The Estonian venture ecosystem is growing rapidly. With ten unicorn companies, Estonia ranks among the top countries in the world by the number of technology startups worth a billion dollars or more per capita. It also leads Europe in venture capital investment, with €1,967 per capita raised in 2021. AIN.Capital collected a list of the most active VC funds in Estonia that invest in regional startups, as well as contributed to the whole CEE startup and venture ecosystem.
Superangel
Region: the Baltics.
Industries: AI and robotics, mobility and logistics, fintech and SaaS.
Ticket size: €100,000 — €500,000.
Investment stages: pre-seed — seed.
Superangel is an Estonian venture capital fund best known as the investor of unicorns, like mobility app Bolt, identity verification startup Veriff, and intelligent revenue platform Pipedrive. The firm launched its first fund worth €16 million in 2018. In total, the team has invested in more than 100 startups worldwide. Superangel is aiming to make about 40 investments a year.
- June 2022, Superangel launched its Fund II worth €50 million to invest in the Baltic startups.
- April 2022, it backed the €11 million Series A round for Estonian e-commerce startup Montonio.
- February 2022, the fund supported the $2 million seed round for Estonian EyeVi Technologies.
Change Ventures
Region: the Baltics: local Baltic founders in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, or Baltic diaspora globally.
Industries: fintech, e-commerce, retail, B2B, edtech, deeptech, and AI startups.
Ticket size: €400,000 — €2 million.
Investment stages: pre-seed — seed.
Change Ventures is the first pre-seed/seed venture capital fund with completed investments in all three Baltic states. The firm focuses on helping founders make quick investment decisions, supporting further investments and business expertise. Its portfolio includes companies like Planet42, Veriff, and Fyma.
- July 2022, Change Ventures joined the $2.1M round for Estonian startup 99math.
- June 2022, it also supported the €500K round for Estonian greentech startup Timbeter.
- February 2022, the firm launched its €49M Fund II to support Baltic startups.
Startup Wise Guys
Region: CEE region and Nordics.
Industries: B2B SaaS, sustainability, fintech, cyber.
Ticket size: €30,000 — €100,000.
Investment stages: pre-seed — seed.
Startup Wise Guys has been one of the leading investors in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe since 2012. The accelerator focuses on early-stage startups in the SaaS, fintech, cybersecurity, and sustainability sectors. Startup Wise Guys has over 250 investments and eight exits in its portfolio, including companies like Ondato, Ziticity, Katana, Simporter, and Bobu.
- April 2022, the fund led the €1.5 million seed round for Lithuanian logtech GoRamp.
- February 2022, it invested €80,000 in Ukrainian biodegradable packaging startup S.Lab, and backed the €100,000 pre-seed round for Lithuanian employee benefits startup benme.
Tera Ventures
Region: the Baltics, the Nordics, and CEE.
Industries: industry agnostic.
Ticket size: €200,000 — €1.5 million.
Investment stages: pre-seed — seed.
Tera Ventures is a Tallinn-based venture capital firm that supports early-stage born-global digital startups. Estonia is its home market, but the fund also invests in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Tera Ventures is currently investing out of its €45 million second fund.
- April 2022, Tera Ventures supported the €11 million Series A round for Estonian e-commerce startup Montonio.
- January 2021, it led the $1.4 million seed round for Estonian proptech Rendin.
- October 2020, the fund also led the $580,000 seed investment for Estonian cybersecurity startup BotGuard.
Lemonade Stand
Region: the Baltics and Eastern Europe.
Industries: industry agnostic with a focus on B2B.
Ticket size: €25,000 — €300,000
Investment stages: early stages (including pre-revenue and product stages).
Starting in 2019, Lemonade Stand is a Tallinn-based venture capital fund focusing on early-stage startups from the Baltics and Eastern Europe, regardless of the HQ location. The fund claims to invest in companies, saving the member investors either time or money, ideally both. Lemonade Stand has several successful companies in its portfolio, including Woola, Fyma, and Cachet.
- April 2022, the fund participated in the €1.5 million pre-seed investment for the renewable energy startup Kwota.
- October 2021, it led the €2 million pre-seed round for Estonian fintech Grünfin.
Trind VC
Region: Europe, primarily Northern and Central.
Industries: B2B SaaS, Marketplace startups.
Ticket size: €100,000 — €500,000
Investment stages: starting from seed.
One of the oldest venture capitalists in the country, investing in financially sustainable businesses that don’t need a constant flow of funding rounds. The firm can support successful early-stage startups till their late stages, investing up to €3 million per company. Trind VC invests in up to eight companies per year. The portfolio includes Jobbatical, Wolf 3D, and NASDAQ.
- February 2022, Trind VC supported the €6.4 million Series A round for Estonian agtech startup eAgronom.
- and joined in the €8.25 million round for Finnish talent acquisition startup Jobilla.
Karma Ventures
Region: Europe, the Baltics.
Industries: deep-tech software startups.
Ticket size: up to €5 million.
Investment stages: late seed and A rounds.
Karma Ventures fund was created by early employees of Estonia’s first unicorn Skype. It invests in European early-stage technology companies creating innovative technologies in the ICT field, having initial commercial traction, and targeting global markets. The portfolio list consists of Realeyes, Sonarworks, and MeetFrank.
- January 2022, Karma Ventures participated in the $30 million Series B investment for Polish digital health company Infermedica, and supported the €15 million Series A funding for Estonian fintech Tuum.
Yolo Investments
Region: CEE, the Baltics.
Industries: gaming, and fintech.
Ticket size: €500,000 — €5 million.
Investment stages: seed and A-stages.
Founded in 2017, Yolo Investments is an Estonian firm that has already invested in more than 55 companies with a total capitalization of €375 million. Yolo claims to have created a thriving ecosystem with ventures across a variety of industries, including fintech, gambling, media, software development, crypto, and blockchain-related companies.
- May 2022, the fund joined the $2.5 million seed funding round for Estonian blockchain startup Solid World DAO.
- February 2022, Yolo participated in the €6.4 million Series A round for Estonian agtech startup eAgronom.
You can read more about the Baltic startup scene’s performance in the first four months of 2022 in a report, which AIN.Capital published earlier:
