Estonian startup employees earned higher gross salaries than Lithuanians in 2023

Estonian employees in startups and growth companies received an average gross salary of  €4253 in 2023, while Lithuanian employees who worked in the startup sector earned an average gross salary of €3800. 

According to the government organization Startup Estonia and the state agency Statistics Estonia, compared to the beginning of 2023, the number of employees in Estonian startups has decreased by about four percent and is estimated 17,403 people by the end of 2023. According to Lithuania’s startup founder association Unicorns Lithuania, the number of employees in Lithuanian startups was 17,600 by the end of 2023.

Estonian employees aged 41-50 and top foreign professionals received the highest average gross salary in Estonia by the end of 2023. In particular, middle-aged employees earned €5134 per month, and foreigners - €4827.

At the same time, Unicorns Lithuania highlighted the top five startups with the highest salaries. First place went to Vilnius-based gaming company Game Insight with - €9,580, followed by digital marketing startup Fullreach (based in the US and founded by Lithuanian entrepreneurs) with €9,120. A dropshipping platform for Shopify eCommerce stores Oberlo paid its employees €9.060, Tesonet Accelerator - €7,860, and fintech Paysolut - €7,640.

The startups and growth technology companies that created the most jobs in Lithuania in 2023 were second-hand clothing marketplace Vinted (1405), a privacy solutions provider for individuals and businesses Nord Security (1221), a game developer and publisher Wargaming (937), market-leading proxy and web scraping solutions provider Oxylabs (529) and digital health product development platform KiloHealth (500).