Estonian start-up stories by Toivo Tänavsuu
One day I started thinking: why is it that Estonia’s tech sector is teeming with start-ups? Everybody is the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, everyone travels to Silicon Valley for networking, everyone has hopes of being the second coming of Facebook or Microsoft. Where do these aspiring entrepreneurs and “smart money” get their unshakeable [...]
I’ve had few posts recently on an Estonian startup Inner Circle, planning to launch a new social networking tool. This is it – introducing here PosterBee, the new crap-free (FarmVille- and optionally even ads-free) private socializing tool, developed by Allan Martinson’s company Inner Circle, co-funded by Estonian Development Fund.
Estonian VC Allan Martinson’s newest startup Inner Circle has apparently closed its first seed investment round just few days ago. Estonian business registry shows that new investors behind the project are Regio (the well-known mapping, mobile positioning and GIS software developer), Estonian Development Fund (Arengufond) and its Chairman of the Supervisory Board, entrepreneur Raivo Vare. Investment [...]
Estonian startup Vecly, owned by entrepreneurs Indrek Raig, Yrjö and Rait Ojasaar and Artec Group, aims to benefit from the global digital revolution. They are developing software for Digital TV STBs (set-top boxes) to turn them into multimedia centers and make us use them for many other means than just TV. Artec’s STB’s with Vecly’s software [...]
Few weeks ago two well-known Estonian startuppers, Jüri Kaljundi and Andrus Purde launched Emp.ly – a new social media startup, making staffing a lot easier and fun. Emp.ly helps companies to spread their job ads over the social web (through friends, fans and followers) with ease. It is more likely to find workers this way, [...]
One of the most famous Estonian technology entrepreneurs, Allan Martinson (pictured) and the former CEO of Delfi, Andrus Raudsalu have formed a team of five people and registered a startup called Inner Circle. Their aim is to establish a new social network, much like Facebook, but lot more private, crap-free (without the FarmVille and who’s [...]
Estonian state-funded VC, Estonian Development Fund promises to double its investments portfolio by the end of 2010. Ten new investments into technology companies are currently in pipeline, with total amount of money to be invested reaching over 50 million EEKs (3,2 million EUR). Estonian Development Fund was established few years ago. Benchmarking the Finnish SITRA model [...]
Soome tuntumaid noorema põlvkonna riskikapitaliste Taneli Tikka (32) ütleb, et palgatöö suurtes firmades pärsib inimeste loovust. Ta soovitab kõigil, kel vähegi indu, ettevõtjaks hakata. Kuidas sinust sai ettevõtja? See oli 1999. aastal. Lahkusin palgatöölt Nokia võrkude ettevõttest (praegune Nokia Siemens Networks), kus olin tegelenud tõeliselt vana kooli telekommunikatsiooniteenustega. Olgugi et toona oli see turg kiiresti [...]
Pururikkad asiaadid ja Singapuri valitsus süstivad ligi 100 miljonit krooni Eesti ajatempli tehnoloogiasse, mis enamikule inimestest on täiesti arusaamatu ja mõttetu. Aastal 1988, kui kõlavad isamaalised laulud ning digitaalmaailm on kauge tulevik, tutvuvad Tallinna Tehnikaülikoolis kaks noort küberneetikut – Märt Saarepera (praegu 46, ülemisel pildil) ja Ahto Buldas (43, alumisel pildil). Mõni aasta hiljem sõidab [...]