BalticVC

Goals and methodology of the survey The BalticVC team studied the startup ecosystem in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for its Baltic Startup Survey. We sent questionnaires to startup founders from these countries.

According to the government organization Startup Estonia, Estonian startups reached a turnover of €2.7Bln in the first nine months of 2024. This is 10% more than in the same period of 2023 when their turnover reached about €2.4Bln.

Estonian startups received €238.9M in investments in the first six months of 2024, which is twice as much as in 2023 when startups raised €119.3M. The data was published in Startup Estonia, based on open data from Statistics Estonia, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, Dealroom, and other sources.

Wages in the information technology sector in the Baltic countries grew by 7.4%, almost twice as much as in 2023. This is 0.1% less than the forecast (7.5%), according to the study conducted by Figure Baltic Advisory.

According to the StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2024, the Baltic States ranked among the top 50 best countries to found a startup. Estonia became a leader in the Baltics, taking 12th place, moving up two places from last year. Lithuania also moved up one place to 16th in the ranking. Latvia has dropped eight places to 47th.

The Baltic deeptech startups have raised over €164M in almost five months of 2024, while, in total, the Baltic startups across all the industries have raised €310M in the same period. Most of the investments for Baltic deeptech startups came from C rounds (€40-100M).

The turnover of Estonian deeptech startups increased  by 38% to €87M in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. 

The startups from the Estonian county Ida Virumaa reached  a turnover of €1,2M in the first quarter of 2024, which is 167% more than in the same period of 2023. 

Estonian startups raised  €148,9M in Q1 2024, which is almost 2,5 times more than in Q1 2023. In Q1 2023, Estonian startups raised €62M.  

Members of the Estonian syndicate EstBAN invested €13,32M in startups in 2023. This is slightly less than in 2022 when they invested €13,36M. Angel investors contributed €7,64M, while various funds invested €5,49M, and crowdfunding platforms accounted for €0,19M.

In 2023, Lithuanian fintech startups raised only €5,5M of venture fundraising, which is 12 times less than the amount raised in 2022 (€67,9M). This data was noted in the 2023 fintech report of the government investment promotion agency Invest Lithuania. The report highlighted that regtech, green finance, and DeFi, where AI and quantum computing were used a lot, were the main areas that secured investments.

In 2023, Estonian startups and growth companies paid  €323M in employment taxes, which is 18% more than in 2022, when they paid €273M. The Estonian Tax and Customs Board statistics reveal that startups contributed 65% of these taxes, while growth companies contributed the rest 35%. Among the top 10 companies that paid the most taxes were Bolt (€36,9M), money transfer service Wise (€34,9M), and provider of web-based sales CRM Pipedrive (€16,4M).

The turnover of Estonian deep technology companies increased  to €227,2M in 2023, which is 14% more than in 2022. These companies paid €45,1M in labor taxes, which is a 20% increase from the previous year. 

Estonian employees in startups and growth companies received  an average gross salary of  €4253 in 2023, while Lithuanian employees who worked in the startup sector earned  an average gross salary of €3800. 

According to the Lithuanian startup landscape report , in 2023, Lithuania maintains its position as the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the СEE region. The report shows that between 2018 and 2023, the Lithuanian ecosystem's value grew by 7.1 times. This is more than in Estonia and in Latvia, as well as in other Central European regions. By 2023, the value of the ecosystems in CEE increased only by 3.6x, in Estonia - by 2x, and in Latvia - by 5,9x.

According to the Baltic Startup Funding Report , conducted by Lithuanian accelerator and VC Firstpick and Estonian Change Ventures, Baltic startups raised €540M in the second half of 2023. €425,65M was invested in nine growth companies. It is five times more capital raised by growth technology companies compared to H1 2023. 

Estonian deeptech companies received 11% of total venture investment in the country from 2018 to 2023. According to the third annual European deep tech report provided by Amsterdam-based startup database Dealroom, European VC Lakestar, and San Francisco-based VC Walden Catalyst, Estonia is in the 16th place out of the top 19 European countries with the highest interest in venture investments in deep tech from 2018 to 2023. Estonia overperforms Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Belgium.

Lithuania is expected to be among one of three European countries and the only one in the Baltic region to increase venture investment in 2023 compared to last year. In addition, it ranks at the 15th place among the top 30 European countries by amount of venture capital invested in startups, outperforming Estonia in two positions.

The startups from Estonian county Ida Virumaa reached  a turnover of €2,3M in the three quarters of 2023, which is 45% more than in the same period of 2022. In the first nine months of 2022, Idu Viru's startups reached €1,6M in turnover.

Estonian tech companies showed growth in turnover by 11% to €1.69Bln in the first nine months of 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, when the turnover reached €1.52Bln. Bolt (€904.9M), Veriff (€53.8M), Swappie (€47.8M), Crezu (€24.1M) and Viseven (€23.9M) had the highest turnover.