WELCOME TO
ESTONIAN STARTUP AWARDS
For half a decade, the Estonian Startup Awards has been here to count the brightest stars on our local startup horizon, celebrate the achievements of the local community, and inspire the next generation of founders to take over the world.
The nomination round for the next Estonian Startup Awards will be launched in autumn 2024 and the winners will be announced on January 23, 2025 at the annual awards gala! Stay tuned!
#EstonianStartupAwards
Estonian Startup Awards 2023
Estonian Startup Awards 2023 took place in Nobel Hall, Noblessner on February 2, 2024! Awards were given out in 8 impactful categories, including 3 special categories - GreenTech, HealthTech, and DeepTech. Watch the whole gala here, check out the official aftermovie, see what happened at the photobox, or dive into the gallery!
Join us on Facebook, Linkedin or Instagram to chip in and learn all about the Estonian startuppers who eat challenges for breakfast!
The cateogories for 2023 are:
1. Newcomer of the Year
2. Revenue Hack of the Year
3. Investor of the Year
4. Giving-Back Powerhouse
5. GreenTech of the Year
6. HealthTech of the Year
7. DeepTech of the Year
8. Founder of the Year
- - -
The cateogories for 2023 are: 1. Newcomer of the Year 2. Revenue Hack of the Year 3. Investor of the Year 4. Giving-Back Powerhouse 5. GreenTech of the Year 6. HealthTech of the Year 7. DeepTech of the Year 8. Founder of the Year - - -
THE PAST AWARDS
Estonian Startup Awards 2022
Read all about the winners and check out the full list of nominees: Estonian Startup Awards 2022 - The Official Wrap-Up!
You can also watch the recording of the gala and check out the official photo gallery.
Estonian Startup Awards 2021
Read all about the winners and check out the full list of nominees: Estonian Startup Awards 2021: The Brightest Stars and The Biggest Trends.
Or watch the full recording of the event.
Estonian startup awards 2020
Read all about the winners and check out the full list of nominees: Estonian Startup Awards 2020 - The Winners, The Nominees & Big Trends.
See the full recording of Estonian Startup Awards 2020.
Estonian startup awards 2019
Read all about the winners and check out the full list of nominees: Estonian Startup Awards 2019 - The Fastest, The Biggest, The Most Impactful.
View the gallery of highlights from the night of the gala.
find us on SOCIAL MEDIA
THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT
Binalyze, Estonian Founders Society, icebreaker.vc, Invest Estonia, Karma Ventures, Koos.io, Latitude59, LIFT99, Lightyear, NFTPort, Nordic Ninja, Practica Capital, Ready Player Me, Salv, Siena Secondary Fund, Specialist VC, Swedbank, Tallinn city, Trind Ventures
“Given the results are based purely on a survey of founder peers in the community, these awards are always really meaningful recognition.”
THE TEAM
Hello. We are the core team behind Estonian Startup Awards. We’ve been on the Estonian startup scene for years - working within startups, organizing events, managing projects, supporting organizations, freelancing in various roles, and simply being passionate about our tight-knit community. We love seeing our ecosystem grow, expand into the world and make Estonia bigger!
RANNAR PARK
Project Manager & Team Lead
KADRI BARCLAY
Head of Marketing
MARINA BACHMANN
Public Relations
MERIT VISLAPU
Fundraising & Partnerships
ABOUT ESTONIAN STARTUP AWARDS
Estonian Startup Awards is a community initiative officially summing up the highlights of the past year. It is a celebration of Estonian startup success stories, bringing together our community and inspiring the next generation of startup founders. Estonian Startup Awards was launched for public nomination in 2018 and has since been led by LIFT99, Estonian Founders Society, and Startup Estonia.
The Estonian startup sector has been one of the fastest-growing branches of Estonian economy for almost a decade. We have over 1400 active startups, employing almost 10000 people locally. On a global scale, we are absolute heavy-lifters, presenting the most startups per capita, the most unicorns per capita, and the most funds raised per capita. And despite challenging times, we keep on growing - Estonian startups generated a turnover of €1.69B in the first nine months of 2023, which is an 11% increase compared to the same period. A lot is going on within and around our ecosystem. Estonian Startup Awards is here to celebrate that!
How do we find the best of the best? Every year, a public nomination campaign is launced in November/December to bring all the hidden stars and promising newcomers on the radar. After digging into the KPI’s and growth stories of each and every company and nominee, we put together a data-driven, comprehensive shortlist. The final voting is carried out in December/January by a jury of Estonian founders - in 2023, 216 founders “sat on the panel” and gave their votes to find the winners. While the big night of the awards gala is invite-only - mainly for the nominees and the founders in the jury - the awards ceremony is publicly broadcast in media and the offical social media channels of the Estonian Startup Awards.
“It happens every year that I can’t wait for the list of nominees - it allows me to get to know companies that I haven’t heard of before.”
NEWS & BLOG - WARM UP FOR THE ESTONIAN STARTUP AWARDS
WITH THE LOCAL INDUSTRY LEADERS
Estonian Startup Awards 2023 is done! On the evening of February 2, 2024, the Estonian startup community gathered at Nobel Hall in Noblessner to officially wrap up the year, celebrate our community’s biggest wins, and look into the future, together. Will it be bright? Well, yes. Eventually.