The end of ESG(rid) story

TALLINN - Estonian value chain management startup Esgrid said it will close down after 2.5 years.

Esgrid, which launched at the peak of ESG interest in late 2023, won a pitching competition at Startup Day in Tartu and raised some 1.4 million euros from investors like 2C Ventures.

“When the sustainability market collapsed in 2025, we didn’t fold. We pivoted. Then pivoted again. Kept fighting until it genuinely stopped making sense - and decided to stop with 6 months of runway still in the bank,” cofounder and CEO Oksana Tolmatshova said on LinkedIn. ”In the end, we knew we'd done something right when customers asked what it would take for us to continue, and investors asked to call should we build something new.”

”To every founder still fighting every day - you're a hero by default. Even if it doesn't end the way you planned,” Tolmatshova wrote.