How to make it big outside your home market. The case of ESTONIA Andrus Viirg Enterprise Estonia Silicon Valley [email protected] 26-27 October 2011 Sofia, Bulgaria ENTERPRISE ESTONIA State foundation for Business Development: Investment, Trade, Innovation/Technology and Tourism promotion + the Space Office of Estonia     implementing agency of the EU structural funds in Estonia budget of 1.3 billion USD (2007-2013) about 300 employees providing financing/grant products, advice, partnership opportunities and training Investment, Trade & Innovation Promotion – assisting international companies to estonianize – assisting Estonian companies to internationalize – Foreign (promotional) Offices in Stockholm, Helsinki Hamburg, London, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Shanghai, Tokyo and Silicon Valley Enterprise Estonia Silicon Valley ICT Bio/Nanotech Cleantech NETWORKING & Awareness building: establishing and maintaining a network in US and Estonia among technology companies, R&D Institutions and Universities to facilitate direct contacts among potential partners. US Market Access (Export promotion): 1) identifying potential partners and service providers 2) technical assistance: office & meeting space, networking events, setting up office (virtual and/or incorporating in US) Raising venture capital for expansion in US and FDI promotion: 1) promoting Estonia as a location for doing business 2) approaching VCs How to make it Big Estonia – churning out startups • Small is Beautiful • behind the scenes • lessons learned Wired European Startups The Wired Magazine By Tom Cheshire 16 August 2011 Tallinn has some heavyweight tech credentials, but new companies are emerging. Garage48, a monthly two-day hackathon, has spawned several startups Estonia produces a disproportionate number of startups per capita slide shared by Robin Wauters during Seedcamp Week in London (sept.2011), where out of 20 companies 4 Estonian startups presented and two 2 became finalists. GrabCAD, is a mechanical engineering community and a marketplace Sportlyzer is an online training advisor. Estonia – behind the scenes integrating into Scandinavia birthplace of Kazaa & Skype NATO Cyber Defence Centre EU IT Agency e-government Garage48 Garage48 events started in Estonia in April 2010 and have expanded to other countries in Northern Europe and Africa since then. Riga, Latvia in November 18-20 Kiev, Ukraine in November 25-27 ? Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec 2-4 Helsinki, Finland in 2012 Mexico City, Mexico in 2012 St. Petersburg, Russia in 2012 Stockholm, Sweden in 2012 Where is the Money in Estonia • Ambient Sound Investments (ASI) http://asi.ee/ • Martinson Trigon Venture Partners (MTVP) http://www.martinsontrigon.com/ • investment banking – LHV, BaltCap, Trigon, Cresco • angels • Estonian Development Fund Global Hotbeds network, network... How to make it big? lessons learned • right time right place – you have to visit the hotbeds – There is life beyond Silicon Valley (India, Africa...) • networking – Garage48 – Startup sauna • get the company structure right – Born global – involve advisors • don`t give up, be a serial enterpreneur. It takes only one great idea to get you on the map – Skype – Rovio (Angry Birds) . Innovative start-ups from Estonia going global Six Estonian companies on the 100 global list of Innovate2010 Guidewire Group www.nowinnovations.com www.fits.me www.grabcad.com www.taxipal.com www.edicy.com www.nutiteq.com On the 100 list of Red Herring Asia www.guardtime.com And just to list some more Estonian start-ups present in Silicon Valley www.erply.com www.zerply.com www.fortumo.com www.pipedrive.com www.300mg.com www.utopic.me