African Startup Ecosystem

Service Providers

Under this tab, we've compiled an overview of the different business service providers in and around the African startup ecosystem. We hope this helps to make the navigation of the African startup scene as easy as possible for the startups already in Africa as well as for those wishing to relocate to South Africa. 

Business consulting

If you need professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, human resources, marketing or any other specialised business fields, the following service providers are at your service!

BDA

BDA Consulting is one of the biggest project management and consultation companies in Estonia. Our aim is to help Estonian companies and organisations take on and successfully accomplish outstanding development projects. We will help you come up with ambitious development ideas, develop sustainable strategies, map out feasible plans, and put them into practice.

BIA

Baltic Innovation Agency (BIA) is providing innovation, clustering and technology development related services to public, private and third sector organisations. BIA´s main competence areas include cluster management, strategic and business planning, technology transfer and commercialisation, market research and analysis.

Briti-Eesti

British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce is set out to help businesses and entrepreneurial minds reach their full potential and overcome limitations to growth. We offer development programs and opportunities for businesses and people to grow. We initiate trade missions and execute tailored market entry strategies. We bridge relationships between the UK and Estonia.

Saksa-Balti

The German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce (AHK) is the official representative of the German economy in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. We advise small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, and we are the first point of contact for all matters concerning entering and expanding in the German market. Through 80 regional chambers, we have a competent contact person in every major city and region in Germany to support your activities in Germany.

Tartu Science Park

Tartu Science Park is the innovation engine of South Estonia. Our mission is to nurture start-up companies into global businesses. Tartu Science Park is the first science park in the Baltics, founded in 1992 by Tartu city, county and two universities. For more than 20 years, we have supported business innovation activities in the region by networking with universities, public and private sector. We are the Home of Business.

To foreign companies, we offer our help in extending business to Estonia where the economic environment is characterized by qualified workforce, favourable tax system and liberal markets.

Tehnopol_business

Science Park Tehnopol is a research and business campus with a mission of helping startups and SMEs to grow more quickly.

As the largest science park in the Baltics, we provide your enterprise with both modern office spaces and top-notch counselling in developing your business and entering export markets.

Target One

Target One helps Estonian startups to find the optimal and comprehensive solutions for marketing and business development planning.
Our job is to improve our clients’ business results by choosing the appropriate focuses and providing a clear and systematic path to the solution.

1Office

1Office offer a full package of business services to make it possible for all clients to focus on their core business. They support entrepreneurs starting a business in a foreign country with local know-how and help through the registration process.

CXS Baltics OÜ

Our profiling solutions can help you take your talent management to the next level!  In less than 2 weeks, we can show you where the energy leaks are in your organization but also what steps you can take next to boost performance. Our clients use vip24 to guide people on professional development and personal growth, manage talent to build power teams and retain talent

Civitta

As a Challenger Advisory backed by entrepreneurs and angel investors, we help startups to grow and scale; universities to commercialize R&D; corporates to build and accelerate innovation inside the company, and governments to build innovation communities and ecosystems. We run programs like Ajujaht, help ecosystems, startups and R&D development with Horizon2020 programs and consult, create and run programs for corporates and governments.

CFO Advisor

CFO Advisor offers a financial-department-as-a-service solution to small- and medium-sized enterprises. We help them achieve their core activity goals by providing high-quality consultations in all the business planning and finance-related matters, including but not limited to choosing relevant financial instruments on each stage of their development, capital raising, M&A advisory, determining their company’s value, managing cash flows, creating budgets and financial forecasts, etc.

Moosedog

Moosedog Oy is an innovation company with focus and expertise on handling IPR-rights (patents, utility models, trademarks, designs), novelty searches and innovation workshops. We have helped a significant amount of companies during the last years to identify and protect their innovations. Total valuation of the startups we have built the patent portfolios is over 10B Euros.

EFMC

European Fund Management Consulting – EFMC – is one of the leading organisations in Europe specialised in the financial management of European Union Research & Innovation projects specifically H2020 but also other EU funded programmes. Our organisation supports beneficiaries of European Grants in all financial issues concerning European projects. 

Mind The Gap

Mind The Gap is a data-driven marketing consulting agency that works with data to extract insights, to drive creativity, and to manage branding projects and online campaigns. We provide solid and data-driven strategies and services to make sure we reach tangible results and measurable goals. We listen to the clients, we learn their business, we plan and activate a plan, we educate the resources in the project and we deliver results.  

KPMG New Ventures

KPMG New Ventures is a catalyst for growth and innovation we facilitate global investments, provide access to international markets and help build innovation capacity for our clients. We bring the startup mindset to established companies by helping them test their ideas rapidly. Whether you’re providing a challenge for your people, building new products and services or looking for a company to invest in, we have you covered. We will even give you a team to run your experiments with.

Random Forest

We are an IT consultancy and development agency. A team of software developers who are constantly in search of technological challenges. We enjoy solving real-life problems, no matter what size. Our competencies range from user-interface design to DevOps and from hardware to AI – we’ve got your back.

VNTRS

VNTRS is a Startup Building Studio and a VC fund based in Tallinn, Stockholm, and Malmö. Our mission is to maximize the likelihood to deliver successful digital products and services, with high quality. All this, while still offering flexibility to both entrepreneurs and corporations. The result so far is a door opening shared incentives sweat equity investment, consulting firm. 

Legal, tax and accounting

To minimize risks and maintain your local compliance you might need advisory services in a particular area such as tax, legal, accounting and payroll. Following companies are delivering solutions for your business.

Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland provides legal advice and solutions to a global client base ranging from small and mid-sized businesses to the largest multinationals. We provide legal assistance in all the areas of law pertaining to business. For instance, we are involved in resolving corporate law disputes, matters related to competition law, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, advising real property transactions, handling labour law issues, etc.

Glimstedt

We help young companies in all legal matters every step of the way on their journey through the startup life cycle. LegalBooster, a client programme created by law firm GLIMSTEDT, is designed specifically for startups in order to learn about basic legal issues relevant for a young company, get free document templates customised for the Estonian jurisdiction and work with a personal lawyer who knows your business.

Hedman partners

Hedman Partners is one of the leading law firms in advising founders and investors in the technology startup ecosystem. We provide to-the-point materials and are quick and flexible with drafting necessary documents for all necessities. Hedman Partners has advised startup investment related transactions totalling over 5 mEUR in 2015.

KPMG

KPMG Baltics OÜ helps find efficient approach to all transaction, tax, accounting and legal issues that may arise on starting and developing a business.
KPMG is global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services enables to engage specialists and deliver advice all over the world. Also, KPMG as a reputable partner to work with enhances the credibility necessary for a startup in the eyes of potential investors.

Leinonen

Leinonen Estonia offers high quality accounting & professional advisory. Proper accounting practices and good advice help your company be successful and safe from any unpleasant surprises. Every client is important to us, regardless of size, turnover or sphere of activity of the client’s business.

Sorainen

Since its establishment in 1995, Sorainen has been advising international and local organisations on all business law and tax issues involving the Baltic States and Belarus. Sorainen can offer to be a legal advisor and mentor to establish the best structures for start-ups to be supported by the accelerators as well as to advise firms on all legal questions.

Ellex Raidla

Ellex Raidla, a member of Ellex, a circle of leading Baltic law firms, is one of the oldest law firms in Estonia, established in 1993. The firm has been involved in nearly all of the major M&A and financing transactions as well as landmark disputes that have taken place in Estonia. The firm's lawyers are very active in legislative drafting and have participated in the drafting of more than 40 laws in Estonia.

CFO Advisor2

CFO Advisor offers a financial-department-as-a-service solution to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Our clients include both startups and already established companies. We help them achieve their core activity goals by providing high-quality consultations in all the business planning and finance-related matters, including but not limited to choosing relevant financial instruments on each stage of their development, capital raising, M&A advisory, determining their company’s value, managing cash flows, creating budgets and financial forecasts, etc.

EY

Regardless of whether you are a start-up, scaling globally, have reached maturity or are facing economic difficulties – we are here to help you with all your legal challenges on a global scale! The EY network of legal advisors unites more than 2,400 professionals from over 80 different countries who are always ready to help you so that you can concentrate on your business.

Cobalt

A tier 1 law firm with a dedicated VC team and over 20 years of VC experience. We advise investors and founders in all investment stages from founding to exit. We have a dedicated VC team with support from over 50 specialist lawyers in the fields of corporate, employment, tax, intellectual property, data protection, and other laws. Our approach is to aim for practical solutions with a quick turnaround.

UPLegal Law Office

UPLegal attorneys have advised hundreds of M&A and corporate transactions, and all other legal matters relevant to companies, founders, and investors over 12 years. We advise in all legal matters relevant to the company, founders, and investors on every step and in all investment stages from founding to exit. We have advised both young start-up founders to help them to begin, investors and VC investors. 

Hugo.Legal

HUGO.legal is an award-winning legal-tech startup from Estonia with the mission to make access to justice possible for everyone. HUGO has developed a number of free legal bots that help users to take the first legal steps. HUGO's lawbots are now available and free to use in Baltics and in Poland, bringing new bots to market every month. In Estonia, HUGO is the largest legal service platform - a marketplace of lawyers that matches consumers and businesses in need of legal services with lawyers at an affordable price. This service is not yet available in other markets.

Silva hunt

Silva hunt helps you to set up your Estonian company effortlessly. We are your reliable partner who: guides you through the company formation process, supports with business banking issues, provides a legal address & a contact person, does your accounting & tax declarations. In addition to that, we provide you with valuable connections from our client base of experienced entrepreneurs.

Finance PM

Finance PM is an award-winning, remote-first European boutique advisory firm. Our services are the best solution for funded startups at any stage and tech companies with annual turnover starting from €500K. We specialize in creating financial models, outsourced CFO services, fundraising support, operational audit, and due diligence.

NGO and public sector services

We've collected some of the most important public service providers and NGO's, providing useful information and e-services for helping you to relocate to Estonia or build up your startup.

EAS

Enterprise Estonia (EAS) promotes business and regional policy in Estonia and is one of the largest institutions within the national support system for entrepreneurship by providing financial assistance, counseling, cooperation opportunities, and training for entrepreneurs, research institutions, the public, and non-profit sectors.  EAS supports the development of companies that have the export capacity and create higher added value, providing services and grants.

Settle in Estonia

Adapting to a new living environment can be an interesting but at the same time often complicated challenge. Acquiring the knowledge related to the living conditions, state and behavioural norms etc. and skills that help you settle in quickly and efficiently can take time. In order to support foreign nationals who have migrated to Estonia to settle in and to acquire the primary knowledge and skills, Estonia offers all new arrivals the opportunity to participate in an introductory Welcoming programme.

Invest in Estonia

Estonian Investment Agency (EIA), a part of Enterprise Estonia, is a government agency promoting foreign investments in Estonia and assisting international companies in finding business opportunities in Estonia. All you need to know about business in Estonia: the 0% income tax on retained or reinvested profits, skilled workforce, and the world's most innovative e-services.

Work Estonia

The aim of Work in Estonia is to introduce Estonia as an attractive destination for living and working to talented foreigners, especially ICT specialists.
They are also striving to increase Estonian employers’ awareness of foreign recruitment. Work in Estonia has collected all useful information for helping you to relocate to Estonia and live here. 

e-Residency

E-Residency is a new digital nation for global citizens, powered by the Republic of Estonia. Estonia is the first country to offer e-Residency, a government-issued digital ID available to anyone in the world. E-Residency offers the freedom to easily start and manage a global business in a trusted EU environment.

PPA

The main tasks of Police and Border Guard Board are the securing of the external border of the European Union; the determination of citizenship and issue of documents; security and public order in the state; and the investigation and prevention of offences. Migration advisors main purpose is to support foreigners settling in Estonia and to be a partner to employers, entrepreneurs, educational institutions and to others who invite foreigners to Estonia. Service is free of charge.

Maksuamet

Estonian Tax and Customs Board provide services and conduct tax audits to establish the best possible operating environment for taxpayers. We will provide simple and convenient services to taxpayers. We will provide assurances to businesses that their tax and customs affairs are in order and ensure an equal competitive environment.

MAK

Maakondlikud Arenduskeskused pakuvad igas maakonnas nõustamist ja koolitamist potentsiaalsetele, alustavatele ja tegutsevatele ettevõtetele, vabaühendustele ja kohalikele omavalitsustele. Samuti pakutakse investortegevuse tuge vahendades infot ettevõtja ja investori vahel. Noortele on suunatud eriprogrammid ettevõtluse ja ettevõtlikkusteadlikkuse kasvatamiseks.

eslc

Estonian Founders Society (previously ESLC) was formed in January 2009 by a group of entrepreneurs, leaders of Ambient Sound Investment portfolio companies. Goals of the EFS are:
  • Build stronger relationships among professional Estonian startup entrepreneurs. 
  • Provide opportunities for members to meet face to face in a social setting. 
  • Encourage direct communication, cooperation and knowledge sharing. 
  • Encourage development of new Estonian professional startup entrepreneurs.

estonian world

Estonian World is a global independent online magazine, founded in London in 2012 and headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. We aim to publicise Estonia’s and Estonians’ successes and success stories in a positive, encouraging manner, but we don’t neglect to write about the country’s and its peoples’ challenges and concerns.

Ettevõtlik Kool

“Enterprising school” is an educational program that was established in Ida-Viru County in 2006 and is directed towards the integration of enterprising learning into the school system in order to improve the quality of education and thereby increase young people’s success in life.

Junior Achievement

JA Europe is the largest non-profit in Europe dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship. JA Europe is a member of JA Worldwide® which for 100 years has delivered hands on, experiential learning in entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy.

R&D centres and universities

List of private R&D centres as well research and development services provided by our biggest universities.

EBS

EBS is the oldest privately owned business university in the Baltics. With more than 1500 students, EBS’s goal is to provide enterprising people with academic knowledge, skills and values for its successful implementation. EBS offers degrees at Bachelor’s, Master’s as well as Doctoral levels.

EEK Mainor

Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences (EUAS) is a leading private university for company founders and freelancers. EUAS works closely with startups and tech companies as partners in course development and internship placement to bring only the cutting-edge industry experience to its students. Our immersive 3-year program in Startup Entrepreneurship offers essential startup skills, exposure to industry experts, a network of like-minded entrepreneurs, and mentorship from experienced founders and investors.

EKA

The departments of the Estonian Academy of Arts act as cooperation partners for businesses in the implementation of various development projects.
We help businesses meet the challenges related to product development, increase the competitiveness and value of products and services, we carry out research and provide consultation regarding procedures and industrial development.

TalTech Mektory

TalTech Innovation and Business Centre Mektory is a networking environment where businesses, students, professors, schoolchildren, and investors from all over the world meet to generate new ideas and innovation together as one team. The aim of TalTech Mektory is to bring together scientists, students, and entrepreneurs, to solve practical product development problems and generate new intelligent ideas and to maximize theoretical studies at the university through practice, to prepare better-trained engineers with experience in cooperating with companies.

TU-Ideelabor

The University of Tartu IdeaLab is the place where students can turn their ideas into reality by participating in inspirational events, workshops, meet-ups with entrepreneurs and pitching competitions. IdeaLab has also prototyping centre which offers a novel study and work environment for students and scientists, where modelling and simulations for new solutions can be performed.

TU-EIK

The aim of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is to ensure the development of the University of Tartu as an entrepreneurial university, to consolidate the university's leadership role in the development of Estonia, and to represent the university as an internationally visible and innovative partner in the European and global research and development space. Co-operation with our researchers gives the company a competitive advantage and access to world-class development services.

TLU

The focus fields of the Tallinn University include educational innovation, digital and media culture, cultural competences, healthy and sustainable lifestyle, society and open governance. The services and activities of the Open Academy are targeted at organisations (enterprises, public sector, third sector) and continuing education learners.

Skeemipesa

Skeemipesa is a partner of Tallinn Technical University and has experienced and competent multi-functional development team, who is able to bring your ideas quickly into reality in cost-effective way. We are providing solutions for industrial automation and quality control projects by using machine learning and computer vision. We create hardware and software for full-scale Internet of Things (IoT) systems by using most contemporary technologies (NBIoT, Sigfox, LTE-M, etc). We develop mobile apps for Android and iOS by using both native as well as cross-platform.

Protolab

Protolab offers full service product development - from idea to product, e.g engineering service, prototyping and small series production. We have competence of solving problems in every step of the product development cycle, from idea to setting up full scale manufacturing.

Adapter

ADAPTER is a network of Estonian universities, research and development organizations, providing a quick and reliable link for companies and organizations to the research and development community.

Iglu

We create software that works.

Producement

Producement offers customer-centric product engineering. We are a team of Software Engineers who talk to customers in order to build the best product. We do this by constant user testing sessions, rapid prototyping and ruthless prioritisation of tasks.

Estonian Research Council

NUTIKAS - funding for applied research or product development. The funding supports companies in commissioning necessary applied research or product development projects from public R&D institutions. The company must be registered in Estonia. The project must be conducted either in the field of ICT, health technologies, or resource-efficient management. Funding per project: 20 000 – 2 000 000 euros. 

Vareger

Vareger is a software development agency that provides clients with full-cycle product development, implementation, maintenance, and support. With a team of highly skilled engineers, we help innovative companies to scale up quickly and in a controlled way. Our extensive experience allows us to partner with clients from different industries. And we really love crafting our development part for the products and services that matter. 

Revismo Engineering

Revismo is an engineering bureau specialised in product development. Our main objective is to provide professional mechanical engineering support. We have certified our services in compliance with ISO 9001.

Services: Product development; Mechanical engineering design; Design of metal structures; Industrial automation design; Structural analyses; Industrial design. 

Talent & Relocation Services

Settle in Estonia

The Settle in Estonia Programme is a free educational programme provided by the Estonian state which is intended to help the foreigners who have arrived in Estonia to adapt and become accustomed to local life more easily. The programme, which comprises various training courses, gives an overview of how the state of Estonia and its society function and how daily life is organised.

Work in Estonia

Get insider job offers and news on working in Estonia. Estonia offers smart people a quick climb up the career ladder and once-in-a-lifetime experience in a rapidly developing environment. It is top talent-ready and can offer exciting, stable, and secure future prospects.

International House Estonia

International House of Estonia (IHE) is a common service center in the heart of Tallinn providing a wide range of essential information – consultations and public authority services for international newcomers and local employers. You can find answers to several questions regarding documentation, settling in, finding a network and/or a job, participate in different events, and much more – all in one place.

MoveMyTalent

MoveMyTalent is an Estonian based workforce relocation company with the largest experience in town, providing high-quality expertise to start-ups, expanding, and established businesses/corporations alike. We are a one-stop-shop in a wide variety of services: immigration procedures, home search, settling-in services, and necessary registrations (ex. tax, doctor), adjustments, and cross-cultural training plus family services. 

Jobbatical

Hire whoever you want – we’ll relocate them for you!

We take care of the entire talent immigration and relocation process for you, saving you time and providing a delightful experience for your new employees.

Talentbyte

Talentbyte helps you access to top talent for your projects and remote positions. We’re your partner in finding software developers, engineers, designers, and support personnel across borders.

RecruitLab

RecruitLab is a perfect recruitment software for startups of different sizes. It’s flexible, simple and it saves at least 30% of your recruitment time. Create quickly attractive job ads, track applicants, give feedback, communicate effectively with hundreds of candidates using bulk-actions and e-mails & much more! RecruitLab has a simple and logical user interface, all applicants in one place. Special offer for companies listed in Estonian Startup Database: startups that hire up to 10 people a year, RecruitLab is free of charge.

ReloEst

ReloEst is an Estonian-based relocation agency providing immigration and destination services. ReloEst enables Estonian companies to pave their path to success by helping their international hires reach Estonia safely and smoothly. We believe that every relocation experience is special and deserves our full attention.

Business consulting

If you need professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, human resources, marketing or any other specialised business fields, the following service providers are at your service!
The German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce (AHK) is the official representative of the German economy in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. We advise small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, and we are the first point of contact for all matters concerning entering and expanding in the German market. Through 80 regional chambers, we have a competent contact person in every major city and region in Germany to support your activities in Germany.
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