The first half of the year has been extremely successful for the Estonian startup sector. For the first time, the total amount of investments in Estonian startups has exceeded €1 billion and the turnover of all projects increased by 68% to €958 million. Startup Estonia prepared a report on how the first half of 2022 looked for Estonian startup scene. AIN.Capital publishes a brief overview of the Estonian startup scene report with the key facts.
Investments and Exits
- The total amount of investments in Estonian startups reached the €1 billion in the first half of 2022, more than quadrupling the sum of investments made in the same time period last year.
- In total, there were 44 new investment deals averaging almost €23 million each, 28 of those were worth at least €1 million.
- The biggest investment in the first half of 2022 was raised by:
- Bolt, €628 million in a round that doubled startup’s valuation to €7.4 billion;
- Veriff, €89 million in a Series C round;
- Starship Technologies, €87.4 million;
- Glia, €40.9 million at over €1 billion valuation;
- Eurora Solutions, €37.7 million in a Series A.
- During the first half of 2022, there were already three acquisition deals in the ecosystem.
- FinTech startup EveryPay, a platform for receiving payments, was acquired by LHV Group.
- Stebby (formerly SportID), the largest wellness service marketplace in the Baltics, announced an exit from Funderbeam platform via management buyout and investment by Livonia Partners.
- Supervaisor, building technology to make streets safer with AI and computer vision, was acquired by Motive Technologies.
Startups’ turnover
- Estonian startups generated a record-breaking €958 million in turnover in the first half of 2022, a 68% increase compared to the same period in 2021, when it amounted at €571 million.
- Startups with the largest generated turnovers were Bolt with €467 million that is 49% of the whole sector, Veriff with €32 million, Swappie with €25.7 million, Comodule with €18.6 million, and Starship Technologies with €16.4 million.
Employment and Taxes
- The first half of 2022 is showing a significant rise in people working in the Estonian startup sector. The employee count of Estonian startups has risen 36% in a year, from 7113 to 9692 people employed at the end of the second quarter of 2022.
- The current top employer is Wise, Bolt, Swappie, Veriff, and Starship Technologies. According to the research, top 5 employers take up 41% of the whole employee count of the Estonian startup sector.
- During the first half of the year, Estonian startups have paid €83.4 million worth of employment taxes, which is 46% more than the employment tax contribution of €57 million at the end of the second quarter of 2021.
- The largest contributors for the first half of 2022 were FinTech, Transportation & Logistics, Business software, services & HR, CyberTech, and CleanTech startups.
- The most employment taxes amongst individual startups were paid by Bolt with €13.8 million, Wise with €11 million, Veriff with €3.7 million, Starship Technologies with €2.1 million, and Monese with €1.8 million.
Salaries in startup sector
- The Startup Estonia’s analysis shows that average monthly gross salary in Estonian startups over the first half of 2022 was €2,840, which is approximately two times higher than the Estonian average.
- At the same time, the average salary rate in startups has risen 6% compared to the same time last year — it amounted at €2,685 in first half of 2021.
- The largest average gross salaries by month were paid in Communication (€3,318), Business software, services & HR (€3,304), Transportation & Logistics (€3,273), CyberTech (€3,180), and FinTech (€2,972).