Estonia's e-Residency will be present at Bilbao Slush'D, the first edition in the Iberian Peninsula
Additionally, the CTO of the Estonian unicorn Pipedrive, Agur Jõgi, will give two presentations on how Estonia has become a unicorn factory and one of the best startup ecosystems in the world, open to founders of any background.
Estonia, the world's most digitized nation and Europe's largest "unicorn factory", will have a prominent presence at the Bilbao Slush'D event through its program for global entrepreneurs, e-Residency.
Slush, one of the leading global innovation and startup events held annually in Helsinki, has chosen Bizkaia and Bilbao for its first edition in the Iberian Peninsula, which will take place at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC) on this 20th of February.
The e-Residency program of Estonia is one of the strategic collaborators of Bilbao Slushu2019D, reinforcing its commitment to connect local entrepreneurship ecosystems with the Estonian innovation ecosystem. e-Residency is the pioneering initiative of the Estonian government to help entrepreneurs from around the world to internationalize, allowing them to create, manage, and grow their businesses in a 100% digital and borderless way.
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Thanks to public-private collaboration and a digital-first mindset administration, Estonia has become the country with the most unicorns per capita in Europe and the twelfth best startup ecosystem in the world, whose opportunities are open to entrepreneurs from any background thanks to e-Residency. 40% of startups in Estonia have foreign founders or co-founders, and Glia, the most recent Estonian unicorn, is co-founded by e-residents.
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The event will feature, as representatives of this flourishing ecosystem, Agur Jõgi, CTO of Pipedrive, one of the ten Estonian unicorns; Ülane Vilumets, Director of Business Development for e-Residency; Guillermo Chávez, in charge of the Spanish and French markets at e-Residency; and Iryna Krepchuk, a venture capital investor at the Estonian firm Trind Ventures.
Elena Popovici and David Cabezon, co-founders and co-directors of Bilbao Slush'D, assert: "Estonia, a small country with a giant mindset, has not only digitized, but it has also become a legend. From e-Residency to unicorn factories, this Baltic powerhouse has hacked its way to global relevance. This event proves that being small does not limit us, but pushes us to be agile, bold, and disruptive. At Bilbao Slush'D, we are bringing the Iberian Peninsula to the same playbook that is breaking all the global game rules, thereby linking the north with the north".
Guillermo Chávez, in charge of the Spanish and French markets at e-Residency, points out: "At e-Residency, we actively support Bilbao Slush'D, a crucial meeting to build bridges between globally connected entrepreneurial ecosystems. We firmly believe that the opportunity to reach international markets is within reach of all startups".
"More than 120,000 e-residents from 185 nationalities have created almost 34,000 companies in Estonia to operate globally; and these e-residents have the same access to investment and growth opportunities as any Estonian citizen, so they could be our future unicorns," he adds.
An Estonian Unicorn on the Bilbao Slush'D Agenda.
Bilbao Slush'D, the first edition of the event in Bizkaia and Bilbao, adapts the essence of the renowned global meeting held in Helsinki, bringing together hundreds of investors, startups, and international leaders.
As part of their support for the event, the e-Residency program of Estonia will host a high-level activities program, which includes several round tables and two keynote speeches by Agur Jõgi, CTO of Pipedrive.
The first one will be offered at the BBK Unicorn Night pre-event on Wednesday 19, and will be about how to create a global-minded unicorn from day one and assembling a strong team with the right amount of flexibility. At the second one, which will take place on Thursday 20 at 12:50h during the main event, the executive will share the key factors that have led Estonia to become a digital nation, where you can set up a company online in just 15 minutes.
In the words of Agur Jõgi, CTO of Pipedrive, "Estonia may be small in size, but we think and build globally from day one. With a thriving startup ecosystem, a digitally focused mindset, and government-backed initiatives like the e-Residency program, Estonia has proven that innovation is not dependent on geography; the formula for success lies in the courage to dream without borders and in a strongly connected and brutally transparent founder community that shares their successes and failures in the utmost detail, ensuring each new venture is more solid. A bit of luck doesn't hurt either. Whether you're an entrepreneur in Estonia, Spain or anywhere else in the world, the opportunities that Estonia offers to scale globally are just a few clicks away."