Back in the early 2000s, Estonia was rapidly modernising, shaking off theremnantsof Soviet influence.
It wasambitiouslytransforming itself into adigitalsociety with innovations such ase-governmentand online voting.
Now, its aiming to become a deeptech hub, accelerating the development of research- and science-based entrepreneurship.
Deeptech in Estonia is still relatively young.
As many as70%of the companies have emerged over the last five years.
Nevertheless, the sector is growing quickly.
In 2023, deeptechstartupsreached a record227.2mnin turnover a 14% increase from the year before.
They also raised 394mn, rising from 254mn the previous year.
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This translates into 500 deeptech startups up from 132 in 2023.
Another is boosting entrepreneurship within academia with dedicated courses for students.
Equally important is ensuring a smooth spinout process.
A third component are the their startups themselves and their ability to turn scientific advancements into commercial products.
Muons are subatomic particles that make up half the cosmic radiation reaching the Earths atmosphere.
According to Hektor, muon tomography offers significant advantages over X-rays.
Its also safer for humans and the environment, as muons are a result of natural radiation.
One of GSCANs focus areas is non-destructive testing (NDT) for the built environment.
NDT helps evaluate the properties of a material or structure for potential defects without causing damage.
Hektor provides an example.
The world is full of old bridges, buildings, and tunnels made of reinforced concrete.
Reinforced concrete has a finite lifetime and inside these structures there are metals subject to corrosion.
Understanding whats happening inside these structures is vital both for safety and economic reasons, he says.
Alongside the built environment, the startup is also using its technology for customs and security applications.
In March, GSCAN raised a 3mn seed round from investors including BoltsfounderMarkus Villig.
This brought the total amount raised since its founding in 2018 to 5.1mn.
The startups technology extracts CO2 from waste biomass and flue gases from heavy industry emitters.
It then converts it into green carbon with a process calledmolten salt electrolysis.
The startups first goal is to achieve price parity with traditional carbon sources.
Graphite is a key component of EV batteries, which typically contain between 50kg and 100kg of the material.
In July, Up Catalyst received a2.36mn funding boostto accelerate the development of a pilot industrial reactor.
Up Catalyst spun out from the University of Tartu in 2019.
Despite some difficult bits of negotiation, the spinout process was fairly easy, Niidas says.
These affect approximately 100 million people worldwide, including those suffering from diabetes.
Mainstream wound dressings use silver, Olesja Bondarenko, Nanordicas CEO tells TNW.
Silver has good antibacterial properties.
But the problem is that it also has side effects and can lead to impaired wound healing.
We found that they amplify each other, while reducing adverse effects, Bondarenko says.
Nanordicas dressing works by attracting the bacteria and inactivating their effect, which enables tissue regeneration and wound healing.
The Tallinn-based startup says the solution offers 8x better treatment compared to standard care products.
The company has already run a small clinical trial in Estonia with 30 diabetic patients suffering from food ulcer.
Nanordica recently raised 1.75mn from VC investors.
According to Bondarenko, software has historically dominated investor interest.
But now, I think there is a real transformation, says Bondarenko.
There is more and more understanding that science-based deeptech is very important.
And the same investors that were focusing on software are now considering different possibilities.
The chances are very high that we will soon see unicorns in healthtech, and deeptech in general.
Story byIoanna Lykiardopoulou
Ioanna is a writer at TNW.
With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
