Ready Player Me has won the special award for the most resilient Estonian tech company 

At the jubilee dinner of the Estonian Business Angels Association held on 21st of October, Bolt received the TopTech grand prize as Estonia's most valuable technology company. The special award for the most resilient Estonian technology company was received by Ready Player Me that specialises in Metaverse avatars and is included also in the TopTech2022 ranking. 

According to Indrek Uudeküll, creator of TopTech and partner of Prudentia Tallinn that advises M&A transactions, Ready Player Me has always managed to re-invent its business model despite all the difficulties and this has brought the company great international success. “For Ready Player Me, 2022 was a real breakthrough year, achieving the highest ranking among the companies that were ranked for the first time in the list of Estonia's most valuable technology companies, and breaking into the top ten,” commented Uudeküll. 

According to Rando Rannus, partner of Siena Secondary Fund and one of the authors of this year's TopTech ranking, TopTech highlights very clearly why Estonian tech sector has been so successful and produced the largest number of unicorns - companies worth over one billion euros - in per capita terms (Estonia shares this position with Israel)."In my mind, the formula for success is related to our willingness not to give up on trying. Finns even have their own word for it – sisu – which in English is probably best described as resilience or grit, Rannus explained. 

The Ready Player Me (formerly known as Wolf3D), which this year won TopTech Special Award, has done several pivots during the journey, the most remarkable one probably that they started out as printing 3D fetuses ."Who would have thought you will end up from 3D printing to Metaverse? Well, you don`t know that in the beginning, but if you have the resilience, you will find your way to the success. Estonians having resilience as part of their startup DNA gives them advantage compared to other founders across the world," Rannus noted.

This year's TopTech ranking of Estonia's most valuable tech companies was won by Bolt which is valued at 7.4 billion euros. Wise (EUR 5.8 billion) came second and third was Veriff (EUR 1.3 billion).The ranking was compiled by Prudentia Tallinn, adviser of M&S transactions, and Siena Secondary Fund that specialises in aftermarket investments in tech companies.

The total value of 30 ranked companies exceeds 21 billion euros and the most profitable area seems to be mobility where two companies account for as much as 36% of the total value of top 30 companies. They are followed by 10 FinTech companies that account for 35% of the total value. The ranking also includes eight B2B SaaS companies, which account for 13 percent of the total value of the ranked companies.  

The TopTech ranking helps to see and understand the potential of Estonian technology companies and their contribution to the local economy. The ranking is based on a comparable assessment of the value of the enterprises at a given point in time and a specific methodology.   

ON PHOTO ATTACHED TO THE PRESS RELEASE, FROM LEFT: Pavel Ruban (Ready Player Me, CFO); Rando Rannus (Siena Seconady Fund, Partner); Jevgeni Kabanov (Bolt, CPO and President); Indrek Uudeküll (Prudentia Tallinn, Partner); Haver Järveoja (Ready Player Me, one of the founders). Photo by Karli Saul 

TO THE EDITOR

Check out Estonia's 2022 TopTech ranking here: https://www.toptech.ee/

Methodology: 

•    To be admitted to the ranking, the company must be a fast-growing tech company that has at least one Estonian founder or is registered in Estonia AND whose head office or at least 20% of employees are in Estonia. 

•    The value of the company's equity is assessed, which, as a sector-specific feature, is close to the value of the enterprise because of the low debt burden. 

•    If the company is listed (including on alternative investment platforms or as tokens on cryptocurrency platforms), the market capitalisation as of 31 August 2022 is used as the value;

•    If the company has raised money in the last 12 months, the value is calculated on the basis of the last capital round;

•    If the company has been sold to a financial investor in the last 12 months, its sale price is used as the value;

•    If none of the above applies, turnover-based market multiplier is used. The reference base consists of companies active in the same field which are listed on a stock exchange or which have raised money in the last 12 months;

•    The ranking is compiled using information available from public sources and provided by companies themselves.

•    Sources used: Crunchbase, CapitalIQ, Orbis, Infopank, Mergermarket, StartupEstonia.

Additional information:

Indrek Uudeküll, partner of Prudentia Tallinn; e-mail: indrek.uudekyll@prudentia.ee

Rando Rannus, Partner of Siena Secondary Fund; e-mail: rando.rannus@siena.ee