Estonia, Good for Business, Innovations, Technology

Altogether 81% of the startups registered in the database are operating in Harju County, 13% in Tartu County and 6% in all other counties combined. Startups in Estonia employ in total over 6,000 people, according to Startup Estonia and the state-run financing institution Kredex. 

Startup Estonia earlier this year unveiled a new startup database that provides a more detailed statistical overview of the startup companies operating in Estonia and developments in the startup sector.

"The renewed database has been well received by startup entrepreneurs, they are actively entering, updating and using the data. This is important from the perspective of the entire sector's development, because the startups that have joined the database are visible for potential investors, cooperation partners and customers, allowing to monitor the sector's development. Additionally, it sends a clear message that the startup sector is open and transparent," Maarika Truu, manager of Startup Estonia, said.

Included in the database are startups that have been operating for up to ten years and are oriented towards rapid global growth and whose product or service and business modal are globally scalable.

The database includes the name, registry code and year of founding of the startup company, but also more detailed information about the sector of activity and technologies used, descriptions of products and services, information on the number of employees and labor taxes paid, revenue and investments. The data consists of the information entered into the database by the startup itself as well as of information collected by Startup Estonia from public sources and from the Tax and Customs Board.

Startup Estonia is a governmental initiative aimed to develop the local startup ecosystem. The program of Startup Estonia is carried out by KredEx.