Aleksander Tõnnisson became an EstBAN board member this spring with an agenda to strengthen the quality of connections between members and to bring more EstBAN events to Tartu. He’s been part of the angel investor network since 2022, but has been doing high risk investments already since 2012 which has led him over 100 investments by now.
When Aleksander reflects on his journey into angel investing, the path is anything but traditional. “I am particularly interested in companies that build products with real impact on people’s lives rather than those created just for entertainment,” he says.
Before diving into tech, Aleksander spent two summers in the U.S. selling books door-to-door – a tough job that gave him one of his most enduring skills: the confidence to speak in front of any audience. This skill now serves him well as a founder, coach, lecturer, and investor. With a degree in computer engineering from the University of Tartu, his early career combined technical work with international experience. He first worked at the Estonian Aviation Academy, where he helped install Estonia’s first flight simulator. This later took him to Germany, where he worked on classified NATO simulation projects for the German Navy and Air Force.
From engineering to entrepreneurship
Returning to Estonia when his second child was on the way, Aleksander founded his first consulting business focused on engineering solutions. One of his early clients was the University of Tartu’s Institute of Technology, where he supported the development of startup products, including coding for the early Fits.me robotics platform.
Later, he co-founded and led Buildit Hardware Accelerator, one of the first hardware startup accelerators in Europe. The accelerator later grew into a seed fund. ‘That period of 60–80 hour work weeks was a turning point,’ Aleksander recalls. ‘The burnout that followed was heavy and made me realize I care more about the people behind startups than just the technology.’
There was also a period when he co-founded a medtech company working on non-invasive breast cancer detection. Despite the powerful mission, clinical trials didn’t yield strong enough results, and the team’s motivation dropped. It became an important (and humbling) founder lesson.
Building Knowledge and Community
Today, Aleksander is a guest lecturer at the University of Tartu, focusing on topics rarely covered in academia: personal vision, values, and human relationships. He also provides trainings in public speaking, fundraising, sales, and confidence-building, and mentors founders one-on-one. His broad interests have led him to Contriber Ventures, an angel fund and platform for founder support and self-development. There, he actively explores themes of mental health, conscious entrepreneurship, and lifelong learning.
Investing Style: People First
Over the past decade, he has made more than 100 startup investments through Buildit, Contriber Ventures, and as a solo angel. Well over half of his portfolio is now in startups. By traditional standards, he is not yet a highly profitable investor. ‘Today, I’m still in the red,’ he admits, ‘but there is a lot of potential in the portfolio.
He does not rely on strict spreadsheets or detailed market forecasts. His investments are based on people: ‘If I like the founder, the team, and the idea resonates with me, and I believe I can at least earn my investment back, that’s enough.’ His strategy is proximity-based — the closer to home, the more likely he is to invest. ‘Tartu over Tallinn, Estonia over Europe,’ he jokes, while noting that he generally avoids unfamiliar legal systems.
Beyond investing there’s music and human connection
Despite his tech-savvy background, Aleksander’s life today revolves around human connection and creative expression. Just a year ago, he followed a sudden urge to buy and learn the double bass. Within 12 months, he was performing in a band and had given several public concerts. ‘It runs in the family. I was just the last one to pick up an instrument,’ he says.
Health, both physical and mental, is another priority. He is concerned about the global food system, pointing to the paradox of obesity and malnutrition existing side by side. Issues like fertilizers, soil exhaustion, and seed monoculture are not only environmental, but existential. He also speaks openly about mental health, emphasizing that well-being starts with human relationships and self-awareness. Contrary to typical wellness advice, he encourages people to focus first on relationships, then on breathing, nutrition, and only after that on movement.”
Aleksander is also running in Tartu’s municipal elections to raise awareness of topics such as mental health, early-stage investing, and small-scale entrepreneurship. “Microbusinesses and lifestyle entrepreneurs are often dismissed,’ he notes. ‘But they are the real backbone of the economy.”
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EstBAN Investor Talk series
- Jana Budkovskaja
- Kristjan Raude
- Jan Lätt
- Sandra Globreich
- Paavo Siimann
- Ivar Siimar
- Olga Luštšik
- Grete Pariis
