Message from Ambassadors

Estonia and Japan— together towards Innovation
Väino Reinart
Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to Japan
Estonia is often viewed as the most advanced country in
the world in terms of digitalization. While this is absolutely
true and we are indeed a country where establishing abusiness can take only hours or even minutes, Estonia is aplace that breeds innovation and stands at the global top
for Unicorn companies per capita. This is exactly the area
where cooperation with Japanese companies and investors
can be beneficial for both countries.

and there is growing cooperation between Japanese
corporate investors, the government bodies, Estonian
venture capital firms, and startup companies. For example,in 2015 Rakuten, a global e-commerce company acquired
Estonian company Fits.me and later invested in language
learning platform Lingvist. This was followed byinvestments into Funderbeam, Lift99, Jobbatical, Clanbeat,
Xolo and many more by the Japanese fund Mistletoe.

It is no secret that 99% of Estonia’s public services areonline and therefore it provides a very attractive businessenvironment for investors and companies. Besides that,according to the PISA results, basic education in Estonia
is one of the strongest in the world. Combine that with aclear and stable legislative environment, simple taxsystem, startup visa program, accessible funding andcollaborative founder network, and it is easy to see why
the small country in Northern Europe punches above its
weight and has become one of the most successful andinnovative startup ecosystems in the world.

In 2018 the Japan Bank for International Cooperation
along with three large technology corporations Honda,
Panasonic, and Omron established a 100 million euro
fund along with BaltCap to invest in Nordic and Baltic
technology firms. So far Estonian companies Veriff, Bolt
and Realeyes have received investments. In addition tothat, Estonian venture capital firms have become attractive
partners for Japanese corporate venture capital funds. For
example, Tera Ventures, an Estonian venture capital firmthat is investing in early-stage startups has secured aninvestment from Japanese corporation Itochu and several
other large Japanese corporations.

Growing interest from Japanese investors
and companies
All this has not gone unnoticed by the Japanese companies

Marubeni Corporation, which established its office inTallinn to access Estonian and European startups, investedin Skeleton Technologies in 2021 and became theVäino Reinart assumed his duties as Ambassador of Estonia to Japan in November
2018. Prior to his present posting in Tokyo Ambassador Reinart served as
Undersecretary for Trade and Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Under the Estonian Presidency of the European Union in 2017 he also
served as Chairman of the Trade Policy Committee of the European Union. From2007 to 2011 Ambassador Reinart served as Ambassador to the United States ofAmerica, Canada, and Mexico. From 2002 to 2007 Ambassador Reinart served
as Permanent Representative of Estonia to the European Union.

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exclusive distributor for its ultracapacitor technology.
These kinds of mutually beneficial and often strategic
partnerships are exactly where innovative business
opportunities with global reach are created.

Small, but great wit
̶ 山椒は小粒でもぴりりと辛いSo why Estonia? For 1.3 million people, Estonia has awhopping 1300 startups which speak volumes about theEstonian entrepreneurial spirit. What makes us special isthat the Estonian startup ecosystem is pragmatic andquality orientated - it is technology-based, geared towards
solving real problems and providing really essentialservices. Since the market itself is quite small, the businessmodels have to be scalable, repeatable and global fromday one. It is no wonder that Estonian startups havereceived a record amount of funding during the COVID19
period and that the need for their products and services
has only accelerated.

The “Skype effect”
Skype, created by the Estonian developers, became an
inspiration for many young Estonian entrepreneurs, andthe spillover effect that Skypes’ sale to eBay in 2005 hadon the ecosystem can’t be underestimated. Estonian
founders network is a tightly knit and supportive
community that is closely connected to the global
networks, bringing out the best in the “small is beautiful”
mindset. We have around 150 organizations and events
supporting our startup ecosystem and innovation, from
cultivating the startup mindset up until establishing acompany and scaling it up.

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Latitude59 has attracted a considerable number of Japanese participants.
Credit: Kristi Sits

Estonia also connects with the world through flagshipstartup and technology events like Latitude59 and Startup
Day. Latitude59 has over the years attracted a great
number of Japanese participants, sponsors, and presentersfrom JETRO to Shibuya City Office, Fukuoka City, andJapanese companies like Toppan Printing and Marubeni.

Estonia - a natural partner for Japan.
As Japan’s large corporations are more and more looking
for open innovation opportunities outside their own
structures and country, Estonia and in a wider perspective,
Northern Europe with its innovative and entrepreneurial
societies, but also stable and reliable political and economic
landscapes have become a natural partner. I believe this iswhat the Japanese investors and companies value.
Quite often Japanese big companies are looking for new
technologies and business opportunities that could
support their own main activities and business. Since thesolutions that Estonian companies are offering are quite
often grown out of solving real issues in real life, thesolutions are often very relevant to Japanese corporations.
Japanese investors also seem to value companies andproducts that have been already tested in the real marketand Estonia is a good environment for doing exactly that,as things happen in a quick and agile way - somethingthat does not go quite as smoothly in Japanese corporate
culture.
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Strategic partnerships and investments also benefit
Estonian companies as it opens up new markets andcooperation opportunities with the most successful global
companies that would otherwise be difficult to access.
Marubeni Corporation, Nordic Ninja, and Tera Ventures
are all very good examples of cooperation that can benefit
both sides not only financially but also from a strategic
perspective.
I believe that there are more and more opportunities likethese lying ahead as the Estonian startup ecosystem isgoing to continue to develop and provide innovative
solutions for Japanese companies. I sincerely welcome
everyone from Japan to Estonia to experience our digitaland innovative society first hand and build meaningful
and long-lasting relationships between the two countries.
お問い合わせJOI 事業企画部
E-mail: bd@joi.or.jp、TEL:03-5210-3311

駐日エストニア共和国大使館
Oliver Ait, Commercial Counsellor
E-mail: oliver.ait@mfa.ee
https://tokyo.mfa.ee/