For the second time, EstBAN’s business angels participated in Estonia’s largest business idea competition, Ajujaht. Their trust was earned by Mentornaut, who made it to the TOP 6 round in Ajujaht. Mentornaut received an investment of 100 000 euros from angel investors which marks a new investment record in Ajujaht.
Mentornaut has developed an online platform that conveniently brings together families looking for private teachers and people with teaching skills who want to apply their skills as private teachers.
“Our goal is to provide students personalized learning through private lessons, and Ajujaht’s Development Program has helped us take a big step forward. We see that the popularity of private lessons is growing rapidly and, in addition to helping families out, they also play an important role in developing independent learning skills. We appreciate the decision of business angels to invest in the education of young people and we intend to use the investment primarily to provide a better digital environment for both students and teachers, ”said Markus Meresma, founder and CEO of Mentornaut.
Angel investors invested more this year than last season when the eventual runner-up Aligner (now called TranslateWise) received an investment of 89 000 euros. The amount increased because there were more angel investors than last year.
Ivo Remmelg, a business angel who was a member of the Ajujaht final jury and involved EstBAN investors, said that Mentornaut was the most suitable Ajujaht team to make an investment. “They had a very strong team and the service was aimed at the retail market, where schools can be used as a sales channel,” said Remmelg.
Remmelg emphasized that it is increasingly important for investors to contribute to the education of young people. “During the pandemic, many students needed extra help with their studies, and this is exactly the problem that Mentornaut is solving,” added Remmelg. “The development of other Brain Hunt companies would have required significantly larger investments, which business angels did not consider expedient,” said the investor.
Mentornaut’s journey was supported also by jury member Andra Altoa. By the end of the season, Mentornaut won her employer’s SEB bank’s trust and, in addition to the business investment, also received a special SEB positive impact award of 5000 euros. “In deciding the special award for the positive impact of SEB, we evaluated the candidates from three aspects: the timeliness of the problem, the extent of the impact on society and the vision for the future. Mentornaut’s vision of focused learning coincides with our other education-oriented initiatives, such as the SEB Innovation Center in Delta campus at Tartu or the new technology school code /Jõhvi, ”said Altoa.
This year, Ajujaht business idea competition was won by team Münt, which produces eco-friendly tooth wash capsules and thus saves nature. Münt earned 30 000 euros. The second place and 15 000 euros went to RUEX, which develops an API solution for electric car charging platforms and the third place, with 5 000 euros, was won by Lexi.Market which simplifies the sales process of retail stores. Ajujaht was launched by Enterprise Estonia.
The competition partner is SEB and major sponsors are Elisa, Microsoft and Maxima. The implementation of the competition is financed by Enterprise Estonia from the European Regional Development Fund. In addition, there are many minor supporters, such as law firm TRINITI, Tartu Creative Economy Center, Harku Parish, Saue Parish, City of Tartu, City of Pärnu, City of Tallinn. Ajujaht is carried out by Civitta and Miltton.
