally renowned large tech companies and their end-users by doing hundreds of millions of verifications. Veriff is the fastest-growing company in the space, has a solid balance sheet, and focuses on profitable growth. Based on the ‘Rule of 40’ rule, the last two quarters have been north of 60 - growing 75% year-over-year in revenue, increasing customers by 60%, and more than tripling its volumes. The AI-driven era needs AI-driven verifications for all!
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CATEGORY 7
The DeepTech of the Year 2024 - GScan
By the end of Q3 2024, DeepTech companies contributed €42.7M in employment taxes, generated €232.5M in turnover, and employed 2,409 people locally, representing about 17% of all sector employees. In the first 9 months of 2024, DeepTech companies raised €198.7M - 66% of total sector investments.
WINNER: GScan
II PLACE: Frankenburg Technologies
III PLACE: DefSecIntel Solutions
III PLACE: Nanordica Medical
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Deeptech OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) 7Sense
7Sense is revolutionizing the way blind individuals engage with the world through a remote sense of touch. Their flagship product, SuperBrain 1, allows blind users to perceive surrounding objects, motion, speed, and distance. SuperBrain 1 was launched on July 12, 2024, after which they began paid pilots in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Taiwan, generating over $60K in revenue. The company also went viral on social media, garnering over 30M views and more than 50K followers, which helped to establish numerous business partnerships.
B) ÄIO
ÄIO, founded in 2022 as a spin-off from TalTech, leverages yeast-based technology to upcycle low-cost side streams into sustainable oils and fats. Its products—Encapsulated Oil, RedOil, and Buttery Fat—are designed to replace conventional oils and fats in food, feed, cosmetics, and chemicals. Collaborating with 120+ partners worldwide, ÄIO secured €8M in grants and €7M in private investment in 2024. The team grew by 50%, built an automated R&D platform and pilot plant, started 10m³-scale production in Singapore, and began regulatory processes for food and cosmetics permits.
An Estonian DefenceTech powerhouse, developing and producing cutting-edge AI-powered mobile autonomous surveillance and air defence systems for defence and border security. In 2024, they achieved remarkable milestones: skyrocketing revenue from €7M (2022) to €40M, doubled the team to over 85 in Estonia, opened a new factory in Estonia (in addition to factory and R&D/maintenance Hub in Kyiv with 30 people), and launched a new product - C-UAS/ ultra-short-range air defence system EIRSHIELD. Awarded a PPA contract to protect EE/EU Eastern border, delivered CUAS systems to Germany and continues to provide their systems to Ukraine to win the war against Ruzzian agression. Also, recognized by Estonian government as the TOP Innovator, TOP Exporter, and DefenceTech leader; they proudly dominate Defence and DeepTech exports and revenue.
D) Elcogen
Elcogen offers three products families for emission-free power and hydrogen production. 2024 was successful commercial year with global sales, new customers, and key project confirmations. With strategic investment from Baker Hughes, Elcogen raised €140M to advance R&D and manufacturing, with 14,000 m² state-of-the-art facilities under construction in Tallinn. It received an additional €24.9M EU Innovation Fund grant to scale efforts. Collaborations included a successful 2,000-hour electrolyser system test with partner Convion and projects with AVL and TNO to advance technology for industrial-scale hydrogen production. Partner Genvia secured a groundbreaking pilot contract with a steel giant to use their Elcogen-based electrolyser system for low-carbon steel production, demonstrating momentum for green hydrogen-based decarbonization.
Frankenburg is a defence company built to defend Europe and equip the free world with the technology to win the war. Proudly single-use and heavily mission-oriented. Their missile systems are designed to intercept and neutralise 99% of UAV threats, and with that, they have created a totally new category in the military industry: affordable, mass-manufactured drones with a total addressable market of millions of units per year. With their unique design and manufacturing principles, they reduce the price of current air defence missiles by 90% and manufacture them in quantities hundreds of times larger. Providing affordable mass in warfighting is the only industrial way the free world can preserve its peace and prosperity. Frankenburg has attracted healthy seed funding from leading industry partners and, within a few months, expanded its team to 40 world-class specialists. It has also extended its business operations to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, most recently, the UK.
F) Gelatex
Gelatex revolutionizes biotech with its patented nanofiber technology, enabling cost-efficient and scalable production of nanofibrous scaffolds for applications like wound care, medical devices, cell culture and cultured meat. In 2024, Gelatex secured recurring revenue by partnering with a leading CDMO for stent and cardiovascular device manufacturing, generating 20+ prototypes. In addition, the company now has 2 patent families granted in the US, China and Europe and 1 additional pending and first patent licensing deal in the works. Gelatex has raised €2.3M from VCs and €1.5M in non-dilutive grants.
G) GScan
GScan leverages muon tomography and AI to detect defects over 10 meters deep in critical infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, and nuclear systems. In 2023 and 2024, GScan achieved €1.5M and €1.4M in revenue, alongside €3M and €5.4M in investments. In 2024, the company won the prestigious Built World award in Paris and the UK’s "Best Use of Technology - AI" civil engineering award. GScan was also recognized as one of the TOP50 EU deep tech startups (EIC), a TOP8 finalist at the Construction Startup Competition in Las Vegas, and a TOP3 finalist at the Smart Building World Cup in Munich. In 2025, GScan is prioritizing recurring revenue through partnerships with global corporations such as BP, National Highways, AtkinsRealis, and Jacobs, while strengthening its presence with new offices in Cambridge, UK, and Munich, Germany.
Nanordica Medical develops first-in-class wound care products to cure hard-to-heal wounds. In 2024, they started world’s most ambitious clinical trial on the most challenging wounds, diabetic foot ulcers, involving 7 hospitals, 170 patients and coordinated by the leading wound care expert Prof. Martínez. They signed 6 distribution (pre-)agreements covering 8 countries, despite the main product not being launched yet. They built ISO13485 from scratch and won the classification dispute with the European medical device regulator allowing them to launch their flagship product 2 years ahead of the plan and save €2M. They also raised €1.75M VC and €2M public funding.
Stargate Hydrogen reduces the cost of green hydrogen by 50% using innovative and patented ceramic-based materials for hydrogen production via electrolysis. The world needs affordable green hydrogen in order to decarbonise sectors that cannot be electrified, for example, steel production that contributes 7% to global CO₂ emissions. In 2024, Stargate secured a number of lighthouse customers such as Fortum and ABB, and moved to a new factory with 140MW of yearly capacity. Stargate team has grown to 67 people and they have raised in total € x of capital (combining equity and grants). In 2024, the revenue grew more than x times to € x.
THREOD supplies its worldwide defense market customers with unmanned aerial systems, electro-optical payloads and drone launching equipment. In 2024, the company introduced laser designation features to its eOpic payload range, added SIGINT capabilities to its flagship Eos C VTOL aircraft and developed a vehicle-mountable version of its launching system. They moved into new production facilities and more than doubled their production space. While the yearly turnover grew +80% to reach €36M, also 6 new countries were listed as end users. The number of employees grew +30% from 120 to 160, and the management level was enforced by a significant number of high-level professionals to ensure further growth and development of the organization.
K) UP Catalyst
UP Catalyst transforms industrial CO₂ emissions into low cost, high-quality and energy-efficient carbon materials for the electric vehicle batteries. In 2024, the company opened a state-of-the-art production facility in Maardu and first-of-a-kind battery lab in Tallinn, enabling in-house coin cell research and development. The company doubled its team to 41 employees, now representing 14 different nationalities. UP Catalyst also demonstrated strong market traction, securing MoUs valued at €4.4M. Furthermore, the company successfully raised a €2.3M seed extension round, obtained €4.7M in grant funding, and secured € x in financing from [..], underscoring its robust growth and market confidence.
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CATEGORY 8
The FinTech of the Year 2024 - Lightyear
FinTech’s are on the rise! Whether we take a look at this year's biggest fundraisers, tax-payers, or acquisitions - there are always FinTech startups in the mix.
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Fintech OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) Cachet
Cachet is an insurtech specializing in data-driven insurance solutions for the platform economy. Through scalable tech and a unique data scoring, Cachet has established itself as one of Europe's leading insurtechs for shared mobility platforms. In 2024, Cachet achieved significant European expansion. They launched in Sweden (capturing over 50% market share), Finland (covering all shared scooters), Belgium, Norway, and Germany, serving major shared mobility players (Bolt, Bolt Drive, VOI, Dott, Ryde etc.), alongside our flexible app-taxi business. September started with another bang, as they launched gig worker insurance coverage for Taskrabbit - across the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, and Germany. The company reached over € x in revenue in 2024 with x% gross margin. Their coverage extended to more than 110,000 vehicles and 40+ million trips. They have established key cross-European partnerships with major insurers (Wakam, HDI, Hiscox, a large French insurer etc), positioning Cachet as a leading insurtech provider of cross-border insurance for the gig and shared economy.
B) Hoovi
Hoovi empowers businesses by providing innovative financing solutions through merchants and service providers. Business customers can open credit lines directly with sellers, enabling payment deferrals of up to 90 days or installment plans for up to 6 years. They offer both white-label and branded solutions, tailoring our services to partner needs. In 2024, they launched a white-label credit line with one of the largest auto parts sellers in the Baltics, driving €2.4M in revenue and €520K in profit. Serving 1,500 business customers, Hoovi financed nearly €10M in B2B sales, fostering growth and resilience in the SME sector.
C) Lightyear
Lightyear is transforming Europe’s $19T investing landscape, empowering everyone to grow their wealth in a simple way. In a standout year, Lightyear grew to over $3B in annualised transaction volume, expanded our business offering to 19 markets, and launched tax efficient investment accounts in multiple markets — resulting in exceptional growth across its 22 markets in 2024.
D) Mifundo
Mifundo, founded by Kaido Saar, has built a disruptive data solution to standardise and passport credit information in Europe. In order to help banks to assess the credit risk of foreign customers, and to provide people the freedom to move, freedom to be trusted. In 2024, they expanded their geographical coverage to 50% of the EU population, incl Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, plus UK and Norway. Also, Mifundo secured an additional FSA license to support cross-border mortgages. The most significant accomplishment in 2024 was being selected and funded by the prestigious European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program, reaching to €10M and strategic partnership with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
E) Montonio
As a leading payments and shipping solutions platform for e-commerce in Estonia, Montonio supports over 8,000 e-commerce stores across the Baltics and Poland. In August 2024, the company embarked on a new chapter as Markus Lember passed the CEO baton to Johan Nord, ensuring a seamless transition to drive accelerated revenue and growth. In 2024, Montonio achieved remarkable milestones, raising over €5M by extending its 2022 series A of €11M, […], and increasing its MRR by 147%, driven by strategic partnerships and product launches. Thousands of merchants and millions of users rely on Montonio’s ever-evolving and innovative services, reinforcing its position as a FinTech leader in the Baltics while expanding rapidly in Poland.
F) Reiterate
Reiterate addresses a critical issue where finance teams spend 75% of their time on data processing rather than strategic work. Their AI-powered platform streamlines financial operations from data collection through month-end close, replacing manual processes with intelligent and flexible automation. The solution stands out by efficiently handling complex financial data that exceeds traditional tools’ capabilities, using AI to process massive datasets, find inconsistencies and extract insights. Reiterate aims to be the definitive platform for automated financial operations by providing seamless integrations, standardized data management, and automated workflows.
G) Salv
Salv empowers financial institutions to fight financial crime with a SaaS platform used by 100+ companies across Europe to detect money laundering, share intelligence, and stop fraud. In 2024, they entered with collaborative crime fighting product Bridge into two new countries, secured the first European KYC utility provider's license, and opened three subsidiaries, achieving €3.5M ARR and processing over 2M daily transactions. Despite challenges, including a significant team reduction, they sustained growth, became more efficient, and built a stronger foundation for the future. Through collaboration and resilience, Salv remains committed to building a safer financial system while continuously evolving to meet future challenges.
H) Tuum
Within just 5 years, Tuum has established itself as a leading next-generation core banking player in a market known for its high entry barriers—including significant capital requirements, deep industry knowledge, lengthy development times, and unwavering commitment. In 2024, following a €25M Series B funding round led by CommerzVentures and a strategic investment from Citi Ventures, Tuum expanded into the Middle East, opened an office in Dubai, and launched its Islamic Banking Offering. Tuum's platform now empowers 17 clients worldwide, including transforming LHV UK into a BaaS leader and Zenus Bank into a pioneer of borderless financial solutions. Noteworthy accolades for their clients, like OP Financial Group and LHV, include the Celent Model Bank Award 2024 and the IBSI Global Finance Innovation Award, acknowledging their core transformation and innovation. With approximately 120 employees across Tallinn, London, and Dubai, and a 250% ARR CAGR, Tuum is redefining global financial services through progressive renovation and global innovation.
I) Wallester
Wallester is a licensed financial institution and official Visa partner. They offers two top-tier business solutions: Wallester Business optimizes financial processes and card payment management, while the White Label enables companies to launch their own branded card programs. 2024 marked phenomenal growth for Wallester: transaction volumes exceeded €600M (YoY growth: +149%), which accounted for 83% of the total transaction volume in Estonia during the first half of the year. Unaudited revenue reached €17.2M (86.96% YoY increase). By the end of 2024, Wallester had issued over 2.5M cards, serving x active clients. Total volume of payment transactions in 2024: €589M (vs €236M in 2023). A team of 140 people in 4 offices, located in Estonia, France, the UK, and Latvia (the latter of which was opened in Oct 2024).
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CATEGORY 9
The Hardware of the Year 2024 - DefSecIntel Solutions
The Estonian hardware vertical might be dominated by a few giants. But if we take a closer look, the scene is busy with manufacturing news, raised rounds, new deals and R&D achievements. So in 2024, Hardware is back among the Estonian Startup Awards categories to inspire an even bigger growth and momentum for the vertical!
WINNER: DefSecIntel Solutions
II PLACE: GScan
III PLACE: VOOL
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Hardware OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) 10Lines
10Lines is an Estonian Startup developing autonomous pavement marking robots and software. This innovative technology makes striping up to 7 times faster. In 2024, 10Lines opened a subsidiary in the US and started serving clients in Florida. In the spring of 2024, 10Lines closed a funding round of €1.5M that was led by Tera Ventures, Karista VC, and joined by Butterfly Ventures. The robot and software products will be launched to hundreds of clients over the next 24 months.
B) 7Sense
7Sense is revolutionizing the way blind individuals engage with the world through a remote sense of touch. Their flagship product, SuperBrain 1, allows blind users to perceive surrounding objects, motion, speed, and distance. SuperBrain 1 was launched on July 12, 2024, after which they began paid pilots in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Taiwan, generating over $60K in revenue. The company also went viral on social media, garnering over 30M views and more than 50K followers, which helped to establish numerous business partnerships.
C) Bisly
Bisly offers a patented building automation system with its own digital-twin based software platform and proprietary IoT hardware portfolio, which enable mass adoption through standardization and affordability. Buildings account for c. 32% of GHG emissions in EU – applying Bisly's technology these are reduced by 30–40%, a significant impact towards fighting climate change. In 2024, the team grew from 15 to 35 people; secured €6.2M in Series A; established entities in Germany and the UK, already delivering projects there. Revenue grew 1.6x to €2.2M, while on track of 3x increase in 2025. Tens of thousands of Bisly devices are operational across hundreds of buildings, with more than 15,000 people interacting with Bisly every day. PS. On August 23, the CEO's first-born child Ants Erik arrived to the Vill family.
An Estonian DefenceTech powerhouse, developing and producing cutting-edge AI-powered mobile autonomous surveillance and air defence systems for defence and border security. In 2024, they achieved remarkable milestones: skyrocketing revenue from €7M (2022) to €40M, doubled the team to over 85 in Estonia, opened a new factory in Estonia (in addition to factory and R&D/maintenance Hub in Kyiv with 30 people), and launched a new product - C-UAS/ ultra-short-range air defence system EIRSHIELD. Awarded a PPA contract to protect EE/EU Eastern border, delivered CUAS systems to Germany and continues to provide their systems to Ukraine to win the war against Ruzzian agression. Recognized by Estonian government as the TOP Innovator, TOP Exporter, and DefenceTech leader; they proudly dominate Defence and DeepTech exports and revenue.
E) GaltTec
GaltTec develops electric power sources for portable applications. Their solution is based on their proprietary ceramic microtube technology, making the result 5x smaller than batteries. Clients range from drones to space tech, from commercial to defence domains. In 2024, tested their first prototypes, raised a pre-seed round of €700K, and expanded production and office space in Tartu Science Park by 100m2. They were the first Estonian company in NATO DIANA acceleration program; received 3rd place at Latitude59 Pitch Competition; became Crowd Favourite at Stage Two (pitch competition for university spin-offs); represented Estonia at Silicon Vikings New Nordics Pitch Competition; and received an endorsement by Chris Hadfield: “It is inevitable that this technology will be used in space". €1.5M worth of contracts in negotiations with clients in Q4; 7 new high potential clients were added to the sales pipeline (Estonia, Germany, UK) with negotiations ongoing for paid pilots, LOIs or pre-order agreements.
F) GScan
GScan leverages muon tomography and AI to detect defects over 10 meters deep in critical infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, and nuclear systems. In 2023 and 2024, GScan achieved €1.5M and €1.4M in revenue, alongside €3M and €5.4M in investments. In 2024, the company won the prestigious Built World award in Paris and the UK’s "Best Use of Technology - AI" civil engineering award. GScan was also recognized as one of the TOP50 EU deep tech startups (EIC), a TOP8 finalist at the Construction Startup Competition in Las Vegas, and a TOP3 finalist at the Smart Building World Cup in Munich. In 2025, GScan is prioritizing recurring revenue through partnerships with global corporations such as BP, National Highways, AtkinsRealis, and Jacobs, while strengthening its presence with new offices in Cambridge, UK, and Munich, Germany.
G) H2Electro
H2Electro, under the leadership of CEO Henrik Hal, has achieved significant milestones by producing and developing 100% ceramic high-temperature single cells designed for electrolyzers, setting new standards for green hydrogen production. In 2024, launched the pilot production facility at Tartu Science Park, marking a major step towards the commercialization of their innovative technology. They also secured strong partnerships in Japan and Korea, and entered a strategic collaboration with Enefit Solutions, strengthening their position in the global hydrogen ecosystem. To date, they have raised over €2M in investments and €3M in grants. With a growing team and robust partnerships, H2Electro is well-positioned to lead the energy transition.
Kingdom Technologies develops robotic lawn mowers for large terrains, including sports fields, golf courses, parks, and commercial campuses. In 2024, they raised €1.6M in funding (including €500K in grants), launched a new product iteration and attended their first trade show, transitioned from a RaaS model to upfront sales, and grew their revenue over 4x. The year's highlight was building a strong team and delivering a highly competitive product.
I) UP Catalyst
UP Catalyst transforms industrial CO₂ emissions into low cost, high-quality and energy-efficient carbon materials for the electric vehicle batteries. In 2024, the company opened a state-of-the-art production facility in Maardu and first-of-a-kind battery lab in Tallinn, enabling in-house coin cell research and development. The company doubled its team to 41 employees, now representing 14 different nationalities. UP Catalyst also demonstrated strong market traction, securing MoUs valued at €4.4M. Furthermore, the company successfully raised a €2.3M seed extension round, obtained €4.7M in grant funding, and secured € x in financing from [..], underscoring its robust growth and market confidence.
J) VOK Bikes
VOK Bikes develops and manufactures automotive-grade four-wheeled electric cargo bikes. Their customers include Wolt, McDonalds, Veolia, MediaMarkt, national postal companies, local municipalities, and many more. In 2024, they more than doubled their revenue from €600K in 2023, to €1.4M; became profitable in their main markets and nearly reached overall profitability by the end of the year. They also produced more vehicles than all the previous years combined and launched the 3rd model - VOK U, to serve facility management and maintenance companies. Preparations for aggressive growth in 2025 have been made and will bring enhanced manufacturing capabilities through strategic partnerships with Renault Group, which will start producing VOKs at their automotive plant near Paris.
K) VOOL
VOOL offers a unique EV charging and energy management platform with dedicated hardware, which allows users to charge up to 3x more EVs using the same existing power grid. In 2024, VOOL entered 8 markets and grew revenue 9x to €2.7M. For 2025, VOOL already has 9,000 chargers in the order book, almost double of what was sold last year.
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CATEGORY 10
The DefenceTech of the Year 2024 - Frankenburg Technologies
Solutions in Defence Tech, Security Tech, MilTech and Cyber Security (a special superpower of Estonians) protect and save lives. For years, this sector has been in an insane race to keep on scaling and growing when the stakes are the highest.
WINNER: Frankenburg Technologies
II PLACE: DefSecIntel Solutions
III PLACE: KrattWorks
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE defencetech OF THE YEAR 2024:
An Estonian DefenceTech powerhouse, developing and producing cutting-edge AI-powered mobile autonomous surveillance and air defence systems for defence and border security. In 2024, they achieved remarkable milestones: skyrocketing revenue from €7M (2022) to €40M, doubled the team to over 85 in Estonia, opened a new factory in Estonia (in addition to factory and R&D/maintenance Hub in Kyiv with 30 people), and launched a new product - C-UAS/ ultra-short-range air defence system EIRSHIELD. Awarded a PPA contract to protect EE/EU Eastern border, delivered CUAS systems to Germany and continues to provide their systems to Ukraine to win the war against Ruzzian agression. Also, recognized by Estonian government as the TOP Innovator, TOP Exporter, and DefenceTech leader; they proudly dominate Defence and DeepTech exports and revenue.
Farsight Vision helps to create 3D maps of trenches for defence forces in Ukraine. Within 2024, the company grew to 25 people, in the country at war, with initially no additional resources than a handful of software, CV and hardware enthusiasts. Farsight Vision offers a unique Digital Twin creation platform with its own hardware, which allows users to compute on edge in GNSS-denied environment in radio silence conditions, with added value of objects and anomalies detection within the Digital Twins. Farsight Vision has raised €770K over pre-seed and seed rounds, launched several products in February, July and October 2024, and is active in Ukraine, Baltic States and the UK. In 2024, Farsight Vision served over 170 units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and has over 12 TB of data processed on their platform, generating around €67K in revenue. Farsight Vision received a grant from BRAVE1 in the last quarter of 2024, to support R&D efforts and the development of a new product.
Frankenburg Technologies' missile systems are designed to intercept and neutralise 99% of UAV threats; they have created a new category in the military industry: affordable, mass-manufactured drones with a total addressable market of millions of units per year. With unique design and manufacturing principles, they reduce the price of current air defence missiles by 90% and manufacture them in quantities hundreds of times larger. Providing affordable mass in warfighting is the only industrial way the free world can preserve its peace and prosperity. Frankenburg has attracted healthy seed funding from leading industry partners and, within a few months, expanded its team to 40 world-class specialists. Business operations in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, most recently, the UK.
D) HIMERA
HIMERA is a developer and manufacturer of communication systems for the Defense Forces. HIMERA’s solutions are battlefield-ready and used in Ukraine's hottest defensive and offensive operations. HIMERA has raised over $1,2M, launched a new product (HIMERA G1 PRO) in July 2024, and made its first international sales in October 2024. HIMERA has over 5K users within all types of units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, with the number continuing to grow. The US Air Force and US Special Operations Forces have validated HIMERA’s solutions.
E) KrattWorks
KrattWorks builds jamming-resistant and high performance drones for front line operators. In 2024, raised over €1.5M in seed funding. They have conducted successful tests in Ukraine and plan to do battle testing in Q1 2025. Revenue stayed the same as the previous year because of decisions to build the company's processes and quality management internally and focus on sales for 2025. The company opened up 12 new markets with sales agreements and will start production of Dart target plane manufacturing in 2025 in India. A team of 28 people, including strong specialists of the field.
F) Marduk
Marduk develops cutting-edge passive optical detection and targeting systems for unwanted aerial threats. 2024 was a transformative year of significant growth, major milestones and doubling the team size. Cash flow grew 4x, providing the resources to expand the team and scale operations. Participated in kickoff meetings for four European Defense R&D projects valued around €150M, with Marduk's share around €3M. Forged a strategic partnership with SAAB, the leading defense prime in the region; this collaboration has led to multiple integrated system demonstrations showcased to over 30 nations. One of their projects was funded by the Estonian Ministry of Defence - among a record number of applicants, Marduk stood out as one of the six companies selected for cutting-edge contributions to national security.
G) SensusQ
SensusQ delivers advanced Intelligence Management Solutions, empowering military and security agencies with AI-enhanced tools. Globally, SensusQ collaborates with academia, industry, and defense forces Since 2023. SensusQ has supported Ukraine by providing solutions, training on OSINT and hybrid warfare, and consulting on digitalization of intelligence work. With funding from ESTDEV, SensusQ fosters good governance and democracy in Ukraine. Ukrainian developers have joined the team to enhance local support, and pilot projects with Ukraine’s MoD and MoI are advancing intelligence management and cybersecurity. SensusQ has raised over €3M, led by an institutional defence technology investor from the United States, delivered intelligence management systems to multiple end-users in Ukraine, and launched an office in London.
THREOD supplies its worldwide defense market customers with unmanned aerial systems, electro-optical payloads and drone launching equipment. In 2024, the company introduced laser designation features to its eOpic payload range, added SIGINT capabilities to its flagship Eos C VTOL aircraft and developed a vehicle-mountable version of its launching system. They moved into new production facilities and more than doubled their production space. Yearly turnover grew +80% to reach €36M, 6 new countries listed as end users. Employee count grew +30% from 120 to 160, and the management were enforced by high-level professionals to ensure further growth and development of the organization.
I) Vegvisir
Vegvisir develops a unique XR and ultra-low latency based situational awareness system for armoured vehicles, unmanned robotics and fleet management, which enables faster decision making process via 360 degrees day and night visual across the battlefield. Vegvisir has raised €3.6M, launched 3 new products over the last 12 months, and is active globally. The Australian Army has become the largest and also the first recurring customer. The Vegvisir system is also present in Ukraine. In 2024, Vegvisir generated €360K in revenue (€12K in 2023) and signed 5 new customer contracts (1 in 2023). Vegvisir also launched the long term co-operation with 2 major armoured vehicle OEMs in Europe (0 in 2023). A team of 19, located in Estonia, Croatia, and the UK.
J) Wayren
Wayren is transforming operations in the world’s most challenging environments by developing an innovative platform that ensures uninterrupted communications. Their solution eliminates life-threatening delays in high-stakes scenarios such as battlefields and remote industrial sites, empowering users with reliable information flow and enhanced operational efficiency. [..]. They have successfully delivered their paid pilot project for Estonian Defence League, partnered with EFA Group, and ST Engineering for continued expansion in the years ahead. Wayren was selected into the NATO DIANA acceleration program.
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CATEGORY 11
The Founder of the Year 2024 - Martin Sokk & Mihkel Aamer (Lightyear)
Whatever you admire in a founder, this person fills you with awe and inspiration. Who went the extra mile? Who showed the most grit? Whose impact was the clearest? Who brought in the surprise act of the year?
WINNER: Martin Sokk & Mihkel Aamer - Lightyear
II PLACE: Aune Aunapuu - Yaga
III PLACE: Jaanus Tamm - DefSecIntel Solutions
THE SHORTLIST FOR THE Founder OF THE YEAR 2024:
A) Anna-Liisa Palatu - Woola
In 2024, passed the milestone of 1.25 million wool envelopes sold (saving 128 tonnes of wool from going to waste and replacing 150K square metres of bubble wrap), and paid small-scale farmers €64K for wool (in total). Woola's sales grew with LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy). Organized the first ever Startup Charity run that raised €60K from 32 participating teams (buying 3 Medical evacuation trucks for the Ukrainian army). Reached eNPS score 100. The team grew from 13 to 24 people, with 62% of managerial positions filled by women and 21% of workforce from chronically underemployed populations.
B) Aune Aunapuu - Yaga
Yaga is a marketplace for buying and selling secondhand fashion with a focus on Africa. In Africa, Yaga has a first mover advantage and 1B€ GMV potential. They strongly believe in the future of fashion resale, benefiting sellers, buyers, and the environment. More than 4M+ secondhand items have been sold on Yaga to date, meaning the same amount of items has been left unbought as new. As market leaders in Estonia and South Africa, Yaga recently expanded to Kenya. With a €40M+ annual GMV run-rate and a remarkable 100% YoY growth, they demonstrate high capital efficiency, having raised only €3.3M and maintaining profitability since May 2024. Aune's personal successes in 2024: "Making some hard decisions and truly feeling the team's support and trust; maintaining great health and fulfilling a lifelong dream of having cats."
C) Avery Schrader - Modash
Modash helps thousands of brands build successful partnerships with content creators. In 2024, the Modash team raised a $12,000,000 Series A round, launched 4 new products, added 30 employees and opened their Toronto office. Modash is proud to have paid out millions of dollars to small creators all over the world - 5x more than previous year. Doing it while default alive and ARR tracking to €10M+ in 2025. "The goal is clear," says the CEO, Avery Schrader, "we've always done well at getting better every day, but we've learned to have a very disciplined plan to reach a very specific destination."
D) Jaanus Tamm - DefSecIntel Solutions
Technology enthusiast Jaanus Tamm, founder and CEO of Estonia's leading defence company, Defsecintel Solutions, is actively involved in numerous Estonian startups as an investor or co-founder. Jaanus has built several successful companies, elevating Defsecintel to become Estonia's top defence industry player in both revenue and growth. He is also a Founders Society (Startup Leaders Club) co-founder and was awarded the title of Estonia's EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024. Jaanus serves as a council member of the EKTL and the Defence Estonia Cluster.
E) Karoli Hindriks - Jobbatical
Jobbatical uses AI and automation to make relocating employees across countries twice as fast and three times more cost-effective. The sales increased by 118% in Q4 2024 compared to 2023 (€1.24M vs. €568K), revenue grew by 66% (€960K vs. €577K). Overall in 2024, the sales increased 59% (reaching €3.87M); they expanded into new geographies (relocating employees to 44 countries for various industry leaders across Europe); secured 65 new customers (primarily enterprise); automated fully over 50% of repeat processes. As a founder, Karoli is most proudof these milestones despite undergoing two rounds of right-sizing within 12 months: "Both were handled with such care and transparency that I, as CEO, received thank-you letters from employees—both those who were laid off and those who remained—expressing appreciation for how well the process was managed. The lesson I often share with the team is this: success is not just determined by what happens to us but by how we choose to respond to these challenging situations."
F) Kaspar Korjus - Pactum AI
Pactum AI, led by Kaspar Korjus, is Europe’s leading AI Agent company. Agents are growing enterprises autonomously. Key highlights of 2024 include: Kaspar Korjus became the CEO; new leadership team came on board; the team grew to 100 employees; 51 enterprises were onboarded, adding up to avg. revenue of $26B; 5x managed volume and 2.6x ARR growth; $12M TCV bookings. Pactum AI is years ahead of the competition.
G) Liis Narusk - Certific
Certific’s SaaS platform (Perearst24.ee in Estonia) automates patient intake and clinical communication. They achieved remarkable growth in 2024, growing MRR by 770%—from €4,600 to €40K by year-end. In 2024, Certific achieved a market penetration of 35% in Estonian primary care and made the platform accessible to 150 clinics and over 400K patients, digitizing primary care at an unprecedented pace. They demonstrated 0% churn and a demo-to-close conversion rate close to 70%. Passed a rigorous audit and secured reimbursement from the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, enabling even wider adoption. Became official vendors and signed contracts with three of the biggest pharmaceutical companies to convey prescription drug related information to clinical personnel. Signed pilot contracts with clinics in the US and South Africa. Restructured the cap table and revamped the leadership team by introducing three new co-founders. Secured additional funding of €700K.
H) Martin Sokk & Mihkel Aamer - Lightyear
Founders Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer head up Lightyear, an investment platform transforming Europe’s $19T investing landscape, empowering everyone to grow their wealth in a simple way. In a standout year, Lightyear grew to over $3B in annualised transaction volume, expanded their business offering to 19 markets, and launched tax efficient investment accounts in multiple markets — resulting in exceptional growth across its 22 markets in 2024.
I) Rauno Rüngas - Qminder
Qminder is a gritty CRM for in-person services. The startup took a huge hit during COVID: MAU and MRR dropped 93%, the team fell from 30 to 7. The CEO, Rauno Rüngas pulled off a high-stakes comeback in their 13th year by reviving the company to 50%+ YoY US MRR growth by sheer grit and achieving LTV/CAC ratio of 16 out of necessity. In 2023-2024, they raised their first $3M round in one of the harshest markets (with no AI angle), doubled the team size, while employee eNPS hit a jaw-dropping 96. They locked in strategic angels from all Estonian unicorns. PS. To challenge the stereotype that a founder's achievements need to come from a personal sacrifice, mental health, and social well-being: concurrently, Rauno completed his hunting, gun, boating, motorbike gov. licenses; he dabbled in kitesurfing, built a home, hit record OURA scores—and thus kept stress so invisible that his wife and friends never noticed that he was even fundraising.
J) Sergei Astafjev - Wallester
Wallester, led by Sergei Astafjev, is a licensed financial institution and official Visa partner. They offers two top-tier business solutions: Wallester Business optimizes financial processes and card payment management, while the White Label enables companies to launch their own branded card programs. 2024 marked phenomenal growth for Wallester: transaction volumes exceeded €600M (YoY growth: +149%), which accounted for 83% of the total transaction volume in Estonia during the first half of the year. Unaudited revenue reached €17.2M (86.96% YoY increase). By the end of 2024, Wallester had issued over 2.5M cards, serving X active clients. Total volume of payment transactions in 2024: €589M (vs €236M in 2023). A team of 140 people in 4 offices, located in Estonia, France, the UK, and Latvia (the latter of which was opened in Oct 2024).
Estonian Startup Awards 2024 was co-organized by LIFT99, Estonian Founders Society, and Startup Estonia (funded by the European Union). We are immensly grateful for the headlining sponsors and their contribution on all fronts of the organizational process: Swedbank Estonia, Kaitseministeerium / Ministry of Defence of Estonia and City of Tallinn.
#EstonianStartupAwards 2024 - our community’s biggest celebration of the year - would not have been possible without the ecosystem builders and activists who have backed up the cause. Thank you for fueling the initiative: 2C Ventures, ÄIO, Alari Aho, AMP X VOLT, DefSecIntel Solutions, Eedu, Elar Nellis, Endover, Estonian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (EstVCA), Eversheds Sutherland, GoWorkaBit, Hedman Law Firm, Icebreaker.vc, Indrek Kasela, Invent Baltics, Kair Käsper, Karma Ventures, Latitude59, Martin Kõiva, Metaplanet, Plural VC, Ready Player Me, Sorainen, Specialist VC, Superangel, TGS Baltic, Trind Ventures, Triniti Advokaadibüroo, and VOOL.
That’s it! Cograts to all the winners! A final heartfelt thank you to everyone who were a part of the show, who cheered for the nominees, and who keep on working towards making the Estonian startup community the best in the world! You are our rockstars!
See you in January 2026!