Team

Back in 2012, he was invited to help set up a new transportation company in Europe. He was inspired by the idea of allowing people of all ages and incomes to meet their families cheaper and faster than before. More than 70 lines were launched and 250+ trips were performed by 130 buses on a daily basis. Eight million people per year were enabled to travel comfortably and with bigger ease than before.

The concept of improved interaction in the real world through IT solutions drove him to Singapore. Together with his team, they created a global identity verification and personal data management tool that would simplify access to financial tools for unbanked people while meeting the highest security requirements. This is how BASIS ID was born. Now it’s part of the NASDAQ listed ZignSec AB family.

In 2018, he was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 for contribution to the development of digital identity in Asia. By the age of 26, he visited more than 40 countries.

In 2020 & 2021, he reviewed 500+ companies, interviewed 131 founders, 27 due diligence reports, 10 investments and led 3 investment rounds. Along with being a partner at VNTRS (vntrs.com), a professional startup studio and VC fund based in Stockholm and Tallinn.

Recently, he hes become a member of the Estonian Founders Society board with a goals to finding novel solutions for engaging our society’s activities and creating new initiatives, growing cross-border networks that lead to lasting partnerships, and introducing C-level professionals to members who can boost their confidence to start a new career as a founder and maintain motivation in their aspirations.

Climbed the world’s largest volcanoes, lived in 31 countries, and am about to fly to space with Virgin Galactic (well, let’s say that he is preparing for it). Few lines about his journeys, due diligence principles and passions here.

Currently, Akim is living in the US and is participating in the Berkeley Executive Leaders program as personal growth should never stop. In addition it opens up a lot of new opportunities for the fff.vc community.

His background is in sales and business development, with his latest passion being fundraising. Over the years, among other professional experiences, he was lucky enough to work in companies such as AdCash, Click and Grow, and Cyberland.

In 2019, once COVID-19 started affecting our everyday lives, the world needed solutions. This is when he joined The Global Hack core team and was in charge of fundraising for the event. They ended up raising about 300k in two weeks and ended up hosting the biggest hackathon that ever took place—working across 12 time zones and hosting over 12,000 participants.

Since fundraising became his passion, he started helping several small, friend-owned startups to raise rounds. He ended up receiving an offer from Latitude59, one of the biggest tech conferences in the Baltics, to become Head of Partnerships and Sponsorships.

In addition he serves as and Investment manager at early-stage, pan-Baltic VC fund - Change Ventures. Allowing us to keep traction and understanding of the early-stage market.

Currently, he reviews about 80 startups monthly, creates reports, and conducts DD process in collaboration with members and specialists from different fields. Taking care of the deal flow related communication

Estonian Founders Society was founded in 2009 to boost the local startup community, strengthen direct relationships between founders, meet face to face in a social setting, share experiences and empower new young founders.

Currently startups employ 1% of the working population and create 3% of Estonian GDP. We explain the value and future economic opportunities created by the startup ecosystem, which is not yet understood by many Estonians. Our vision is to have 30% of Estonian GDP in 2030 come from tech sector export.