Where to start

Are you considering Helsinki as your next destination? (The correct answer is yes.) Great! Let Helsinki Business Hub help you free of charge.

Helsinki Business Hub is a vibrant community of business professionals enabling innovative and growth-seeking companies to create success in and around Helsinki. Together with our partners, we work to ensure that Helsinki is the best place in Europe to accelerate your business.

Bring your business to Helsinki!

We collected a concise info package to get you started. There you'll find information about the benefits of the Finnish business environment, the costs of setting up a business in Finland, support and incentives offered to foreign companies, as well as the free services of Helsinki Business Hub.

Read the presentation on SlideShare. You'll be happy you did!



About Helsinki Business Hub

Helsinki Business Hub, or HBH as among friends, is the regional development agency for the Finnish capital region. We enable foreign companies to establish their businesses and innovation driven companies to grow and develop in the Helsinki region. This we do by providing the right information and contacts and by designing growth opportunities for our customers, free of charge and based on full confidentiality.

Turn to us, if you are looking for deal flow from Finland, searching for the best location for your R&D activities, interested in our renowned startup environment, or looking to grow your business in and from Helsinki.

In case you are wondering why our services are free: Helsinki Business Hub receives its funding from public sources – from the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen as well as the Uusimaa Regional Council. As we attract and help foreign companies to set up in the region, they create jobs, pay taxes and bring economic growth to the area, which in turns brings more tax revenues and economic success to Helsinki. Talk about a win-win!

How Helsinki Business Hub can help?

We offer a customised, first class experience for growth-seeking companies by providing information, connections, and value. All of our services are free of charge. Here's what we offer you:

Business information

We provide tailored industry information and help you get access to market opportunities. You can get information relevant to your business on:

  • ICT, life science and cleantech ecosystems
  • domain specific data
  • potential partners, strategic customers
  • relevant public authorities
  • public and private financing entities
  • operating environment and costs

Interested in business information? Read more on the HBH website.

Tailored fact-finding tours

We help companies that are considering Helsinki as a business location to experience Helsinki by organizing tailored fact-finding visits. 

During a visit, you’ll get answers to any questions you might have about locating your business in Helsinki. We’ll introduce you to the relevant companies, partners, universities, R&D and innovation players and service providers. The fact-finding visits normally consist of

  • key partner meetings
  • themed roundtable discussions
  • other relevant stakeholder meetings over dinner or lunch
  • visits to potential locations / office space.

Interested in fact-finding tours? Read more on the HBH website.

Matchmaking

Finding the right partners is often the key when deciding on the location. We know this – and most if not all the relevant players here in the region. And we are happy to make the introductions.

  • R&D&I partner search – we will help you find Finnish partners that can make a difference in your innovation initiatives
  • M&A target scan – we will help you identify and evaluate strategic M&A targets for your company
  • Strategic sales partner / pilot cases scan – we will help you identify and evaluate strategic partners for your company in the Finnish business ecosystem
  • Startup partners – we will help you meet with domain experts, VCs, accelerators, incubators, and industry associations

Interested in matchmaking? Read more on the HBH website.

Access to financing

We will help you connect with the relevant public financing entities such as TEKES, Finnvera, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd and Sitra. We can also help you get introduced with private financing network.

Interested in accessing financing? Read more on the HBH website.

Soft landing services

To help you land smoothly in Finland, we will help you setup your business in the Helsinki region. We will identify suppliers and subcontractors matching your need, and introduce you to our network of service providers:

  • law firms
  • recruitment agencies
  • relocation services
  • facilities and premises providers
  • marketing, sales and PR
  • administrative services

Interested in landing softly in Helsinki? Read more on the HBH website.

Piloting opportunities

Helsinki is an ideal test bed for new innovations in the fields of health, smart and clean technologies.
We can connect you with right partners that can help you to test your product in Helsinki region and get a reliable reference market for your innovation.

Interested in piloting opportunities in Helsinki? Read more on the HBH website.

Innovation platform creation

Here in Helsinki, the public sector is committed in serving as a piloting platform for new solutions. We have experience in creating innovation platforms and can help your organisation to set up one and to get the right partners on board. There is always something going on and many opportunities for novel approaches to participate in to joint innovation activities with public sector, academia and local business in open innovation platforms.

Interested in creating an innovation platform in Helsinki? Read more on the HBH website.

Contact us

Give us a ring and challenge us! Our job is not to supposed to be easy, yours is! You can ask us anything you need for your foreign expansion, and we promise a quick response.

We are ready to roll up our sleeves. Find the right contact person for your needs from our website or contact our office:


+358 44 783 3218
info@helsinkibusinesshub.fi


© Visit Helsinki / Jussi Hellsten

Other relevant organisations

Here's a list of other organisations you might find helpful on your path towards Helsinki, Finland:

Business Finland

Business Finland is the Finnish innovation funding, trade, investment, and travel promotion organisation, headquartered in Helsinki. Business Finland is fully owned by the Finnish Government. Business Finland employs 600 experts in 40 offices globally and in 20 regional offices around Finland. Business Finland is part of the Team Finland network.

Finnvera

Finnvera provides financing for the start, growth and internationalisation of enterprises and guarantees against risks arising from exports. Finnvera strengthens the operating potential and competitiveness of Finnish enterprises by offering loans, domestic guarantees, export credit guarantees and other services associated with the financing of exports. The risks included in financing are shared between Finnvera and other providers of financing.

Finnvera is a specialised financing company owned by the State of Finland and it is the official Export Credit Agency (ECA) of Finland.

NewCo Helsinki

NewCo Helsinki is a service entity in collaboration between the City of Helsinki and Helsinki Enterprise Agency. NewCo Helsinki is a destination for entrepreneurs seeking guidance and support whether in establishing a company or running a startup.

Team Finland

Team Finland is a network of public sector actors providing internationalisation services. The aim of the network is to provide businesses with a smooth service chain, ranging from advice services to financing.

Aalto University

Aalto University is a multidisciplinary community where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto University has six schools with nearly 20 000 students and 4 000 employees, 386 of whom are Professors. The university was founded in 2010 as Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design Helsinki were merged.

University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki is the oldest and largest institution of academic education in Finland, an international scientific community of 40,000 students and researchers. In international university rankings, the University of Helsinki typically ranks among the top 100. The University of Helsinki seeks solutions for global challenges and creates new ways of thinking for the best of humanity. Through the power of science, the University has contributed to society, education and welfare since 1640.


© Visit Helsinki / Jussi Hellsten

Helsinki Business Hub Partners

HBH Partners is a network of trusted partners who provide quality business services to international companies in the Helsinki region.

Our partners can provide assistance in matters related to:

  • Administrative
  • Business consulting
  • Culture & language
  • Financial & insurance
  • Health & wellbeing
  • HR & talent
  • Legal
  • Logistics
  • Marketing & communications
  • Relocation & facility
  • Software

Take a look at all the partners the HBH Partners webpage.

Home Country Support

Companies wishing to enter a foreign market can actively seek out support by the embassy or consulate of their home country in another city. Staff members are ready to help you begin.

Another source of support and information is the bilateral chamber of commerce of your home country. The chamber may assist your company in several ways, including consulting services regarding market research, trade-show assistance, background verification, preparation of market entry plans and business referral services.

Find your Embassy / Consulate or Chamber of commerce for this city.