Estonian startups created 388 new jobs in the first six months of 2018, which is 27% more than during the same period last year, the Estonian state-owned financial institution KredEx said, noting that Estonia's 550 startups paid a total of nearly €21 million in labour taxes during this period, up 25% on year.

While in 2017 the revenue of Estonian startups totalled €275 million, by the end of June this year, 55% of this goal had been met, indicating that the total revenue of Estonian startups had increased 11% compared to the first half of last year.

"A total of 15 transactions have been made this year, which means that the average size of a transaction is €16.3 million," said Maarika Truu, head of Startup Estonia. "Last year, the average size of a deal was €6.8 million, and in preceding years it was between €1-2.5 million."

2018, she added, is expected to be a record year for investments in Estonian startups.

Most unicorns per capita

The largest investment of €150 million was made in Taxify by German automotive giant Daimler AG. "We will use the investment to develop our technology and expand it, mainly in Europe and Africa," Taxify CEO Markus Villig said of the investment.

Daimler's investment also propelled Taxify to unicorn status — a company worth more than $1 billion. Currently the only one based in Estonia, the ride-hailing app became the country's fourth unicorn, following Skype, Playtech and TransferWise.

Estonia also became the country with the highest number of unicorns per capita.