7 Estonian startups to be reckoned with | All media content | DW | 20.10.2017

We use cookies to improve our service for you. You can find more information in our data protection declaration.

More info OK
  1. Inhalt
  2. Navigation
  3. Weitere Inhalte
  4. Metanavigation
  5. Suche
  6. Choose from 30 Languages

Business

7 Estonian startups to be reckoned with

Estonia's startup scene punches above its weight, despite, or because of, its tiny population of 1.4 million. Here's a look at seven noteworthy Estonian ventures — from delivery robots to an AI-powered language app.

  • Roboter von Starship Technologies (Starship Technologies)

    Starships were meant to ...

    ... deliver your mail! Starship Technologies wants to replace pizza pickups, shopping trips and post office runs with robots bringing food and mail to your doorstep. Launched by two Skype co-founders, Starship has offices in Tallinn, London, Washington, D.C., California and Hamburg, where Domino's and logistics company Hermes are currently testing the WALL-E resembling robot.

  • Büro des Start-Ups Funderbeam in Tallinn (Julia Köppe)

    Where founders get funding

    Described as a "blockchain-based 'stock exchange' for startups," four-year-old Funderbeam was named best European fintech company this year. The startup is headquartered in Tallinn's Telliskivi Creative City, which is also home to a number of other well-known ventures like language app Lingvist as well as co-working spaces including Lift99.

  • Lingvist Start-Up Mait Muntel (Lingvist )

    Scientist turned linguist

    You could call Mait Müntel the quintessential entrepreneur: While the Estonian was working as a particle physicist at CERN in Switzerland, he had the idea to use the same machine learning algorithms he used to find the Higgs boson to teach himself French. The rest, as they say, is history: Müntel now leads a team of 40 developing AI-powered language learning app Lingvist.

  • Startup Wall of Fame (DW/B. Bathke)

    Startup wall of fame

    Many attribute Estonia's outsized startup success to Skype, the video chat software Microsoft acquired in 2011 for $8.5 billion. The founders not only went on to launch TransferWise, Starship Technologies and other startups, they also inspired a whole generation of founders, often collectively referred to as Estonian Mafia. With 31 startups per 100,000 inhabitants, Estonia places third in Europe.

  • Oldtimer E-Auto Start-Up Estland (DWE/B. Bathke)

    Contemporary tech with vintage appeal

    e-Drive Retro turns fossil fuel-powered oldtimers into fully equipped electric vehicles. EVs are the fastest-growing segment of the multi-billion global luxury car market. US-American founder Michael M. Richardson was one of the first foreigners to join the e-residency program, a digital ID launched in 2014 that allows non-Estonians to run a business in the EU from anywhere in the world.

  • Estland App Turnit (Turnit)

    Universal boarding pass

    Is this the future of urban mass transit? With mobile ticketing app Jiffi, commuters travel cashless and hands-free. Upon boarding a bus, tram, metro or ferry, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors detect the app; Upon exit, the app selects the best fare and bills automatically. For now, Jiffi is in a testing phase with a group of 70 people on public buses in Tartu, Estonia's second-largest city.

  • Start-Ups Estland Click & Grow (Click & Grow)

    You eat what you grow

    Inspired by an article about how austronauts grow food during space missions, Estonian-born Mattias Lepp brought the space tech down to earth to help city dwellers and other earthlings grow their own vegetables, herbs and plants. Since its inception in 2010, Click & Grow has sold over 350,000 indoor gardens and farms. The latter are bigger, standalone units that can grow up to 51 plants at once.

  • Start-Ups Estland Skeleton Technologies (Skeleton Technologies)

    The miracle battery?

    Can this startup deliver the quantum leap in battery power the world has been waiting for? Skeleton Technologies believes so, calling itself the "global leader in energy-storage systems and graphene-based supercapacitors," which have high power density, almost instant recharging and very long lifetimes. The European Space Agency supplier does its manufacturing in Germany and its R&D in Tallinn.


  • Roboter von Starship Technologies (Starship Technologies)

    Starships were meant to ...

    ... deliver your mail! Starship Technologies wants to replace pizza pickups, shopping trips and post office runs with robots bringing food and mail to your doorstep. Launched by two Skype co-founders, Starship has offices in Tallinn, London, Washington, D.C., California and Hamburg, where Domino's and logistics company Hermes are currently testing the WALL-E resembling robot.

  • Büro des Start-Ups Funderbeam in Tallinn (Julia Köppe)

    Where founders get funding

    Described as a "blockchain-based 'stock exchange' for startups," four-year-old Funderbeam was named best European fintech company this year. The startup is headquartered in Tallinn's Telliskivi Creative City, which is also home to a number of other well-known ventures like language app Lingvist as well as co-working spaces including Lift99.

  • Lingvist Start-Up Mait Muntel (Lingvist )

    Scientist turned linguist

    You could call Mait Müntel the quintessential entrepreneur: While the Estonian was working as a particle physicist at CERN in Switzerland, he had the idea to use the same machine learning algorithms he used to find the Higgs boson to teach himself French. The rest, as they say, is history: Müntel now leads a team of 40 developing AI-powered language learning app Lingvist.

  • Startup Wall of Fame (DW/B. Bathke)

    Startup wall of fame

    Many attribute Estonia's outsized startup success to Skype, the video chat software Microsoft acquired in 2011 for $8.5 billion. The founders not only went on to launch TransferWise, Starship Technologies and other startups, they also inspired a whole generation of founders, often collectively referred to as Estonian Mafia. With 31 startups per 100,000 inhabitants, Estonia places third in Europe.

  • Oldtimer E-Auto Start-Up Estland (DWE/B. Bathke)

    Contemporary tech with vintage appeal

    e-Drive Retro turns fossil fuel-powered oldtimers into fully equipped electric vehicles. EVs are the fastest-growing segment of the multi-billion global luxury car market. US-American founder Michael M. Richardson was one of the first foreigners to join the e-residency program, a digital ID launched in 2014 that allows non-Estonians to run a business in the EU from anywhere in the world.

  • Estland App Turnit (Turnit)

    Universal boarding pass

    Is this the future of urban mass transit? With mobile ticketing app Jiffi, commuters travel cashless and hands-free. Upon boarding a bus, tram, metro or ferry, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors detect the app; Upon exit, the app selects the best fare and bills automatically. For now, Jiffi is in a testing phase with a group of 70 people on public buses in Tartu, Estonia's second-largest city.

  • Start-Ups Estland Click & Grow (Click & Grow)

    You eat what you grow

    Inspired by an article about how austronauts grow food during space missions, Estonian-born Mattias Lepp brought the space tech down to earth to help city dwellers and other earthlings grow their own vegetables, herbs and plants. Since its inception in 2010, Click & Grow has sold over 350,000 indoor gardens and farms. The latter are bigger, standalone units that can grow up to 51 plants at once.

  • Start-Ups Estland Skeleton Technologies (Skeleton Technologies)

    The miracle battery?

    Can this startup deliver the quantum leap in battery power the world has been waiting for? Skeleton Technologies believes so, calling itself the "global leader in energy-storage systems and graphene-based supercapacitors," which have high power density, almost instant recharging and very long lifetimes. The European Space Agency supplier does its manufacturing in Germany and its R&D in Tallinn.


More in the Media Center

Screenshot DW Sendung Afrika

DW Debate from the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa 10.09.2019

DW Dokus KW 37 - Merino-Boom

The Merino Boom 09.09.2019

04.2015 DW Quadriga Sendungslogo

Quadriga - Iran deal - all about business? 23.07.2015

Taste it! Renault Twingo 10.06.2015

Read also

Symbolbild Herstellung von Krebsmedikamenten (Zytostatika) in Apotheke

Deep Tech startups: Next wave of global disruptors? 14.05.2019

Deep Technology startups — those relying heavily on tech breakthroughs and tangible IP — are on the rise globally. One of them, medtech venture RxAll, has made a handheld scanner that can detect fake drugs in 20 seconds.

Estland elektronische Aufenthaltskarte

Digital residency pays off big for Estonia 29.12.2017

Estonia is expected to get a 100-to-one-euro return on investment for its e-Residency program, which lets anybody start a business from afar. It is even planning to launch ‘estcoins,’ its own cryptocurrency.

Hannover - Industrie 4.0 Messe

Far from a novelty, robots reach deeper into industry in Hanover 24.04.2018

The robots are back, and they're even more networked. The possibilities of automation are growing as this year's Hanover industry fair shows, and more companies are collaborating on AI. Steven Beardsley reports.

Hannover Messe - Stand des Unternehmens Kaeser Kompressoren

German engineers under pressure from China 03.04.2019

Mechanical engineering has been a crucial pillar of Germany's export-oriented economy, but Chinese competitors are catching up fast, as DW's Zhang Danhong and Andreas Becker report from the Hanover industrial fair.