Since its inception in 2014, e-Residency has been popular among all kinds of professionals, from nomadic solo entrepreneurs to startup founders who want to grow fast and scale big, access the European market, and run their companies completely remotely and online. More than 136,400 people have become e-residents from 185 countries, some out of enthusiasm for the pioneering digital state, forming a global community of digitally-minded individuals. And the country has benefitted, and not only by rising the ranks of the most founder-friendly business environments out there. In 2025 alone, the programme generated €125 million in state revenue, resulting in a return of more than €12 for every euro invested into developing and running the programme by the state.
Estonian e-residents have also established about 40,000 companies to date. Every fifth Estonian company is started by an e-resident, and 40 percent of startups involve at least one. Among their ranks are unicorns such as Glia, a financial services provider cofounded by an American Dan Michaeli. The company's co-founders use the benefits of e-Residency to run their business from wherever they are, which comes in handy since Glia has offices in the US, Estonia, and Canada.
Become a subscriber to continue reading!
Every week we bring you news from the community and exclusive columns. We're relying on your support to keep going and invite you to subscribe.
Starting from $2.30 per week.
