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Meet Erik Lavrov - The sTARTUp Day speaker contest winner

At just 20, Erik Lavrov has already won the European Taekwon-do championship, launched an online school, and built a following of over 100,000 on TikTok. As the winner of the sTARTUp Day 2025 Speaker Contest, Erik is ready to inspire...
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Meet the Advisory Board of sTARTUp Day!

sTARTUp Day has welcomed several influential figures to its new advisory board, each bringing their experience to help guide the event’s continued...
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Dealum is the Tartu startup of the year!

On October 11th, Tartu's entrepreneurial community gathered at the Athena Center for a gala event where the winners of the "Tartu Best...
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From Farmer's Son to CEO: How Robin Saluoks Is Revolutionizing Agriculture with eAgronom

Robin Saluoks, CEO and co-founder of eAgronom, shares his journey from growing up in a farming family to leading one of the...
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Mastering sales with Zoltan Vardy: “Founders need to be the first ones selling their product”

In the competitive world of startups, building a great product is only the beginning. Without a solid sales strategy, even the most...
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Previous sTARTUp Day Speaker Contest Winner Peep-Ain Saar keynote

Peep-Ain Saar, managing partner at Arco Vara KVB, pastor, and seasoned entrepreneur, delivered a heartfelt keynote on overcoming adversity and thriving in...
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sTARTUp Day 2025 announces the first five speakers

Here is the first wave of speakers, promising an event packed with experience, inspiration, and actionable insights for entrepreneurs and innovators. The...
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Pitch Coach David Beckett at sTARTUp Day 2024: How to Stay Afloat: Pitching to Raise Money and Moving Investors From No to Yes

At sTARTUp Day 2024, pitch coach David Beckett delivered a keynote, "How to Stay Afloat: Pitching to Raise Money and How to...
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Digital Innovator Jaanika Merilo at sTARTUp Day 2024: Lessons Learned From Ukraine or How to Challenge the Unexpected

Jaanika Merilo, a seasoned tech innovator with over 20 years of experience in digital transformation, delivered a keynote at sTARTUp Day that...
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Marelle Ellen keynote at sTARTUp Day 2024: Growth Strategies I've Learned from Top Estonian Startups

Marelle Ellen, the co-host of the grit. podcast is a seasoned CMO, marketing mentor, and podcast host. With a diverse background, including...
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Kalev Kaarna keynote at sTARTUp Day 2024: “Practical magic of growing sales in a falling market”

Kalev Kaarna's keynote at sTARTUp Day provided an insightful guide for businesses striving to grow their sales despite a declining market. Drawing...
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Conquering Everest: Kunnar Karu at sTARTUp Day 2024

At sTARTUp Day 2024, Kunnar Karu shared his inspiring journey to the summit of Mount Everest. His speech was about perseverance, determination,...
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Madis Lehtmets, New Program Manager: “Design is a problem-solving methodology”

Madis Lehtmets is the new Program Manager of sTARTUp Day! We talked with him about design, startups, stand-up comedy, how to write...
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President Alar Karis at sTARTUp Day — “The Future of Innovation in Estonia”

We asked for sTARTUp Day 2024 visitor feedback, with one of the questions being about the most memorable speaker. The most popular...
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Jana Saastamoinen: "Tartu people know how to organize quality events"

Jana Saastamoinen is the newest Head Organizer of sTARTUp Day! She first joined the festival marketing team in 2019 as an assistant;...
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Dress for Success: Estonian Fashion and Corporate Branding

Tartu Centre for Creative Industries hosted at sTARTUp Day 2024 a panel discussion titled “Dress for Success: Estonian Fashion and Corporate Branding”....
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Head Organizer Noora Ustav: We keep innovating with Refresh

Refresh, the biggest product and UX design conference in Estonia, is taking place in Tartu for the second time on April 11-12,...
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Startup Estonia Deep Tech Lounge offered insights for deep tech founders

For the second time at sTARTUp Day, Startup Estonia hosted the hugely popular Deep Tech Lounge, featuring engaging conversations with experts and...
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Meet sTARTUp Pitching 2024 winner Esgrid

Esgrid snapped up the syndicate investment of up to €200k by the Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) at sTARTUp Pitching 2024 competition....
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The winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2024 have been announced!

Altogether, 322 startups entered the race. After fierce competition, the winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2024 have been announced. EstBAN awarded a syndicate...
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The TOP 5 startups of sTARTUp Pitching 2024 are…!

Today, we met the most promising early-stage startups in the region as the semifinalists of sTARTUp Pitching 2024 showcased themselves at the...
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sTARTUp Day 2024 Survival Guide

sTARTUp Day 2024 begins already in two days! We are excited to welcome you to Tartu and help you have the best...
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Three Keys for Unlocking Your IP Potential and Securing Funding

When should you start thinking about protecting your intellectual property (IP) as a startup? The short answer would be today! Timely IP...
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Navigating the Funding Landscape in Today’s Climate: A Founder’s Perspective

Fundraising has been a challenge ever since 2022, but it is still possible.  Mariana Hagström from the legaltech startup Avokaado shares key...
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Elli Valla from TalTech: AI saves time but also enhances the accuracy and accessibility of healthcare services

The massive development in artificial intelligence over the past year represents a significant shift in healthcare. For doctors, it means, among many...
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Peter Sarlin from Silo AI on building a European AI flagship, regulating technology and opportunities created by AI

Established in 2017, Silo AI is Europe’s largest private AI lab that partners up with industry leaders to build AI-driven solutions and...
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What do the startup scene’s big players think about ESG?

In an era where buzzwords often overshadow substance, understanding the essence of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is not just a necessity...
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Brand designer Chris Shirley: Startups will need to become more curious about their customers

Chris Shirley is the founder of Haus of Hiatus, a branding studio that designs and markets startups and scale-ups to be successful...
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What Startups Should Expect from Their Payments Provider?

On top of a myriad of other challenges, startup founders also need to handle all the down-to-earth and administrative matters including payment systems...
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Ugne Fink-Jensen on business negotiations in the age of AI and living a nomadic dream on a sailboat

At sTARTUp Day 2023, international business negotiator and entrepreneur Ugne Fink-Jensen shared the story of pursuing her dream of traveling around the...
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Money for Investments in Startups Is Still Available, But More Accountability Is Required

The current economic environment is making many companies face difficult times. At the same time startups seem to have matured, understanding the...
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Shaping Tomorrow's Value: Executive Day at sTARTUp Day 2024

On January 24, sTARTUp Day 2024 invites industry leaders to Executive Day – an exclusive event for Executive ticket holders, focusing on...
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Let’s meet Jan Lätt and Sven Kotkas – EstBAN lead investors at sTARTUp Pitching 2024

It’s time to get to know Jan Lätt and Sven Kotkas, lead investors of the EstBAN syndicate at the sTARTUp Pitching 2024...
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International growth requires courage and ability to stand out

When you have a brave attitude, right partners and you also include the best tools in the mix, you have a great...
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From software to jingles – an ABC of license agreements

Crafting an effective IP licensing agreement involves safeguarding interests and fostering mutually beneficial partnerships. Whether you are an author or acquirer of...
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What a great conflict to have!

Conflicts are an opportunity to learn. Dare we even say a good conflict can be a gift? Find out what you can actually...
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Announcing the TOP 40 of sTARTUp Pitching 2024!

The wait is over! It’s time to reveal the TOP 40 startups of sTARTUp Pitching 2024 who will be pitching at the...
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sTARTUp Day 2024 program is out!

With 35 days to go until the festival, the sTARTUp Day 2024 program is out now! From survival strategies to sustainable entrepreneurship,...
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Investments have dried up, so founders need to be more creative

It’s no secret that startups are having a tough time. The ideas and the teams’ enthusiasm might be there, but what is...
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Designer Susanna Peters from Franz Raver: Corporate wear can boost employee well-being and company success

Susanna Peters is the founder of Franz Raver and the author of this year's sTARTUp Day merch. Her brand Franz Raver creates...
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Arts of Survival: How Entrepreneurs Make It in Culture and Artists Become Executives

Culture and business can seem as two juxtaposing worlds: one driven by burning artistic passion, the other by cold hard cash. Yet...
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Life coach Killu Kolsar: You don’t have to burn out to be successful

Killu Kolsar is a Co-founder and life coach at ASI ON MINUS!, a social media marketer and event planner. ASI ON MINUS!...
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Meet Sandra Golbreich from Baltic Sandbox Ventures

Sandra Golbreich is a General Partner at Baltic Sandbox Ventures, the first specialized early-stage VC fund in the Baltic region investing in...
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Elite Training for Elite Teams: Lessons from Special Forces for Startup Success

In the dynamic world of startups, the path to success is incredibly demanding and not for everyone. It requires a certain type...
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Mari Luukkainen from Icebreaker.vc: Startups need to be proactive in attracting a more diverse talent pool

Mari Luukkainen is a Principal at Icebreaker.vc with a portfolio of 100+ startups, ex-growth operator and founder of  Herizon.io, a non-profit creating...
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Future of work consultant Lena Thompson: Passion will lead us to our purpose

Lena Thompson has over 15 years of experience in the corporate arena consulting, training and designing systems for global clients. In 2019...
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sTARTUp Day has grown up: our new visual identity

Did you notice our website looks a bit different lately? Ahead of sTARTUp Day 2024, we have refreshed our visual identity to...
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Dmytro Fishman from Better Medicine on using AI to help doctors and the challenges of MedTech industry

Dmytro Fishman, or Dima as he likes to go by, is a Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at the Institute of Computer Science,...
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Kersti Vannas from Instar Employer Branding: Don’t strive to be the most attractive empoyer in the world

Fifteen years ago, the concept of Employer Branding was a foreign concept to many business executives in Estonia. However, Kersti Vannas and...
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sTARTUp Pitching 2024 competition comes again with a prize pool of over €300k

Early-stage startups can now apply for the sTARTUp Pitching 2024 contest to compete for syndicate investments by EstBAN, .Contriber Ventures and prizes...
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Let’s take a first glimpse into the sTARTUp Day 2024 program!

The 8th edition of the sTARTUp Day festival, taking place on January 24–26, 2024, in the smart city of Tartu will be...
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sTARTUp Day joins forces with Tartu 2024

Tartu together with Southern Estonia is the European Capital of Culture in 2024. We’re excited to announce Tartu 2024 as one of...
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Marketing expert Marelle Ellen on becoming good at marketing, grit and what we can all learn from startups

Marelle Ellen is the CMO of the influencer marketing tool Promoty, marketing mentor, and Co-host of grit. marketing podcast. Over the last...
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Kristen Tamm from Futuclass on innovating education with VR and building an EdTech startup

Futuclass is a Tartu-based EdTech startup on a mission to make learning more engaging with the help of virtual reality. We talked...
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Are you the new head organizer of sTARTUp Day?

sTARTUp Day, the biggest business festival in the Baltics, is looking for a new Head Organizer to take the lead of sTARTUp...
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Head of Program Ida Maria Orula on curating the sTARTUp Day and Digit program

It’s time to get to know Ida Maria Orula, Head of Program at sTARTUp Day. Her first task: curating the upcoming Digit...
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What do you believe yourself to be capable of achieving?

Personal Power comes from our perception of self and is the key to unlocking our true potential, writes Rein Lemberpuu in an essay...
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HOPP design store – your trusted guide into the unknown

Nestled at the heart of Tartu, HOPP is the design store of Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, launched very much in the...
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Health technologies need to overcome a number of barriers to thrive, study says

Estonia has great potential for developing innovative, science-based health services. However, several challenges still need to be tackled, as highlighted in a...
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Marek Alliksoo on the hydrogen revolution and its possibilities for Tartu and Estonia

Hydrogen is seen to play a key role in reducing global CO2 emissions and transitioning to clean, renewable energy. We discussed the...
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CDL Estonia helps to scale science- and technology-based startups

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a non-profit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. In...
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Uku Tomikas from Messente on the future of SMS, combating user authentication fraud and effective leadership principles

Uku Tomikas is the CEO of Messente Communications, the Tartu-based business messaging platform servicing companies worldwide. He is also a father, a...
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The Pursuit of Scrappiness: Merging the Baltic startup bubbles

Janis Zeps and Uldis Teraudkalns are co-hosts of The Pursuit of Scrappiness, the popular English-language startup podcast dedicated to actionable and scrappy...
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Kadi Saadlo from Hotelbuddy – A Hotelier Turned Into to a Startup Founder

Kadi Saadlo never dreamed of becoming a startup founder before the Covid-19 pandemic turned her personal and professional life upside down. Today,...
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Rasmus Merirand from DoBu: a young founder not afraid of taking the plunge

When most 14-year-olds spend time playing video games and making silly jokes, Rasmus Merirand chose to spend his time watching Youtube videos...
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Petri-Jaan Lahtvee and Nemailla Bonturi from ÄIO on finding similarities between academia and entrepreneurship

ÄIO is an Estonian biotech company that is employing precision fermentation to valorize side-streams from agriculture, food industry and forestry into high-quality...
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sTARTUp Day winner Paul-Tech equips farmers with a smart digital assistant

It’s time to get to know the heroes of this year’s sTARTUp Pitching competition! First up is Paul-Tech – an Estonian agritech startup...
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The winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2023 have been announced!

Altogether 271 teams started this year’s sTARTUp Pitching competition. After a fierce competition, the winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2023 have been announced....
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The TOP 5 startups of sTARTUp Pitching 2023 are…!

Today, sTARTUp Day attendees could meet the most promising early-stage startups in the region as the semifinalists of sTARTUp Pitching 2023 showcased...
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Your must-read guide to sTARTUp Day 2023 or how to have the time of your life

The most startup-minded business festival is happening already this week. We are excited to welcome you and other startup-minded people to Tartu...
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How does Brella help you connect with the right people at the sTARTUp Day festival?

We all know how important networking is at events like sTARTUp Day. Brella app will help you connect with your future business...
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Convertible debt as a temporary alternative to equity?

In current market environment raising equity capital for a startup has become significantly harder compared to just a few years ago. However,...
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Semaphore signals that investors use for navigation in 2023

Which growth opportunities are hidden in megatrends signaled by public policies and priorities, regulatory frameworks and public spending? Find out from the...
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The University of Tartu spin-off company RedoxNRG captures CO2 and revolutionizes the chemical industry

According to Nadezda Kongi, founder and CEO of RedoxNRG, captured CO2 can be used to manufacture synthetic fuels. This can help ensure energy...
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Mari-Liis Lind from VIVITA: "Kids must be given the opportunity to bring their awesome ideas to life."

Mari-Liis Lind is an innovator and community builder who has been involved in running several tech initiatives and conferences in Estonia. Today,...
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Ringo shows the way to the future without single-use packaging

For the second year, we use only Ringo reusable cups and dishes at the sTARTUp Day festival. The company was also one...
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Fast-track your way to corporate innovation at this year's Executive Day

For many companies, sTARTUp Day is the place to tap into innovation and meet the up-and-coming startups, planting seeds for future cooperation....
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From good to great: 4 strategies how founders and leaders amplify their impact and wellbeing

In this essay for leaders, Ansis Lipenitis, CEO of .Cocoon, explores strategies for making choices that benefit yourself and those around you. .Cocoon is a self-development...
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Jay Johnson on behavioral change and creating an organizational culture where people thrive

Jay Johnson works with people and organizations to empower teams, grow profits, and transform leaders using applied behavioral science. He is the...
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Tiina-Mall Vannastu on How to F*ck Up Your (Employer) Brand: Make Your Brand the Hero

Employer branding is a topic that has been capturing the attention of many startups, especially those in the growth phase, as they...
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Let's Talk About Sex Tech, Baby

It’s been our mission at sTARTUp Day to explore fresh topics. For instance, in 2023, we’ll discuss digital fashion and Sex Tech....
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Announcing the TOP 40 of sTARTUp Pitching 2023!

It’s time to unveil the crème de la crème of the 7th edition of sTARTUp Pitching! Altogether 271 startups entered the race....
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Kirke Leinatamm from Scopus Studio on 3D design, digital fashion, and reducing the fashion industry‘s footprint

A fashion item with a 97% smaller carbon footprint than a regular garment? Yes, it’s possible – in 3D. We explored the...
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Pitch coach David Beckett on how to craft and deliver a winning pitch

This year, the Top 40 teams of sTARTUp Pitching can polish their pitches in a coaching session with the seasoned pitch trainer...
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Agnese Veckalne from Longenesis on speeding up medical research and success at sTARTUp Pitching

Agnese Veckalne is the Chief Operating Officer of the Latvian MedTech startup Longenesis, one of the winning teams of sTARTUp Pitching 2022....
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Let’s meet Mait Sooaru – EstBAN lead investor at sTARTUp Pitching

Mait Sooaru is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and Board Member of the Estonian Business Angels Network. As EstBAN will be awarding a...
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Triin Kask from Soulie: "Social media giants must rethink their business models or face the fate of Nokia.”

Triin Kask is an entrepreneur with over 13 years of experience and a familiar face to the sTARTUp Day audience, particularly from...
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Let’s meet Aleksander Tõnnisson – .Cocoon Ventures lead investor at sTARTUp Pitching

Aleksander Tõnnisson is an investor and lead partner at .Cocoon Ventures, which is awarding a €100k syndicate to one team at sTARTUp...
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A Unicorn, a Founder and an Unexpected Guest at sTARTUp Day – a Miniplay by ChatGPT

Our end-of-the-year blog is brought to you by this year’s celebrity Chat GPT. We hope this miniplay, featuring a founder, a unicorn...
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Our most popular interviews from 2022

Here are the TOP 10 most popular interviews published on the sTARTUp Day blog in 2022 – in random order. Revisit these inspiring...
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We must learn to take care of our mental health before times get tough

Kadri Haljas is a mental health innovator and the founder and CEO of Triumf Health, which was recently awarded the World Summit...
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Ilia Gogichaishvili on “The Road to NASDAQ New York”

Ilia Gogichaishvili is Vice President of Investment Banking at BTIG covering Emerging Technologies globally. Ahead of his talk at sTARTUp Day, we spoke...
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Combat Ready – the training company that makes your team unstoppable

Combat Ready is a training company whose practical leadership training courses are based on methods used in the special forces units of...
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Let's have a sneak peek into sTARTUp Day 2023 program!

Are you eager to know who will be headlining and which hot trends will be discussed at the next sTARTUp Day festival?...
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sTARTUp Day recognized at the European Enterprise Promotion Awards

sTARTUp Day was shortlisted in the category of supporting the internationalization of business at the European Enterprise Promotion Awards. Our team attended...
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sTARTUp Pitching 2023 is coming again with a prize pool of over €350k!

We are calling all startups to apply for the sTARTUp Pitching competition. Apply before 5 February 2023 to compete for prizes worth...
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How to use gamification in your demo area booth?

How to stand out and get more leads at a business festival? Adact platform allows you to create unique gamified experiences to engage...
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Marii Ingriin Saaremäe on bringing back the good old Refresh conference in a whole new way

In January 2023, Refresh, the biggest product, UX design and front-end conference in Estonia, is returning after a 4-year hiatus. We had...
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10 places to visit in Tartu

Although the best time to visit Tartu is during the sTARTUp Day festival, a trip to the smart city of Tartu is...
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How to build a healthy cap table?

How to build and maintain a cap table that would not hurt the founders’ motivation or your startup’s fundraising ability in the...
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Oleksandra Bernatska from Skyworker: The war gave us a push to do things we had been afraid to do before

Oleksandra Bernatska is Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Skyworker, one of the fastest-growing recruitment startups in Europe. Founded in Ukraine in...
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Kristjan Lind – the Estonian Young Entrepreneur of 2022!

Kristjan Lind is the CEO and co-founder of Bikeep, the leading smart commercial scooter and bike parking and charging provider. Today, Kristjan...
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Will van den Tweel from Those Vegan Cowboys on the path to animal free dairy products

Those Vegan Cowboys is a Belgian company on a mission to make the best cheese without the use of animals in the...
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Nishil Parekh and Flora Somogyi on the launching and scaling journey at Lightyear

Lightyear is an investment platform targeting European retail investors. Founded in 2020 by Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, both part of the TransferWise...
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Juudit Gross: a career change to IT must start with interest and desire to work there

The career change from sea surveyor to IT developer was a logical step for Juudit (30), but at the same time a well-thought-out...
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How to stay on top of your security game as a startup?

How to operate in the modern cloud environment while being compliant and diligent from day one? The following checklist compiled by our...
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Anna Burgués from EIT Urban Mobility on liveable cities, impact investing and a stronger Baltic startup ecosystem

Anna Burgués, part of the startup investment team at EIT Urban Mobility, shares how the organization is on a mission to create...
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sTARTUp Pitching 2022 winner LightCode Photonics changes the way robots see us

LightCode Photonics picked up a €200k EstBAN-led syndicate investment from the sTARTUp Pitching 2022 competition. The University of Tartu spin-off, founded in...
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The winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2022 have been announced!

A record number of 380 applicants from 47 countries started this year’s sTARTUp Pitching competition. After a fierce competition, the winners have...
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The TOP 5 startups of sTARTUp Pitching 2022 are…!

Today, sTARTUp Day attendees could meet the most promising early-stage startups in the region, as the TOP 40 teams of sTARTUp Pitching...
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sTARTUp Day 2022 survival guide aka 10 things you NEED to know to have the time of your life

sTARTUp Day is almost here. We have compiled this short list of practical information to help you have the best festival experience....
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Jõhvi coding school: An ode to Estonian scrappiness and unity

The biggest cloud hanging over the Estonian tech sector – a shortage of ICT professionals – is being tackled at kood/Jõhvi in...
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Three mistakes to avoid as a startup when raising capital

Our partner TGS Baltic sheds light on three common mistakes they have seen startups commit in the fundraising process. 
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Five things our Banking-as-a-Service Platform has taught us about launching products

Monese launched in 2015 with the ambition to offer financial services to those without perfect credit scores or proof of address. To...
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Rebecka Löthman Rydå from Inventure VC: Think big and show your ambition

Rebecka Löthman Rydå is an Investment Director at Inventure VC, one of the most experienced venture funds in the Nordics. Rebecka has...
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Woohoo – We f*cked Up! – Beast Rent's expansion

There's no better way to learn than by listening to the stories of fast-growing startups. Here’s a fabulous first-hand account of our...
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Online selling guru Krystel Assi: e-Residency changed my life

sTARTUp Day seminar host shares 'hacks' on putting your e-commerce business on the fast track. 
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What do teens and your future employees really want? Wise shares 3 key takeaways from the latest survey

Wise has been keeping a close eye on the youth for years now and has asked Kantar Emor to survey teens aged...
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Announcing the TOP 40 of sTARTUp Pitching 2022!

We are excited to publish the list of TOP 40 startups of sTARTUp Pitching. This year, we had an astounding number of...
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Aleks Koha from Promoty on futurism and turning your interests into a startup

Aleks Koha is the CEO and co-founder of Promoty, a platform that connects influencer marketing with social media analytics. Having experience in...
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Antonius 2022 Showcases Sustainable Everyday Fashion and Forward-Looking Digital Fashion

For the first time in sTARTUp Day history, we have a fashion show on our side events program! Antonius fashion show, part...
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Let's Meet Heidi Kakko and Martin Goroško – EstBAN Syndicate Lead Investors at sTARTUp Pitching

One of the teams at sTARTUp Pitching 2022 will collect up to €200k early stage funding for their startup from an Estonian...
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Catching Up with Cihat Kahraman from VSight One Year After Winning sTARTUp Pitching 2021

Cihat Kahraman is the Co-founder and CEO at VSight, a Remote Service and Collaboration platform with Augmented Reality, and the winner of...
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5 main reasons why early-stage startups fail to get funding

According to a U.S. Bank study, a whopping 82% of businesses that failed cited cash flow problems as a factor in their...
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Gleb Maltsev on The Art and Science of Pitching in Times of Uncertainty

Gleb Maltsev is a data-driven pitch coach whose training sessions have proved eye-opening for many founders. Each year, he listens to around...
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We have unveiled the full sTARTUp Day 2022 program

The cat is out of the bag – while additions will be made all the way to August, we have unveiled the...
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Birds and butterflies: let’s talk about biodiversity

We need to have a chat about birds and bees. Well, not the kind you had with your parents when you were...
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A sTARTUp-minded city

The city of Tartu, the birthplace and location of sTARTUp Day, has found a special place in the hearts of many startups....
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Lauri Reuter: From scientist to launching the first foodtech VC fund in the Nordics and Baltics

Lauri Reuter is a scientist turned investor and partner at Nordic Foodtech VC. The fund invests in deep foodtech companies based in the...
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Marcel Poelker from Taledo: “I'm a firm believer in humans behind the job.”

Marcel Poelker is the founder and CTO of Taledo, a Berlin-founded innovative recruiting platform that combines a human-centric approach to hiring with...
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What's wrong with him!? 5 ways leaders are slowing their business growth

Rather than focus on the faults of your team members, start the change with yourself and lead by example. You will find...
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Head of Program Artur Kamberg on this year's program highlights, freelance life and Tartu vs Tallinn

You may know Artur Kamberg as a radio voice, podcast and event host but did you know he is also the Head...
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ESA expert Gertrud Talvik on the European space industry and becoming an astronaut

Gertrud Talvik has been working as an expert in the European Space Agency, more precisely, the European Space Research and Technology Centre...
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The University of Tartu spin-off company UP Catalyst makes the battery industry greener

It is estimated that by 2030 around half of the new cars sold are electric. The shift to electric vehicles requires a...
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10+1 tested tips how to attract more visitors to your demo booth

This year’s sTARTUp Day will have the biggest demo area in the history of the festival. How to make your booth attract...
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A Guide to Burnout and Focus for High Growth Teams

Most founders and team leaders are familiar with the distractions that prevent us from achieving our goals. E-mails, texts, calls — all...
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Kalev Kärpuk from Adact: Founders should learn more from the mistakes of others

Kalev Kärpuk is the CEO and founder of Adact, a young gamification marketing startup that allows companies to create engaging gamification campaigns...
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Designer Liis Tiisvelt from iLLIMOR loves making sustainable apparel for startups

Liis Tiisvelt is a designer and founder of the clothing brand iLLIMOR, which is characterized by sustainability – all clothes are produced...
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Kristo Kraft from Ringy: Sharing your good ideas with others helps you move forward

Kristo Kraft is the CEO of Ringy, a circular economy company that aims to reduce the waste of natural resources through refurbishing...
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Christoph Klink from Antler: Creating the right conditions for building great teams

Christoph Klink is Partner at Antler, a global early-stage VC firm founded in Singapore in 2017. He is co-leading Antler's operations in...
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sTARTUp Day joins forces with Fractory

The Tartu-founded cloud manufacturing company Fractory joins as one of the co-organizers of sTARTUp Day.
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Avely Marjapuu and Toomas Häide from Naine.fit: Success starts with baby steps, both in business and fitness

Avely Marjapuu and Toomas Häide are founders of Naine.fit, an online fitness platform offering women a variety of training programs, healthy recipes...
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Marcel Gasser: "It's impossible to get to know who you truly are without meditation."

Marcel Gasser is an entrepreneurial nomad, business angel and mentor who helps entrepreneurs and investors in becoming fully aligned with their purpose,...
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Our most popular reads in 2021

Here are the TOP 10 most popular interviews published on sTARTUp Day blog this year - full of interesting insights from investors,...
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10 startup terms from 2021 everyone should know

Part of the holiday routine is looking back and compiling various lists. So here is one from the sTARTUp Day team ‒ of...
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Meet our podcast hosts Marleen Aasa and Otto Oliver Olgo

It’s time to get to know Marleen Aasa and Otto Oliver Olgo, consultants at Miltton New Nordics and the hosts of Season...
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Margus Uudam on deep tech investing, raising unicorns and investor-founder partnerships

Margus Uudam is a founder and partner at Karma Ventures (karma.vc) an early-stage venture capital firm specialized in late seed and A round...
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sTARTUp Day 2022 will return as an epic summer festival

While we hoped to meet everyone already in January, we have to wait a bit longer this year. In light of the...
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Mari-Ly Klaats from Auve Tech: "Technology will always be two or three steps ahead of the law."

Mari-Ly Klaats is the COO of Auve Tech, an Estonian company specialized in the development and deployment of driverless vehicles and autonomous...
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Time to join sTARTUp Day 2022 pitching contest with a prize pool of over €350k

We are calling all startups to apply for the sTARTUp Pitching competition. This is your chance to shine on the stage in...
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Volunteering at sTARTUp Day ‒ high energy, awesome people and new skills

What does it feel like to be part of the team organizing sTARTUp Day and experience the creative chaos behind the scenes?...
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Sandra Saarniit on supporting local startup community and personal growth

This week’s hero is Sandra Saarniit, Startup Community Development Manager at Startup Estonia whose mission is to foster collaboration and learning between...
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Investor Kristi Saare: "The goal is to build a portfolio for life."

Kristi Saare is an investor and entrepreneur who has inspired many Estonians to embark on an investment journey through her popular blog,...
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Martin Vares – the Estonian Young Entrepreneur of 2021!

Martin Vares is the CEO and co-founder of Fractory, a cloud manufacturing company connecting engineers to potential production capacity through an automated...
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Ann Runnel: "We all need to wear clothes, so let's do it sustainably!"

Ann Runnel is the co-founder and CEO of Reverse Resources, a tracking and trading platform for textile waste. Ann has been researching eco-innovation...
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We’re ready, are you? The 6th sTARTUp Day season has officially kicked off!

While the emotions from sTARTUp Day 2021 are still high in the air, it’s time to kick off the next festival season....
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Politicians debate at sTARTUp Day – The way forward for a startup nation

On August 27, politicians from major Estonian parties debated on the topic "The Way Forward for a Startup Nation" at sTARTUp Day....
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Martin Kikas: "I scare off laziness with my fears."

Ö STUDIO is a dynamic form of collaboration between audiovisual companies and artists that offers specialized art-directed multidisciplinary solutions such as video,...
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How to grow your business with zero budget? Insights from startup marketing expert Andrew Lee Miller

How can you grow your business with a minimum or even zero budget as an early-stage startup? If you missed the popular...
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Riho Terras: “Fighting lies, whether it is a technological lie or just a simple lie, is important in any society”

Riho Terras is a retired General and former Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces from 2011 to 2018. In January 2019, Terras...
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Overview and numbers of sTARTUp Day 2021 – a crazy journey that ended with a summerfest!

sTARTUp Day 2021 was definitely a one-of-a-kind event. After 18 months of organization and prepping, the startup community gathered in the Estonian...
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sTARTUp Pitching Powered by EstBAN – the winners have been announced!

The fantastic and nerve-racking sTARTUp Pitching powered by EstBAN has reached the finish line! A record number of applicants – 330 startups...
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What can we learn from the crisis during the past 20 years?

During the 21st century, we have already witnessed three global economic crises: the dot-com bubble in 2000–2002, the financial crisis in 2007-2009,...
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TOP 7 startups in the Baltics are…!

sTARTUp Pitching Powered by EstBAN brought together the most promising early-stage startups from the region. Today, the TOP 40 were competing for...
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Dan Michaeli: “I believe it is crucial to understand that ‘startup’ is just a phase. It’s a temporary stage when an organization is searching for its business model.”

Dan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Glia – a digital customer service platform that allows businesses to interact with their customers...
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sTARTUp Day 2021 survival guide: how to have the time of your life

To become a true hero and take everything there is to take at sTARTUp Day, come prepared. We believe in the phrase...
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"The ideas that made Silicon Valley as powerful and rich as it is now are utopian ones" – interview with writer Adam Fisher

Adam Fisher is a born and bred Silicon Valley-ite who began writing about technology and culture more than two decades ago. A...
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How to deal with lawyers in a time of innovation

Whereas laws and legal practice might seem rather stoic, recent years have started to challenge that thought. Globalization and technological development have...
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Indrek Neivelt on entrepreneurship, modernizing technology from the 16th century, and luck

Indrek Neivelt is the CEO of Respiray, an Estonian startup creating wearable air purifiers that eliminate over 99% of viruses and bacteria...
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Reshma Sohoni: “I don't think startups realize that investors are also customers.”

Reshma Sohoni is the co-founder and managing partner of Seedcamp. Seedcamp invests in early world-class founders who are dealing with large global...
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Traditional versus digital billboard – which one to choose for your next marketing campaign?

Outdoor advertising is a highly effective form of advertising which includes all types of advertising that target consumers outside their home (usually...
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Culture is what separates a great company from an average one

Finding specialists with certain specific skills can be challenging in Estonia. But widening the search for talent from across borders gives the...
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Virtual Business Speed Dating 101: tips & tricks

A great connection is like a marriage. It all starts with a first date. But before the first date, you might want...
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Meelis Kadaja: "We need people, and we need biotechnological solutions to take care of them!"

Meelis Kadaja has worked as the Chief Business Development Officer of Icosagen Cell Factory for seven years. He returned to Estonia in...
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Digital nomads: a community of modern age builders and innovators

By their very nature, digital nomads are inquisitive thinkers – they left the comfort of their hometown, the familiarity of their nine-to-five...
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Few things I learned at a startup and implemented at Microsoft

Henn Ruukel is a Group Engineering Manager at Microsoft. They provide Fraud and Spam prevention services for Microsoft calling and messaging features...
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sTARTUp Pitching Powered by EstBAN – TOP 40 announced!

We are super happy to announce the TOP 40 startups of sTARTUp Pitching Powered by EstBAN! But before the big reveal –...
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E-Residency of Estonia: The digital key to the perfect base for your growing startup

Even while travel remains constrained, launching the next global startup means taking a global perspective. Digitally, we are all closer together than...
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Chris Hales: "For me, the important thing always is to get it, however clunky, to work."

Since the 1990s media artist Chris Hales has taken a solo DIY approach to create interactive film installations and performances that have...
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Kadri Tammai: ”Everything is possible with empowered people!”

Kadri Tammai runs the Tehnopol Startup Incubator, that helps Estonian early-stage startups conquer the world market. In addition, from this year, Kadri...
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Looking at the future of work, and the impact of lockdown on entrepreneurs

The lockdown changed the working landscape for a huge percentage of workers, including startups and freelancers. For many, the typical office and...
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Genia Trofimova: “Everybody wants to believe that they know something well, but it is only our assumption about the world”

Genia Trofimova is the CEO and co-founder of Introwise, a platform that helps everyday experts easily earn money online. Coaches, consultants, social...
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Jin Han – Investors are optional, mentors are a necessity

Jin Han is the managing partner of Amsterdam-based Globus International, which connects startups with mentors and investors. He is actively mentoring startups...
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Triin Kask: "Female founders are catching up!"

In the most recent episode of the sTARTUp Day podcast, our program manager Triin Kask talked about statistics related to female founders,...
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Katrina Laks: “Knowing that we can make people’s lives better inspires us.”

Migrevention is a young startup that scored a victory at BioHackathon 2020 competition. Despite the challenges of the past year, they have...
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The Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Seedcamp, Co-Founder of Synctuition and many more – the program is unveiled!

Awesome news! The program of sTARTUp Day 2021 is here! On 25–27 of August, the Estonian National Museum in Tartu will become...
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Time donation as an effective team building method

You know that feeling when you come back from a team event and feel really lucky because it was just so nice...
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Exciting news from .Cocoon Ventures!

We have two awesome announcements for you! For their first investment, .Cocoon Ventures joined the investment round for Jobilla with a 100,000€...
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Toms Niparts: “If the problem lets you sleep peacefully, you probably should find fulfillment from another place.”

Toms Niparts is the CEO and Co-Founder of Jeff App, the winner of sTARTUp Pitching 2020. Jeff’s mission is to make financing...
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Let's break a world record!

As we are all about keeping sTARTUp Day fresh and full of surprises, we will be attempting to break the world record...
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Gerri Kodres: "Science-based startups could be the next growth engine for Estonia"

Gerri Kodres is the co-founder of the venture capital fund United Angels VC and an angel investor who has invested in around...
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Kalev Kaarna: "The purpose of the first meeting with the investor is to generate interest, not to get the investment."

Kalev Kaarna is the Venture Development Manager of the Superangel investment fund. Superangel is a pre-seed and seed fund established in the...
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10 valuable lessons from a founder of a fast-growing startup and their first investor

As a founder, choosing a great investor and collecting as much value as possible without losing control can be very tricky. Aleks...
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Henri Klemmer: ”We are at the beginning of a significant green transition and digitization trend, which puts us in an ideal position.”

Henri Klemmer is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hepta Airborne. Established in 2017 and headquartered in Tartu, Hepta Airborne automates the analysis...
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Candace Johnson: “It is essential to align anything you do with your core values and make sure that you bring positive change.”

Candace Johnson is the Co-Founder of SES, the world’s pre-eminent satellite group, and the architect of SES Global. She is EBAN President Emeritus...
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Carlos Paniagua: “Take risks that won’t kill you. But take risks!”

Carlos is the CTO and Co-Founder of Glia – a digital customer service platform that allows consumers to interact with their choice...
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Ede and Sten Tamkivi – fearlessly breaking stereotypes

Both women and men, entrepreneurs and employees in startups and large corporations, are trying to find and improve work-life balance. Although society...
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Melissa Sassi: "I turned my worst nightmare into my superpower and you can too!"

Melissa is the Chief Penguin of IBM Z – Student & Entrepreneur Experience, focused on empowering early-stage startups through technology and business...
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Wrapping up the startup year 2020

This year has been unpredictable, challenging, and demanding for all of us. You could even say that the everyday life of almost...
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21 Estonian startups and podcasts that help you become a better version of yourself in 2021!

With the end of this crazy year approaching, many of us start thinking about the new year and promise to become healthier,...
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Marion Teder: “The continuous learning process goes according to what the world has to offer.”

Marion Teder is the founder and CEO of CareMate – a platform that helps people needing home care assistance meet their personal...
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Trust and shared values are fundamental for a thriving community

The statement “Think globally act locally” has never been more relevant. The restrictions on travel, meetings, and many other areas have not...
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Randu Riiberg: “Everything comes down to self-belief.”

Randu is a partner at Law Office Glimstedt and has 20 years of experience as a legal advisor and management consultant. He...
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Jüri Kaljundi: “I expect people and businesses to stop the daily destruction of the world.”

Jüri is the co-founder of weekly team management service Weekdone, nature conservancy foundation Koosloodus and non-profit startup foundation Garage48. He is a...
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sTARTUp Day 2021 will take place in August as an epic summerfest!

Hey, all of our amazing startups, investors, executives and heroes! Until now, we have been going forward with a hybrid event in...
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Remato – this year’s most outstanding startup in Tartu!

Each year, the City of Tartu awards its best companies, including one noteworthy startup. This year, the title of the Most Outstanding...
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Evelin Uibokand: "The task of crisis managers is to give people a sense of security"

Evelin Uibokand is the crisis management coordinator of the Tartu City Government. Her tasks are to organize the work of the city's...
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Get to know the speakers of sTARTUp Day 2021 – world-class experts with alter egos you wouldn't believe!

There are less than two months left until the end of the year. And probably there are quite a few of us...
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Kaarel Holm: “The most significant emotional victory is to see someone use the thing you've created”

Kaarel Holm is the CEO and co-founder of MeetFrank. MeetFrank is a secret recruitment app for top talent that helps you find...
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Andrus Ansip: “Estonia has the opportunity to make digital identity more user-friendly.”

On November 4, the representatives of the European Parliament and the founders and CEOs of Tartu startups gathered at SPARK Demo to...
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7 challenges that make startups fail (and solutions)

One of our co-organizers, .Contriber has been working with startups since 2014 when they opened offices and co-working spaces in Tartu. They...
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Eve Peeterson: “Allow yourself to make mistakes!”

Eve Peeterson is the Head of Startup Estonia. Startup Estonia is a governmental initiative aimed to boost the Estonian startup ecosystem in...
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Andrea Boetti: “Make it or break it!”

Andrea Boetti, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Fortumo, helps digital merchants, publishers and app stores build out their monetization and user acquisition...
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Nils Kajander: “Design is one of the best things to be passionate about!”

Last week all the marketing and sales experts and enthusiasts gathered in Tartu for Sales&Marketing, an official side event of sTARTUp Day....
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The 3rd Female Founders Meetup – great ideas and even better pitches!

On October 15, female entrepreneurs gathered in Tallinn for the third Female Founders Meetup. On the next day, the event moved to...
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Mart Lättekivi: "Maybe the midlife crisis just hit me at the age of 24."

Mart Lättekivi is our amazing COO! He has been in the sTARTUp Day family for 3 years now. The first year he...
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Sille Pettai: "A business is unsustainable when the biggest problem is unfair treatment of employees."

Sille Pettai shared her thoughts regarding the Female Founders Meetup event series. SmartCap manages an Estonian state-owned venture capital fund that, together...
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Aleksander Tõnnisson: “I'm excited that I don't know what's yet to come.”

Aleksander Tõnnisson is the managing partner of Buildit Pre-Seed and Seed Funds and a co-founder of Buildit Hardware Accelerator that supports hardware...
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Nothing to lose, €200k to win!

Short sentences, one thought at a time, simple words and a lot of practice — this is what sTARTUp Pitching finalists suggest...
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Jaan Hendrik Murumets – the Estonian Young Entrepreneur of 2020!

Jaan Hendrik Murumets is the CEO and one of the owners of Krakul, a company operating in the field of IoT. In...
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sTARTUp Gaming 2020 – Gaming as an Engaging Form of Art

On September 23, about 100 gaming enthusiasts and professionals gathered at SPARK Demo for sTARTUp Gaming 2020. In a cozy environment, developers...
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10 Startup Terms You Need to Know for sTARTUp Day

Estonia is among the three best countries in Europe to start your startup. The favorable business climate has been creating a fuzz...
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Let's Get This Show Going!

Maybe you've heard that sTARTUp Day is celebrating its 5th anniversary. And we want to make it as mind-boggling and phenomenal as...
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Female Founders: Don't be Afraid to Believe in Yourself

On August 26, Female Founders Meetup brought together 75 female entrepreneurs at Naissaar – the women’s island. Karen K. Burns and Hedi...
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Suggest a Speaker for sTARTUp Day 2021

sTARTUp Day 2021 is celebrating its 5th anniversary in January 2021 and we need your help to make it extraordinary. We’ve been...
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Female Founders Meetup Kickstarted a Community

Despite there are so many powerful women in the startup community, only about 15% of startups in the world are founded by...
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The Best UX Advice from UX Tartu 2020

UX Tartu 2020 took place for the fourth time on 25–29 May 2020, bringing together over 1000 participants from 48 countries with...
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How Business Events Have Adapted to the COVID-19 Crisis

The global COVID-19 pandemic has taken over the whole world, forcing businesses to adapt and innovate to stay afloat in this unprecedented...
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Lauri Kinkar: "Key Principles for Effective Sales"

At sTARTUp Day 2020, CEO and co-founder of Messente Lauri Kinkar talked about the key principles for effective sales – tips and...
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sTARTUp Statistics

sTARTUp Day 2020 brought together over 4400 participants, including 700 entrepreneurs representing 352 startups. 
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New workforce sharing platform Share Force One emerges to help businesses resolve workforce-related problems during the crisis

Developed by members of the sTARTUp Community and headed by Lauri Sokk, the first Head Organizer of sTARTUp Day, Share Force One...
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Politicians debate at sTARTUp Day: "As a small country we have nothing but our reputation to shake the table"

January 31, politicians debated on the topic “Estonia's Competitiveness 2020” on the sTARTUp Day stage. The panel featured Riina Sikkut (Social Democratic...
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Milda Mitkute, founder of Vinted: “Being a leader and being an expert are two different things”

Milda Mitkute is the co-founder of the online marketplace Vinted, where people sell and buy second-hand clothes. With more than 13+ million...
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Christos Vaitsis: “Innovation in health is not easy to stumble upon”

Christos is the Manager of the EIT Health Accelerator program for the EIT Health Scandinavian node. The Accelerator provides support throughout the...
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Sacha Michaud - Co-founder, Glovo: “We’ve been able to rise to the top by being faster, more focused and more efficient”

Sacha Michaud is an English entrepreneur who has founded several companies during his career, for example, one of the largest Spanish internet...
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Helen Kokk “Be sure to find a balance between health and work”

Helen is a partner and head of service design/user experience in Nortal. She has created user experience for both public and private...
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The future of startup ecosystems as impact creators for the society - Sten-Kristian Saluveer

Sten-Kristian is an Estonia/Japan based curator, audiovisual producer, and content & technology entrepreneur bridging Asia with Europe. He is the Founder of...
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Metallica did not break Tartu!

At sTARTUp Day, the largest business festival in the Baltics, Tartu's Smart City presented data that was collected during the Metallica concert...
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Hero of the week - Urmas Klaas, the Mayor of Tartu

sTARTUp Day 2020 Hero of the week is Urmas Klaas - the Mayor of Tartu! He has been a great support for...
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TOP 10 startups that impressed RIA.com at sTARTUp Day 2020

This year the sTARTUp Day 2020 event in Tartu gathered hundreds or smart and young people who were telling visitors about their...
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sTARTUp Day 2020 in numbers - a record year!

Baltics’ biggest business festival sTARTUp Day took place for the 4th time on 29-31 January in UT Sports Hall in Tartu with...
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sTARTUp Day selected the best early-stage startup - Jeff App

At sTARTUp Day took place legendary pitching competition with 33 competitors that were selected from 277 applicants. The winner of sTARTUp Pitching...
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Jeremy Goldman: "Human beings are people who innovate, and the reason why we innovate is because of a problem we created as part of the last innovation."

For two decades, futurist Jeremy Goldman has been working with companies looking to modernize, innovate, and disrupt their current business models. Jeremy...
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Hermione Way: “If your company doesn't have a story from the beginning, you're not going to survive”

Hermione Way, the world-renowned brand consultant, and marketeer, joined sTARTUp Day to share her lessons to fellow startups. The following is the...
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Laura Dekker: “I feel more lonely in a big city than in the ocean”

Laura Dekker is the founder of the World Sailing Foundation. Her journey was initiated by the love of sailing. Dekker shared how...
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Johan Bergqvist: “The culture might change as you grow as a company"

Johan Bergqvist, formerly VP of Corporate Finance and Treasury of Spotify, is now CFO of Bolt. During his Spotify career, Johan helped...
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sTARTUp Day pitching TOP 7 - the best startups in Estonia at the moment

sTARTUp Pitching had 32 teams competing for a place in TOP 7 - list of the best business ideas currently in Estonia....
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Martti Paatela “Give a chance to the unthinkable ideas and you might win something big”

Martti Paatela is the co-founder and CEO at Epic Foods – a restaurant that does not exist. It’s a sustainable food delivery...
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Andres Schabelman, VP of Expansion, Fiverr: "I use my own life as a model for how to build startups."

Andres Schabelman believes that creating from the heart is the path to a meaningful life and the creation of movements in business....
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Your Survival Guide to sTARTUp Day 2020

You know what makes hacking sTARTUp Day easy? Coming prepared. Check this list and you have all the information needed to be...
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Ivar Kruusenberg, CEO of PowerUp Energy Technologies: “Running a science-based company takes a lot of persistence”

Ivar Kruusenberg is the CEO and founder of PowerUp Energy Technologies. After a long career as the University of Tartu scientist, he...
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State-owned energy company Eesti Energia is collaborating with startups

Eesti Energia is one of the partners of sTARTUp Day and is represented at the festival both in the demo area and...
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sTARTUp Mindset - what does it really mean?

When we talk about sTARTUp Day, we’re always saying that we’re bringing together people with the startup mindset – not necessarily the...
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TOP 32 teams of sTARTUp Pitching 2020

sTARTUp Pitching is the official pitching competition of sTARTUp Day. In 2020, 248 teams from 30 different countries applied and 32 were...
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Marvin Liao, 500 Startups: “Always optimize for the high quality in the people you are around”

Marvin is a former partner of 500 Startups, with over 19 years of experience in venture capital, technology businesses, and startups. He...
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Rein Lemberpuu, CEO of .Cocoon: “Mentoring and coaching are dead?"

Working daily with startup founders and mentors in .Cocoon Founders Mentoring Program, I have seen the value that can be brought by...
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Head organizer of sTARTUp Day Marili Vihmann: “If I can’t do it anymore, I keep on going!”

Katrin Hinrikus and Mihkel Vetemaa started the Täitsa Pekkis podcast in 2018. They bring you stories from awesome Estonian people, their lives,...
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Kadri Tuisk: “Many problems an entrepreneur faces are new even to the world”

Hero of the Week Kadri Tuisk is the founder and CEO of Clanbeat  - a personal growth support tool helping people to...
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Patrik Etelävuori, Finnair Digital Transformation Lead: "We are open for innovation"

sTARTUp Day stands for Tartu! We are always happy when offices are opened and jobs created here. For example, the international airline...
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Transactions with startup shares – a few things to keep in mind

You have an excellent idea and your product is going to change the world. You decide to establish a company to start...
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Kaidi Ruusalepp: “Successful people see opportunities where others see risks”

Hero of the week - Kaidi Ruusalepp is the founder and CEO of Funderbeam, the global funding and trading platform of private...
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5 hacks to show up in Google search results for free

sTARTUp Day asked Convertal about the best tricks for better SEO. They wrote an article with great advice for starting entrepreneurs who...
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Lauri Kinkar: “Start selling as the first thing you do.”

I've been building Messente for the past six years, together with our great team and two incredibly talented co-founders - Jaanus Rõõmus...
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Taavi Tamkivi: “I was worrying about all the people who were getting hurt”

Hero of the Week Taavi Tamkivi is the co-founder and CEO of Salv. Salv is an anti-money laundering user-friendly platform for financial...
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Throwback to 2019 sTARTUp City highlights

2019 is over and now it’s time to take a look back to everything that has happened in sTARTUp city! And oh...
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Frank Salzgeber: “We need to take more risks!”

Frank Salzgeber is a serial entrepreneur and the Head of Innovation and Ventures Office at European Space Agency – meaning that he...
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Hero of the Week - Martin Jeret: “Fear of not succeeding is never a good reason to say no”

Our Hero of the Week - Martin Jeret became CEO of Nevercode in September. At the beginning of December Nevercode signed a partnership...
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Tartu Wall of Fame has been opened in SPARK Demo

Since the end of November, the SPARK Demo features Tartu's own Wall of Fame, which currently shows 13 outstanding startups. Companies that...
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Hero of the Week - Taniel Põld: “I am inspired by Estonian startup landscape”

Taniel Põld is the CEO of Degritter, a company specializing in ultrasonic cleaning of vinyl records and is particularly distinguished by its...
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Connor Swenson, Mindfulness & Productivity Coach: “People need to understand their goals and how they will be measured”

Connor Swenson teaches mindfulness and meditation practices that help people be more productive and find greater wellbeing in their lives. He previously...
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sTARTUp Day brings Fiverr and Airbnb experience to Tartu - the program is launched!

Baltics biggest business festival sTARTUp Day just launched its program of the 2020 festival on January 29-31. This year the festival lasts...
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The best gift ideas from Estonian startups

Ho. Ho. Ho. What are the similarities between Christmas and sTARTUp Day? Both are getting closer and closer and bring a lot...
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Hero of the Week - Heikki Mägi: “Leadership is about inspiring the people around you.”

Heikki is an entrepreneur, coach, trainer, active health blogger, and a hobby chef. He’s a co-founder and CEO of Fitlap. The company...
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Sorainen: Startup fundraising – how to do it right?

Building a startup may seem like fun and games at first, but there are quite a few legal things to address when...
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Stenver Jerkku: “Even if everything seems to fail, always look for learning opportunities.”

Stenver Jerkku is a software engineer, a leader, a public speaker and an entrepreneur but most importantly – the co-founder and COO...
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TransferWise: How To Teach Technology To Youngsters?

sTARTUp Day has put together an exciting program for youngsters. Youth Area’s agenda includes idea-generating and prototyping workshops and offers young entrepreneurs...
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Hero of the Week - Mari Joller: “I want to reinvent how people search for audio”

Mari Joller is an Estonian tech entrepreneur living in New York, who builds companies that are enabled by artificial intelligence (AI). She...
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Hero of the Week - Kristjan Maruste: “I decided that failing my startup would just equal an MBA"

Kristjan Maruste is the CEO and co-founder of Comodule that creates a universal operating system to digitize light vehicles such as electric...
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James York: Is the US market right for your Startup?

James York is a native New Yorker, and former stockbroker turned professional entrepreneur and marketer. He has been the Head of SME...
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Raine Toss (k u u l design): “Each failure is necessary for growth”

Raine Toss is the founder and designer of the Estonian clothing brand k u u l. The brand was initially created by...
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sTARTUp Day is looking for the next unicorn at the sTARTUp Pitching Competition

At the business festival sTARTUp Day 2020, startups have the opportunity to present their business idea in front of 4,000 visitors and...
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The University of Tartu is ranked in the top 300 in Business and Economics according to the newest Times Higher Education rankings

The University of Tartu’s ranking has risen in the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings! The University of Tartu is ranked 201–250 in...
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30 speakers have joined sTARTUp Day – find out who!

As sTARTUp Day 2020 is getting closer, its schedule is being filled with more and more awesome speakers. Here are a few...
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Ivo Remmelg: “The biggest mistake is to invest in emotions”

Ivo Remmelg is an entrepreneur and one of the founding members of EstBAN. Ivo has over 25 years of experience managing companies....
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Priit Alamäe: “Our projects are shown as an example for other institutions in different countries”

Priit Alamäe has been known in Estonia as an entrepreneurial activist for more than 20 years mainly for being the co-founder and...
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Martin Kristerson: "Teamwork makes the dream work"

Martin Kristerson is the founder and CEO of UpSteam – one of the fastest-growing early-stage startups of Estonia. While he was getting...
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Enelin Paas: "Trust only the science, psychology, data, and concrete numbers."

Enelin Paas is a full-stack strategic marketer. For the last 5 years, she has traveled across more than 40 countries while doing...
Read more

Rain Rannu: “I wanted to do something that would not exist unless I do it.”

Rain Rannu is probably best described as a guy with many talents. He is known as a serial entrepreneur, who is behind...
Read more

Laura Dekker: “Fighting for your dreams and goals is always worth it!”

Laura Dekker is the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. At the age of 14, while her peers were...
Read more

Ardo Kaurit - the Estonian Young Entrepreneur of the Year!

Ardo Kaurit started building electric bicycles with two friends 5 years ago. At first, it was more of a side-hobby besides motor...
Read more

The Best Thoughts from the Business Conference sTARTUp Psychology

On the 30th of September, sTARTUp Day’s official side event sTARTUp Psychology took place for the first time. The event was held...
Read more

Milda Mitkute: “Cultural Fit is More Important than Professional Skills”

Milda Mitkute is the co-founder of Vinted – the largest pre-loved fashion marketplace. The idea for Vinted came from Milda’s own shopping...
Read more

Former Tinder’s Head of European Communications Hermione Way Will Speak at sTARTUp Day

Hermione Way, dating app’s Tinder former Head of European Communications will be speaking at sTARTUp Day 2020!  We asked her about growing...
Read more

Marcel Gasser: “My Mission is to Combine the Business and Spiritual World”

Marcel Gasser is an entrepreneurial nomad who has had the opportunity to work on many amazing projects all over the world. Marcel...
Read more

Keith Siilats’ Words of Wisdom to Future Founders: “Start After You’ve Put Aside Enough Money From Your Day Job.”

Keith Siilats is an entrepreneur, co-founder, and CTO of Bolt Mobility, a company that's developing and renting electric scooters. This spring, Bolt...
Read more

sTARTUp Day idea founder Andres Kuusik leaves footprints to Tartu Pioneers' Alley

This year Andres Kuusik, sTARTUp Day idea founder, was added to Tartu Pioneers' Alley. The purpose of the alley is to recognize...
Read more

Kicking Off the Program of sTARTUp Day 2020

New season means new beginnings! As sTARTUp Day is the most innovative festival in Estonia, we aim to keep our festival fresh....
Read more

Swedbank Has Stepped Into the Co-Organizers Circle

We have some great news – Swedbank is now one of the 9 co-organizers of sTARTUp Day! 
Read more

First Speakers Revealed: Hermione Way and Marvin Liao will join at sTARTUp Day 2020!

It’s that time of the year again – we’re going to reveal the very first speakers of sTARTUp Day 2020. But before...
Read more

Meet our new Head Organizer Marili Vihmann

Marili has been with sTARTUp Day since the very beginning. She started as the volunteers’ team lead and was a member of...
Read more

Must-Attend Startup and Business Events in the Region

There is an abundance of startup and business events popping up all across Europe throughout the year. Choosing which ones to attend...
Read more

UX Tartu 2019 presents: Cleveron — helping people save time through innovation

On this Thursday, 18th of April, the event UX Tartu will take place for the third time already! UX Tartu is a...
Read more

Kaarel Kotkas: “If you have momentum you have everything.”

Kaarel Kotkas is a founder and CEO of Veriff. He is the brain and driving power behind Veriff who inspires the team...
Read more

Marcus Engman: “IKEA has promised to make all their products parts of a circular economy by 2030.”

Each year, IKEA sells 3,800 000 products designed by 20 designers and put on display by 1000 interior designers, says Marcus Engman,...
Read more

LeapIN – the OS for micro businesses

LeapIN’s fresh CEO Allan Martinson talked about the challenges of freelancers and micro-businesses and how LeapIN is there to help them thrive....
Read more

Marc Sands: you have to trust the people you work with

Marc Sands has done a remarkable marketing career. He’s a former The Guardian marketing director, director of Media and Audience at TATE...
Read more

Tõnu Esko – the Success Story of Estonian Genome Project

Estonian Biobank is a success story: they have collected biosamples from almost 170 000 Estonians, which is a very big customer base...
Read more

From drifting to Alpine House, Superangel keeps putting startups to the test (videos!)

Superangel fund is known for putting startups to the test. You might find yourself jumping out of an airplane 4km high in...
Read more

TRIT won 11th Kaleidoskoop Finals at sTARTUp Day

sTARTUp Day Pitching Stage was opened by business ideas competition Kaleidoskoop 11th Finals. Team TRIT that develops a solution for the translation...
Read more

Adam Rang | The e-Residency programme is continually gathering popularity

Adam Rang works as Chief Evangelist at the e-Residency programme, Estonia's first government startup, to help create a valuable network of friends...
Read more

Adrian Kaehler: “Once you could only spy on someone, now we can spy on everyone.”

Adrian Kaehler has been an avid scientist from a really young age, enrolling in university at the age of 14. His main...
Read more

Startup visa gives an access to Estonian tight startup ecosystem

The Estonian startup ecosystem is in the process of rapid growth. Past two years have shown that the Estonian ecosystem is competitive...
Read more

Day 2 done & some changes in the program

We had an amazing second day of the festival – many many many super inspirational keynotes, panels, surprises rolled out and came...
Read more

Lauri Sokk – TARTU: SMART CITY SINCE 1632

Lauri Sokk finds that the smart city concept is a way of thinking. It's not a big goal you have to achieve...
Read more

Jevgeni Kabanov shared his lessons learned on building a great product

Jevgeni Kabanov built his first company at an early age of 16. Already then he made thousands of dollars building software. Unlike...
Read more

Rain Sepp & Dmitri Sarle about mentorship: “A good mentor should not give you an easy time but should challenge you instead.”

Rain Sepp, CEO & Co-Founder of askRobin and Dmitri Sarle, CEO of ArcticStartup discussed the benefits of mentorship programs from both mentors...
Read more

Jonathan Raper: “transportAPI.com is a growth story from zero to a million.”

TransportAPI was started in 2012 and has been up and running ever since. At the moment, 25% of bus and rail apps...
Read more

Eeva Tianen – innovating food industry through collaboration

Disruption is seen in every industry. But what does transformation mean for food companies and industry? Eeva Tiainen, Fazer’s senior manager of...
Read more

Roger Dickey: “Culture can get you through tough times.”

Roger Dickey is a serial entrepreneur, active angel investor and founder of Gigster. He gave us 22 sharp lessons from his life...
Read more

Patrick Mork: “Good stories are like good cocktails – they release awareness and excitement.”

Patrick Mork is Chief Storyteller who for example has built and led the marketing team that launched Google play and helped scale...
Read more

The Festival has kicked off & ex-Tinder Hermione Way canceled

Now we can proudly say that Day 1 of sTARTUp Day is done!
Read more

Your Survival Guide to sTARTUp Day 2019

It’s finally here! Long-waited sTARTUp Day 2019 “From Zero to Hero” festival kicks off already tomorrow! Three days of community-organized awesome events...
Read more

Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang: “You have to trust your crew but also admit your own mistakes.”

Christer Fuglesang is a Swedish first and only astronaut. His career is truly inspirational – he has worked in European Space Agency’s (ESA)...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Rein Lemberpuu, CEO and Founder of .Contriber: “You Often Have to Work on Balancing the Opposites.”

Rein Lemberpuu – a man who needs no further introduction. Though if you do – he is one of the Tartu startup...
Read more

The Successful sTARTUp Year 2018

Tartu is the only city in the world which is in the word ‘sTARTUp’. 2018 was a remarkably successful year for Tartu’s...
Read more

sTARTUp Day program is fulfilled with versatile side events

sTARTUp Day is a festival with many different side events. Visitors can participate in workshops, seminars, discussions, parties, meetups and so on...
Read more

Future unicorns hit the stage in sTARTUp Pitching finals

sTARTUp Pitching has reached to its finals where the jury has chosen 21 teams to participate in. Almost 250 startups applied for...
Read more

sTARTUp Day is born from synergy of the community

sTARTUp Day, which has now grown to be the biggest business festival in the Baltics, was brought to life two years ago...
Read more

Ex-Google Play marketing manager Patrick Mork: “Only the paranoid survive.”

Patrick Mork is a highly respected marketing expert with over 25 years of experience of which 18 years in technology field. Patrick...
Read more

The amazing world of female entrepreneurship

How to succeed in the business world? How to make your ideas come to life? We had a chat with four Estonian female...
Read more

Oliver Leisalu, CTO & Co-Founder of Bolt: “Be passionate about what you’re doing.”

Oliver Leisalu is the CTO and the third co-founder of Bolt (previously Taxify) of whom we yet don’t know much. Oliver will...
Read more

Sirla, Co-Founder of SprayPrinter: “The value of street art is in creative freedom.”

Who would be a better person to discuss the essence and future and street art with, than street art specialist Sirla, who...
Read more

From community to the world – how did sTARTUp Day begin?

sTARTUp Day 2019 is in about two weeks, can you believe it? But before we move on by introducing the current year’s...
Read more

Cameron Manwaring, Co-Founder of Shareability: “Companies should focus on sharing.”

Forbes 30 Under 30. Helped to win an Oscar. Have worked with Cristiano Ronaldo, Turkish Airlines, Pizza Hut, Sony, Pepsi, Youtube. Those...
Read more

Peter Vesterbacka, Co-Founder of Lightneer: ”I Always Knew That I Wanted to do My Own Thing.”

Peter Vesterbacka is a Finnish entrepreneur and mobile game developer who is most famous for being part of wildly successful Angry Birds....
Read more

Dr. Ben Miles, Founder of Spin Up Science: “Science is One of the Pinnacle Activities in Which a Society Can Engage.”

Dr. Ben Miles is the founder of Spin Up Science which goal is to connect scientist and engineers across academic institutions with...
Read more

Sten Tamkivi, Chief Product Officer of Topia: “Don’t say a bad word about anything you're not ready to do better yourself.”

Sten Tamkivi is the Chief Product Officer of Topia and the President of Estonian Startup Leaders Club. He is a true hero...
Read more

Fashion Designer Reet Aus: “For Some Reason, Our Society Doesn’t Value Failures.”

Reet Aus is a fashion, theatre and film artist, with a goal to focus on environmentally friendly and sustainable creation. That is...
Read more

Marketing Entrepreneur James York Is Advising What’s Hot in Social Media Marketing in 2019

James York is a native New Yorker and former stockbroker turned professional entrepreneur and marketer. He has been the Head of SME...
Read more

Laurie Louvet, CEO of LEEVE: “Being an Entrepreneur Means Facing New Adventures and Challenges Every Day.”

Laurie Louvet is a true traveller who believes that learning new languages opens doors and makes people to become more understanding about...
Read more

Andrus Purde, Co-Founder of Outfunnel: “One can only hope that people have the patience not to take one marshmallow now but wait for two.”

Andrus Purde is an Estonian marketing guru with over 20 years of experience in marketing. After working at Skype and Pipedrive, he...
Read more

Almost There! Revealing Some More Speakers of sTARTUp Day 2019

It’s time to reveal this month’s selection of some speakers of sTARTUp Day 2019 “From Zero to Hero”. We’re proudly announcing some...
Read more

Chief Street Debater Tomo Kihara: “We should be cautious about how we teach AI to make decisions.”

AI is something that everybody is always talking about. Why AI is such a big deal? What's the hype and the future...
Read more

Time To Have an Open Conversation About Investing And the Role of Executives in Corporate Innovation

On January 23 at business festival sTARTUp Day a lot of side events happening, biggest of them are Investor day for investors...
Read more

Kadri Bussov, CEO of ESTCube: “Failing Is One of the Greatest Things That Can Happen in Life.”

Kadri Bussov is the CEO of Estonian Student Satellite Foundation ESTCube – she is coordinating the construction of the ESTCube-2 satellite. The...
Read more

5 Tips On How To Pitch Like a Professional

Pitching is a good tool for gaining attention for your ideas, finding investors and challenging yourself. In addition, it helps you to...
Read more

Estonian Startup Nevercode Partners with Google and Launches a Dedicated CI/CD Tool for Flutter Apps

Today at the Flutter Live event held in London, Google announced the release of Flutter 1.0, an open-source mobile SDK for building...
Read more

Tõnu Runnel, Co-Founder of Sixfold: “Be Ready to Let Go of the Status Quo No Matter What the Question Is.”

Tõnu Runnel is a true multi-talent – he is an entrepreneur, a designer, and a photographer.
Read more

Marili Vihmann, Head Organizer of sTARTUp Talks: “It’s truly a blessing to be a human being with one’s emotions."

Marili Vihmann is the Head Organizer of sTARTUp Talks, the official side event series of sTARTUp Day. Her daily challenge is to...
Read more

Time to Reveal Some More Speakers of sTARTUp Day 2019!

It’s been a while, so it’s time to introduce some more speakers of sTARTUp Day 2019! As you already know, we have...
Read more

Alissa Vassilkova, Co-Founder and CEO of Estelon: “You Just Have to Believe in Yourself and Try.”

Alissa Vassilkova is the CEO and the Co-Founder of Estelon, which is one of the world’s most luxurious speaker brands. Recently she...
Read more

sTARTUp AI Will Cut Through The Hype of AI

On 13th December sTARTUp Talks, the official side events series of sTARTUp Day will continue – the second event is an inspirational...
Read more

Andres Kuusik: How Can Traditional Companies Collaborate with Startups?

Business festival sTARTUp Day will continue with its mission to change a widespread belief in traditional companies about startups pouring money down...
Read more

Kaarel Kotkas, CEO & Founder of Veriff: “We Are Creating Trust in a World That is Otherwise Considered Anonymous.”

Kaarel Kotkas might be young but definitely not inexperienced. His company Veriff has completed the Y Combinator program, which is one of...
Read more

.Cocoon Offers a Mentorship Program That Focuses on the Psychology of Startup Founders

Next to numerous business incubators and accelerators, there’s now a new program called .Cocoon. Its innovative and unique approach focuses on founders’ personal...
Read more

sTARTUp Day Gives a Possibility to Be Part of the International Festival Organizing Team

Volunteers have always been in the epicenter of a successful festival – they are responsible for the image of the festival but...
Read more

Martin Vares, Co-Founder & CEO of Fractory.co: “You Have to Celebrate Even the Smallest of Victories.”

Martin Vares is the CEO & co-founder of an on-demand manufacturing platform Fractory.co, which has been an astoundingly successful startup – recently...
Read more

Must-Read: What Startup Psychologist Noa Matz Suggests to Win Investors

Is founding a startup with your best friend really a good idea? How to succeed in business without going crazy? Being a...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Kei Karlson, Co-Founder of GoWorkaBit Where Fun Factor is a Serious KPI

Year: 2013, location: the legendary Garage48 hackathon. An idea which would change the whole job market was born – it’s called GoWorkaBit....
Read more

10 Tips to Get the Most out of a Business Festival

Business events are a great place to gather inspiration and practical knowledge, to network or to raise investments. With good planning, a...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Märt Aro, Co-Founder of DreamApply: “You Can Be Stupid, But Be Stubborn.”

Märt Aro has taken a mission upon himself – to develop the field of education by the educational software DreamApply which co-founder...
Read more

sTARTUp Day Announces the Competition sTARTUp Pitching

Do you know what Fractory.co and Guestjoy have in common? Both of them have raised investments from the Nordic business angels through...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Richard Murutar, Founder & CEO of SprayPrinter: “My Goal is to Have World Peace by 2021.”

Richard Murutar is a man with a vision of making our planet a better environment for us and our children. He does...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Young Entrepreneur of the Year, CEO of eAgronom, Robin Saluoks

Robin Saluoks - co-Founder and CEO of eAgronom, Hero of the week. And yesterday the title of the Young Entrepreneur of the...
Read more

Game Producer Edvin Aedma Suggests: How To create a Successful Computer Game?

The new Estonian computer game Circle Empires enjoys its international success as the earnings are already 15 times the size of development...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Triin Kask, Co-Founder & CEO of Nevercode

“Believing in yourself is the most crucial asset that you have. Trust life and trust that everything turns out good in the...
Read more

Estonian Marketing Guru Andrus Purde Gives Advice About Dogs And Sugar Gliders

There are lots of people who call themselves marketing gurus but few who really are. Andrus Purde is a man who definitely...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Kristel Kruustük, Founder & CEO of Testlio

Kristel Kruustük is the Co-Founder and CEO of Testlio, software testing and QA management platform that has become one of the most successful...
Read more

Martin Vares: Tartu has a better business environment than Silicon Valley

“Without a specific goal there’s no point in going to Silicon Valley – nobody will wait for you there. There are plenty...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Kelly Kangur, Co-Founder & CBO of Decomer Technology

Decomer Technology is developing a novel water-soluble and edible packaging material. Our next Hero of the Week is Kelly Kangur, Co-Founder and Chief...
Read more

First 10 speakers of sTARTUp Day 2019 revealed

As you already know, this year’s sTARTUp Day will be bigger than ever. It’s time to announce the first 10 speakers!
Read more

About last year: the best early-stage start-up GuestJoy is moving towards a global footprint

Remember the amazing hotels guest communication tool GuestJoy? That’s right – it’s the best early stage start-up from our last year festival’s...
Read more

Hero of the Week: Ermo Tikk, Head Organizer of sTARTUp Day

It’s the kickoff of our brand new column – Hero of the Week. Our first hero is Ermo Tikk – head organizer...
Read more

sTARTUp Day 2019 - What's New This Year?

On 23th to 25th January 2019, sTARTUp Day takes place for the third time. Being chosen to be the most innovative conference...
Read more

sTARTUp Day 2017 – a bubbling universe in the center of Tartu

sTARTUp Day 2017 was simply amazing – sold out event with over 2600 attendees, 100+ speakers on four stages, different pitching competitions...
Read more

Kertu Kriisk: "Startups and Companies are More Productive When Working Together"

Product development is an unending process, starting with studying the market, continued by creating the product, testing and also then tearing it...
Read more

THE 7 GOOD REASONS WHY STARTUP DAY 2017 IS A ROCKETSHIP FOR STARTUPS

Launching your own startup might seem a risky deal: only 1 out of 10 start-ups survive, that is a statistic you may...
Read more

The Coolest Stage at sTARTUp Day 2017 - the UT IdeaLab Pitching Stage

The IdeaLab of the University of Tartu, which has 1 of the 4 sTARTUp Day 2017 stages, will host a series of pitching...
Read more

Enterprise Estonia has approved sTARTUp Day 2017 with the grant for international conferences

Enterprise Estonia has approved our request to support sTARTUp Day 2017 with the grant for international conferences. The grant will help us...
Read more

Tartu’s ambition: to become the top centre for startups in the Nordic countries

Thanks to an international university community, rapidly developing research, inspired citizens and venturesome startups, Tartu now has all the factors needed to...
Read more

Peter Kentie Offers Tartu The Smartu Brand

Peter Kentie managed to get into people's hearts by introducing the overly popular "Just Estonishing" campaign with the easily used -est concept. As...
Read more

For 3 days, sTARTUp Day 2017 will turn Tartu into the busiest place in Europe

sTARTUp Day 2017 is a busy day fulfilled with motivation and inspiration to all guests. The business festival will be packed with...
Read more

Andrus Viirg: If you want something done, do it yourself!

Getting investors in Silicon Valley interested in one country's startups is not an easy job. Why would they care? It turns out...
Read more

7 reasons why you should attend sTARTUp Day 2017

Last year, we held the sTARTUp Day business festival for the first time. With almost 3000 participants and 45 speakers from all...
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Looking back at sTARTUp Day 2016: the first-time business festival that exceeded all the expectations!

Last year, for the first time, Tartu was turned into a business megafest. Thousands of start-ups, professionals, corporates, students, academics and media...
Read more

The biggest business festival in Estonia sTARTUp Day – From Zero to Hero!

The idea for sTARTUp Day was born just a year ago. Now we can proudly say that we are the biggest business...
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Tickets from €159

Tickets

Find your perfect ticket type! All ticket types grant access to all three festival days on 29-31 January 2025. 

Venue access
Ϟ Day 0: Side Events on January 29
Ϟ Day 1 on January 30
Ϟ Day 2 on January 31
Matchmaking
This is where the magic happens. Through our matchmaking app, you can schedule 20-minute meetings with participants and meet them at our matchmaking area. General access to the matchmaking app will be available at the beginning of the festival week.
Stage program
There will be three stages at sTARTUp Day 2025 – Starlight Stage, Insight Stage, and Pitching Stage – with speakers and presenters who cover a variety of topics for every taste.
Demo Area access
This is the Mecca of Entrepreneurship! Explore the latest innovations and discover new products, services, friends, opportunities and perhaps, your new career challenge.
sTARTUp Night
The legendary sTARTUp Night wraps up the first conference day on January 30. The afterparty is bringing together the coolest festival visitors, good music, and lots of surprises!
Seminars
Practical seminars to sharpen & level up your skills.
Side events
Vibrant side events take place all over Tartu before and during the official festival.
Early access to matchmaking app
With early access, you’ll gain access to our matchmaking app two weeks earlier than most people. Use the opportunity to get a head start and request meetings with the hottest participants before all their slots are full.
VIP Reception
Celebrate the beginning of sTARTUp Day in style! The VIP Reception brings together speakers, investors & executives for an unforgettable night.
VIP Lounge access
Escape to your lounge where you can kick back and relax, get some work done, or prep for the next meeting.
Investor Day
Investor Day on January 29 is an exclusive investors' meetup to share experiences, learn from each other, and create meaningful contacts. Structured in a way you'd feel both elevated by and busy with new ideas while leaving enough room for networking.
Executive Day
Executive Day on January 29 is about taking the time to listen, talk, and network with other leaders. This is the place to bounce your thoughts and learn about challenges and solutions across different industries.
List of attending investors
Startups will see the participating investors' list (investor's name + investment fund's name) which enables them to request meetings with the right investors through our matchmaking app.
List of attending startups
There are over 300 unique startups at sTARTUp Day, which can be quite overwhelming at times. We'll send you a database of all of the participating startups so you can browse through them all and select the ones you want to meet beforehand.
Personalised startup matches
With the help of our good friends from Dealum, we will find the most relevant startup matches based on each investor’s profile. This means that investors will get a list of hand-selected startups that meet their requirements, making it even easier to meet the right startup.
Visibility at sTARTUp Day website
All validated startups and the biggest VC funds will be featured on the sTARTUp Day website.

Visitor

179 €
BUY NOW
Venue access
Ϟ Day 0: Side Events on January 29
Ϟ Day 1 on January 30
Ϟ Day 2 on January 31
Matchmaking
This is where the magic happens. Through our matchmaking app, you can schedule 20-minute meetings with participants and meet them at our matchmaking area. General access to the matchmaking app will be available at the beginning of the festival week.
Stage program
There will be three stages at sTARTUp Day 2025 – Starlight Stage, Insight Stage, and Pitching Stage – with speakers and presenters who cover a variety of topics for every taste.
Demo Area access
This is the Mecca of Entrepreneurship! Explore the latest innovations and discover new products, services, friends, opportunities and perhaps, your new career challenge.
sTARTUp Night
The legendary sTARTUp Night wraps up the first conference day on January 30. The afterparty is bringing together the coolest festival visitors, good music, and lots of surprises!
Seminars
Practical seminars to sharpen & level up your skills.
Side events
Vibrant side events take place all over Tartu before and during the official festival.
Early access to matchmaking app
With early access, you’ll gain access to our matchmaking app two weeks earlier than most people. Use the opportunity to get a head start and request meetings with the hottest participants before all their slots are full.
VIP Reception
Celebrate the beginning of sTARTUp Day in style! The VIP Reception brings together speakers, investors & executives for an unforgettable night.
VIP Lounge access
Escape to your lounge where you can kick back and relax, get some work done, or prep for the next meeting.
Investor Day
Investor Day on January 29 is an exclusive investors' meetup to share experiences, learn from each other, and create meaningful contacts. Structured in a way you'd feel both elevated by and busy with new ideas while leaving enough room for networking.
Executive Day
Executive Day on January 29 is about taking the time to listen, talk, and network with other leaders. This is the place to bounce your thoughts and learn about challenges and solutions across different industries.
List of attending investors
Startups will see the participating investors' list (investor's name + investment fund's name) which enables them to request meetings with the right investors through our matchmaking app.
List of attending startups
There are over 300 unique startups at sTARTUp Day, which can be quite overwhelming at times. We'll send you a database of all of the participating startups so you can browse through them all and select the ones you want to meet beforehand.
Personalised startup matches
With the help of our good friends from Dealum, we will find the most relevant startup matches based on each investor’s profile. This means that investors will get a list of hand-selected startups that meet their requirements, making it even easier to meet the right startup.
Visibility at sTARTUp Day website
All validated startups and the biggest VC funds will be featured on the sTARTUp Day website.

Startup

159 €
BUY NOW
Venue access
Ϟ Day 0: Side Events on January 29
Ϟ Day 1 on January 30
Ϟ Day 2 on January 31
Matchmaking
This is where the magic happens. Through our matchmaking app, you can schedule 20-minute meetings with participants and meet them at our matchmaking area. General access to the matchmaking app will be available at the beginning of the festival week.
Stage program
There will be three stages at sTARTUp Day 2025 – Starlight Stage, Insight Stage, and Pitching Stage – with speakers and presenters who cover a variety of topics for every taste.
Demo Area access
This is the Mecca of Entrepreneurship! Explore the latest innovations and discover new products, services, friends, opportunities and perhaps, your new career challenge.
sTARTUp Night
The legendary sTARTUp Night wraps up the first conference day on January 30. The afterparty is bringing together the coolest festival visitors, good music, and lots of surprises!
Seminars
Practical seminars to sharpen & level up your skills.
Side events
Vibrant side events take place all over Tartu before and during the official festival.
Early access to matchmaking app
With early access, you’ll gain access to our matchmaking app two weeks earlier than most people. Use the opportunity to get a head start and request meetings with the hottest participants before all their slots are full.
VIP Reception
Celebrate the beginning of sTARTUp Day in style! The VIP Reception brings together speakers, investors & executives for an unforgettable night.
VIP Lounge access
Escape to your lounge where you can kick back and relax, get some work done, or prep for the next meeting.
Investor Day
Investor Day on January 29 is an exclusive investors' meetup to share experiences, learn from each other, and create meaningful contacts. Structured in a way you'd feel both elevated by and busy with new ideas while leaving enough room for networking.
Executive Day
Executive Day on January 29 is about taking the time to listen, talk, and network with other leaders. This is the place to bounce your thoughts and learn about challenges and solutions across different industries.
List of attending investors
Startups will see the participating investors' list (investor's name + investment fund's name) which enables them to request meetings with the right investors through our matchmaking app.
List of attending startups
There are over 300 unique startups at sTARTUp Day, which can be quite overwhelming at times. We'll send you a database of all of the participating startups so you can browse through them all and select the ones you want to meet beforehand.
Personalised startup matches
With the help of our good friends from Dealum, we will find the most relevant startup matches based on each investor’s profile. This means that investors will get a list of hand-selected startups that meet their requirements, making it even easier to meet the right startup.
Visibility at sTARTUp Day website
All validated startups and the biggest VC funds will be featured on the sTARTUp Day website.

Investor

259 €
BUY NOW
Venue access
Ϟ Day 0: Side Events on January 29
Ϟ Day 1 on January 30
Ϟ Day 2 on January 31
Matchmaking
This is where the magic happens. Through our matchmaking app, you can schedule 20-minute meetings with participants and meet them at our matchmaking area. General access to the matchmaking app will be available at the beginning of the festival week.
Stage program
There will be three stages at sTARTUp Day 2025 – Starlight Stage, Insight Stage, and Pitching Stage – with speakers and presenters who cover a variety of topics for every taste.
Demo Area access
This is the Mecca of Entrepreneurship! Explore the latest innovations and discover new products, services, friends, opportunities and perhaps, your new career challenge.
sTARTUp Night
The legendary sTARTUp Night wraps up the first conference day on January 30. The afterparty is bringing together the coolest festival visitors, good music, and lots of surprises!
Seminars
Practical seminars to sharpen & level up your skills.
Side events
Vibrant side events take place all over Tartu before and during the official festival.
Early access to matchmaking app
With early access, you’ll gain access to our matchmaking app two weeks earlier than most people. Use the opportunity to get a head start and request meetings with the hottest participants before all their slots are full.
VIP Reception
Celebrate the beginning of sTARTUp Day in style! The VIP Reception brings together speakers, investors & executives for an unforgettable night.
VIP Lounge access
Escape to your lounge where you can kick back and relax, get some work done, or prep for the next meeting.
Investor Day
Investor Day on January 29 is an exclusive investors' meetup to share experiences, learn from each other, and create meaningful contacts. Structured in a way you'd feel both elevated by and busy with new ideas while leaving enough room for networking.
Executive Day
Executive Day on January 29 is about taking the time to listen, talk, and network with other leaders. This is the place to bounce your thoughts and learn about challenges and solutions across different industries.
List of attending investors
Startups will see the participating investors' list (investor's name + investment fund's name) which enables them to request meetings with the right investors through our matchmaking app.
List of attending startups
There are over 300 unique startups at sTARTUp Day, which can be quite overwhelming at times. We'll send you a database of all of the participating startups so you can browse through them all and select the ones you want to meet beforehand.
Personalised startup matches
With the help of our good friends from Dealum, we will find the most relevant startup matches based on each investor’s profile. This means that investors will get a list of hand-selected startups that meet their requirements, making it even easier to meet the right startup.
Visibility at sTARTUp Day website
All validated startups and the biggest VC funds will be featured on the sTARTUp Day website.

Executive

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Venue access
Ϟ Day 0: Side Events on January 29
Ϟ Day 1 on January 30
Ϟ Day 2 on January 31
Matchmaking
This is where the magic happens. Through our matchmaking app, you can schedule 20-minute meetings with participants and meet them at our matchmaking area. General access to the matchmaking app will be available at the beginning of the festival week.
Stage program
There will be three stages at sTARTUp Day 2025 – Starlight Stage, Insight Stage, and Pitching Stage – with speakers and presenters who cover a variety of topics for every taste.
Demo Area access
This is the Mecca of Entrepreneurship! Explore the latest innovations and discover new products, services, friends, opportunities and perhaps, your new career challenge.
sTARTUp Night
The legendary sTARTUp Night wraps up the first conference day on January 30. The afterparty is bringing together the coolest festival visitors, good music, and lots of surprises!
Seminars
Practical seminars to sharpen & level up your skills.
Side events
Vibrant side events take place all over Tartu before and during the official festival.
Early access to matchmaking app
With early access, you’ll gain access to our matchmaking app two weeks earlier than most people. Use the opportunity to get a head start and request meetings with the hottest participants before all their slots are full.
VIP Reception
Celebrate the beginning of sTARTUp Day in style! The VIP Reception brings together speakers, investors & executives for an unforgettable night.
VIP Lounge access
Escape to your lounge where you can kick back and relax, get some work done, or prep for the next meeting.
Investor Day
Investor Day on January 29 is an exclusive investors' meetup to share experiences, learn from each other, and create meaningful contacts. Structured in a way you'd feel both elevated by and busy with new ideas while leaving enough room for networking.
Executive Day
Executive Day on January 29 is about taking the time to listen, talk, and network with other leaders. This is the place to bounce your thoughts and learn about challenges and solutions across different industries.
List of attending investors
Startups will see the participating investors' list (investor's name + investment fund's name) which enables them to request meetings with the right investors through our matchmaking app.
List of attending startups
There are over 300 unique startups at sTARTUp Day, which can be quite overwhelming at times. We'll send you a database of all of the participating startups so you can browse through them all and select the ones you want to meet beforehand.
Personalised startup matches
With the help of our good friends from Dealum, we will find the most relevant startup matches based on each investor’s profile. This means that investors will get a list of hand-selected startups that meet their requirements, making it even easier to meet the right startup.
Visibility at sTARTUp Day website
All validated startups and the biggest VC funds will be featured on the sTARTUp Day website.