Suggestions
Allan Martinson
CEO at Xolo
Allan Martinson is an Estonian technology entrepreneur and investor born in 1966. He served as the CEO of Xolo from October 2018 to April 2023, leading the company to significant growth during his tenure.12
Professional Background:
- A serial tech entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience
- Founder and former CEO of Baltic News Service
- Former CEO of MicroLink, a leading IT and technology holding in the Baltics
- Co-founder of Martinson Trigon Venture Partners (MTVP)
- Previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Starship Technologies23
Achievements at Xolo: During his 4.5 years at Xolo, Martinson helped the company:
- Grow 5X in revenues
- Increase customer base 4X
- Improve gross margin from 40% to 70%
- Reach over 140,000 signups
- Achieve €7.2m in annualized revenue1
Current Roles:
- Owner and tech investor at MTVP
- Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Levira
- Board Member of Estonian Founders Society
- Senior Advisor at Bikeep3
Martinson is known for his ability to build and transform tech companies, with a focus on disrupting traditional business models. He has been recognized with honors including being a Chevalier of the French Order of Honour and decorated with Estonia's White Star Order.2
Highlights
Starship Technologies' newly announced $90m round shows how this company has stayed true to its mission. Soon ten years old, it has pressed ahead where the others have given up. At one point, there were more than 50 autonomous delivery robot companies, with only a handful remaining. Even the almighty Amazon threw in the towel.
Building something totally new requires perseverance. In this regard, Starship reminds me of Elon Musk's SpaceX, which also did not give up in its worst moments and now owns the space launch market.
Starship leads the autonomous driving industry with more miles under its belly than Waymo. Today, it is the only commercially viable self-driving technology whose unit economics makes sense.
Starship was launched on the premise that humans are too valuable to carry pizzas or grocery bags. That remains true, with an average family spending an hour daily on groceries and running errands. So, this is a huge market - an order of magnitude larger than telecommunications.
Given the state of the markets, this funding round took work. Being led by Plural - a disruptive VC firm with roots in Estonia and Skype, like Starship - shows the power of that ecosystem.
Congratulations to Ahti Heinla and the team!
