Startup Sauna stopped by in Tallinn, Estonia. Qminder, which we saw pitching at Seedcamp, as well as other Startup Sauna Warmup events, has finally won the competition. Perseverance has brought fruits to the team which was formed during Garage48 event in Estonia. Qminder solves queuing problems by allowing queue tickets ordered from a mobile phone. No more wasted time at the bank or telecom counters if Qminder team succeeds in convincing the bank managers of its usefulness.
It is interesting, that Estonia is increasingly becoming visible as a European technology hot-spot. Thanks to Skype, the world first discovered the country, and ever since Estonia proceeded to amaze the world with a plethora of innovative companies.
I have done my best naming the most notable startups and established businesses in my post on TechCrunch Europe today. Based on the feedback, here are a couple of corrections and additions to the list.
First of all, Dave McClure, who originally used the word EstonianMafia with a hashtag, to communicate omnipresence of Estonians on the global startup scene, knew the difference between Erply and Zerply perfectly well. Yet, someone from Estonia who happened to talk to McClure, didn’t, causing a confusion.
TransferWise, the Skype of currency exchange, comes from Estonia too, it appears. Taavet Hinrikus claims the copyright to the power point presentation slide above, taken by TechCrunch’ Robin Wauters at Seedcamp Week in September 2011.
One company, which came second during the Startup Sauna competition in Tallinn, caught my attention. Weatherme can predict weather for your precise location, literally within one kilometer range. This would be a useful tool for sailing to get alerted of any significant weather change… if I ever get a chance to sail again.
