
The turnover of the Estonian startup sector increased in the last year by 15%, reaching 3.9 billion euros, and the sum of taxes paid to the state was 750 million euros. The turnover of startups aged under five years increased by 20% and was 444 million euros.According to Data Startup Estonia, at the end of 2024 year in Estonia there were about 1600 startup companies. According to the head of Startup Estonia Vaido Mihheim, despite the continuing turbulence in the world markets, Estonia’s startup sector remains stable. “Last year was tough for the founders, but the startup sector demonstrated stable growth, being also an important taxpayer for the state. It’s good to note that young startups under the age of 5 years old have also shown stable growth in turnover and investment,” Mihheim emphasized. The startup with the biggest turnover in the
last year was Bolt, whose turnover reached a record 1.4 billion euros. Then it is followed by Pipedrive (282 million euros), Veriff (102 million euros), Yolo (79.6 million euros) and BetPawa (68.1 million euros). Startups paid into the state budget 382 million
euros in the form of government taxes and 367 million euros in the form of taxes on workforce , which is 4% more than the year earlier. The largest payers of taxes on workforce were Bolt (41.8 million euros), Wise (38 million euros), Playtech (18.1 million euros), Yolo (15.6 million euros) and Pipedrive (14.5 million euros). The volume of investments in last
year decreased In 2024 year startups attracted
326.6 million euros, which is 23% down from the year ear earlier. For the year 57 deals were followed by 17 fewer than in 2023 year. Average deal size remained at the level of 5.7million euros, but the number of deals over 1 million euros decreased to 29 (in 2023 year there were 41). “Although this is
the lowest rate in the last five years, I would not be making remote predictions. Local venture investors now have high capitalization levels, with about 1 billion euros waiting investment. We’ll see the results of the next quarter, ” said Michheim. The largest investment
in the 2024 year was raised by Starship Technologies – 90 million euros. The next investments were Stargate Hydrogen (42 million euros), Elcogen (30 million euros), Tuum (25 million euros) and Pactum (18 million euros). In the fourth quarter the most
significant investments were attracted by Modash (11 million euros), Miros (6 million euros) and Qminder (3 million euros). Michheim noted that about
44% of all investments attracted were received by startups under 5 years of age, with a total complexity of 143 million euros. These companies have signed 40 deals, which accounts for more than half of all investment deals. “When we talk about the Estonian startup sector, we usually mention our “superstars”, but younger startups are also performing good results. “This gives reasons to hope that in this year we will see large investment rounds from new players,”
he added . Of the startups under 5 years old the biggest investments were Stargate Hydrogen (42 million euros), Tuum (25 million euros), Pactum (18.4 million euros) and BotGuard (12 million euros). In the first five also was two-year-old startup Äio, which attracted 6,1 million euros and produces ecologically clean oils and fats from wood and
agricultural waste. In 2024 year were contracted 11deals in the sale of startups, three of those were in the fourth quarter. In October British fintech company Pockit acquired startup Monese, and in December Finnish IT company Admicom acquired Estonian builder software Bauhub. Also Startup Salto X merged with Australian Cake Equity and stopped providing its
services. The best startups of the last year will be named today tonight at the gala ceremony of Estonia’s Startup Awards. The winners will be determined in five main categories: “Newcomer of the Year”, “Investor of the Year”, “Founder of the Year”, “Fastest growth of turnover” and “Contribution of the Year”. Also will be awarded in special categories recognizing companies resolving global challenges in deep technology, green technology and defense industry. LIFT99, Estonian Fintech, Hardware and Software will also be honored with separate awards. LIFT99, Estonian Society of Founders and Startup Estonia are organizing the awards.