Official: US West Coast open to solutions of Estonian companies

TALLINN - Mariin Ratnik, deputy secretary general of the Estonian Foreign Ministry for economic and development affairs, is visiting the West Coast of the United States with a business delegation this week to promote Estonia's innovative business environment, investment opportunities, and the technological solutions of our companies.

Ratnik said in a press release that such joint visits are useful for making contacts.

"A large share of global tech companies are based here in the San Francisco and Portland areas and this means various opportunities for our entrepreneurs. This can mean finding investors or clients, cooperating on development, or a different kind of partnership," the official said, adding that the economic scale is illustrated by the fact that on its own, California is the fifth largest economy in the world.

To make new contacts, meetings are planned with various companies, investors, business organizations, universities, and local officials on the West Coast. For example, the agenda includes meetings with representatives of Intel, Nvidia, and Nike, and visits to their head offices.

Areos Ledesma, Nortal's senior vice president for North America, described the United States as one of the most important markets in Nortal's growth strategy.

"Our aim is to continue boosting our brand and expanding our customer portfolio both in the public and private sector. Our focus is on areas linked to critical infrastructure, including energy, utilities, and healthcare," Ledesma, who is part of the business delegation, said.

Nortal's US customers include Amazon, Disney, T-Mobile, Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose Water Group, and Tacoma. Ledesma said that as a member of the business delegation, he was looking forward to valuable discussions with leaders of various government institutions and companies.

"This allows us to present our solutions for cybersecurity, data life cycle management, artificial intelligence, and cloud technology," Ledesma said.

The business delegation includes Estonian company Alpha3D, whose technology makes it possible to create 3D models more quickly and conveniently thanks to AI. The CEO and founder of the company, Madis Alesmaa, said that the US market has enormous potential for them.

"Our aim is to establish contacts with major corporations and find new cooperation partners and investors. The visit gives us the chance to talk directly to top entrepreneurs in the US and we can show how our technology helps them optimize their business operations," Alesmaa said.

The investors of Alpha3D include top senior executives from companies like Meta and Google.

The Alpha3D platform has more than 500 000 registered users, with the majority based in the United States.

"We can see our product having great potential in gaming and e-commerce, but also in medicine, architecture, and education," Alesmaa said.

In addition to Nortal and Alpha 3D, the Estonian business delegation includes Leil Storage, NV Solutions, Omniva, and Waybiller.

The visit is organized jointly with the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency and it is co-financed from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility.