Comment by SkyAndSand
2 years ago
I've heard lots of people talking about Estonia but can you name any international remote-first startup that became successful and raised money with an Estonian entity? I don't and this makes me somewhat suspicious :)
I don't know of remote-first companies, but I know of many Estonian companies that have raised a lot of money and been incredibly successful.
To name a few:
I have a long history with e-Residency and know many e-Residents (e-Resident since 2015, 3 companies, member of EERICA.ee). Happy to chat about it. Email in bio.
I was e-resident too but had to become resident in Estonia. Cause if you are abroad and distribute yourself dividend (as a sole entrepreneur) your host country would consider your Estonian company local and thus it constitutes a permanent establishment and that becomes extremely complicated
Of course--but this is the case for almost all jurisdictions of record vs jurisdictions of taxation. Few countries want to allow a company to operate 100% in their borders without extracting some degree of taxation. (In fact, this is basic OECD taxation doctrine.)
My situation is complex, but, generally, the advantages of Estonian registration are found in drastically simplified and lower-cost business registration and processing (vs say a GmbH in Germany or Switzerland with high share capital and accounting costs) or ease of operation for digital nomads or fully remote companies. A OÜ isn't for everyone in every life situation, but when it fits, it tends to work really well.
A LLC or C Corp in the US could work just as well (or better), depending on the situation.
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I second that. There are growing number of startups and increasing capital pouring into Estonia (hence the largest inflation rate in Europe) Wise and Bolt are good examples.
Wise is incorporated in the UK. Founders are Estonian.
Skype, maybe not remote first, but I think Skype have sort of paved the way/accellerated these efforts in Estonia. But it’s all just a guess…