---
title: "Estonian startups have paid €150 million in taxes to state’s coffers since 2016"
id: "43066"
type: "post"
slug: "estonian-startups-have-paid-e150-million-in-taxes-to-states-coffers-since-2016"
published_at: "2019-11-05T12:15:15+00:00"
modified_at: "2019-11-05T12:21:56+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonian-startups-have-paid-e150-million-in-taxes-to-states-coffers-since-2016/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonian-startups-have-paid-e150-million-in-taxes-to-states-coffers-since-2016.md"
excerpt: "Data from Startup Estonia shows Estonian startups’ contribution to the country’s budget is constantly increasing – from just €28 million in 2016 to over €32 […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Business"
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Silver Tambur"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/"
---

# Estonian startups have paid €150 million in taxes to state’s coffers since 2016

![Telliskivi Creative City and Tallinn Old Town. Photo by Kaupo Kalda.](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/telliskivi-and-Tallinn-Old-Town-Kaupa-Kalda-1024x682.jpg)

Telliskivi Creative City and Tallinn Old Town. Photo by Kaupo Kalda.

By  [Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
  ·  November 5, 2019  · [Business](https://estonianworld.com/category/business/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### Data from Startup Estonia shows Estonian startups’ contribution to the country’s budget is constantly increasing – from just €28 million in 2016 to over €32 million in the first half of 2019 alone.

According to data, compiled by Startup Estonia, a governmental initiative aimed at supercharging the country’s startup ecosystem, the state budget gains more than ever from the employment taxes paid by Estonian startups. The sum was €28 million in 2016, €36 million in 2017 and €46 million in 2018. This year is promising to be another record breaker as the startups paid €32.7 million in taxes in only the first six months of 2019.

The biggest contributors are startups in fintech; business software, services and human resources; transportation and logistics; gaming; and cybertech. The largest contributors among startups are TransferWise (€5 million), Pipedrive (€3.7 million), Bolt, formerly known as Taxify (€2.8 million), Monese and Veriff (both just under a million).

![Image](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Pipedrives-HQ-in-Tallinn-1.jpg)

Pipedrive’s new HQ in Tallinn. The image is illustrative.

According to Statistics Estonia, the average monthly gross salary within Estonian startup ecosystem is €1.706, which is 27% more than the average salary in Estonia.

### Every fifth startup founded by a foreigner

As of July 2019, the Estonian startups employ over 4,800 people locally – by comparison, a year ago, the employee number was just over 3,300. The data shows that 46% of startup employees are women and 54% are men. However, the proportion of female startup founders in Estonia is still very low, currently around 15%.

The average age of founders is currently 37 and the majority of them are aged between 25-40. Most of the founders (59%) have higher education and most have Estonian citizenship (82%), while around 18% of startup founders are foreigners.

![Image](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Kersti-Kaljulaid-at-co-working-space-Lift99-in-Telliskivi-Creative-City.-1024x667.jpg)

Some of the local startup founders meeting Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid at Lift99, a coworking space in Tallinn’s Telliskivi Creative City.

Startup Estonia’s [data](https://www.startupestonia.ee/blog/deep-dive-into-the-estonian-startup-sector-in-2019)
 shows there are currently 650 startups in the country – 130 of those were founded by entrepreneurs who came to Estonia with a startup visa, introduced in 2017. Altogether, the startup visa has granted over 1,800 people the right to move to Estonia.

The Estonian startups have collectively raised over €1.1 billion in capital since 2007, of which 90% is a foreign funding.

Cover: A view of Telliskivi Creative City, where many startups are located, and the Tallinn Old Town. The image is illustrative. Photo by Kaupo Kalda.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/2/1572652467-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
Silver Tambur, co-founder and publisher of *Estonian World*, studied journalism at the University of Tartu and politics at Birkbeck, University of London. He has edited Estonian Public Broadcasting’s English news and contributed to *Business Sense*, *Deutsche Welle*, and *Radio New Zealand*. He is currently editor-in-chief of *Trialoog*, TalTech’s business and research portal. You can also follow him on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SilverTambur)
 and like [his page on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/silvertamburpage/)
. You can write to Silver at [silver@estonianworld.com](mailto:silver@estonianworld.com)
.