Estonia’s e-residents have founded over 4,200 companies in 2026
New e-Residency data shows that businesses in Estonia are primarily founded by entrepreneurs who have recently joined the programme: 80% of new e-resident companies are created by people who became e-residents in the same or previous year, and the process of starting a business is getting faster and faster.
This year, e-residents in Estonia have founded over 4,200 companies, or an average of 600 companies per month, which is a 36% increase on the same period in 2025 and a 47% increase over the same period in 2024.
Since the beginning of the year, Estonia has welcomed 9,000 new e-rehttps://startupsmagazine.co.uk/startup-hotspot-entrepreneurial-estoniasidents. Of those who joined in the first two months of the year, a record 34% have already managed to start a business. In the first seven months of the year, the state has received €57.6 million
in direct income from e-residents’ businesses in Estonia, of which 35.3 million were in labour taxes, 19.5 million in dividend income tax and 2.8 million in state fees. Since the establishment of e-Residency, the direct economic income related to the programme for the Estonian state has totalled €455 million.
According to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry, Erkki Keldo, e-Residency has become one of Estonia’s strongest ways to attract new international business and grow our service exports. Keldo, said: “e-Residency allows entrepreneurs from around the world to choose Estonia as their home for business and brings companies and income to our economy that would otherwise go elsewhere. Alongside this, the demand for Estonian accounting, tax, legal, and other business services is growing, giving our companies new clients and the opportunity to grow in the global market.”
According to Liina Vahtras, Head of e-Residency, the programme focuses on foreign entrepreneurs with growth ambitions who are ready to quickly start their business in Estonia.
“Already, almost every second Estonian startup is associated with an e-resident, and the value of attracting international talent to our business ecosystem is becoming increasingly important,” Vahtras noted. “The faster a foreign entrepreneur goes from application to company establishment, the faster their activities will have an impact on the Estonian economy, and they will immediately start contributing to the sales revenue of service providers.”
According to a recent study, in 2025, e-residents purchased more than €18 million in business services from Estonian companies operating on the programme’s official service provider platform, the e-Residency Marketplace. Turnover from servicing e-residents grew by 17% year-on-year. For companies operating on the platform, servicing e-residents often accounts for more than half of all business, and in some cases the share reaches 80-100%.
According to Igor Raikhelgauz, founder of Magrat, which services e-residents, the programme has created an opportunity for Estonian service providers to build an international business from a local base. “The Estonian market alone would not be able to offer such growth opportunities. In the past financial year, Magrat’s turnover grew by more than 60%, to €1.37 million, and our team has increased to 22 people. There is a simple reason behind these numbers: more e-resident companies are coming, and with it the need for a good accountant and advisor,” said Raikhelgauz.
According to him, e-residents need the services of company formation, a local contact person, and monthly accounting the most. Along with the growth of companies, the demand for more complex cross-border tax and business advice increases. Magrat sees the greatest growth potential among Ukrainian entrepreneurs, including in the diaspora, but interest in the Estonian business environment also remains strong in Western Europe.
Over the years, over 144,000 people from 187 countries have become e-residents of Estonia, and e-residents have founded or co-founded more than 43,600 Estonian companies.
Approximately one in five new Estonian companies is founded by an e-resident each year. The economic impact of the programme is measured by the labour taxes and special income taxes paid by Estonian companies founded by e-residents, the majority of which is income tax on dividends, as well as state fees related to applying for e-residency and establishing companies.
The e-Residency programme is implemented by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency.
