BalticVC

Latvian O utlast Fund has closed its first fund at €21M to invest in Pre-Seed and Seed-stage startups from the Baltic-Nordic region.

Estonian technology company Bisly , which offers solutions for smart building automation, has hired Tarmo Tali as its new CTO. He previously worked at Skype, Pipedrive, Starship, and Veriff. 

The Estonian fund Karma Ventures participated in a $31M Series С round for US-based AI company DRUID AI . Other investors include Cipio Partners, TQ Ventures , Smedvig Ventures , and Hoxton Ventures .

Two Estonian DefenceTech startups Wayren and Telearmy have become finalists of NATO's DIANA defence innovation accelerator. They were selected from 2613 companies that applied for participation. Other representatives of the final stage include 13 startups from the USA, Canada and the UK. Each finalist receives up to €300K in funding, adding to the €100K from phase one. 

According to Startup Estonia , the turnover of the Estonian startup sector grew by a quarter in the first half of this year to a record €2.421B. In comparison, last year the turnover of the startup sector in the first half of the year amounted to €1.9B. However, investments in the first half of the year showed a clear downward trend.

Venture capital firm Plural has led a $20M Series A round for Danish company Teton.ai , with participation from Bertelsmann Investments , Antler Elevate , Nebular, and PSV Tech.

Estonian venture fund Icebreaker.vc participated in a €45M Series A round for Finnish company ReOrbit , which was the largest round for European space technology companies. Other investors included Springvest , Elo , Varma , Expansion , 10x Founders , and Inventure VC .

Estonian venture fund Skaala participated in a $64M Series A funding round for DataCrunch , a Helsinki-based provider of high-performance artificial intelligence infrastructure. ByFounders , Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company , Tesi , J12 Ventures , and several business angels also participated in the round.

Estonian venture fund 2C Ventures has invested €1M in Italian AI startup Renewcast as part of a SAFE round.

Estonian companies Nortal and SensusQ have signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean aerospace and defense company Hanwha Aerospace to create a new high-tech battlefield management system (BMS).

Estonian company UP Catalyst has signed a partnership agreement with Finnish paint manufacturer Teknos . UP Catalyst will use its technology to convert industrial CO₂ emissions into high-quality carbon materials for paints and coatings.

Estonian state-owned company SmartCap and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) acted as lead investors in the Siena Secondary Fund II private equity fund, investing €10M each.

Ukrainian SaaS startup Uspacy has raised €420K in pre-seed funding. The round included €250K in investment from Startup Wise Guys , supported by business angels. An additional €170K was received in grants from Google for Startups, Seeds of Bravery, Glovo Startup Lab, and the Ukrainian Startup Fund, supported by UMAEF.

Venture capital firm Plural , founded by Estonian entrepreneurs Sten Tamkivi and Taavet Hinrikus, has led a €34M round for Bristol-based Phasecraft , a quantum algorithms company. Other lead investors included Playground Global , Novo Holdings’ Quantum Fund with the participation of some existing investors.

Estonian AI platform Vocal Image has raised $3.6M in its initial round. The round was led by Educapital , with participation from Specialist VC and Generations Fund .

  Uve Poom is the new Chief Operating Officer of Estonian startup CryptoSwift . Previously, he ran Tenity Tallinn, a venture capital fund center in Zurich, where he advised fintech companies such as CryptoSwift.

Estonian technology company Datel has signed a contract with the European Space Agency ( ESA ) to develop elevation models based on space radar remote sensing data. The aim of the project is to create accurate and up-to-date digital elevation models that can be used in a wide range of applications, from environmental monitoring to infrastructure planning.

Estonian Bolt has entered the market of Kazakhstan. This is the first expansion in the company's history in the country from Central Asia. Bolt scooters appeared in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, amid demand from residents for a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation.

Estonian fintech company Creem has raised €1.8M from Practica Capital and backed by Antler and leading business angels.

The Estonian government will invest €50M over 4-5 years in a venture capital fund managed by the national investment fund SmartCap . This year, €17M from the state budget will be channelled into the Risk Capital Fund, while in the following years €32.2M will be channelled into the fund from the Baltic Innovation Fund 2 and EstFund repayments.