{"id":178259,"date":"2025-06-20T10:45:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T07:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/?p=178259"},"modified":"2025-06-20T14:44:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:44:27","slug":"four-estonian-space-startups-receive-e240000-in-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/four-estonian-space-startups-receive-e240000-in-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Estonian space startups receive \u20ac240,000 in funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The\u00a0Estonian Business Incubator of the European Space Agency (ESA BIC Estonia)\u00a0has selected four new space-tech startups in its latest call:\u00a0Babayte,\u00a0Spiral Hydrogen,\u00a0MS Forest, and\u00a0Energy Risk Service. Each company will receive a development grant of \u20ac60,000 \u2014 half of the funding comes from the European Space Agency and the other half from the cities of Tartu and Tallinn, depending on the startup\u2019s location.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A total of 11 strong candidates pitched their ideas to the ESA BIC Estonia consortium. Although the initial plan was to select three companies, the high quality of the applications led to the selection of four. One spot remains open for the upcoming autumn round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The selected startups are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Babayte<\/strong>\u00a0(Tartu) is developing BabAI Orbital \u2014 an onboard AI module for small satellites that helps avoid collisions. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Spiral Hydrogen<\/strong>\u00a0(Tartu) is creating a next-generation hydrogen generator with over 90% energy efficiency.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>MS Forest<\/strong>\u00a0(Tallinn) is building a dynamic forestry data registry that reduces the time and cost of forest inventory. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Energy Risk Service<\/strong>\u00a0(Tallinn) is developing a satellite data-based forecasting system for the renewable energy sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Madis V\u00f5\u00f5ras<\/strong>, Head of the Estonian Space and CERN Office, affirmed the high quality of the candidates: \u201cThe number, quality, and substance of the applications submitted for evaluation impressed the panel \u2014 but also made the selection process challenging. That\u2019s why we ultimately decided to accept four candidates instead of the initially planned three.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kristiina Libe<\/strong>, Project Manager for Deep Tech at Tehnopol (pictured), emphasized that space technology is no longer just about solving problems in space: \u201cThere\u2019s a growing recognition of how satellite data and other space-based technologies can be applied for the benefit of our planet. We welcome applications from companies with the ambition, dedication, and expertise to take space technology to the next level \u2014 both on Earth and in orbit.\u201d She added that the accelerator\u2019s mission is fully aligned with Tehnopol\u2019s goal of supporting world-changing tech companies and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sven Lilla<\/strong>, Head of the Space Sector at Tartu Science Park and Manager of ESA BIC Estonia, also highlighted the increasing relevance of space technologies in everyday life and the willingness of companies to take bigger risks in order to gain a competitive edge: \u201cThis round saw a notably high number of foreign founders among the applicants, demonstrating the growing attractiveness of Estonia\u2019s ecosystem,\u201d added Lilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Paul Liias<\/strong>, Head of Space at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, noted that the state actively supports deep tech development and entrepreneurship through ESA BIC: \u201cThrough ESA BIC investments, the government accelerates the growth of the capital-intensive deep tech sector, helping Estonian startups take their first steps and gain experience working with ESA.\u201d He added that over the past eight years, the ESA BIC model has proven successful in preparing companies for investment and market entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ESA BIC Estonia incubator is led by\u00a0<strong>Tartu Science Park<\/strong>\u00a0in collaboration with the\u00a0<strong>Tehnopol Science and Business Park<\/strong>. The program is co-financed by the European Space Agency and the cities of Tartu or Tallinn, each contributing \u20ac30,000 per company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To date, 36 companies have joined the Estonian incubator \u2014 half based in Tartu and half in Tallinn. Tartu has invested \u20ac355,000 into the program, with incubated companies generating over \u20ac6 million in labor taxes and nearly \u20ac10 million in revenue. Tallinn has contributed \u20ac345,000, with its companies contributing nearly \u20ac5 million in labor taxes and generating over \u20ac12 million in revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More information:\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.esabic.ee\/\">www.esabic.ee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Estonian Business Incubator of the European Space Agency (ESA BIC Estonia)\u00a0has selected four new space-tech startups in its latest call:\u00a0Babayte,\u00a0Spiral Hydrogen,\u00a0MS Forest, and\u00a0Energy Risk Service. Each company will receive a development grant of \u20ac60,000 \u2014 half of the funding comes from the European Space Agency and the other half from the cities of Tartu and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":178260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[198,182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dual-use-and-defence-technologies","category-startup-incubator"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178283,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178259\/revisions\/178283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}