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The Estonian software company Pipedrive won the Best B2B Startup of the Year award, and the founders of the Estonian money transfer service TransferWise, Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, were honoured as the best startup founders at this year’s Europas European Tech Startup Conference and Awards.
TransferWiseThe duo also won the prestigious Web Entrepreneur of the Year award, given as part of the Europioneers programme, an initiative of the European Commission that celebrates the success of web initiatives in the European Union and encourages potential entrepreneurs. Pipedrive is an Estonian-founded startup, producing sales management software used by over 10,000 customers worldwide.
Hinrikus and Käärmann launched the peer-to-peer money transfer service Transferwise in 2011 and their firm has now grown to employ over 300 people in London, Tallinn and New York, supporting over 300 currency routes around the world, and attracting investment from Sir Richard Branson along the way.
Europas, Europe’s tech startup Oscars, took place in London, with over 1,000 guests gathering to celebrate the best of the continent’s tech entrepreneurship. The Web Entrepreneur of the Year award was presented by the European Commission and Deloitte during the Slush startup conference in Helsinki, Finland. The Slush conference is the biggest startup event in the region – approximately 200 speakers, 1,700 startups, 800 investors and 15,000 attendees participated this year.