According to the data of Startup Estonia and Statistics Estonia, the average gross salary of people working in the startup sector in the first half of this year reached 3,609 euros, almost twice the average salary in Estonia — according to Statistics Estonia, the average salary in Estonia is 1,831 euros.
Employees of Estonian origin earn an average of 3,574 euros in the startup sector, while workers from abroad earn as much as 3,739 euros. The highest average gross monthly salary is earned by employees aged 41-50 in Estonian startup sector companies, whose average salary in the first half of this year was 4,462 euros per month. They are followed by employees aged 31-40 with a monthly salary of 3,912 euros.
Startup Estonia manager Eve Peeterson said that while Estonian startups were eager recruiters just a few years ago, then by now this trend has changed and the number of employees has remained largely unchanged compared to the end of 2023.
“In this sense, the startup sector does not differ from companies in the normal economy in that, in difficult times, rational decisions are made and savings are sought. At the same time, salaries have increased significantly in the startup sector, which shows that the necessary specialists are retained. In recent months, we see a stabilization of employment numbers, but it is still too early to say whether this is a permanent trend or whether the workforce is expected to decrease in the fall,” Peeterson said, adding that the following months will help to understand the impact of the current economic landscape on employment in the startup sector.
According to Statistics Estonia, in the first half of 2024, 16,164 employees were employed in the Estonian startup sector for at least one day, which is 2.3 percent of all people who worked for at least one day in Estonia.
As of the end of the first half of the year, the largest employer in the Estonian startup sector was Wise with 1,997 employees. Over the year, the number of employees of the company increased by 98 people. Bolt, the second largest employer in the Estonian startup sector, employed 1,280 people, a figure smaller by 10 compared to the year before. The top three largest employers also include Swappie, which employed 480 employees as of the end of the first half of the year. Among the top five, Pipedrive laid off the most people, with the number of employees there falling by 71 people to 369 people over the year. Among the largest employers in the startup sector is also Coolbet with 273 employees.
Altogether 63 percent of the employees of companies in the Estonian startup sector are men and 37 percent are women, and 66 percent of them, or 10,699 people, have Estonian citizenship. Employees of Estonian startups are also relatively young — 46 percent of employees are aged 31-40 and another 35 percent are aged 21-30. According to the commercial register, the average age of the founder of a startup is 39 years and 84 percent of them are men and 16 percent are women.
“Attracting foreign talent continues to be extremely important to the startup sector as they drive innovation and growth in our startup ecosystem. At the same time, we see that the potential of female founders is largely untapped and the proportion of female founders has not changed much in recent years, remaining around 16 percent,” Peeterson said.
Of foreign workers, most, or altogether 643, have come to the Estonian startup sector from Russia, having come here before the visa ban. Altogether 537 have come from Ukraine, 465 from Nigeria, 316 from India and 272 from Brazil. Of citizens of the European Union, 126 people have come from Italy, 112 from Latvia, 75 from France, 74 from Finland and 69 from Spain.
The majority, or 69 percent, of the employees in the startup sector have a higher education, holding either a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree. Among foreign workers, the percentage of employees with higher education is even higher — 84 percent. Managers make up 12 percent and top specialists 50 percent of all employees in the sector. Technicians and mid-level specialists make up 13 percent of the sector, while office workers and customer service workers make up 17 percent of the sector’s employees.
Statistics of the Estonian startup sector include both startup companies in its classic definition as well as fast-growing innovative technology and growth companies operating in Estonia that are over 10 years old and have reached a sales transaction.
Startup Estonia is a national program for developing the Estonian startup ecosystem, promoting the emergence of startups and their growth into international success stories. The program is executed by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency and funded by the European Union.
Source: BNS
(Reproduction of BNS information in mass media and other websites without written consent of BNS is prohibited.)