Our story begins in 2016 when a small group came together to create a private music institution with the aim of preparing young talents, primarily from Asia, for admissions to European music schools, academies, and conservatories. We assisted them with English and music basics using our developed curriculum and methodology. However, bringing Asian students to Estonia for education with a non-accredited program was challenging.

In 2017, we shifted towards online learning, offering video courses in recorded and real-time formats. For a while, we served both local and remote students. By 2021, all local courses were completed, and we focused solely on online education, starting the development of a specialised platform to connect students and teachers. After trying various solutions, we found success with WeChat—a platform that does it all in China—and gradually transitioned our courses there.

Throughout this journey, we identified challenges in connecting teachers and consultants with students or clients, from scheduling meetings to handling payments, particularly with small cross-border microtransactions due to high service fees imposed by banks and payment processors.

The emergence of blockchain and decentralised financial solutions provided hope, but widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies also brought increased transaction fees. Solutions at the second and third layers, including Lightning Network on Bitcoin’s blockchain, proved themselves and allowed affordable microtransactions without intermediaries, serving as a basis for our platform’s technology.

In 2023, Tipric was born as a startup aiming to address these accumulated problems by creating a platform that enables experts to make their expertise easily accessible, earning fair compensation for their time and attention without sacrificing their privacy or revealing personal direct contacts.