Startups like Skype, GrabCAD and Starship Technologies have grown out of Estonian capital Tallinn, which is home for a vast number of startups which are due to change the world over coming years. We picked for you 10 to look out for.
(Author: Tarmo Virki, CoFounder Magazine / Image: iStock)
3D CREATIONIST
The startup offers 3D modelling on your mobile phone screen – enabling amateurs to make their own 3D models in 30 seconds. The startup has had some early traction, with roughly 300,000 downloads for its app and more than 30,000 active users. It believes ease-of-use is the key differentiator among a number of 3D modelling apps out there. None of them is as easy as 3DC and none have an in-app gallery with user-generated 3D models to download and continue work on, it says.
See more at 3dcreationist.com
AMPLER BIKES
Ampler Bikes is one of those hipster startups solving urban commuting challenge. Ampler’s team has created smart electric bikes and have sold them successfully on a crowdfunding platform. It promises a fast, affordable, independent, and stylish way of moving in urban areas. The bikes are lighter than existing models and look like regular ones. Designed with the objective to make them easy to use, these bikes deliver the potential of bicycles in modern cities.
See more at amplerbikes.com
AUTOBAHN
The founders started to work on the startup in 2011 when they were employed by Skype and Microsoft took over the internet telephony company. For years they developed software for car sales in stealth mode, before finally coming out with its story in latter half of 2016 when they took part in Startupbootcamp’s logistics programme in Berlin. The promise is simple – to revolutionise car sales software, which has so far been deep in proprietary silos. The software works for the whole sales chain from factory to consumer, which makes it especially interesting for massive brands seeking to have contact with consumers.
See more at startup-autobahn.com
COFOUNDER
The 2014 launched magazine is working on mission to bring journalism into startup media. It is proudly on paper (greetings to dear Silicon readers!) and its advertising invites revolutionaries to join The 2D Printing Revolution. You can find a copy on many top conferences around Europe, or subscribe online.
See more at cofmag.com
FUNDERBEAM
The 2013 founded startup has built up likely the first bourse for angel investments. The problem Funderbeam solves is an obvious one – investments into startups are extremely illiquid (on top of being very risky). Their trading platform uses blockchain to make the investments tradeable and the shareholdings are in-direct with investors trading digital bonds representing a share in specially created company which holds a stake in the startup. The sign that Tim Draper and ThomsonReuters as investors in Funderbeam’s A round show it could surely have global impact.
See more at markets.funderbeam.com
GUAANA
The 2015 founded Guaana started off as a co-operation platform for scientists and it has been able to sign up 3,000 people, including staff of most top universities and research institutions of the world. During 2017 the company is morphing itself more into a funding vehicle for science – taking best practices from startup world and taking them into bureaucratic world of science funding.
See more at guaana.com
INZMO
The 201x founded startup taps one of the most interesting sectors of 2017: insurtech. Today, there is a massive inefficiency in insurance — 65% of all premiums in the industry go towards sales and administration costs and covering insurance fraud. Inzmo cuts those costs, while also reducing the risk of insurance fraud. It enables people to get personal insurance for motor-vehicles, smart devices, household, traveling etc. Every time someone insures their items in Inzmo, they’re asked to make a 5 second video of the insured item. This results in better business to insurance companies and lower premiums to customers.
See more at inzmo.com
REBELROAM
RebelRoam has developed the first cross-border passenger WiFi service “in-a-box”. Included unlimited pan-European 4G internet makes it easier for the transportation providers to meet the expectations of their passengers who want good quality internet access everywhere. Buses, trains, and other transportation providers are losing customers due to poor or non‐existent internet connectivity — but the issue is expensive and complicated for the transportation providers to fix. RebelRoam is offering a solution in the niche which is much larger than outsiders would think, and has hence seen been also left untapped by classical telecom gear providers.
See more at rebelroam.com
REVERSE RESOURCES
Marketplace for clothing industry leftovers, which has won a Global Change Award, was launched in 2014 and it is already working with H&M and Tesco to explore the opportunity arising from reusing the leftovers from their garment production. Suppliers could earn 2-3 times more from the leftovers they have. In the 21st century creative pricing world, Reverse Resources charges clients per amount of materials made visible for brands and/or taken back to use by reuse or recycling.
See more at reverseresources.net
SHIPITWISE
Shipitwise tries to take booking.com approach to logistics. It has so far seen most traction in integrations with airlines, which outsource door-to-door luggage transport to Shipitwise, but the big promise is in solving logistics challenge for small and medium sized businesses. They’re too small for logistics firms to care of, and cannot handle the whole process efficiently enough by themselves either. At the same time, there are small but efficient logistics service providers constantly trying to get access to an additional customer base. Shipitwise – which has raised capital twice on Funderbeam – helps smaller companies to find the most efficient transport, while taking care of packaging, customs and other documentation, and insuring all of the goods.
See more at shipitwise.com
This article was first published in the Spring 2017 issue of SILICON magazine. Be the first to read SILICON articles on paper before they’re posted online, plus read exclusive features and interviews that only appear in the print edition, by subscribing online.
