# Ahti Heinla

> Ahti Heinla is an Estonian software engineer, entrepreneur and investor, and the co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies. A founding engineer and chief technical architect of Skype, he later applied his robotics experience to local delivery with Janus Friis. He also helped organise Estonia’s 2008 national cleanup and co-founded the civic participation platform Citizen OS.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Starship Technologies
- **Organizations:** Starship Technologies, Skype, Bluemoon Interactive, Ambient Sound Investments, Let’s Do It!, Citizen OS
- **Nationality:** Estonian
- **Education:** Gustav Adolf Gymnasium, Studied physics; no completed degree verified, University of Tartu
- **Known for:** Founding engineer and chief technical architect of Skype., Co-founded Starship Technologies, which reported ten million deliveries in April 2026., Helped coordinate the 2008 Estonian cleanup involving 50,000 volunteers.

## Career timeline

- **1982** — Began learning programming from his mother at age ten, initially on paper.
- **1989** — Began making software and games with friends under the Bluemoon Interactive name.
- **2003** — Skype launched; Heinla was a founding engineer and chief technical architect.
- **2007** — Awarded Estonia’s Order of the White Star, fifth class.
- **2008** — Helped organise Let’s Do It!, leading development of mapping software for a cleanup involving 50,000 volunteers.
- **2013-2014** — Led Team Kuukulgur in NASA’s sample-return robotics challenge.
- **2014** — Co-founded Starship Technologies with Janus Friis on July 3.
- **2015** — Co-founded Citizen OS with Margo Loor and the Let’s Do It! Foundation.
- **2018** — Starship launched commercial grocery delivery in Milton Keynes.
- **2019** — Starship launched its first commercial U.S. campus service at George Mason University.
- **2026** — Starship announced ten million deliveries in April and a shift from U.S. campuses toward grocery delivery in June.

## Achievements

- Founding engineer and chief technical architect of Skype.
- Co-founded Starship Technologies, which reported ten million deliveries in April 2026.
- Helped coordinate the 2008 Estonian cleanup involving 50,000 volunteers.
- Co-founded the civic participation platform Citizen OS.
- Received the Order of the White Star, fifth class, in 2007.
- Received Estonia’s Volunteer of the Year award in 2008.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Starship announced plans to wind down its U.S. campus operations and redeploy over 1,200 robots toward grocery retailers in Europe and the United States, with transition arrangements through the 2026-2027 back-to-school season.
- **2026-05** — Appeared on Robot Talk to discuss autonomous deliveries and safe operation in public spaces.
- **2026-04** — Starship announced ten million deliveries, more than 3,000 robots and operations across eight countries.
- **2026-02** — Starship and Just Eat announced a partnership beginning with takeaway delivery in Sunderland.
- **2025-12** — Starship and S Group marked one million Finnish grocery deliveries.
- **2025-11** — Starship and Uber Eats announced a delivery partnership starting in the UK, with further European rollouts and U.S. expansion planned.

## Links

- Website: http://www.bluemoon.ee/~ahti/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahtiheinla/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ahtih
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ahtih

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ahti-heinla
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24