Some angel investors arrive from banking or M&A. Others, like Jana, take a more unexpected route – from environmental physics, to municipal green energy projects, to startups and finally angel investing. And while Jana is a bit hesitant in the beginning of our interview – “But everyone already knows me,” – I’m not so sure. For example, do you know that Jana is a board member of EstBAN since this spring and already leading three syndicates this year and is almost every day dedicating some time to drawing?
Please dive in with us.*
Science and sustainability
Jana started out with an academic background in physics. Motivated by a desire to “save turtles and koalas,” she worked on environmental research, including what we would today call innovation or green deal roadmaps. Later, she moved into municipal projects, helping one Estonian municipality switch fully to renewable energy. This, Jana says, is also one of her proudest achievements. But the turning point into the startup ecosystem came through mentoring youngsters in the Entrum program and later participating in Ajujaht, Estonia’s largest startup competition. That’s where she caught the startup bug: “There I learned about startups and became a startupper myself.”
While being a founder didn’t stick to her, supporting startups and leading investments did. Only this year of 2025 she’s already leading EstBAN syndicate investments into promising startups such as L59’s winner MarkeDroid syndicate (co-lead is David Clark), and sTARTUp Day’s pitch-competition winner BrachyDose and SafePAS syndicate investments.
Why angel investing?
For Jana, investing is about values and trust. She believes talent is equally distributed across the world, but opportunity is not. Her sweet spot as an investor is finding those “diamonds” – the founders who can create a domino effect, where even small investments trigger meaningful growth. – “Money is like trust currency. If I trust my money with you, it means I trust you.”
She admits her first investments were made mostly on faith in the founder. Today, she’s more structured: doing her own research, balancing risks, and keeping emotions out of decisions.
Becoming a lead investor
Jana recently stepped up as a lead investor in EstBAN syndicates. At first, it was daunting: “I had to create my own style and system. If people trust you, you need to know as much as possible – about the team, the risks, and how things can go wrong. You don’t want to let others down.”
An important milestone so far? Leading an international syndicate in medtech, where EstBAN angels co-invested alongside foreign investors with Lithuanian government co-investment support. Jana believes this public-private model, where the state matches angel capital, is one we should have in Estonia as well to risk and empower angels. “I also think that risks should always be calculated and in investing emotions are only blurring the vision,” she says.
Is true Baltic collaboration just a dream?
Looking ahead, Jana wants to support more this kind of pan-Baltic collaboration, cross-border syndicates, and see more co-investment deals. She’s especially interested in cleantech, deeptech, and female-founded startups, and continues to dedicate time to youth projects. “The goal is always to create the next opportunities. To push real investments with real solutions.”
Jana assures that EstBAN is really trying to push a similar model here in Estonia like there is in Lithuania with the Co-Invest Capital where the state provides their part into big investments together with VC’s and angels.
Beyond investing there’s several passsions
When she’s not working with startups, Jana turns to art and nature. She paints daily, exploring Japanese sumi-e ink techniques where, just like in life, “every drop counts.” She’s also a passionate diver and traveler, inspired by the vastness of the natural world from Japan to the Caribbean. Jana seems to be busy, but very present in what she chooses to do. “Life is huge. Everyday decisions are part of the big picture, and every day is a responsibility.”
Jana’s journey shows the diversity of EstBAN’s investor community. From physics labs to startup pitches, from scuba diving to syndicate leadership, she brings a unique perspective to angel investing: one rooted in science, sustainability, and trust.
*Jana is also a diver, exploring this beautiful planet Earth from an underwater perspective.
