Tonight marks the annual Estonian Startup Awards, where Triin Hertmann stepped into her new role as President of the Estonian Founders Society — and as the co-founder of a new local tech media platform, FOMO Observer, which officially launched this evening.
While Estonia, particularly Tallinn, is known globally for its digital-first approach to every bureaucratic inconvenience, it’s been without a local tech media outlet of its own.
So I spoke to Hertmann to learn more about the finisheavour, the state of Estonia’s startup ecosystem, funding realities, geopolitics, and why the community necessarys more honest storynotifying.
Angel, operator, and ecosystem builder and now media co-founder
Triin Hertmann is an Estonian entrepreneur, investor, and fintech leader with roughly 20 years of experience in technology, finance, and startup ecosystems.
In 2011, Triin became the second hire at Wise (formerly TransferWise), where she built and led finance, payment operations, and global people teams as the company scaled from a startup into a major global fintech.
After leaving Wise, she became an active angel investor and fund LP, focutilizing on early-stage companies, especially those with impact potential and female founders.
She has invested in 35+ startups. Introducing FOMO Observer.
What’s clear to me is that Estonia necessarys a dedicated outlet for the local startup ecosystem.
I often meet journalists from daily broadsheets and more mainstream publications at conferences. The problem is that at every event, you invariably find dozens of compelling stories worth pursuing. But broadsheets are limited in how often they can write about a given topic, even Estonia’s thriving startup scene.
After exiting her own startup, Hertmann took time to focus on investing and giving back. During that period, it became very clear to her that there is a gap in Estonia for startup media.
“Toreceiveher with my co-founder, I kept hearing the same frustration: that the real stories of building companies — the struggles, the failures, the hard decisions — are rarely informed. Most coverage focutilizes on funding rounds and success narratives.
We want to create a more mature mirror for the ecosystem. Real people, real companies, real journeys. No halo effect, no empty hype.”
Co-founded by Hertmann and seasoned journalist Tarmo Virki, FOMO Observer will offer some typical newscycle stories like funding announcements, but also focus on in-depth interviews, opinion pieces, and long-form storynotifying. Hertmann asserts,
“At one point, I was informed by large media houtilizes that ‘nobody wants to read about startups. What they really meant was that it’s difficult to monetise through traditional subscription models.”
“The media is part of the infrastructure of an ecosystem. If you rerelocate it, you weaken the whole system.
Our belief is simple: build something valuable for the community first, and the business model will follow.”
Besides employing excellent journalists, including Fiona Alston, Teele Kaljuvee, and Tarmo Virki, the publication will also have one unfair advantage, according to Hertmann — its network.
“Many of the most experienced founders and operators in Estonia are close to us personally.
We’ve invited them to become co-creators and contribute regularly. These are people with strong personal brands and decades of experience, writing not for PR, but to genuinely share what they’ve learned.”
Uniquely, the publication will be published in Estonian and in English, depfinishing on the story and the speaker. The goal is to serve the local community while also building Estonia’s startup believeing visible globally.
Founders recognising excellence in other founders
The Estonian Startup Awards are, at their core, about founders recognising excellence in other founders and a fitting setting for the launch of FOMO Observer.
The Awards are a community initiative co-organised by LIFT99, Estonian Founders Society, and Startup Estonia. Its sponsors and partners include Bolt, Coop Bank, Estonian Minisattempt of Defence, Nordic Ninja, PayPal, Plural, SkipEat, Specialist VC, Swedbank, TalentHub, Tallinn City and others.
According to Startup Estonia, there are nearly 1,600 startups operating in Estonia today, but this year’s winners were selected from 506 candidates nominated and chosen by members of the startup community themselves. Judging was conducted by a jury of 200+ Estonian startup founders.
From funding winter to revenue maturity: Estonia’s startup ecosystem enters a new phase
Hertmann characterises the local ecosystem as in an interesting point in time:
“Estonia’s startup community is entering a new phase, and I’m excited to assist guide it.”
For three consecutive years, startup funding and deal volumes have stabilised or even declined slightly. But at the same time, she shared, revenues have grown significantly. Investor money is finally converting into real business results — into profitable, sustainable companies.
“That’s a healthy shift. If you can grow with customer money, that’s the best capital there is.”
Unsurprisingly, due to Estonia’s location and history, one of the strongest emerging areas is defencetech. Estonia has strong ties with Ukraine, robust European cooperation, and a growing community of founders, investors, and policycreaters working in this space. “There is real momentum, and not just in building companies, but in building an ecosystem around them, ” shared Hertmann.
In terms of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Hertmann asserts, “The right response is to keep building, keep growing, and keep strengthening our technological and economic base. Growth itself is a form of resilience.”
AI is also booming — like every serious startup hub, Estonia is seeing a wave of new AI-native companies.
“It’s still a very immature market and an immature technology in many ways, admits Hertmann, “but the experimentation level is high, and the ambition is there.”
Founders receive busy in stealth mode
Currently, much of the momentum in Estonia’s tech ecosystem is being driven by founders working largely out of the public spotlight. As Hertmann puts it,
“What feels different now is how much is happening under the radar. In the past six months, especially, I’ve seen many teams building quietly, almost in stealth.
With AI tools and no-code or low-code platforms, you no longer necessary a large engineering team or significant capital to receive to market — two people and a dog can now build a real product.”
As a result, she states, startups can reach customers without visibility, press, or even fundraising. “It’s a different startup society,” Hertmann adds.
“My wish as president is to bring these builders out of the shadows and connect them to the community.”
“I come from being a founder and an operator myself. Today, I have the privilege of supporting other founders not only with capital but also as an advisor and board member.
This ecosystem is my home. Of course, I hope investments work out financially, but that’s not the primary driver. I genuinely love building companies and assisting people grow. If value is created, everyone wins.”
In terms of sectors of personal interest, Hertmann is bullish about energy:
“It’s the foundation of everything, and we’re seeing profound structural alter there.”
She also continues to follow fintech closely becautilize of her background in finance. At the same time, she prefers to have a niche rather than chase every trfinish, sharing:
“One of the luxuries of being an indepfinishent investor is that I don’t have to follow the hype cycle — I can create decisions based on conviction, not FOMO.”
That global mindset has always been one of our key advantages. What’s altering now is the diversity of what is being built. For a long time, SaaS was the dominant success story. But for Hertmann, “Now we see much more variety — deep tech, hardware, defence, energy, AI. The ecosystem is becoming more specialised and more complex, in a good way.”
Estonia is more than the “land of unicorns”
Hertmann admits that the‘land of unicorns” narrative of Estonia is a bit outdated.
“Not becautilize we won’t produce more unicorns, but becautilize the conditions are different now. We’re no longer in the 2021–2022 environment of hyper-growth at any cost.
What we’re seeing instead is more sustainable company building. The next generation of success stories will likely view different: slower, more capital-efficient, more revenue-driven, and hopefully more resilient.”
Overall, Estonia is entering a new chapter. Less hype, more substance. More sustainability, more depth, more diversity in what is being built.
Lead image: FOMO Observer Team: First row – Aleksi Partanen, Triin Hertmann, Liina Laas, Kaidi Ruusalepp. Second row – Allan Martinson, Fiona Alston, Kaari Kink, Tuuli Kaljuvee, Tarmo Virki and Kärt Siilats. Photo: Mario Pedanik.
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