Future Shaper 2026

Vaido Mikheim
Head of the Future Shaper Category and Startup Estonia
[email protected]

Objective

To recognise companies in an early or growth stage in Estonia that are solving a big problem in an ambitious way, and whose business model, team and vision give reason to believe that their impact will grow significantly in the future.

Who can apply

We are looking for Estonian companies that have been in business for up to 7 years and have reached the first clear indicators of market pull – be it a growing client base, revenue or international expansion. The candidate company operates in an area where it has the potential to become a European or global leader in its segment.

Evaluation criteria and process

The following economic indicators are evaluated (makes up a total of 30% of the evaluation):

  1. Compound sales growth 2023-2025 (10%)
  2. Investments and/or grants received 2023-2025 (10%)
  3. Number of paying clients and/or pilot projects 2025 (10%)

The company must show a significant achievement in the following areas over the past three years (comprising 70% of the final result):

  1. The company has clearly defined the market opportunity and why their approach differs from existing solutions. The market potential and originality of the solution will be assessed. (30%)
  2. The company can demonstrate first significant achievements in validating and bringing the solution to market. The team’s capacity and the potential of the solution to achieve international or global impact will also be assessed. (25%)
  3. The company will collaborate with (international) universities and/or innovation ecosystem partners to develop and scale the solution. (15%)

 

Definitions

Value added per employee = (operating profit + expenditure + labour costs) / number of FTEs

Compounded growth = (2025 result / 2023 result) ^ (1/2) – 1

Innovation includes the development and innovation of products and services (product innovation), the capture and expansion of markets (market innovation), the creation and implementation of new production, supply and sales methods (process innovation), innovations in management and work organisation (organisational innovation) and the improvement of working conditions and personnel skills (employee innovation).