Our second application round of 2021 is open, 60,000 euros will be distributed among the teams. Similar to developments in the global startup landscape, Estonian investors also want to find and share potential ideas at their earliest possible stage. Higher risk also means higher demands on both teams and their ideas.

“For some time now, it has been trending that programs and accelerators preparing new global success stories are moving more and more closer to investor money. The culture of business angels is growing, there is more money to be invested, while the quality of new companies is also rising. Today, business angels are willing to take a much greater risk than, for example, a few years ago. Today, they dare to invest in ideas at an earlier stage in order to benefit from a possible success story and also contribute to its success, “said Jana Budkovskaja, CEO of Prototron.

According to her, it also means more pressure on both – the teams and their ideas. “Teams need to think about the business model at the very beginning and not miss the moment when they are the most attractive for business angels. They need to learn to speak the right language from the start so that business angels and investors can understand what their solution is, how it will change the world and how investors will benefit from it. Innovation centers, business schools and other support institutions should come to the rescue here – how to think about the business model and its validation in parallel with the technical solution,” Budkovskaja noted.

Applications for the Prototron autumn round can be submitted at www.prototron.ee until 15 November 2021.