---
title: "Estonian companies can now be established using Smart-ID"
id: "44577"
type: "post"
slug: "estonian-companies-can-now-be-established-using-smart-id"
published_at: "2020-03-11T12:16:32+00:00"
modified_at: "2020-03-11T12:16:36+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonian-companies-can-now-be-established-using-smart-id/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/business/estonian-companies-can-now-be-established-using-smart-id.md"
excerpt: "Entrepreneurs can now establish Estonian companies using only Smart-ID; so far, establishing a company digitally required using an Estonian digital ID-card or mobile-ID. The service […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Business"
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sten Hankewitz"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/"
---

# Estonian companies can now be established using Smart-ID

![Image](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Estonia-Man-at-the-seaside-using-mobile-phone-Renee-Altrov-1024x683.jpg)

The image is illustrative. Photo by Renee Altrov.

By  [Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/)
  ·  March 11, 2020  · [Business](https://estonianworld.com/category/business/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### Entrepreneurs can now establish Estonian companies using only Smart-ID; so far, establishing a company digitally required using an Estonian digital ID-card or mobile-ID.

The service of establishing a company via Smart-ID is possible through a new self-service portal, provided by Unicount, an Estonian company serving the country’s e-residents.

“Unicount connects directly to the Estonian Business Register through an API, while offering additional tools, services and guidance to make the process of creating a company more user-friendly,” the company said in a statement.

Smart-ID is a mobile app launched in 2016 by SK ID Solutions for online verification and digital signing. It’s already compatible with a wide range of services in Estonia, including banking and tax filing, and is particularly popular with e-residents who are unable to use mobile-ID.

### Accessible to anyone with Estonian identification code

“The Smart-ID account needs to be registered on or after 8 November 2018 to be used for company creation through Unicount as this was the date when new Smart-ID accounts gained Qualified Electronic Signature status equal to Estonian mobile-ID and ID-card,” the company added.

Unicount started serving e-residents in the autumn of 2019, enabling easy Estonian company formation for one-person businesses through a self-service online portal. As of 9 March, this service is accessible to anyone with Estonian personal identification code and capable of signing with Smart-ID, ID-card or mobile-ID.

SK ID Solutions is the partner of the Estonian state in issuing certificates for national identity documents. The company introduced Smart-ID in Baltics 2017. The first 18 months saw a million Smart-ID user accounts registered; three years later, the company has over 2.6 million users doing over 50 million transactions every month in more than 200 e-services.

Cover: Man at the Estonian seaside using a mobile phone. The image is illustrative. Photo by Renee Altrov.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/15/1707599474-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/)
Sten Hankewitz is a lifelong journalist and the Executive Editor at Estonian World. Having lived in Estonia, Spain, the UK and all around the US, he now resides in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He loves to write and besides working at Estonian World, he [writes books](https://estonianworld.com/culture/the-grand-illusion-estonian-worlds-sten-hankewitz-publishes-a-novel-about-growing-up-in-the-soviet-union/)
 and contributes to other outlets. He has strong convictions and shows them unashamedly. You can follow Sten on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@stenhankewitz)
, [X](https://twitter.com/stenhankewitz)
 and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/shankewitz/)
. You can also [email him](mailto:sten@estonianworld.com)
.