Successful Female Startup Superstars in Estonia!

“If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen”- said Marissa Ann Mayer, the President and CEO of well-known tech company ‘Yahoo’. It is true that the majority of leaders in tech industry are men, but there are lots of kickass women in tech as well.

Estonia ranks third in Europe

 regarding the highest number of startups per capita.


It is a known  fact that Estonia is heaven for startups. This is a country where Skype, Transferwise, Pipedrive, Taxify, Planet OS, Fortumo, Starship, Lingvist, Toggl, Testlio and many others were born. With this short blogpost Garage48 would like to introduce you to some of  Estonia's  successful female founders.

 Kristel Kruustuk.Founder and CEO of Testlio.

Kristel is definitely a good example of how hard work and strong will pays off.   After living in London, she decided to study software development. During her studies, she fell in love with software testing and she founded a company that tests mobile apps. Development of this company  was  hard, but years of sleepless nights paid off . In 2016, the The Estonian customer-focused mobile app testing startup, Testlio, closed 6.25 million dollars in series A funding, led by Silicon Valley-based Altos Ventures and Vertex Ventures. Testlio now has an office both in Tallinn and Silicon Valley as well. Half of the employees are women:)

Mari-Liis Lind. Founder of Tech Sisters.

Mari-Liis is a true power-woman in Estonian tech industry. She has worked with several startup organizations, such as Tehnopol, Funderbeam, e-Estonia showroom, etc.

She founded Tech Sisters in 2012. It is non-profit organization with a vision to educate and inspire young women and girls in IT and technology. They usually organize different kind of events and workshops, that helps people to understand technology and technical approaches.  The organisation is based in Tallinn and it was nominated as a national winner for the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in 2017.


Kaidi Ruusalep. Founder and CEO of Funderbeam.

 Before founding Funderbeam,  
 Kaidi was the only IT-   lawyer in Estonia. She was hired by the Prime Minister's office to take part of creating Estonia's Digital  Signatures Act (one of the first in the world). From there she worked as the head of Estonian Central Securities Depository for four years. After leading CSD, she got offered an executive chair at NASDAQ Tallinn. So alltogether, she worked 12 years in trading, clearing and settlement industry before becoming an entrepreneur. Funderbeam,
 is a  platform where growth   companies are founded and traded across borders.  They use Blockchain technology. Funderbeam has 7  million dollars in investments  from 19 investors  worldwide. How cool is that?! Kaidi strongly believes that everything is possible, if you are passionate and determined: 

“I think entrepreneurs are born with a passion to make a difference, both in their own lives and within industries that have remained unchanged for years. If you believe in your vision and you know how to execute it, then everything is possible. ”— Kaidi Ruusalepp


Karoli Hindriks. Founder and CEO of Jobbatical.


Karoli founded her first company at the age of 16. She became the youngest inventor in Estonia creating pedestrian reflectors that could be used as a part of clothing and jewelry, and she now holds several patents and international trademarks for her designs. She is also famous for her achievement of becoming a youngest CEO of MTV. Her latest invention, a startup called Jobbatical blends the concept of a job and a sabbatical, matching employers and talent for short-term jobs that might involve sending a software developer from Sweden to Thailand for a three-month ‘jobbatical’. Jobbatical has  already raised more than 8 million dollars and is only going stronger.


Anna-Greta Tsahkna. Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Timbeter.

  
Timbeter is a company which  pioneered a  solution   that   measures timber quickly and   accurately.  Timbeter  team came together in a Garage48 Women in Tech Hackathon  in Pärnu, Estonia  on 2013. Anna-Greta says that she loves finding     solutions for different problems.


Tackle the  entrepreneur inside you, become part of these success stories  and come to Garage48 Empowering Women Hackathon in Lviv on 16 to 18th of March, 2018. Can’t wait to see you there!

Sign up here: https://2event.com/uk/events/1216075
Read more on the event’s website:http://bit.ly/g48empowher
Join the FB event for latest updates:  https://www.facebook.com/events/185598375366203/



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