Yesterday evening, November 30, the winner of Estonia’s biggest business competition Ajujaht 2023 was chosen. The winner is KIUD, which develops durable and recycled textile waste packaging material. Raw Edge came in second and Cerebrum Hub in third place.

According to Kaie Kaas-Ojavere, founder and CEO of KIUD, Ajujaht’s victory is proof that what they do is important to society. “It means that companies and consumers really want to join us on this journey. Winning the Ajujaht allows us to move forward with our research development work and start new projects. This year we will focus on serving existing customers, but already in the coming year we want to raise more money and increase both the team and the volume of exports,” she pointed out.

KIUD is developing a durable packaging material made from recycled textile waste, which will replace disposable corrugated cardboard in the packaging industry and, in the future, veneer.

According to Eve Peeterson, Member of the Jury, and Head of Startup Estonia, which is part of the EAS and Kredex joint institution, KIUD has the whole set, from a very effective product to a powerful team. “For them, we see a clear, very fast, and continuous progress from the time they entered the accelerator program until the final TV show. It is very easy to believe in the success of KIUD because they have a very good team, product, and sales skills, supported by a combination of stability, innovation, and science. And throughout the accelerator program, they’ve listened to what they’ve been told and implemented it,” Peeterson explained.

In the final TV show, which raised up expectations until the last moment, Cerebrum Hub, which develops a retraining platform, Raw Edge, which produces a fermented probiotic drink, and KIUD competed to win the Ajujaht. The winner KIUD was awarded 30,000 euros in prize money. The second place is Raw Edge with 15,000 euros and the third place is Cerebrum Hub with 7,500 euros.

“KIUD, compared to the other finalists, solves the biggest problem that people themselves have created and for which they cannot find a solution: the problem of recycling and using mixed and synthetic textile waste. No one in the world has been able to do it well so far, but it seems that KIUD is on the right track and maybe it will do it?! They have moved in the right direction during the competition, and I am happy that the Ajujaht win will help them reach their goal and do business with it,” said Ainar Leppänen, Member of the Jury and Member of SEB Estonia’s Board and Head of Retail Banking.

Raw Edge received a special prize of 5,000 euros from the city of Tallinn, and the special prize of 5,000 euros from the city of Tartu went to KIUD. Special awards were also presented by Net Group, which supports the development of the Cerebrum Hub service with the service of a CTO, and T1 awards Raw Edge with a sales office or warehouse space for 6 months. The TRINITI law firm offered a comprehensive legal assistance package to the winner of the Ajujaht.

The Ajujaht accelerator program and TV competition is a collaboration between the public and private sectors. It was initiated by the joint agency of Enterprise Estonia and KredEx. The partner of the program is SEB, and the sponsors are Elisa and Microsoft Estonian Development Center. In addition, the program is supported by law firm TRINITI, T1 Mall, Net Group, Maag, Tallinn, Tartu and Pärnu.

Ajujaht is carried out by CIVITTA, Optimist, and ERR. Over the years, nearly 5,000 business ideas have been submitted to Ajujaht, and several of them have grown into local and international success stories. The best-known examples include Bolt, Bikeep, Click & Grow, GoWorkaBit, FoodDocs, Groveneer, Timbeter, and many others.