A weekly round-up of all the major news events which have taken place in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia over the past seven days, including news yet another parliamentary election in Bulgaria - the third this year.
According to a recent analysis commissioned by Startup Estonia and the Estonian e-residency programme, almost one third of Estonian startups – 348 out of 1,200 companies from Estonian Startup Database – have been founded by e-residents; most of these startups focus on business software development and fintech solutions.
The aggregate turnover of Estonian startups was €255 million in the first quarter of 2021, having increased by 26 percent year-on-year; startups also attracted a total of €194 million in investments, which is about 18 times more than in the same period last year.
According to the Estonian Startup Database, there were 1,144 startups in Estonia at the end of the first quarter of this year, and 21 new startups were established in the same period of time, Startup Estonia said.
The manager of Startup Estonia, Eve Peeterson, said that the coronavirus crisis dealt a painful blow both to traditional companies and the startup sector, but the Estonian startup sector has returned to growth by now.